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msteffke15-Moonstone
15-Moonstone
January 10, 2012
Question

Moving WC9.1 workspaces from an XP to Win7

  • January 10, 2012
  • 15 replies
  • 14056 views
I need to move several XP users over to Win764. Is it safe move the
users local windchill cache from XP to Win7?
Do you just grab the PTC folder from Application data folder, and paste
in into the users appdata folder?
Is there a best practice to follow?



These are the workstations I started the discussion about last month
over the Solid State drives. So I have not forgotten about a report, I
will let you know if there is a perceptal speed increase. Just
unpacking the first one.


    15 replies

    B
    23-Emerald III
    BenLoosli23-Emerald III
    23-Emerald III
    January 10, 2012
    Why move anything. Have the users delete their workspaces on their XP machines and recreate them on the Win7 machines.
    Then copy the .settings folder over.

    Your users will get better performance by having cleaned up their workspaces and so will the Windchill system.
    Every file that is requested for check-out or check-in has to be compared to what is in ALL workspaces. Fewer workspaces, better performance.

    If you must move, then just copy the top level folder over to the same parent location.
    Going from XP to Win7, the file structure is different. XP used c:\Documents & Settings\<username>, win7 uses c:\users\<username>.

    I would still have the users upload/check-in/remove all files, delete all workspaces and create new workspaces.

    Thank you,

    Ben H. Loosli
    USEC, INC.
    D
    davehaigh13-Aquamarine
    13-Aquamarine
    January 10, 2012
    I'm not sure you really need to delete the workspaces. Just make sure everything is checked in or uploaded. Then when the user accesses the workspace on the new computer, it will download all the files necessary for that workspace to the local cache. I wouldn't move the workspace to the new machine.

    If you have upload set to automatic, you don't need to worry about uploading. Just make sure nothing is checked out.
    dm_secondary_upload AUTOMATIC
    dm_upload_objects AUTOMATIC

    David Haigh
    O
    ocorten-212-Amethyst
    12-Amethyst
    January 11, 2012
    Hi Mark,

    I don't think it will work.
    When copying the windchill cache to a new system it should always be copied to the exact same path.
    And the %APPDATA% path is different between XP and Win7. But maybe it will work if PTC uses the %APPDATA% variable consistently, you'll have to try.

    We store our Windchill cache in a predefined destination by setting the ptc_wf_root variable (d:\users\%username%\ILINK9.1).
    So I can just copy the cache from XP to Win7 machines. Have been doing that all the time the past few weeks.

    Make sure that users clean up old workspaces and clear the cache before copying. Saves a lot of data to be copied.

    Kind regards,

    Olaf Corten




    Olaf Corten
    CAD/PLM Manager
    Fico B.V.
    Ratio 6, Duiven
    Phone: +31 26 3196215
    Mobile: +31 644548554
    www.besi.com






    From: "Steffke, Mark J" <mark.steffke@manitowoc.com>
    To: -
    Date: 10-01-2012 22:59
    Subject: [proesys] - Moving WC9.1 workspaces from an XP to Win7



    I need to move several XP users over to Win764. Is it safe move the users local windchill cache from XP to Win7?
    Do you just grab the PTC folder from Application data folder, and paste in into the users appdata folder?
    Is there a best practice to follow?



    These are the workstations I started the discussion about last month over the Solid State drives. So I have not forgotten about a report, I will let you know if there is a perceptal speed increase. Just unpacking the first one.




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    D
    daniel.garcia1-Visitor
    1-Visitor
    January 11, 2012
    Hello Mark

    You can copy the folder following Ben's instructions, but you must do one more thing.
    You have to edit file .Settings/config.fld. It's a text file that contains the name of the computer. Change that name to the name of the new computer.
    You can edit the other 2 files too but it is not so necessary.
    Another advice. There is a folder called events. You can skip copying that one. In our case it had 18000 objects and it was taking hours to copy. We skipped it and all is well

    Best regards

    Daniel García



    "Loosli, Ben H" <-> escribió:

    >Why move anything. Have the users delete their workspaces on their XP
    >machines and recreate them on the Win7 machines.
    >Then copy the .settings folder over.
    >
    >Your users will get better performance by having cleaned up their
    >workspaces and so will the Windchill system.
    >Every file that is requested for check-out or check-in has to be
    >compared to what is in ALL workspaces. Fewer workspaces, better
    >performance.
    >
    >If you must move, then just copy the top level folder over to the same
    >parent location.
    >Going from XP to Win7, the file structure is different. XP used
    >c:\Documents & Settings\<username>, win7 uses c:\users\<username>.
    >
    >I would still have the users upload/check-in/remove all files, delete
    >all workspaces and create new workspaces.
    >
    >Thank you,
    >
    >Ben H. Loosli
    >USEC, INC.
    >
    D
    DanielReid12-Amethyst
    12-Amethyst
    January 11, 2012
    Definitely lots of options here it seems.



