Kick won't render when running command on SYSTEM user on Windows

[josephenry]

Hi,

I am running on Windows 10 Pro and I use kick with Arnold 6.2.0.1 from the maya2022 installation:

C:\PROGRA~1\Autodesk\Arnold\maya2022\bin\kick.exe

Since we are using Tractor as our render manager, tasks executed on blades are run as a system administrator therefore running kick with a Windows system session.

It seems to affect how kick works because this example is running fine on a normal user:

etudiant$ C:\PROGRA~1\Autodesk\Arnold\maya2022\bin\kick.exe -dw -dp -nocrashpopup -nostdin -i D:\test\scene_test.ass -o test.exr -set options.abort_on_license_fail true

00:00:00    75MB         | log started Mon Dec 13 22:19:08 2021
00:00:00    75MB         | Arnold 6.2.0.1 [903992ac] windows clang-10.0.1 oiio-2.2.1 osl-1.11.6 vdb-7.1.1 clm-2.0.0.235 rlm-12.4.2 optix-6.6.0 2021/02/09 10:40:42
00:00:00    75MB         | running on i7-mk8-2017-38, pid=5080
00:00:00    75MB         |  1 x Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700 CPU @ 3.60GHz (4 cores, 8 logical) with 32671MB
00:00:00    78MB         |  NVIDIA driver version 471.11 (Optix 60801)
00:00:00    78MB         |  GPU 0: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB @ 1708MHz (compute 6.1) with 6144MB (5668MB available) (NVLink:0)
00:00:00    78MB         |  Windows 10 (version 10.0, build 19044)
00:00:00    78MB         |  soft limit for open files is set at 2048
00:00:00    78MB         |
00:00:00    79MB         | loading plugins from C:\PROGRA~1\Autodesk\Arnold\maya2022\bin\..\plugins ...
00:00:00    83MB         | loaded 6 plugins from 4 lib(s) in 0:00.08
00:00:00    83MB         | [kick] command: C:\PROGRA~1\Autodesk\Arnold\maya2022\bin\kick.exe -dw -dp -nocrashpopup -nostdin -i D:\test\scene_test.ass -o test.exr -set options.abort_on_license_fail true
00:00:00    83MB         | loading plugins from . ...
00:00:00    83MB         | no plugins loaded
00:00:00    84MB         | [ass] loading D:\test\scene_test.ass ...
00:00:00    85MB         | [ass] read 11976 bytes, 12 nodes in 0:00.00
00:00:00    85MB         | [kick] applying 1 attr value override
00:00:00    85MB         |
00:00:00    85MB         | authorizing with default license managers: rlm, network, user ...
00:00:00    90MB         | [network] authorized for "xxxxxxxxxxxxx" in 0:00.05
00:00:00    90MB         | [network] expiration date: xx/xx/xx, in use: 1/3000

...

00:00:00   122MB         | render done in 0:00.778
00:00:00   122MB         | [driver_exr] writing file `test.exr'
00:00:01   122MB         | render done
00:00:01   118MB         |
00:00:01   118MB         | releasing resources
00:00:01    89MB         | Arnold shutdown

But it doesn't work when running the same command as system user (with verbose set to 6):

SYSTEM$ C:\PROGRA~1\Autodesk\Arnold\maya2022\bin\kick.exe -v 6 -dw -dp -nocrashpopup -nostdin -i C:\Users\etudiant\Desktop\scene_test.ass -o test.exr -set options.abort_on_license_fail true

00:00:00    76MB         | log started Mon Dec 13 22:22:30 2021
00:00:00    76MB         | Arnold 6.2.0.1 [903992ac] windows clang-10.0.1 oiio-2.2.1 osl-1.11.6 vdb-7.1.1 clm-2.0.0.235 rlm-12.4.2 optix-6.6.0 2021/02/09 10:40:42
00:00:00    76MB         | running on i7-mk8-2017-38, pid=8116
00:00:00    76MB         |  1 x Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700 CPU @ 3.60GHz (4 cores, 8 logical) with 32671MB
00:00:00    79MB         |  NVIDIA driver version 471.11 (Optix 60801)
00:00:00    79MB         |  GPU 0: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB @ 1708MHz (compute 6.1) with 6144MB (5614MB available) (NVLink:0)
00:00:00    79MB         |  Windows 10 (version 10.0, build 19044)
00:00:00    79MB         |  soft limit for open files is set at 2048
00:00:00    79MB         |
00:00:00    79MB         | loading plugins from C:\PROGRA~1\Autodesk\Arnold\maya2022\bin\..\plugins ...
00:00:00    79MB         |  alembic_proc.dll: alembic uses Arnold 6.2.0.1
00:00:00    80MB         |  cryptomatte.dll: cryptomatte uses Arnold 6.2.0.1
00:00:00    80MB         |  cryptomatte.dll: cryptomatte_filter uses Arnold 6.2.0.1
00:00:00    80MB         |  cryptomatte.dll: cryptomatte_manifest_driver uses Arnold 6.2.0.1
00:00:00    80MB         |  synColor_shaders.dll: color_manager_syncolor uses Arnold 6.2.0.1
00:00:00    84MB         |  usd_proc.dll: usd uses Arnold 6.2.0.1
00:00:00    85MB         | loaded 6 plugins from 4 lib(s) in 0:00.08
00:00:00    85MB         | [kick] command: C:\PROGRA~1\Autodesk\Arnold\maya2022\bin\kick.exe -v 6 -dw -dp -nocrashpopup -nostdin -i C:\Users\etudiant\Desktop\scene_test.ass -o test.exr -set options.abort_on_license_fail true
00:00:00    85MB         | loading plugins from . ...

It just stops after `loading plugins from...` and no other logs are printed. When run on the farm, the return code status is not in error.

The scene file exists, I have a proper license and I tried disabling most of the kick options to see if that would change the result with no success...

Does anyone know how I can debug this or know a solution?

Thank you!

[Stephen.Blair · Accepted solution]

What's the current working directory?
Most likely it's something like C:\windows\system32, and kick is hanging trying to load all the system DLLs (kick will load all DLLs in the current working dir, looking for Arnold plugins).

[josephenry]

Hi,

Thanks for the answer!

Yes you are right the current directory is C:\WINDOWS\system32 and there's a lot of DLLs. By the way it's not hanging but the process is terminated.

Anyway after changing directory the command executes correctly, thanks for pointing out the issue!

Meanwhile is there a way to avoid loading those dlls? The solution is just to cd to another directory before rendering 😉