file not found while publishing to Server for Network drive

[varun511]

HI ,

i am reading data from Shared drive/Network drive and sending output to shared drive when i Publish my workflow to server is is throwing me error "File not Found"

any help would be highly appreciated 

if i try to use manage workflow  assets and try to select it is  working fine but path is changing in a different way like below (_externals\1\GB1_GL_AP_SL_Extract_20220413.txt)  and when i try to run in server output to not going to shared drive 

Path :

in the server below is the log file is going to 

[phottovy · Accepted solution]

Hi @varun511 ,

We had a lot of issues using network files when we first started using Server. Here is a write-up I put together once we figured out what we were doing:

Reading / Writing to Network Folders with Alteryx Server 

In your scenario, you will not want to check the box under manage workflow assets. This will create a copy of your original file when you save it to Server and will break the link to your original file. I would double check that the "user" that was set up to run your workflows in Server has access to the folder where the original file is saved.

[varun511]

Hey ,

Thanks so much for your blog it really helps 

tried to go back and change UNC under workflow dependencies and  while saving workflow do i need to still select manage workflow assets?

if i dont select it is throwing me same error again 'File not found"

can you please help me?

Thanks

[messi007]

@varun511,

As you want to link the input/output to the server I recommande to uncheck the input / output at the moment of sharing keep only the macro checked.

And instead of using "\" in the path you have to change it to "/" for example instead of "c:\your folder\yourfile.xlsx" it will be "c:/your folder/yourfile.xlsx" with that alteryx will not create the external folder.

You have to do the same if you have a macro (Change "\" with "/")

Let me know if this works for you :)

Hope this helps,

Regards

[phottovy]

@varun511 ,

If you are using the UNC path and want to have your workflow use the file that is saved in the network folder, you want to make sure that file is unchecked under manage workflow assets. When you check that box, the original file will essentially be packaged with your workflow and a new version will be saved on your server. Any changes to the original file in your network folder will not show up in your workflow. The easiest way to tell is to look at the path after you've saved it to your server. If you see "_externals", it means your file was packaged and is no longer linked to the network file. If it keeps the full UNC path, then you are still linked to the original file.

As for the error message, you should check with your Server admin to verify the "Run As" settings. At my company, our IT department created a service account to use with Server. We had to give that service account access to the same network folders that I can access for us to read or write from a network folder in Server. At first, I would get the same error you are seeing because that service account was restricted from accessing the folder, similar to how someone in a different department might not have access to the same folders you do.