Participant

After Effects projects taking a long time to load now that file server has changed

Forum|Forum|5 months ago
December 11, 2025
2 replies
101 views

Hi there, we’ve replaced our file server and the UNC path has changed. The mapped drive is still the same but it appears that the After Effects Project files reference the UNC path, which no longer exists and therefore takes a very long time to load as the paths time out. Is there a way to force After Effects to ignore the linked media files and request a relink immediately?
Some assets are still linking to the old UNC path which stops the project from oppening or crashes when you do get into the project.

M

martyo59476695Author

Participant

Hey Kevin,

Thanks for getting back to me.

Yeah the old server is completely disconnected so the files are looking for the UNC path instead of the drive letter path.
Once the project opens up I can then relink the files which are in the same destination as there were in the old server with the same drive letter and path directory.
The issue is it takes 20 plus minutes to load any of the files since some assets are linking back to the old UNC server path.
The issue seems to be that after effects is constantly trying to link each "missing" file when first loading the project and gets stuck in that process for a very long time.

Kevin J. Monahan Jr.

Legend

Hi,

I read your post. Have you tried unmounting the old server, and then launching After Effects? That way you can relink using the new path. Would that work? Let the community know.

Thanks,
Kevin

Kevin Monahan - Sr. Community and Engagement Strategist – Adobe Pro Video and Audio

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