Getting error upon starting Mechanical APDL

- March 24, 2020 at 1:52 pm
  
  jnottie
  Subscriber
  
  Running ANSYS on VMWare due to COVID-19 outbreak. When we open Mechanical APDL, we get the error: fatal error "unable to get value "AppData" from key "HKEY_CU/software/MS/Windows/CV/Explorer/Shell Folders" The System cannot find file specified./Ansys/ansys19.1" could not be created to maintain ANSYS settings. Please. I have created this directory manually, I have also added the ANSYS_APPDATA_DIR environment variable %USERPROFILE%AppDataRoaming I have also done a full re-install of ANSYS.
  
  Any advice?
- March 24, 2020 at 5:33 pm
  
  Wenlong
  Ansys Employee
  
  Hi,
  
  The issue is with the Windows Registry key that defines 'AppData' environment variable. You can see from this error message
  
  unable to get value "AppData" from key "HKEY_CU/software/MS/Windows/CV/Explorer/Shell Folders" The System cannot find file specified.
  
  So you will need to figure out why your system does not have AppData set in the Windows registry. (You may need to consult your IT to solve that)
  
  Regards,
  
  Wenlong
- March 24, 2020 at 6:47 pm
  
  jnottie
  Subscriber
  
  Thanks. I figured it out. The home folder path was set in the Active Directory user profile. Once modifying that, it worked!