Claim or Reclaim the settlement workshop issue (PC workaround). Spoilers!

[Evgenich]

For this workaround we will need basic understanding of console comands in fallout 4 and fallout 4 wiki aka Nukapedia.
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Fallout_Wiki

There is a series of quests in Fallout 4, when you have objective to claim (or reclaim) workshop.
At some point you may stuck with an issue, when attempt to interact the workshop returns you the message
"You need to clear the enemies from the location",
wherein there is no visible (or left) enemies around .
Or even this one:
"you aren`t allied to this settlement"
And you eager to finish your quest. not just own workshop. And I think I found a good workaround. At least it helped me.

So. I`ve spent quite a time looking for those invisible enemies. In some cases you may find them after time - wait or quick travel helps. But sometimes you can`t find`em no matter what.
There is some advises in other threads related to this issue. And they may be helpfull before the next step - console commands.
If you do not understand something, check the wiki for explanations:
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Fallout_4_console_commands

I tried to kill enemies with cosole: "kah" and "killall" was not helpfull. workshop still was saying I had to kill all enemies.
At this point you may use the command
"SetPapyrusVar OwnedByPlayer 1"
it will make the chosen workshop your own, but may not finish the current quest or may not allow you to open the workshop.

In my case all above wasn`t helpfull.
For example we will take "Clearing the Way" quest
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Clearing_the_Way
So, here we go.

Short example of console commands without explanations:
ShowQuestVars MinRecruit05
find: REF COLL `HostileWorkshopBosses` 0 -> " 00enemy
00enemy.moveto player
kill the target, activate workshop as intended and get the quest completed in the right way.

Explanations by steps:

1. Find the quest "editor ID"on the wiki = MinRecruit05

2. Run console command:
ShowQuestVars MinRecruit05
Console will list all information about this quest. Scroll console untill you find the strings:
REF COLL `HostileWorkshopBosses` 0 -> " 0012345
REF COLL `HostileWorkshopBosses` 1 -> " 0012345
etc....
In the end of the string we can see the Ref.ID`s of the exact enemies, that workshop is asking you to clear. Is that clear? :)

3. Well...
run console command "refID.moveto player",
0012345.moveto player
this command moves the target to you so you may "clear" the enemy in front of the face of that shifty workshop
or you may run console command "player.moveto refID"
player.moveto 0012345
this command moves player to the target and you may see where it was hiding .
if you do not want the target to be killed by yourself (friendly target for example) - you may use the command "refID.kill"
0012345.kill
It`s just kills the target and I assume that you may skip the "moveto" parts. But if the target is the settler it will not kill but only decapacitate the one. So you will have to kill him yourself or use more complicated way removing "essential" tag from the settler (see the nukapedia).

4. After sucsessfull killing all the targets I was able to activate the workshop without console and get to the next stage of the quest without complicated (or buggy in that case) commands such as
CompleteAllObjectives
setLocationCleared
SetStage
CompleteQuest

P.S. And here is one good advise I think - Do not move or avoid to move your settlers from one settlement to another, because it may lead to unwanted troubles.
For example: when you finish the Nuka World quests with the Open Season and decide to to be with the minutemens again, your settlers relocated to other settlements may become the targets in the quest for reclaiming the current workshop.

EDIT:
I found another solution posted in other thread , in case you don`t want to kill the enemies that marked by quest. just tested it on my old save - it works.

Go to workshop you want to return, open console, chose your workshop (it's ID must be in center), typing "sv" without quotes and you'll see list of information. You need line starting "myLocation = (00000000)" where 00000000 is your location's ID.
Then you must clear center ID, point in space and type "setLocationCleared 00000000 1" without quotes, and be happy. Sometimes need to jump in another location and come back.

[txmadhatter]

OMG I LOVE YOUR PROFILE PICTURE!! how to train your dragons for life!!! XD i love how to train your dragons!!! I PLAY SCHOOL OF DRAGONS!!! i heart dragons

[Bored Peon]

Good work with figuring out the console commands. Workshop Framework/Workshop plus mod has a tool to set ownership of workshops properly. Which makes it a simple one click option.

Using console commands is tricky because you can gain ownership, but it wont add the workshop to the list of settlements to set provisoners or move settlers.

It can actually replace a lost workbench as well. If you managed to scrap it or it disappeared while using Place Everywhere.

[Evgenich]

Originally posted by Bored Peon:

Good work with figuring out the console commands. Workshop Framework/Workshop plus mod has a tool to set ownership of workshops properly. Which makes it a simple one click option.

Yeah, that is a lot of letters to read in my post. A plenty of them. I agree.
In short - I was speaking about finishing the quest properly, without using the mods or owning workshop directly by console commands. That was the point.

Originally posted by Bored Peon:

Using console commands is tricky because you can gain ownership, but it wont add the workshop to the list of settlements to set provisoners or move settlers.

I `ve wrote in my post almost the same:
"it will make the chosen workshop your own, but ...may not allow you to open the workshop."

And that is why in the end of my post I said about those console commands "complicated (or buggy in that case)" .