Academic Windchill Server Upgrade Status

[sm]

Hi everyone,

PTC is in the process of staging the Windchill 11.0 upgrade for the Academic Windchill server and plans to execute the upgrade next month. I will let you know as soon as a upgrade date is chosen to make sure it does not conflict with any activities you might have. PTC typically does the update over a weekend and tries to minimize the downtime as much as possible.

-Scott

[smorris]

If you have not already noticed, the PTC Academic Windchill server has been updated to Windchill 11.0

The PTC team worked overtime to get this in before the end of the year to allow teams to update software and make adjustments before the FRC season starts. The update was completed on Wednesday and its ready for production use. To learn more about post upgrade actions or requirements, please check out this link: Important! Read Me First, which is also available at the top of every page in Windchill.

This new version will fix the age-old problem of Chrome and Firefox not behaving with Creo View. Personally, I would still recommend using Internet Explorer (not Edge) as your browser of choice for Windchill.

There is one last item that need to be addressed in January. The current version of Creo View available on the server is Creo View 3.1 F000. To fix the issues with the Chrome browser, PTC needs to post Creo View 3.1 M010. The plan is to do that at the start of the year so everyone can update their environments.

If you have any comments, suggestions, questions or feedback, please post them here.

[RWHahn]

I am having trouble logging into the server. The message "The server is not supported" pops up. Trying to create a new one with different name produces the same result.

A fresh install on a student's computer connected to the server but he gets the message "A persistence error occurred. System message follows:" and nothing.

[RWHahn]

Found discussion "Windchill register server not woking". Erased indicated folders then tried to add new server. Get the same message and then "Invalid server location. Please change the "Location" field and try again.  Location was cut and paste from discussion.

[smorris]

Robert, not sure where you are logging in from. To verify, can you access the Windchill server from a browser @ https://academic.ptc.com/Windchill ?

It sounds like you are trying to register the Academic Windchill server in Creo Parametric. Those settings should look like this. Name can be any name you want to assign the connection assuming it has no special characters or spaces. The location must be the fully qualified URL as shown below.

If you are still having problems with that machine, click on the Cache tab to see where the Cache folder was created. It is typically located in:

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\PTC\ProENGINEER\Wildfire\.wf. I would suggested removing the PTC folder and everything below it while Creo is not running. This will remove any existing connections from this machine for the current user account.

Now you can start Creo and try to register again.

[RWHahn]

Scott,

Deleted the folders under ../AppData/.../PTC, then started Creo. Went to "Register new Server", Used URL from old "Practical Guide to Windchill"  https://firstrobotics.ptc.com/Windchill/,‌ selected Check. URL changed to "https://academic.ptc.com/Windchill"‌ and pop-up message "The server is not supported" i appears, followed by "Invalid server..."

I can access from Edge, and Chrome.

Before all of this, I had been off-line and was having trouble reconnecting. I had attributed the problem to the transition but not so sure now.

Where to next?

Regards,

Rob

[smorris]

Robert, that practical guide is pretty old now. I wish they would update it. Glad to hear you can access the system from a browser, now we just need to get your Creo Parametric connected. The URL you want to use is https://academic.ptc.com/Windchill as noted above. There is a URL redirect in place to make sure anyone using the old URL can still get to the new URL, but it might not play nice with Creo. If it's still doing something odd, close Creo, remove the entire %USERPROFILE%/.../PTC folder from you local machine and start Creo again. Then enter the URL as https://academic.ptc.com/Windchill. That is what works for me always.

[wgysi]

Scott,

FRC team 5586 here is having issues similar to Robert's described above.  Since the update, we have not been able to connect on any of the school's computers to the https://academic.ptc.com/Windchill server.  We are prompted with the "Server is not supported." followed by the "invalid server location.  Please change the location field and try again" messages.

I am able to access Windchill without issue through a browser but not through Creo. We currently have Creo 3.0 M040 installed.

I have cleared the cache via the server management tool to no effect.

I have deleted the .wf Folder, as detailed above with no effect.

