Enterprise PDM and Workgroup PDM - Repeatedly Asked Questions (RAQs)

The support team at Inflow Technology receives 200+ calls a month on Enterprise and Workgroup related issues. Depending on an issue's repetitiveness, we are starting a series on the top RAQs. We hope this post will benefit the users and administrators of these applications.

Enterprise PDM -  RAQ #1

Question : User X checked-out the file, left on vacation – need access to it

Solution : This issue can be resolved in 2 methods :

Option 1 – The “Admin” user (Joe can be an admin but this operation will not work under his login, has to login as “Admin”) logs in and does a “undo checkout” on the file. If user X was working on this file, he/she will lose any changes made.
Option 2 – IT admin can login to User X’s machine and then the EPDM “Admin” user can check the file into the system.

Workgroup – RAQ #1

Question : We want to upgrade Solidworks Workgroup to 201x. What is the recommended process ?

Solution :
1.  Stop the Workgroup PDM service (Windows services)
2.  Make a back up of the VaultData folder
3.  Upgrade the PDMWorks Workgroup Server
4.  Once the update is finished, the service will restart and run a validation process. The validation may take anywhere from only a few minutes to a few hours depending on the size of the vault.

Note: If you are unsure where the vaultdata folder is located, go to the Workgroup Server PC and open the registry editor by typing REGEDIT at the run prompt. The vaultdata folder path is located in the key HKLMSoftwareSolidWorksSolidWorks 20xxPDMWorks WorkgroupServerrootPath