Foam::findEtcFile() : could not find mandatory file 'controlDict'
 

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.

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,
Bruno

controlDict Error
 

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

@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:
If you don't know or don't remember how forums should be used (I don't always remember myself either :rolleyes:), here is a very nice explanation: http://openfoamwiki.net/index.php/Ho..._Message_Board

Good luck!
Bruno

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

Hi Recep,

I know how annoying machines and the internet can get :rolleyes:
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

etc entry?
 

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):



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

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:

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..

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$