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Old   August 16, 2011, 10:04
Default Foam::findEtcFile() : could not find mandatory file 'controlDict'
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Anders Olofsson
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I get that error when I try to run blockMesh in my case directory. I got a sub directory "System" that contains the controlDict file.

I've seen this question before on the forum but no actual answer. I'm guessing I'm missing some enviroment variable, could that be it?

I'm running OpenFOAM 1.70 on a windows machine.
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Old   August 16, 2011, 11:36
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Greetings Anders and welcome to the forum!

You seem to be looking for this thread: http://www.cfd-online.com/Forums/ope...7-0-win32.html

Anyway, the file that blockMesh is looking for is located at "OpenFOAM-1.7.0\etc\controlDict". Probably it isn't finding it because you might have placed OpenFOAM's folder inside a folder that has spaces in it. For example, "C:\Program Files\OpenFOAM-1.7.0" is a big no no, because OpenFOAM does not like paths that have spaces in them...

Best regards,
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Old   February 2, 2012, 08:14
Default controlDict Error
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Hi

I am gettin this message

Can somebody help me?

Foam::fvsPatchField, Foam::surfaceMesh> const&, Foam::GeometricField<double, Foam::fvPatchField, Foam::volMesh> const&) const in "/opt/openfoam210/platforms/linux64GccDPOpt/lib/libfiniteVolume.so"
#6
at twoPhaseEulerFoam.C:0
#7
in "/opt/openfoam210/platforms/linux64GccDPOpt/bin/twoPhaseEulerFoam"
#8
in "/opt/openfoam210/platforms/linux64GccDPOpt/bin/twoPhaseEulerFoam"
#9 __libc_start_main in "/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6"
#10
in "/opt/openfoam210/platforms/linux64GccDPOpt/bin/twoPhaseEulerFoam"
Floating point exception

Thanks,

Recep
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Old   February 2, 2012, 16:52
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kanarya View Post
I am gettin this message

Can somebody help me?

Foam::fvsPatchField, Foam::surfaceMesh> const&, Foam::GeometricField<double, Foam::fvPatchField, Foam::volMesh> const&) const in "/opt/openfoam210/platforms/linux64GccDPOpt/lib/libfiniteVolume.so"
(...)
@Recep: seriously, why are you almost randomly asking the same question in several threads, and to top it off, you're giving a seriously vague error output. Anyway, if you had bothered to read the blog post in my signature above, you would find the following text:
Quote:
"Oh my, oh my, the solver crashed, what am I going to do?"
  1. Don't panic.
  2. Start reading here: Foam::error::PrintStack - post #2
  3. Still can't figure out the problem, then read here: Parallel running of 3D multiphase turbulence model (unknown problem!!) post#3
  4. Perhaps wrong dimensions? porousSimpleFoam - crash post #2
If you don't know or don't remember how forums should be used (I don't always remember myself either ), here is a very nice explanation: http://openfoamwiki.net/index.php/Ho..._Message_Board

Good luck!
Bruno
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Old   February 3, 2012, 05:39
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hi Bruno,

really sorry about it...u are right...but the system was blocked and I was not able to send any message, so i got angry...bcause of that I sent several places...really sorry..
Thanks a lot for answer...

Best!

recep
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Old   February 4, 2012, 11:16
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Hi Recep,

I know how annoying machines and the internet can get
If you still have problems with this, please start a new thread here in the main OpenFOAM forum (http://www.cfd-online.com/Forums/openfoam/) or preferably in the OpenFOAM Running, Solving & CFD sub-forum

Good luck!
Bruno
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Old   January 31, 2020, 11:14
Question etc entry?
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Hi Foamers,


I am trying to run my first simulation on a cluster. I am getting this error (while trying to run decomposePar or simpleFoam):



Code:
--> FOAM FATAL ERROR :
    Could not find mandatory etc entry (mode=ugo)
    'controlDict'
But controlDict is located in the system folder and I am running my simulations from the correct directory. What can cause this? Any ideas please?


