In UNIX or Linux environments, "ERROR: Library WORK does not exist" occurs when the WORK location is not available


If you receive the following error at invocation, ensure that the directory being used as the WORK location exists, and that you have both read and write permissions for that directory:

ERROR: Library WORK does not exist.
FATAL: Unable to initialize the options subsystem.
SASXKINI): PHASE 3 KERNEL INITIALIZATION FAILED.
UNABLE TO INITIALIZE THE SAS KERNEL 

The default location for the WORK directory can be found in the !SASROOT/sasv9.cfg file. If you do not have permissions that allow you to modify this file, you can specify the -WORK option at invocation:

sas -work /alternative_directory_path 

or

sas myprogram.sas -work /alternative_directory_path

Note: The location you specify with the -WORK option at invocation is used only for that SAS process.

The -WORK option cannot be specified via an OPTIONS statement.