Recovering drawing files which fail to open in AutoCAD Products

Autodesk Support

Sep 20, 2024


Products and versions covered


Issue:

An AutoCAD drawing (DWG) file has been corrupted.

  • Drawings may show the message "Drawing file is not valid" when opened in AutoCAD Products.
  • Drawings may display a message about errors being found, hang, or crash during the opening process.
  • File may not appear in AutoCAD Products after being opened.
  • File may open, but freeze and have to be force closed. 
  • Blank drawing or Drawing 1 opened after recovery.

Causes:

  • Third-party applications running inside AutoCAD Products.
  • DWG files or objects created or saved by non-Autodesk or non-RealDWG products.
  • AutoCAD Product terminated while saving the drawing.
  • Old drawings were used repeatedly over long time periods.
  • Network anomalies (transmission errors, file locking, latent writing of data).
  • Storage media degradation (bad sectors on a hard drive).
  • Defective or failing RAM.
  • Operating System issues.
  • Power surges.
  • Outdated software.

Solution:

Try the following in order. If one doesn't work, go to the next one:

  • Open a new, blank drawing then type RECOVER on the command line. Browse and select the file in question. 
  • Restore from a BAK file (see To Restore a Drawing From a Backup File).
  • Delete DWL and DWL2 files:

    1. Turn on hidden files (see How to turn on hidden files and folders on Windows and How to turn on hidden files and folders in macOS).
    2. Locate the drawing folder and delete the DWL and DWL2 files if they are found next to the DWG file.
    3. Attempt to open the DWG again.
  • Insert the drawing in a blank drawing:

    1. Open a blank DWG template, such as acad.dwt.
    2. Run the INSERT or CLASSICINSERT command.
    3. Select the problematic file.
    4. Press OK.
  • Restore from an autosave file:

    1. Open the C:\Windows\Temp folder in Windows.

    2. Show hidden extensions (see How to turn on hidden file extensions in Windows).
    3. Look for a file with an SV$ extension and a similar name to the corrupted file.
    4. Copy the file to a new location and rename the extension to DWG.
    5. Open the file in AutoCAD Products.
Note: The location of autosave files might be different from the default one. It is stored in AutoCAD Options > File tab > Automatic Save File Location.
  • Try opening the drawing using DWG TrueView. If the file opens, convert the file to a previous DWG version, then open in AutoCAD Products. 
  • Go back to a previous version of the file.
  • If a PDF of the drawing exists, use the PDFIMPORT (Command) to recreate the drawing. 

Products:

AutoCAD for Mac; AutoCAD LT for Mac; AutoCAD Products; DWG TrueView;


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