3 Fixes for SOLIDWORKS PDM Client Crashing

SOLIDWORKS PDM may sometimes behave unexpectedly, causing File Explorer to become unresponsive or even crash. This can happen in specific instances, like when a user tries to access a folder (or set of folders), or only when they try to access the right-click menu. At other times, it may seem infrequent or intermittent. Investigating the root cause may seem like an impossible task. But here are 3 possible solutions that may resolve the crashing.

These solutions are particularly helpful (and most common) when crashing issues affect only a limited number of users. If, however, most or all of your users are experiencing crashes, we recommend contacting Technical Support, as there may be a larger underlying issue.

3 Solutions for PDM Client Crashing:

• Reset Menus
• Reset Registry
• Clean Reinstall

Reset Menus

When you right-click on a folder or file, you’re given a list of options and commands to choose from. This list can be modified in the User Properties section of your Administration app. In some instances, there may be an issue with how the menu is generated for a specific user (whether on the SQL side or the user’s computer), resulting in a reset. Resetting a user’s menu places it back to the default settings when the user account was created. This could potentially clear what is causing the crashing. Below are the steps to reset a user’s menu.

Note: Menus must be reset by your admin or someone with admin-level access.

1. Log into the administration tool as admin.
2. Expand Users and Groups Management > Users > double-click the affected user.
3. Go to Settings > Menus.
4. On the menu page, click the Reset… button to set the user’s menus back to default.
   
   
   
   
5. Reboot the user’s computer and log back into PDM.

Reset Registry

In some cases, the culprit may be an errant value or corrupt entry in the registry under HKEY Current User. This solution can take a few minutes to complete, but it’s important to keep the following in mind before resetting the registry.

• First, be sure to check in all of the files of the user experiencing this issue.
• If checking files in is not possible, when deleting the vault view, select Leave the local contents of the file vault view as normal files and folders. This will leave behind any files that were previously checked out and cached that can be retrieved later.
  
  

Steps to reset registry

1. From the system tray (the bottom right of your screen, on the taskbar near the time & date), click the PDM blueberry icon and select Exit.
   1. It may be in the hidden icons under the ^ symbol.
2. Open the Windows Registry Editor. You can find it by typing “regedit” in the Start menu search.
3. In the registry, navigate to: Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SolidWorks\Applications\PDMWorks Enterprise.
   • If you have to log into the machine for admin rights or otherwise launch the registry editor as an admin user other than the PDM user, then you will need to go to the user’s profile registry rather than HKEY CURRENT USER. You can figure out which ID is here like so:  
     • Navigate to this key: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList.
     • There should be several IDs (all will start with “S-1-5”) listed, and each will have a ProfileImagePath value listing the user’s profile. Find the one matching your user’s profile, and take note of the SID.
     • Then you would go to the same PDMWorks Enterprise key to delete it, but for the path to her profile, replacing [SID] with the one you just confirmed: Computer\HKEY_USERS\[SID]\Software\SolidWorks\Applications\PDMWorks Enterprise.
       
       
       
       
4. Right-click PDMWorks Enterprise > Export.
   
   
   
   
5. Save the .reg file somewhere easily accessible, like your desktop.
6. Right-click PDMWorks Enterprise again > Delete.
   
   
   
   
7. Have the user log into PDM once more and try to access the broken folder.
8. If there are issues loading PDM, or if the system continues to crash, then you can restore the registry we exported like so to revert the change:
   1. Exit PDM from the system tray once more.
   2. Delete the PDMWorks Enterprise key from the registry.
   3. Double-click the .reg file you created from the export in step 4. Accept any messages about loading/overwriting.
   4. Launch PDM again to test.

Clean Reinstall

There could be an issue with the PDM client installation itself, and in that case, a clean reinstall is necessary. This could be due to a failed upgrade during the initial installation, missing prerequisites, or even a failed Microsoft Windows update. Ensure that before you uninstall anything, you have the original installation media available.

Note: This requires local Windows Admin rights.

1. Check in all files first if possible. You won’t be able to check them back in normally (if at all) after.
2. Remove all local vault views (right-click each view in Explorer and select Delete File Vault View).
   1. Feel free to delete or leave the cache behind – whatever you prefer. If you leave it behind, be sure to rename the folder to something other than your vault name so it doesn’t conflict when recreating the vault view later.
   2. If removal fails, simply continue with the next steps.
      
      
      
      
3. Go to the Windows Start menu > search for and open Control Panel > Programs and Features > Uninstall a program.
   
   
   
   
4. Select SOLIDWORKS 20XX SPX and then click Uninstall at the top of the list.
   
   
   
   
5. This will open the SOLIDWORKS Installation Manager to the Summary page. Select Change to the right of the Advanced Options section.
   
   
   
   
6. In the dialog that appears, select the boxes for the items you want to have removed from the system.
   1. If you have multiple versions installed and you are not uninstalling the latest version, some boxes will not be available.
      
      
      
      
7. Click Back to Summary, then click Remove Items to start the uninstallation process.
8. When done, open File Explorer and delete the following items (if present):
   1. C:\Program Files\SolidWorks Corp
   2. C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS PDM
   3. C:\Program Files\Common Files\SolidWorks Shared
   4. C:\Program Files\Common Files\SolidWorks Installation Manager
   5. C:\Program Files (x86)\SOLIDWORKS PDM
   6. C:\Program Files (x86)\SolidWorks Corp
   7. C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\SolidWorks Shared
   8. C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\SolidWorks Installation Manager
9. Then, open the registry editor by going to the Start menu and searching regedit.
10. Navigate to the following registry keys and right-click > Rename them to “[original name]_old”:
    1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SolidWorks
    2. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\SolidWorks
    3. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SolidWorks
       
       
       
       
11. When finished, reboot the machine completely.

Here are instructions for reinstalling the PDM client, if needed.

Final Thoughts

Several reasons can cause your SOLIDWORKS PDM client to crash, and troubleshooting the root cause can seem endless. But these 3 potential fixes are quite easy to implement, just as long as you have the necessary local admin privileges on your workstation. If none of these solutions help resolve your crashing issue and GoEngineer is your SOLIDWORKS partner, contact our Technical Support team for further assistance.

Want to learn more? Check out the additional SOLIDWORKS PDM articles listed below. Additionally, join our GoEngineer Community to participate in discussions, create forum posts, and answer questions from other SOLIDWORKS users. 

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