workspace suddenly becomes read-only

[MatthewFoster]

Hi Everyone,
This is driving me crazy.  I will be working on editing a point shapefile (or feature class in a file geodatabase), adding points and an attribute for the ID as I go along.  I can save the edits as I go (and I do), but after a few saves, the shapefile or feature class suddenly becomes read-only - or at least, that is what ArcGIS tells me, "Unable to save edits. Workspace or data source is read only".  I never set anything to read only, and after successfully saving my file 3 times (in the latest case) it decides to give me this error on the fourth time!  I have tried putting the geodatabase in a different directory, I've tried as a shapefile... Any ideas?  This has happened repeatedly with different projects lately.  Very frustrating

Thanks in advance,

Matt

[TysonJohnston]

We are also having this issue, but only with file geodatabases created by using the "Create Local Copy for Editing" function.  We too have received this error with no rhyme or reason.  Different users, different OS's (XP and 7), different computers, different offices, different networks (which means different policy, antivirus software, etc.). We have made exceptions for the ArcGIS program folder in the anti-virus applications (both McAfee and Symantec on different networks) and turned off indexing for the C:\users directory (the file geodatabase created by "Create Local Copy for Editing" places the file gdb in \Documents\ArcGIS\FeatureServiceLocalEdits\).  This was all suggested by ESRI, but we still have not had this problem go away completely.  We have one machine right now that is getting this error multiple times daily.

[JamesGraham]

Just wanted to throw my two cents in on this thread.

Got the exact same message as the original poster.  My scenario was that I was running a standalone Python script.  My loop was getting to the 5th or 6th iteration when I would get the non-editable workspace/schema lock issue.

I share my script library with colleagues via Google Drive.  Either pausing the sync or moving the script project directory out of the shared workspace worked for me. 

Best of luck to you all,
J Graham

[StephenNewman]

Just had the same issue today.  Only a single feature class in the geodatabase was locked/unable to be edited.  Tried making a copy of this feature class manually, and had no problems.  Stand-alone python script couldn't do the *exact* same copy.  Extremely frustrating that ESRI hasn't addressed this issue.  Hours and hours of processing time wasted.

[BrianNaess]

This has been happening to me now for about a month or two - Windows 7 x64. I get read-only errors, sometimes "can't copy feature" errors, but all of them seem to go back to the same thing - my scripts are trying to run faster than Arc and/or arcpy, and Arc's file locking system sucks. It's gotten to the point where I stopped running my scripts through the toolbox and just run from PyScripter, which seems to fail less often. But it's so frustrating, as I'm working with huge datasets, and many of my scripts will take an hour or so to run to completion - if they complete. With random read-only errors, I might get 50 minutes into it before it will fail at a random point that it might have passed the last time it ran. Then, I usually have to stop whatever program I was working in Arc or Py to remove the lock that it has on itself. Then, I have to re-run and hope and wait an hour to see if it went all the way through.

I tried reinstalling Arc 10.1. I tried removing Service Pack 1. I tried removing read-only Windows 7 folder permissions. Why do we have to do all of this work just to get something to run consistently???

[ThomasDilts]

Hi all,

I was wondering if there has been any progress on this issue or if anyone has heard whether Esri has plans to address this.  From what I can gather these lock issue seem to be affecting nearly everyone who does editing or ModelBuilder in 10.x, and Esri hasn't made any plans to address this??????  This seems like a big enough and significant issue that pretty much affects every Esri user that should be addressed immediately.  Has anyone come across another post or forum that has a potential solution?

-Tom

[PeterChaplin]

Hi All.
Same issue Win 7 64 bit V10.1
Exported data to SHP file, includes current unsaved data.
Remove layer, Yes to save edits, leaves you still in the same edit session.
I had to say no then load shp into a new gdb.

[CoyPotts1]

I didn't read each and every comment above, so if I overlap anything that has already been said, I apologize.

I have this very same problem, but only when using File Geodatabases.  If I use a Personal Geodatabase, I don't have any problems with read-only errors.  When using the File Geodatabase, I can be in the middle of editing, but every once in a while when I hit "save edits" it'll throw this error at me.  I'll have saved a few times prior, but eventually I'll get this error. 

Maybe this could shine some light on an issue that someone might spot.  Again, sorry if this overlaps anything already covered.

[MattBull]

I have also run into this problem. I was editing an annotation feature class yesterday with no issues, then today when I opened ArcMap to continue where I left off I couldn't save my edits, it said that the database was read-only. Yet ANOTHER bug that has cropped up since I upgraded to ArcGIS 10.1. It's getting really frustrating dealing with bugs and issues every few weeks it seems, and of course rather than deal with them, ESRI thought it better to release a whole new version instead.

The only way I've been able to save my edits is to close the map document and click Yes when the prompt comes up asking if I want to save my edits. I've tried restarting my computer, re-name template, etc., still says the geodatabase is read only.

[RockyGarcia]

I have lost so much time with this issue, not to mention grade points on my exams. If anyone finds a solution please post it here because i am at my wits end with this.

[ScottKelly1]

This is a definite problem ESRI needs to address.  I realize I am stating the obvious by this seems very random.

After trying a few other things I found copy and pasting my file geodatabase into the same directory worked (this time).

I saw for the post on 5-15-2013 that this method didn't work so I think it is worth a try but may not work for everyone.