After Effects CS4 & Windows 7 - Error Accessing ini file

[mdreams]

Hi,

We have installed Win7 Pro 64-bit on 4 of our workstations, and we are unable to render with AE CS4 on any of them. The error we get is:
accesing ini file.after effects error: finding preferences folder - no such directory (-120)

The local prefs files for AE CS4 are stored here:
C:\Documents and Settings\*user profile*\Application Data\Adobe\After Effects\9.0\

We thought the problem may be that "C:\Documents and Settings" is now "C:\Users" on Win7. We even took ownership of "Documents & Settings" and "Application Data" folders on Win7, but this did not help.

However, we are not sure why this is happening since the prefs/ini files are not required by aerender.exe during rendering, and has never been a problem on XP. Since RR runs as a service, on a logged out machine, RR would not even know which profile to use for prefs. We even tried copying the prefs into the RR path "\renderer_prefs\afx\win_x32\9.0\", but this did not help either.

Another strange thing is that if we take the render command line from the RR log and paste it into a Win7 command prompt, the scene renders perfectly with no errors! Which makes us think the problem is within RR.

Below is a paste of the render log...



rrStart-x64
rrStart-x64: wait after enabled
rrStart-x64: Starting C:\RR_localdata\C_ZEUS.bat...
E 0| "++++++++++++++++++++++++ Log Start +++++++++++++++++++++++++"
E 1| "ZEUS rrClient console L 6.00.35 rrVer6.00.38"
E 2| "08.10 09:49.31"
E 3| "Client is running on Win7_sp0 x64 8x2.8 Intel"
E 4| "Job {HCM} Sequence: 455-494, 1"
E 5| "Render config used: AFX C12__Afx.cfg"
E 6| "Executable used: C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe After Effects CS4\Support Files\aerender.exe "
E 7| >set "rrExeBit=x32"
E 8| >set "rrExeVersion=9.0"
E 9| >set "rrExeVersionMajor=9"
E 10| >set "rrExeVersionMinor=0"
E 11| >set "rrExeOS=win"
E 12| "++++++++++++ Environment Variables Job: ++++++++++++++++++++"
E 13| >set "rrJobRenderapp=AFX"
E 14| >set "rrJobRenderer="
E 15| >set "rrJobType=Comp"
E 16| >set "rrJobRenderType="
E 17| >set "rrJobBit=x64"
E 18| >set "rrJobVersion=9.0"
E 19| >set "rrJobVersionMajor=9"
E 20| >set "rrJobVersionMinor=0"
E 21| >set "rrJobTiled=false"
E 22| >set "rrJobCustomScene="
E 23| >set "rrJobCustomShot="
E 24| >set "rrJobCustomVersion="
E 25| >set "rrJobSceneOS=win"
E 26| "++++++++++++ Environment Variables Client: +++++++++++++++++"
E 27| >set "rrClientName=ZEUS"
E 28| >set "rrClientCPUs=8"
E 29| >set "rrClientCPUsUsed=6"
E 30| >set "rrClientBit=x64"
E 31| >set "rrClientRenderInstance=0"
E 32| >set "RR_ROOT=\\Autumn\PROGRAMS\PROGRAMS\INTEL\RR6.0"
E 33| >set "rrBin=\\Autumn\PROGRAMS\PROGRAMS\INTEL\RR6.0\bin\win\"
E 34| >set "rrPlugins=\\Autumn\PROGRAMS\PROGRAMS\INTEL\RR6.0\render_apps\renderer_plugins\afx\win_x32\"
E 35| >set "rrPluginsNoOS=\\Autumn\PROGRAMS\PROGRAMS\INTEL\RR6.0\render_apps\renderer_plugins\afx\"
E 36| >set "rrPrefs=\\Autumn\PROGRAMS\PROGRAMS\INTEL\RR6.0\render_apps\renderer_prefs\afx\win_x32\"
E 37| >set "rrSharedExeDir=\\Autumn\PROGRAMS\PROGRAMS\INTEL\RR6.0\render_apps\renderer_exe\afx\win_x32\"
E 38| >set "TEMP=C:\RR_localdata\temp"
E 39| >set "TMP=C:\RR_localdata\temp"
E 40| >set "rrLocalRoot=C:\RR_localdata\"
E 41| >set "rrLocalTemp=C:\RR_localdata\temp\"
E 42| >set "rrLocalExeDir=C:\RR_localdata\renderer_exe\afx\win_x32\"
E 43| >set "rrLocalPrefs=C:\RR_localdata\renderer_prefs\afx\win_x32\"
E 44| >set "rrLocalPlugins=C:\RR_localdata\renderer_plugins\afx\win_x32\"
E 45| >set "rrBaseAppPath=C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe After Effects CS4"
S 0| "++++++++++++ Environment Variables Done +++++++++++++++++++"
S 1|
S 2| >call "\\Autumn\PROGRAMS\PROGRAMS\INTEL\RR6.0\render_apps\_setenv\win\_global.bat"
S 3| >rem ################ global environment for all render applications ###################
S 4|
R 0| >"\\Autumn\PROGRAMS\PROGRAMS\INTEL\RR6.0\bin\win\rrResetexitcode.exe"
R 1| +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
R 2| ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ START ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
R 3| ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 6.00.35 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
R 4| +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
R 5|
R 6| >"C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe After Effects CS4\Support Files\aerender.exe" -project "\\autumn\projects\techDept\outOfFocus.aep" -comp "Comp 1" -s 455 -e 494 -output "\\estor\frames1\Temp\trash\outOfFocus.[#####].png"
R 7| aerender version 9.0.2x42
R 8| Error accesing ini file.Error accesing ini file.After Effects error: finding preferences folder - no such directory (-120).
R 9| After Effects error: internal verification failure, sorry! {preferences structure invalid}
R 10| After Effects can't continue: unexpected failure during application startup
R 11|
R 12| >"\\Autumn\PROGRAMS\PROGRAMS\INTEL\RR6.0\bin\win\rrCheckexitcode.exe" 0 0 455
R 13| +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
R 14| +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
R 15| ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Render Executable done +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
R 16| ++++++++++++++++++++ Royal Render checks the return code of the executable ++++++++++++++++++++
R 17| ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 08.10. 09:49.33 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
R 18| +++++++ Render successful
R 19| +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
R 20| "++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++"
0| "ZEUS rrClient console L 6.00.35 rrVer6.00.38"
1| " 9:49:33.15"
2| "Job ID: {HCM}"
3| "++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++"
4|
5|
C 0| ************************* CLIENT REPORTS DURING THIS RENDER *************************
C 1|
C 2|
C 3| Permanent error in log file: error accesing ini file.error accesing ini file.after effects error: finding preferences folder - no such directory (-120).
C 4|
C 5|
C 6|
C 7|
C 8|

