Changing SAS working directory on Citrix machine

Question

I'm running SAS EG 7.1 on a Citrix machine at work. I'm trying to do a very large sql pull and keep running out of disk space. Our server drive has plenty of storage, so I assume switching the working directory to a folder on that drive temporarily will avoid this error?

The error says "insufficient disk space....file is damaged. I/O processing did not complete. You may be able to execute sql statement successfully if you allocate more space to the WORK library." I don't seem to have access to the config file and I've tried to change it programmatically with no luck. I am trying to save the resulting dataframe to a server folder already with a LIBNAME statement, but I think the temporary files created in WORK during the process are too much to handle. Any help?

I've tried both:

x 'cd "Q:\folder"';

and

data _null_;
   rc = system( 'cd "Q:\folder"' );
   if rc = 0 
      then putlog 'Command successful';
      else putlog 'Command failed';
run;

These run fine, but in the log it still says my working directory is unchanged:

SYMBOLGEN:  Macro variable SASWORKLOCATION resolves to "C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Temp\SEG5432\SAS Temporary 
            Files\citrixMachineDrive\Prc2/"

Is the issue DISK space or MEMORY? If it is DISK space then why are you writing the dataset to the WORK library if you know there isn't enough room? Write the results to a disk that does have enough room. — Tom, Apr 02 '22 at 03:09
@Tom Disk issue. I edited the original post to clarify. I am writing the dataframe already to a server folder with tons of storage, but I suspect the temporary files created in WORK during the process are too much. — Dr.Data, Apr 02 '22 at 13:55

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 02 '22 at 00:04

The current directory is relevant for file references and such, but it's not related to your Work or Util directories.

WORK and UTIL are only settable at startup, and are either set in the arguments for sas.exe or in the sasv9.cfg configuration file. How you solve your particular problem depends on whether EG is connecting to a SAS server, or if it's just running locally. If it's running locally, you may be able to modify the startup options. If it's connecting to a server, you will have to talk to your SAS administrator.

However, it's highly unlikely you would want to use the network folder as your WORK folder. SAS expects high speed disk connected directly to the machine for WORK; if you set it to a network drive, your performance would be extremely poor.

Also note that "C:" is on the machine the SAS server is running on - it might be the same machine, if you're running SAS locally (on Citrix), but if it's a remote SAS server then the C:\ is on that server.

Changing SAS working directory on Citrix machine

1 Answers1