I have deleted the entire  *appdata/Roaming/PTC and appdata/local/ptc folders to no effect.

I cleared the browser cache of IE, Chrome, and Firefox on this machine to no effect.

I cleared the java cache to no effect.

What is the next step?  The FRC season started today and our CAD group is severely hindered by this.

Thank you for the assistance.

Will

[smorris]

Will, have you attempted to connect a machine that was not previously connected or tried to connect a machine that is not using the school network? I understand it was working prior to the update, but I am trying to narrow down variables. I just requested the compatibility matrix to make sure the M040 version of Creo you are running is fully supported. I looked on the software download site and it only offers M070 and I am sure Creo 3.0 is at or over M110 now.

[wgysi]

Scott,

I just did a quick check and one of the student's computers running M010 does not work, but the one with M070 does work fine.

I downloaded the M070 version (did not see M110 available...) and installed on one of the school's computers and was able to access Windchill without any issue in Creo now.

The short story then is that Creo 3.0 M040 may have some compatibility issues with Windchill 11 M010.

Thank you for the help on this.

-Will

[RWHahn]

Wasn't on for a little bit.

Checked version - M030. The others are M070, so it looks like update time.  Work on that tomorrow.

Thanks all for the help and sharing of info.

Regards,

Rob

[RWHahn]

Updated to M070. Works now.

Thanks for the help.

[lstewart]

Scott,

I followed the instructions to clear out the browser and Java cache. Are there other steps on that page or is the remaining info for reference? Do I need to somehow install or update my server? Disconnect and reconnect to it using the Server Management?

When I went to sign into my team's Windchill account, this is the message I got.

If I say yes, I keep getting more errors that say object doesn't support property or method or undefined: 'preg', 'prototype', 'FALSE_FUNC', '_initializeCache', 'override',

Then it says unable to get property "SetConsoleInterval" of undefined or null reference

Then it says object doesn't support property or method "detachEvent"

Then it just locks up and doesn't do anything else.

We are really hurting not being able to access our model right now. Is there someone I can call at PTC to help with this issue and a couple of others?

Thanks,

Linda

[smorris]

The big question is whether or not you have new or modified content on the computer that has not been Uploaded or Checked In. If not, you can follow the guidance above and remove the ProENGINEER folder, start Creo Parametric and register the server again. In my experience, that always fixes weird issues, especially when multiple Windchill users are working out of the same Windows account.

If you do have new or modified local content, we need to find a way around the problem to retain your files. I sent you a PM to find out if you'd like to diagnose it over a WebEx session to see if we can get it resolved before FRC comes down like a 3 ton hammer Friday night.

-Scott

[JoshH]

Hi Scott,

What's the status on Solidworks WGM for FIRST Windchill?

Excuse me if this is a repeat, but I don't see the original question I posed to you.

Thanks,

Josh

[smorris]

You would really need to bring that up with the PTC Academic team. It was pulled years ago when PTC upgraded from Windchill 9.0 to 10.0 because of the heavy maintenance and support costs with extremely limited use. When it was available, no one used it. Now that it does not exist, people are asking for it. Send a note to Beth Ambaruch‌ or - to get their feedback.

[nrensing]

We're having similar problems. Before I changed anything, Creo started up smoothly and I could log into Windchill, but when I tried to open last year's robot model I got an error (in the bottom message bar, not a dialog box) that the model cannot be opened.

I cleared the browser and Java caches and deleted the ProEngineer folder as per the instructions above. I now get the script error dialog boxes (as shown above), and can't browse through the Windchill cabinets because of these errors. However, I can still get to the Windchill folders by clicking on the "open file" icon. I can find the Creo assembly I'm looking for, but it doesn't open. Some older models do open. This model was last modified in November.

Interestingly, even though I deleted the ProENGINEER folder as instructed above, my Creo session still automatically logs into the Windchill server - it remembers the URL and my credentials.

Suggestions?

