The View option in the History dialog of a file in PDM is often used when reviewing files to look at older versions of the file without fully opening it in SOLIDWORKS. However, you may see a pop-up stating "Error executing viewer" when you try to do so. This is often caused by an incorrect Viewer path in a User's settings.
SQL Maintenance plans create a workflow of the tasks required to make sure that your database is optimized, regularly backed up, and free of inconsistencies. The Maintenance Plan Wizard comes with prebuilt core plans, but manually creating plans gives more flexibility in execution. They can only be used with SQL Standard or higher, and so are only compatible with SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional.
We often get asked about recommendations for setting up a server (or servers) for SOLIDWORKS PDM. Dassault Systèmes' System Requirements page contains some information about server specs, but it’s not terribly specific. The hardware requirements are aimed more for a SOLIDWORKS workstation for an end user rather than a PDM server.
SOLIDWORKS PDM 2026 introduced a new feature that many users and admins will be very excited about – vault view synchronization. We’re going to review this new function, show how it works, and explain why it might be useful to you, so you can make the most of this new backup feature whenever you need it.
The SOLIDWORKS SolidNetWork License Manager (SNL) supports multiple license clients by distributing licenses to clients on the network. This allows the number of users to exceed the number of licenses by floating licenses. Understanding how to navigate and work in the SolidNetWork License Manager can be very confusing; this guide will cover the basics.
Some users have settings or security configurations that don’t allow the videos in our self-paced courses to load properly, either erroring out or simply showing a blank box where the video should be. This article will help walk you through some basic troubleshooting steps that will resolve these issues in most cases.
When using Microsoft SQL Server with SOLIDWORKS PDM, you will absolutely come across situations where you need the system admin password for SQL – upgrades, backups, running SQL queries, SQL card lists for data cards, etc. If you find yourself without the SA password recorded anywhere, you’ll be left stuck and unable to access a major component of your PDM system. This article is meant to walk through the two main ways you can reset your SQL password when you don’t already have it on hand.
If you know anything about SOLIDWORKS PDM, you know its two major components are comprised of an archive server and a database server. The database server is powered by Microsoft SQL. Each vault has a database in SQL that houses just about everything you see in a vault that isn’t the actual files themselves. Everything from your data cards and workflows to user information and licensing is stored in SQL. This is invaluable data - and it should be approached with caution if you want to preserve the integrity of your vault infrastructure.
SOLIDWORKS PDM is a client-server software that requires various network connections to function properly. There are numerous ways to check on those connections to ensure everything is working as it should – or to identify the problem when it’s not.