Question

Error prepending < FME_HOME>/plugins/ to path environment variable

ngstoke
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I keep getting this line when I run a translation. FME still works but it seems to pause for a few moments before it starts:

Error prepending '<FME_HOME>/plugins/' to path environment variable.

The addition may not exist, or on Windows the resulting path may be longer than 2047 characters

Any ideas on how to correct this?

Thanks in advance.

11 replies

david_r
Rank
Userlevel 4

Hi

A couple of questions

  • Have you installed FME locally or on a network share? If it is on a network share, do you use a UNC path (\\\\server\\share\\dir\\...) or a mapped network drive (f:\\dir\\...) to start FME?
  • Are there any accented or "international" characters in the path somewhere where FME is installed?
  • Have you tried re-installing FME?
  • Which version of FME is this, and which operating system are you running?

David

    ngstoke
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    Hi David,

    I'm using the following:

    I have installed FME locally on my C: drive

    Version:FME(R) 2016.0.0.0 (20160115 - Build 16167 - WIN32)

    Home Folder: C:\\Program Files (x86)\\FME\\

    Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit Service Pack 1

    I haven't tried reinstalling FME yet.

    Also, how do I check that there aren't any accented or international characters in the path and should there be an environmental variable set for FME?

    ravenkopelman
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    Windows behaves extremely unpredictably after the PATH is set to more than 2047 characters. I recommend that you prune unneeded entries from your PATH to avoid instability in all your applications, and Windows itself.

    (FME's PATH extension is unlikely to affect any other application, but it means your computer is generally close to the edge.)

    mark2atsafe
    Rank
    Userlevel 4
    Badge +25

    Hi David,

    I'm using the following:

    I have installed FME locally on my C: drive

    Version:FME(R) 2016.0.0.0 (20160115 - Build 16167 - WIN32)

    Home Folder: C:\\Program Files (x86)\\FME\\

    Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit Service Pack 1

    I haven't tried reinstalling FME yet.

    Also, how do I check that there aren't any accented or international characters in the path and should there be an environmental variable set for FME?

    Open a command window (in Windows 7 I use Start > Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt) and type in there: echo %path%

    That will show you the contents of the path variable. If it contains accented characters you would see. You'll also see how long it is and if FME is in there or not. If you want to edit the path I found these steps.

    C

    Windows behaves extremely unpredictably after the PATH is set to more than 2047 characters. I recommend that you prune unneeded entries from your PATH to avoid instability in all your applications, and Windows itself.

    (FME's PATH extension is unlikely to affect any other application, but it means your computer is generally close to the edge.)

    I'm a trial user of FME 2017.0.1.1 (Build 17291) on Win10 64bit (local install, PATH has 2445 chars, all ASCII). Have not reinstalled FME.

    I also get the '... prepending '<FME_HOME>/plugins/ ...' message.

     

    However, I can't prune my path down to below 2047 chars (a lot of it is for Intel and Nvidia drivers).

    I have also manually added in the path (C:\\Users\\myname\\Documents\\FME\\Plugins) to my environment variable, but still get the message.

    Will this error affect the operation of FME in any way, or can I just live with it ?

    Thanks !

     

    stalknecht
    Rank
    Userlevel 1
    Badge +18 
    C:\>dir /X
     Volume in drive C is Local Disk
     Volume Serial Number is E88D-78BA

     Directory of C:\

    05/15/2017  01:29 PM    <DIR>                       apps
    03/22/2017  10:05 AM    <DIR>                       Dell
    06/06/2017  12:51 PM    <DIR>          FMEDAT~2     FMEData2017
    06/02/2017  10:09 AM    <DIR>                       inetpub
    02/02/2017  01:53 AM    <DIR>                       Intel
    03/18/2017  11:03 PM    <DIR>                       PerfLogs
    07/12/2017  08:08 AM    <DIR>          PROGRA~1     Program Files
    07/07/2017  06:41 PM    <DIR>          PROGRA~2     Program Files (x86)
    07/12/2017  09:05 PM    <DIR>                       Temp
    06/02/2017  10:10 AM    <DIR>                       Users
    07/22/2017  10:52 AM    <DIR>                       Windows
    04/13/2017  01:35 AM    <DIR>          WINDOW~1     Windows10Upgrade
                   0 File(s)              0 bytes
                  14 Dir(s)  36,515,704,832 bytes free

    By given dir /X command you can get the shortnames like PROGRA~1 and use them in your path variable.

    ravenkopelman
    Rank
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    Windows behaves extremely unpredictably after the PATH is set to more than 2047 characters. I recommend that you prune unneeded entries from your PATH to avoid instability in all your applications, and Windows itself.

    (FME's PATH extension is unlikely to affect any other application, but it means your computer is generally close to the edge.)

    @chkkbim I don't know that Windows 10 has the same length restrictions on environment variables that Windows 7 did. In addition, there is likely a bug which causes that message to sometimes appear incorrectly (PR#73753 if you raise a case with support@safe.com).

     

     

    The vast majority of the time I would expect PATH trouble to result in obviously failing translations; if your translations are succeeding I wouldn't worry about the warning.

     

    ravenkopelman
    Rank
    Badge 
    C:\>dir /X
     Volume in drive C is Local Disk
     Volume Serial Number is E88D-78BA

     Directory of C:\

    05/15/2017  01:29 PM    <DIR>                       apps
    03/22/2017  10:05 AM    <DIR>                       Dell
    06/06/2017  12:51 PM    <DIR>          FMEDAT~2     FMEData2017
    06/02/2017  10:09 AM    <DIR>                       inetpub
    02/02/2017  01:53 AM    <DIR>                       Intel
    03/18/2017  11:03 PM    <DIR>                       PerfLogs
    07/12/2017  08:08 AM    <DIR>          PROGRA~1     Program Files
    07/07/2017  06:41 PM    <DIR>          PROGRA~2     Program Files (x86)
    07/12/2017  09:05 PM    <DIR>                       Temp
    06/02/2017  10:10 AM    <DIR>                       Users
    07/22/2017  10:52 AM    <DIR>                       Windows
    04/13/2017  01:35 AM    <DIR>          WINDOW~1     Windows10Upgrade
                   0 File(s)              0 bytes
                  14 Dir(s)  36,515,704,832 bytes free

    By given dir /X command you can get the shortnames like PROGRA~1 and use them in your path variable.

    I have never observed PATH entry subfolders being recursively scanned.  Do you have a reference that documents this behavior?

     

    stalknecht
    Rank
    Userlevel 1
    Badge +18
    I have never observed PATH entry subfolders being recursively scanned. Do you have a reference that documents this behavior?

     

    @ravenkopelman I've read some articles on it. Now I've did some tests myself and concluded that I have to revise my answer. Thanks for noticing.

     

    ravenkopelman
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    @chkkbim I don't know that Windows 10 has the same length restrictions on environment variables that Windows 7 did. In addition, there is likely a bug which causes that message to sometimes appear incorrectly (PR#73753 if you raise a case with support@safe.com).

     

     

    The vast majority of the time I would expect PATH trouble to result in obviously failing translations; if your translations are succeeding I wouldn't worry about the warning.

     

    The misleading complaints about failing PATH additions have been improved in FME 2018.0 (turns out we just weren't logging the full path of the missing folders we were failing to append).
    C
    The misleading complaints about failing PATH additions have been improved in FME 2018.0 (turns out we just weren't logging the full path of the missing folders we were failing to append).
    Great ! Will be upgrading to the new version when it is available. Thanks !

     

     

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