Feature Classes Not Found

[WilliamCole]

I run a single use ArcGIS license.

I recently moved a project from ArcGIS Desktop to ArcGIS Pro running on a Windows 10
machine. It worked well, though the transition did take time while I got more comfortable
with ArcGIS Pro.

Because of the announcement of Windows 10 going "mature" in October 2025, and I being mildly
OCD, bought a replacement Windows 11 machine. I uninstalled ArcGIS Pro from the Windows
10 device and installed ArcGIS Pro on the Windows 11 machine.

Then I copied the relevant directories from Window 10 to Windows 11 and started ArcGIS Pro
using this transferred project. 

The project, which uses historical maps that have been georeferenced to the base map, opened these maps as it should with the proper extents and the proper the coordinate system. 

There are, however, two problems:

• In the ArcGIS Pro Windows 10 installation - which worked fine- I could expand the default
  geodatabase so that all of the Feature Classes [FC], etc. were listed in the catalog pane. In the Windows 11
  installation, even though the file size of the copied geodatabases were exactly the same, down to the file size, under Windows 11 the geodatabase will not expand.
• Secondly, in the Windows 11 ArcGIS Pro installation in the Contents pane, even
  though the FCs were listed in their proper order with the proper symbology
  and even though the source for the feature classes were the same as for the Windows 10
  installation of ArcGIS Pro, each FC was decorated with the red exclamation
  mark [!] indicating that its data could not be found.  The source for each of these FCs is the same geodatabase that is not expanding.

My guess is that there is some file or link that I have copied or have copied but put in the
wrong location - but that is only a guess.

Advice would be most welcomed.

Thanks very much.

[DanPatterson]

try re-establishing the links using

Repair project items—ArcGIS Pro | Documentation

[WilliamCole]

Thank you for this information. Apologize for the late reply - long Labor
Day weekend.

Following the instructions in the ESRI help document on* Repair project
items*, I find none of the items in my Catalog pane carry a red exclamation
mark. However, the red exclamation mark is applied to *all* of the Feature
Classes [FC] that are displayed in the Contents pane. The default gdb is
ProBurgess.gdb.

When I click on the red exclamation mark on any of the FCs the attached
image is displayed. This apparently - unless I'm interpreting it
incorrectly - tells me that the default gdb, ProBurgess.gdb, is empty.
However this is the same file size that opens properly under ArcMap and
used to open properly on my ArcGIS Pro Windows 10 install. I am truly
stumped.

BTW no matter which of the three gdb's that I have used for this map is
opened, all display the message "This container is empty.". [I have three
gdbs for this project, of which ProBurgess is one, which I have used to
test the Project.

Advice is very welcomed. Thank you very much.

[Laura]

Have you re-added the database to your project? Having the (!) usually means you just need to redirect your data to that database. You can still go into properties to see where it is trying to get that data from and go to that location in file explorer to check it out. 

[WilliamCole]

Thank you for the thought. When I select Add Data from the Map Layer menu,
then Browse and select the Project | Databases, in that window I select and
open the database that should contain the project's information. The
Browse window displays the message "The container is empty".

I'm not sure what this is telling me, but if taken at face value this is a
mystery as the selected database [ProBurge.gdb] worked fine under ArcGIS
Pro running Windows 10. The file size when copied from my Win 10 machine
to Win 11 is exactly the same. There is something I'm am missing/not
understanding.

Thanks for bearing with me on this.

Regards,
Bill Cole

[Laura]

Have you added that database to a new project on the same machine? what is the result?

[WilliamCole]

Sorry, same result: "This container is empty."

[DanPatterson]

go back to your windows 10 machine and use

Package Project (Data Management)—ArcGIS Pro | Documentation

sharing outside your organization (even if it is only on one machine)

This will copy all the data from all sources them into one file.

Copy that file to your windows 11 machine into a folder, then open it there

[WilliamCole]

Thanks for the suggestion. This will take me a bit as I'll have to
uninstall the license on the Win11, reinstall it on Win10, run the Package
Project bit, then uninstall on Win10 and install on Win11.

Off I go.

[DanPatterson · Accepted solution]

Tech Support is your best option, because if you can't even package a project, then there is something going wrong with your source environment