DWL and DWL2 files! Computer crashed and i cant restore the drawing!

[pepe_c]

So my computer crashed after an intense few hours on autocad and I didn't save it (rookie mistake, I know!). I searched the web for answers and ive found my Automatic Save File loacton which ed me to 2 documents. One is a dwl and one is a dwl2. However I cant open them. Does anybody know how to open them or convert them to a dwg file please????

[steven-g]

Those aren't the files you need, first off do you have autosave setup or you are out of luck. If you crashed then the file recovery manager should have started automatically, you did save the file at some point I hope, if you where working on a new drawing from a template then again you will have problems.

Anyway 2 things to try open the DRAWINGRECOVERY manager using that command, and see if your file is listed there, or look in C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Local\Temp\DRAWING.sv$ this is the map where you should find any bakups, again look for your filename with the extension .sv$ the date and time will help you locate it. If its there copy the file to somewhere else and just change the .sv$ to .dwg

[pepe_c]

Thanks Steven-g! You are a lifesaver and a genius!

[BIGAL]

For your info Dwl are drawing lock files

[steven-g]

For your further info, they are always there for each drawing you have open (though they might not be visible as they are system files), it can be handy on a network when you are told the drawing is already open by another user, to see who has a drawing in use, by double clicking on a .dwl it should open in notepad and give you the name of the user and/or the computer name. When you close a drawing normally they close down, if you have any of these after a crash they can be safely deleted (windows won't allow you to delete them if they are in use, so you cannot delete one by mistake).

The .dwl2 is also a text file, and I have to be honest I have no idea what exactly they do, or why there are 2 of them.

[BlackBox]

FWIW -

 

You don't need drawing lock files to determine the DWG Owner... See this old post for more detail.

 

Cheers

[BIGAL]

If you save a dwg then use the little red X top right you can leave the dwl behind same with shut down and not close autocad, I clean up our server and just globally delete any dwl's that are left behind.

[ass018958]

Hi Steven, got a problem with my CAD file drawing most likely as what stated above .dwl & dwl2 these are the 2 documents left on the location where i save my files since i open it. What i did is i restart the system without closing the cad file what i work for then a pop up msg came to save my Cad file, is selected save and close. When the system is open i can't able to fine my CAD file and the other thing is the autosave backup files on my CAD settings was set on disabled. I spend my entire time and effort on that darwing and now in just a blink of seconds its gone. i almost finish that drawing can you gave me some ideas how to recover my Cad drawings....? Can you help me please or anyone of you guys out there have idea to solve my problem. I really need it badly because in 4 days i need to submit this drawing.

 

thanks in advance.

[Dana W]

Hi Steven, got a problem with my CAD file drawing most likely as what stated above .dwl & dwl2 these are the 2 documents left on the location where i save my files since i open it. What i did is i restart the system without closing the cad file what i work for then a pop up msg came to save my Cad file, is selected save and close. When the system is open i can't able to fine my CAD file and the other thing is the autosave backup files on my CAD settings was set on disabled. I spend my entire time and effort on that darwing and now in just a blink of seconds its gone. i almost finish that drawing can you gave me some ideas how to recover my Cad drawings....? Can you help me please or anyone of you guys out there have idea to solve my problem. I really need it badly because in 4 days i need to submit this drawing.

 

thanks in advance.

I don't understand why the .dwg file would disappear from a simple restart while the drawing was open, especially since you say you selected save when prompted.

 

The presence of the dwl files tells me that AutoCad did not close normally, and the Save was not performed. As mentioned above, you can safely delete the dwl files, and you must delete them before trying to open a drawing of the same name.

 

Using Windows file explorer, Look for a file of the same name as your dwg file with the file extension .bak. Example Mydrawing.bak. if found, rename it to Mydrawing.dwg, and open it with AutoCad. It may not have all of your newest changes in it, but most of it, up to your last normal close & save should be there. The .bak file is not the same thing as the Autosave files.

 

Now, if both Autosave and the backup (.bak) files are disabled, then I don't think you will find anything to help.

[ass018958]

Thanks Dana for the reply.

 

I can't able to move on for what happened to my drawing file. I doubt it why is it even the original file where i saved is gone. I searched the file in my full system but doesn't found.

[Dana W]

You did not address any of the suggestion I posted. Can you even find the back-up file for your drawing? [Same Name].bak

[Cad64]

As Dana mentioned, it doesn't make any sense that the file would be gone if you did in fact save it somewhere on your system. You either didn't save the file while you were working on it or Autocad wasn't able to successfully save the file when you did the system restart. But the good news is you still have 4 days to recreate the drawing, so you should probably get started.

 

And make sure to always save and close your files and programs before initiating a system restart.

[Dana W]

I'm betting it's on the network server, and the OP is, well, New.