For some reason I keep getting a warning box opening up that says

C:/Users/Bob/Dropbox/smee files/eagle-files/box35_230316.s##' is locked on host 'Bedroom' from owner 'Bob' at 04.04.2016 21:45.42.

I have to click on either OK or cancel before I can continue building my circuit diagram.
I have looked at lock and unlock in the help but it seems to just point to locking and unlocking an item not the whole file?
I have gone to backup /locking in the control panel and unticked the box 'enable file locking'.
I have closed and opened the file and the box still appears.
There is a file .box35_230316.s##.lck that I assume is the locked file.
It looks as if I have pressed buttons somehow at 21.45 today that has locked something.
Can someone explain to me what I have done and how I can clear the box from appearing every few minutes?
Thanks.

 

I don't know about Eagle specifically, but in many software applications it is the mere presence of some type of lock file (which may or may not contain anything) that results in the associated file (the real file with the same name but different extension) being treated as "locked" by the software. IF this is how Eagle does it, then you can unlock the real file by simply deleting the lock file. I'd recommend making a backup copy of the folder before trying this out.

 

Hello,

There are more programs that use the lock mechanism.
Most times it is to prevent that other users can open a file that is in use.
Often the lock file contains the name of the user who has the file in use.
As said make a copy of the directory and remove the .lck file and see if you can open the file again.

Bertus

 

What version of Eagle are you using?
Is it installed locally, or on a server?
Are there other users of the installation?

I don't have the latest version of Eagle, but I have never seen a lock file generated by the program.

 

What version of Eagle are you using?
Is it installed locally, or on a server?
Are there other users of the installation?

I don't have the latest version of Eagle, but I have never seen a lock file generated by the program.

Usually it is pretty transparent when an app uses this approach. The lock files are created when you open a file and deleted when you close it. Unless you are specifically looking for it while you have files open, you won't see it. It's when you exit the program abnormally that they rear their ugly heads.

 

Usually it is pretty transparent when an app uses this approach. The lock files are created when you open a file and deleted when you close it. Unless you are specifically looking for it while you have files open, you won't see it. It's when you exit the program abnormally that they rear their ugly heads.

Yes, if more than one person has access to edit the file. If only one person has access to edit the file, a lock isn't necessary. I use version 6.5.0 and I have a project open. There is no .lock file that I can find. In the past, I've had .lock files created (on other programs) when the application was installed on a server and more than one person could edit a file.

The OP must have a later version than mine, since I have no ability to lock a file in the Control Panel of the program.

 

Yes, if more than one person has access to edit the file.

Just a thought...
Maybe what has happened is that two copies of Eagle are running so one copy has locked out the other.

Might be caused by a crash of some sort that prevented a copy of Eagle from properly closing. Wait, this could never happen in Windows.

 

@RichardO
I have two versions of Eagle on the same machine and have never had a lock out problem. In my experience, if the versions are incompatible, say version 5.xx and 6.xx, then Eagle just reports an incompatible file when trying to open a 6.xx file with 5.xx.

John

 

It looks like Eagle added file locking in 7.5:

https://www.cadsoftusa.com/fileadmin/journalist/Documents/Release_Notes_v7.5_en.pdf

 

Do you use Eagle on more than one computer? Sometimes if you have left the file open on another computer, it will be locked for use on your other computer. This has happened to me with DipTrace for example.

 

@WBahn Thanks for the heads up. I still use 7.4 and some files on my computer date back to 3.xx. The 5>6 migration was a major incompatibility, so I keep a 5 version available and 7.4 for everything later. It's good Cadsoft allows that feature to be turned off. That will be essential to me, if I ever get around to installing 7.5.

John

 

For some reason I keep getting a warning box opening up that says

C:/Users/Bob/Dropbox/smee files/eagle-files/box35_230316.s##' is locked on host 'Bedroom' from owner 'Bob' at 04.04.2016 21:45.42.

I have to click on either OK or cancel before I can continue building my circuit diagram.
I have looked at lock and unlock in the help but it seems to just point to locking and unlocking an item not the whole file?
I have gone to backup /locking in the control panel and unticked the box 'enable file locking'.
I have closed and opened the file and the box still appears.
There is a file .box35_230316.s##.lck that I assume is the locked file.
It looks as if I have pressed buttons somehow at 21.45 today that has locked something.
Can someone explain to me what I have done and how I can clear the box from appearing every few minutes?
Thanks.

 

Hi, If your file gets locked then go to your working directory and look for the file with ".lck" extension (hidden file) and remove those files. That worked for me.