[nrensing]

For what it's worth, I disconnected from the server, closed Creo, deleted the ProENGINEER file, cleared the Java cache, restarted Creo, and reconnected to the server. (Note that I didn't not have to re-enter my credentials, Creo still had those - where are they stored?) That resolved the script error. Now I can browse to the Windchill folder using the built-in browser. Trying to open that file generates the "Persistence error" in the event  manager dialog box.

The assembly is currently checked in and the students don't recall anything unusual happening when they worked with it in November.

[smorris]

Noa, I just realized there are some other files that hang onto the server credentials in %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\PTC. You can remove the PTC folder and it will clear everything. The contents of this folder are created and then referenced at run-time, so there should not be any issues with removing it. If you feel safer renaming it, you can do that also.

If you want to PM me the name of the CAD file, I can try opening it on my side to see what happens.

[nrensing]

Scott,

I renamed the folder and moved it to the desktop. Creo still remembers my credentials (not the server location, but my PTC password and username). I can browse to the folder (no script errors) but get the persistence error. I should note that I did not clear my Chrome cache again, having just re-entered a number of passwords. Does Creo really access the Chrome files?

Creating a new account on this computer does remove the memory of the credentials, but not the persistence error.

[smorris]

Noa, I was able to duplicate the persistence error by attempting to add the assembly to a workspace. I have submitted a request for additional support from PTC's FIRST and IT teams to investigate and resolve this issue. Hopefully you'll hear from them soon.

[nrensing]

Any update? Build season is upon us....

[smorris]

I have not heard anything yet...

[rjohnson-4]

Scott,

I'm in same boat as this post - server went down in M030, I upgraded to M070, and now I get script errors and no Windchill access.   Tried deleting PTC directory, clearing Java cache, disconnecting and reconnecting to server with same results.   I will try to see if I can load files manually with Open dialog.

Like Noa, dead in the water until I can get to our files.   Especially with all the ice here in the Midwest, we can only meet and work online.

Rande J

FRC4931

[nrensing]

A bit of an update, and maybe useful to you. We mostly had M070 on our personal computers, and on all of the computers so far have gotten it to work through clearing caches and the deleting of the user profile files as described above with some reboots in between, which might or might not have been needed.

On the school computers we have M040, which does not talk to the new Windchill server (mostly, see elsewhere in this thread). It turns out that with M110 (which Scott graciously provided) we were able to *upgrade* the installation rather than install it as a new program. This meant that I didn't have to know anything about the school's license server, I could just use the licenses that were already on the machines. I did need administrator access to the computer in order to install. I did not try it with M070.

I should say that there is still an inconsistency with the installations. Specifically, when asking for my Windchill credentials, some of the computers use the new "Creoagent" dialog box, while others use the old style dialogue box. A fellow mentor thinks it might have to do with whether all the Windows updates have been installed.

Noa

[smorris]

Rande Johnson‌, I just dropped the software in your project. Following the cache clearing guidance, remove the PTC folder and update install the software. Sorry about the inconvenience.

[rjohnson-4]

Install some software from my project?   FYI, I was able to get it to work for now using the chromium browser option.   Aha - I see that's the M110 maintenance update we've been hearing about.   Just download and install then, right?

[smorris]

I dropped the latest software in your project. Look in the software folder.

[smorris]

*** UPDATE FOR ALL ***

I missed a critical step in this year's Windchill upgrade; validating which maintenance release of Creo 3.0 is certified. Unfortunately, I completed all the User Acceptance Testing with Creo 3.0 M110 forgetting that most teams are either on M040 or M070. It has been reported that M070 fixes the connections issues, but M100 is the minimum version to be certified with Windchill 11.0.

PTC is in the process of updating the maintenance release of Creo 3.0 and Creo View 3.0 available on the Academic Software Downloads page. As soon as I've received notification its ready, I will post a general response to all and post a banner on the community.

My apologies for this mix up, it is completely my fault for not remembering to validate the maintenance version. Hopefully we can get everyone up and running properly with a simple update installation.

[nrensing]

Scott,

Is it likely that the persistence error we ran into is related to the version incompatibility?

Thanks

Noa