Troubleshooting SciFinder Scholar Desktop Client

Key Questions

What error message are you getting?
Are you on-campus or off-campus?
Are you using a laptop to connect to the campus wireless network?
Are you using a PC or a Macintosh?
What browser are you using?

FAQ : Frequently Asked Questions

When I tried to use SciFinder, it told me there were "too many concurrent sessions for this login id."

The University of Minnesota Libraries pay for access to SciFinder Scholar for 17 simultaneous users. If 17 people are already using it, you won't be able to get access until someone else gets out of it. You will need to try again later. Weekday afternoons are particularly popular times. Try mornings, evenings, and weekends instead as they tend to be less busy.

When I tried to use SciFinder at home, I got the error message "Login Failed: SciFinder Scholar is not authorized for use from this network address."

Try logging in to VPN before you try to access the SciFinder Scholar download page. For more information and to download the software go to http://vpn.umn.edu

When I try to access the webpage where I download SciFinder Scholar, I get a message telling me that I am not allowed to access the page.

Try logging in to VPN before you try to access the SciFinder Scholar download page. For more information and to download the VPN software, go to http://vpn.umn.edu.

Try looking here if you have a PC or here if you have a Mac for other possible error messages to help figure out why you're unable to get into SciFinder Scholar.

I did log into VPN before I tried to open SciFinder Scholar (using the version on my computer from another institution).

While other VPN clients may work, OIT recommends that users remove any other VPN software they have and install the University's version which can be found at http://vpn.umn.edu.

When I tried to open SciFinder on my PC, I got the error message “(2413) The site.prf file required to access SciFinder scholar cannot be located.”

If you get this message, you probably have the site.prf file in the wrong place. The LoginID and Password are stored in a file called site.prf, and it is necessary for it to be in the correct location on your computer before you can open SciFinder Scholar.

For PCs, save the site.prf file to a folder called SFSCHLR that is automatically created when you download the SciFinder software. The SFSCHLR folder should have a lot of folders and files in it. Accelrys, alkaloid, and aminoaci are a few of the folder names. It should look something like this.

"Show Package Contents" was not an option when I tried to put the site.prf file in the right place on my Mac.

For Macs, if you are trying to put the site.prf file in SciFinder/Scholar.app/Contents/MacOS/ and "Show Package Contents" is not one of your options, you probably did not actually put scholar-osx.dmg in the applications folder. You should have dragged the diamond icon from a white rectangle (see this image) to the applications folder.

Still Puzzled?

Contact Meghan Lafferty at 612-624-9399 or mlaffert@umn.edu.