[schoenberger]

This is a known AFX bug if you have UAC enabled:
www.RoyalRender.de/help/index.htm?Installation/Windows/Windows.htm#Windows_7_-_UAC
_________________
Holger Schönberger
Binary Alchemy - digital materialization

[mdreams]

UAC is already disabled on all the Win7 machines.

[schoenberger]

Is the service user in the local admin group?
That was the solution for this error on XP machines.

Also please try to login with the same user as the rrClientconsole.exe is running.
Then start AFX once. Perhaps it requires to create the pref files.
_________________
Holger Schönberger
Binary Alchemy - digital materialization

[mdreams]

It seems to work if we do the following:

1) Adding the xsirender (the account we use for RR) to the local admin group. This seems a weird step, since xsirender is a domain admin account and should already have any necessary permissions. We never needed to do this step on XP

2) Login under xsirender account, launch AE to set the prefs.

3) Take ownership of the "c:\users\xsirender\Application Data" folder with the local admin account.


I thought the idea of having the /render_prefs folder in RR was to avoid having the prefs local? If we place the prefs inside here it does not seem to work.
\render_apps\renderer_prefs\afx\win_x32\9.0\

Any thoughts?
thanks.

[schoenberger]

Hi

Thanks, I will add this information to the help files.

AFX does not have a setting to override the preference folder.
So RR cannot change the path at render time.

Strange thing about the local admin and domain admin...
_________________
Holger Schönberger
Binary Alchemy - digital materialization