File geodatabase has become locked - "do not have permissions to edit"

[RickBoggs1]

Hi all, 

I am working from ArcGIS Pro 2.3.3, win 10 64bit, with a file database that is stored on a network drive. After running the Feature Class to Feature Class tool and loading in some data to the new feature class, my database has become locked. When I try to edit any of the information within the database, I get an error message in Pro which states "unable to edit feature". I opened Desktop and I get an error message saying that "I do not have the required permissions".

• I have checked in the file folder to see if there were some schema lock files that I could delete, nothing there.
• The folder is not read only.
• I copied the file folder onto my desktop to see if that made any difference, no change. 
• My database is not compressed. 
• I exported a feature class out of the database and then was able to edit it, but I do not seem to be able to replicate/copy the database itself using ESRI tools.

While I have the ability to recover my database, I am concerned that this issue will present itself again when I run the tool in the future. 

Does anyone know what could be going on?

This thread is for desktop and mentions some issues. - https://community.esri.com/thread/63440 

One person reported an issue using pro and something that may be a result of how metadata is being stored. :

     "In my case I was using arc pro, on a server network. Would used a FC to FC. Would then become read -only. I would right click on my new feature class>Properties>Metadata

The first box is a drop down, I chose "Layer has its own metadata""

[Anonymous User]

Hi Rick,

I have seen some similar issues---more so the permissions issue on the network folder. 

I'm going to pull out some key information in regards to the issue and hopefully can get to the bottom of it. 

• File gdb in a network drive
• Issue started happening with the file gdb when doing Feature Class to Feature class tool
• Pro gives the error "Unable to edit feature" 
• ArcMap says along the lines of "required permissions"
• Moving the data locally fails with the same error message

I have some questions about the Network drive:

1. What is the file location path, does it have multiple child folders under it? 
2. Are there any spaces in this location? 
3. Does this happen with all the data you are working with in this location? 
4. Do you have read write permission on the network folder? 

Thanks!

Luba

[RickBoggs1]

Hi Luba, 

• The database is only three folders deep, no numbers or spaces.
• I have not tried to replicate this with another database, I can try and see if it does.
• Yes, I have read write permissions to the network folder, I can access and edit all of my other databases stored within the same folder. The issue only exists with the database I used to run the tool. 
• I also tried to export the affected database as an XML file and it fails each time. No error reasons were given.

[Anonymous User]

Hi Rick,

Are you able to export anything from this file gdb such as doing a feature class to feature class? Or does it fail completely? Are you able to send this zipped file gdb for me to take a look at it? 

Best, 

Luba

[RickBoggs1]

Luba, 

I can send it over if I have your contact information.

Thanks for your time.

[Anonymous User]

Hi Rick,

Did you my direct message to receive the data? 

[ScottWade3]

Has a solution been found to this problem reported by the original poster? We are experiencing this kind of geodatabase corruption. It appears to be read only, but feature classes can be freely edited in Pro. When we try to start an edit session in ArcMap, we see the same message about not being able to access the geodatabase. Attempts to reset the permissions on the geodatabase fail to do anything in Windows Explorer.

[RickBoggs1]

No, I was unable to recover. Had to get a back copy of my database from my IT department.

[Andemik]

We had a similar problem. ArcGIS creates a lock file as an invalid user, and this causes a problem.

[CStarbirdDudek]

I just experienced the same issue. Working in ArcGIS Pro, I ran the "Create Transects Along Line" tool, with the output set to a new feature class in my project's file geodatabase. I closed completely out of ArcGIS Pro and found that I could no longer edit any feature classes within ArcGIS Desktop. Unfortunately, the "Recover File Geodatabase" tool was not very helpful because it doesn't recover the internal structure of the file geodatabase (eg feature datasets). Not wanting to roll back to a backup (in fear of losing hours of work), I ended up just copying the feature classes into a new file geodatabase. This should be fixed. It's this sort of incompatibility/unreliability that is slowing the adoption of Pro.