PyMAPDL Not Starting - JSON Decoder Error

[ay8tb]

Not sure what changed on my end, but I'm currently having an issue running pyMAPDL. Running mapdl = launch_mapdl() generates the following errors:

CRITICAL - pymapdl_global -  logging - handle_exception - Uncaught exception
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\XXX\PycharmProjects\XXX\XXX.py", line 10, in <module>
    mapdl = launch_mapdl()
  File "C:\Users\XXX\anaconda3\envs\XXX\lib\site-packages\ansys\mapdl\core\launcher.py", line 1619, in launch_mapdl
    exec_file = get_ansys_path(version=version)
  File "C:\Users\XXX\anaconda3\envs\XXX\lib\site-packages\ansys\tools\path\path.py", line 1040, in get_ansys_path
    return _get_application_path("mapdl", allow_input, version, True)
  File "C:\Users\XXX\anaconda3\envs\XXX\lib\site-packages\ansys\tools\path\path.py", line 959, in _get_application_path
    exe_loc = _read_executable_path_from_config_file(product)
  File "C:\Users\XXX\anaconda3\envs\XXX\lib\site-packages\ansys\tools\path\path.py", line 948, in _read_executable_path_from_config_file
    config_data = _read_config_file()
  File "C:\Users\XXX\anaconda3\envs\XXX\lib\site-packages\ansys\tools\path\path.py", line 856, in _read_config_file
    return json.loads(content)
  File "C:\Users\XXX\anaconda3\envs\XXX\lib\json\__init__.py", line 346, in loads
    return _default_decoder.decode(s)
  File "C:\Users\XXX\anaconda3\envs\XXX\lib\json\decoder.py", line 337, in decode
    obj, end = self.raw_decode(s, idx=_w(s, 0).end())
  File "C:\Users\XXX\anaconda3\envs\XXX\lib\json\decoder.py", line 355, in raw_decode
    raise JSONDecodeError("Expecting value", s, err.value) from None
json.decoder.JSONDecodeError: Expecting value: line 1 column 1 (char 0)

I've done a clean uninstall and reinstall of ANSYS and am able to use Workbench just fine. Not sure what suddenly changed and could appreciate any help to get back on track. Thank you!

[germa89]

mmmhhh..... I will bet it is because of ansys.tools.path module. This discussion should be transferred to that repo, but I am going to keep it here for future references.

I think your config file for that module is outdated.

Can you try:

from ansys.tools.path.path import clear_configuration
clear_configuration("all")

If that does not work, can you delete the file which CONFIG_FILE variable is pointing at?

>>> from ansys.tools.path.path import CONFIG_FILE
>>> print(CONFIG_FILE)
C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Ansys\ansys_tools_path\config.txt

References:

• Inconsistency issue ansys-tools-path#110 (comment)
• Outdated CONFIG_FILE #3377

[ay8tb]

HI @germa89,
So I ended up fixing it a different way - my ANSYS install wasn't as clean as I thought and I deleted any instances of Ansys (not tools) in any temp folders and reinstalled. Once I ran change_default_ansys_path, it worked again.

[germa89]

Great! Perfect!