Error Message - Project could not be saved / other process

May 25, 2012

Hi all, 

I have received an error message several times today that looks like screenshot below.  It reads, "The project file could not be saved.  The process cannot access the file [file directory node] because it is being used by another process." I can't think of another process that could possibly be using the .story file I am trying to save.

  I have tried saving with different names and in different locations.  I have tried opening another instance of storyline and opening this file.  Nothing seems to work, and at this point a lot of effort will be lost if I just close.  Any suggestions?  

45 Replies
Jane Markheim

Although this original thread began 4 years ago, the Articulate and Bit9 incompatibility still exists. Our company recently installed Bit9 and could no longer save Articulate files due to the conflicting processes. It took quite a while to finally isolate this as the cause and remedy the situation. I write this post in case others have a similar combo of products in their IT environment and are seeing the same error message, "...the process cannot access <filename> because it is being used by another process."

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi John,

You may want to message Becky directly using the "contact me" button on her profile to see what security settings they ended up changing within Bit9 as it does seem to be changes made there vs. in Storyline. Also, if you'd like to chat with our Support engineers you're welcome to reach out here and if you want to mention the previous comment by Becky they'll be able to connect to her case as well. I didn't see any note of a particular setting in my check of her case. 

Becky Barch

The changes were made in Bit9. The particular area of the Bit9 config (now called Carbon Black) that was changed is not meant to be changed without Bit9/Carbon Black's support team assistance.  To speed the process reference our old case number when  you contact Bit9/Carbon Black's support team.  Case Number: 00034346

 

Jane Markheim

Hi John and all,

Here are the steps we found for best resolution:

1. Collect Bit9 (Carbon Black Enterprise) diagnostics from the endpoint (user machine);

2. Open a support case with Carbon Black explaining a likely conflict with storyline.exe;

3. Provide the diagnostics; and

4. Reference Bit9 case #49526.

Hope this provides relief so that others don't live in the dark as we did! 

Erin Flasher

Thanks, Becky and Jane. I work with John Borgen who posted above and have been trying to work with our IT team on this issue. The IT person I've been working with has been collecting diagnostics from my machine over the last two weeks and isn't able to see any evidence that Bit9 is causing any issues with Storyline. Do you happen to know what diagnostics your IT person was able to get? We are most definitely experiencing the same problem (yesterday I had 45 versions of one file and lost a lot of time wrangling with trying to save my project.) We have two people on our team who use a VM through a Mac to access Storyline and so do not have Bit9 who aren't experiencing the issue, so I am fully on board that Bit9 is our likely culprit, but just we can't capture the evidence. I'm attaching a screenshot of all of my versions from yesterday for the sake of anyone who doesn't understand how prohibitively time-consuming this issue is.

Erin Flasher

Our case was just escalated, so I will try to get the new IT person to contact Carbon Black. From the steps above, it looks like diagnostics were gathered prior to contacting them, but our IT team says they aren't seeing evidence a conflict to diagnose. I'll see if our new person will just contact them and reference the two cases mentioned above in this thread. Thank you!

Jane Markheim

Hi Erin, diagnosis info is as simple as you capturing screenshots of the "process being used" error message and, most important, screenshots of your directory/directories showing all the files that are being created because of the save conflict. Since the problem is intermittent, it's not something that IT can see under the hood. Your IT will also have the two Bit9 cases to reference. Hope this helps, I know what a pain this is.

Marc Lee

I realize this is an old thread, but I have been experiencing the 'cannot save/another process' error (screenshot attached).  Has anyone figured out the definitive cause for this error?  In my case, SL does actually do the save and the project does not seem to be harmed or corrupted.  Actually, in most cases SL saves 2 identical copies of the file, one with the numeral 2 added to the filename. The error is sporadic - meaning it happens not all of the time, but I cannot discern a pattern when it does happen. 

Leslie McKerchie

Hey Marc - This one must be plaguing you as I know you posted here as well. Sorry to hear this, but I'm glad it is actually saving for you as that sure beats losing data.

I'm assuming you are reaching out for community assistance, so hopefully someone will be able to chime in and share some experience if they can. 

Otherwise, you can take a peek at my response and if you need to work with our support team, be sure to reach out here.

Erin Flasher

Marc, does your company use Bit9? If so, that is likely the cause of the  problem. Our IT department helped troubleshoot the problem and after much testing determined that it was indeed a Bit9 problem. The company was already planning to upgrade to a newer version of Bit9, and once that upgrade took place (that took another two months), the problem never occurred again. I suggest you work with your IT department and see if they will either upgrade Bit9 or suggest some other security option for you. 

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