Error or Warning Message

The following error occurs when opening CONNECTION Client:

We couldn't create the data directory

Microsoft Edge can't read and write to its data directory:

Explanation

The error has two possible causes:

Cause #1: The path specified in the error mentions a different user profile than the current user

If a user right-clicks on the installer for CONNECTION Client 11.00.02.16 or later and selects "Run as administrator" or executes the installer from an Administrator Command Prompt or PowerShell console and in either case executes the installer as a different user with administrative privileges, the Bentley Licensing Service and CONNECTION Client that are started at the completion of the installation will be running as the administrator, not the user. This causes problems when the Edge WebView component running as the user attempts to communicate with CONNECTION Client running as the administrator as shown below:

Cause #2: The path specified in the error mentions the current user profile

A permissions issue is causing the error. This occurs if the file system denies the current user access to the path specified in the error.

How to Avoid

If the first error occurs, please restart the computer or log off of Windows to close any instances of the Bentley Licensing Service or CONNECTION Client running as the administrator. CONNECTION Client should function properly after the user logs into Windows again. To prevent the issue, ask administrators to run the installer as a normal user. When clicking the Install button, Windows will then prompt for administrator credentials to elevate the installation process only, not the processes that start afterwards.

If the second error occurs instead, perform the following steps to correct the permissions:

1. Open the Windows Start menu, and do a search for %temp%.
2. Attempt to open the Bentley.STS.Client folder.
3. If a file permissions error occurs, click the Continue button with the shield to explicitly add the user to the folder permissions.
4. Restart CONNECTION Client.