PS: I did some research and it has been mentioned that it might be due to a space in the path. How can I check this on a server?


Regards,
MJ
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Old   May 12, 2021, 09:38
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Hello, i am quite new to Openfoam so i try to firt run the tutorial /opt/openfoam8/tutorials/incompressible/icoFoam/cavity/cavity/system$
unfortunately, i have this error when trying to run blockMesh :


"


alexandre@alexandre-VirtualBox:/opt/openfoam8/tutorials/incompressible/icoFoam/cavity/cavity/system$ blockMesh
--> FOAM FATAL ERROR :
Could not find mandatory etc entry (mode=ugo)
'controlDict'

"


i don't have any space in the directory path.
I am using Openfoam on a virtual machine (ubuntu) installed on windows using "virtualbox"


Thank you for your help.
Alexandre
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Old   May 12, 2021, 10:25
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexandreH View Post
Hello, i am quite new to Openfoam so i try to firt run the tutorial /opt/openfoam8/tutorials/incompressible/icoFoam/cavity/cavity/system$
unfortunately, i have this error when trying to run blockMesh :


"


alexandre@alexandre-VirtualBox:/opt/openfoam8/tutorials/incompressible/icoFoam/cavity/cavity/system$ blockMesh
--> FOAM FATAL ERROR :
Could not find mandatory etc entry (mode=ugo)
'controlDict'

"


i don't have any space in the directory path.
I am using Openfoam on a virtual machine (ubuntu) installed on windows using "virtualbox"


Thank you for your help.
Alexandre
Hi Alexandre and welcome to the forum

You need to go back one directory and run it from the cavity folder. I mean go to:

Code:
/opt/openfoam8/tutorials/incompressible/icoFoam/cavity/cavity/
and then run blockMesh.

Regards,
MJ
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Old   July 27, 2022, 19:44
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Michael Jensen
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mm66 View Post
Hi Alexandre and welcome to the forum

You need to go back one directory and run it from the cavity folder. I mean go to:

Code:
/opt/openfoam8/tutorials/incompressible/icoFoam/cavity/cavity/
and then run blockMesh.

Regards,
MJ



This is really wierd.. I could run cases before.. so it isn't a problem with my directory path. I've also tried running it from cavity, cavity/cavity, and cavity/cavity/system, always the same result. ..could it be confused by my having .com and .org versions of openfoam on my system? ... ..not sure if I should start a new thread..
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Old   October 18, 2022, 13:17
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After installing openfoam via
sudo apt-get install openfoam
I followed the user guide and copied the cavity case to a new user directory.
Then I ran

blockMesh
and got the same error message previous posters saw.



--> FOAM FATAL ERROR :
Could not find mandatory etc entry (mode=ugo)
'controlDict'


this is openfoam10, in 2022 and this problem keeps cropping up.
but I haven't found a clear, deterministic answer in any of the forums I've reviewed.
Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

=============================


(base) ie@ie-OptiPlex-9020:/opt/openfoam10/tutorials/incompressible/icoFoam$ pwd
/opt/openfoam10/tutorials/incompressible/icoFoam
(base) ie@ie-OptiPlex-9020:/opt/openfoam10/tutorials/incompressible/icoFoam$ cp -R cavity/cavity ~/
(base) ie@ie-OptiPlex-9020:/opt/openfoam10/tutorials/incompressible/icoFoam$ pushd ~/cavity
~/cavity /opt/openfoam10/tutorials/incompressible/icoFoam ~/CODE/cavity
(base) ie@ie-OptiPlex-9020:~/cavity$ pwd
/home/ie/cavity
(base) ie@ie-OptiPlex-9020:~/cavity$ ls
0 constant system
(base) ie@ie-OptiPlex-9020:~/cavity$ blockMesh
--> FOAM FATAL ERROR :
Could not find mandatory etc entry (mode=ugo)
'controlDict'

(base) ie@ie-OptiPlex-9020:~/cavity$
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