    To add some hopefully useful information...



    We define separate locations for PTC_WF_ROOT and PTC_WF_CACHE. I've
    found that all you need to copy is the cache content. When you
    reconnect to your server, the content of PTC_WF_ROOT, wherever you
    define it on the new machine, will be re-created. No need to worry
    about updating the machine name. Other suggestions about clearing the
    cache first and skipping copy of the events folder (that's a new one on
    me -- cool) can apply here too.



    BTW, I've found that if you DO split ROOT and CACHE, many local cache
    corruption/stall issues can be resolved by just exiting, deleting the
    PTC_WF_ROOT content and re-connecting to the server at restart. No
    local cache data is lost or even messed with. It is much less common in
    my experience to have a problem with the CACHE.


    M
    MikeFoster10-Marble
    10-Marble
    January 11, 2012
    This is from PTC tech support when we needed to do this:

    Mike Foster
    ATK


    You cannot move the workspace by moving the Cache folder to the target machine, please use the "Export Workspace" command as explained below.


    1. Go to Tools -> Server Manager

    2. Select or activate the workspace you want to export

    3. From the Workspace pulldown menu select Export Workspace
    [cid:image001.png@01CCD02F.2B3E3840]

    4. Exporting workspace will create a .pws file (Portable WorkSpace) click on the "Browse" button to save it on the local disk

    5. Click OK

    6. Give a password and confirm the same

    7. A PWS file get saved on the location you specified

    8. Copy it to your target machine and use the Import Workspace command to import the objects



    D
    DanielReid12-Amethyst
    12-Amethyst
    January 11, 2012
    I just love the PTC tech support "you cannot..." statements. This
    method might have some built-in cleanup to it and have some other
    advantages though.


    D
    DonSenchuk12-Amethyst
    12-Amethyst
    January 11, 2012

    Honestly, I'm a bit baffled by all this back and forth concerning moving the folders from one workstation to another. Even the PTC Tech support answer is a head-scratcher.


    There is already built in method for moving a user from one machine to another, allowing him to keep the current workspaces and their contents. It's the Upload command. It was already covered in this thread by Ben and it takes almost no effort at all -- no jumping through hoops; no exporting/importing workspaces; no moving a (sometimes huge) cache folder over the network; no sacrificing a chicken. 😉


    User uploads all objects from all workspaces. (Honestly, automatic upload should already be set in your config.pro anyway, IMO.)


    User logs into new workstationand launches Pro/E.


    User activate appropriate workspace and sees all the work he just saw on the old workstation.


    That's the purpose of Upload. Upload exists to allow users to move to different workstations and still see the most up to date contents of their workspaces. I urge everyone to try it out. Amazingly, it really does work as advertised.


    Though Ben mentions the settings file, that part is optional. The upload method works with or without copying the settings file.


    Keep It Simple Sir!

    D
    DanielReid12-Amethyst
    12-Amethyst
    January 11, 2012
    You'd be surprised at the number of things that cannot be uploaded
    whenever desired in our environment. We thought it would be that simple
    too, but reality hasn't proved it out.



    Definitely the way to go when it works though.


    M
    msteffke15-MoonstoneAuthor
    15-Moonstone
    January 11, 2012
    I agree Don. But apparently this is a topic with interest that most
    admins have or will face. Im suprised to see so many opinions. Our
    workspaces are HUGE. Like 20,000 objects in them, and there could be
    several that size in the users cache. Configure to order and complete
    automation from configure to manufacture brings that situation on. A
    re-download can be a little painstaking for the user. So far on any OS
    conversions I have not moved the local cache, but I was wondering if I
    could help out the users here as well. For a normal user who has a few
    hundred abjects and is using pro/E in the typical interactive way to
    model objects and assemblies, I wouldn't mess with moving anything.

    Mark Steffke
    Engineering System Administrator
    The Delfield Company
    Manitowoc Foodservice
    T 989.775.9215 or 989.773.7981, ext 12484
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