Configure Default Windchill Server Name for Silent Install of Workgroup Manager (WGM)?

[ScottMorris]

Does anyone have a crafty solution to define or change the Name of the Windchill server in Windchill Workgroup Manager (WGM) without user intervention? 

I am using Windchill Workgroup Manager v13 with Solidworks and would like to update the installation process with the silent installation method deployed in Windows Intune. 

The Windchill Workgroup Manager supports the ability to define a default Windchill server URL, but it does not support an entry to define the Name of the default Windchill server in the wgmclient.ini file. When a default Windchill server URL is defined, the Name is automatically set to the domain of the server URL. I would much rather have a descriptive string assigned to the Name and cannot find a way to do this. 

If we were using Creo Parametric, I could create a mapkey to change the name, but I am not aware of any mapkey, scripting or trail file execution in the Workgroup Manager client. 

[avillanueva]

Linking related post I think: https://community.ptc.com/t5/Windchill/Is-there-a-way-to-obscure-the-server-name-used-in-the-Workgroup/m-p/395774#M46406%3Fsource=search

[ScottMorris]

@avillanueva thanks, this is related, but there was no solution identified to set the value for the default server name. i am not sure why ptc would put in a setting to define the default server URL and not the default server name. i'm guessing this ask will ultimately turn into a Windchill Idea. 

[avillanueva]

Can you show how file looks with these settings currently?

[ScottMorris]

Sure,

This is the change to the wgmclient.ini file:
# Configure the default Windchill server location
# https://www.ptc.com/en/support/article/CS245510
# This method does not support the definition of the default server Name
# Enabled by NAME on 04-FEB-2026
default.server.url=https://WINDCHILLURL/Windchill/

This is the result in WGM Server Connection: 

Whatever is in the WINDCHILLURL section of the Windchill server URL will be assigned to the server Name. In this case, I replaced the company specific URL with WINDCHILLURL. 

My goal is to have a consistent name for the Windchill server connection so everyone is using the same nomenclature and not typing in whatever they want to name the server connection. This can be controlled in Creo Parametric using a mapkey if needed, but there does not appear to be a way to do this when using another CAD application and WGM. 

[avillanueva]

How about replacing the .srv_mgr_db3.fldx file once installation is complete? Isn't this where the server connection information is ultimately saved? It should be located in the .wf/.ssappd/ServerMgr folder. I does use Solidworks so only had a MathCAD install to reference. 

[ScottMorris]

@avillanueva thanks for sharing! i did not know this file existed and this could be a potential solution to this issue. i will start experimenting with this and see what i can do post installation of WGM before and after user startup. i'm curious to see what it will do if the Workspace tags are removed. i do not want to push an update to all clients with the workspace tags since users will not have access to the same workspaces. i'm also curious what will happen if this file is replaced while WGM is running? 

[avillanueva · Accepted solution]

We do this for Creo Parametric for initial startup and configuration. If this file does not already exist, we copy a precreated file with a server connection to the same location which ensures you have the right server name. This is important for config.pro paths since they use the server name which means all users need to be using the same name. 

If Not Exist "%PTC_WF_ROOT%\.ssappd\ServerMgr\.srv_mgr_db3.fldx" robocopy "%SERVER_DIR%\creo9\configs" "%PTC_WF_ROOT%\.ssappd\ServerMgr" /r:0 /NDL /NJH /NJS /nc /ns /if  .srv_mgr_db3.fldx

[DmitryC]

You don't have to remove the Workspace tag. As far as I know, .srv_mgr_db3.fldx has only 1 workspace stored for each server and uses it as the primary active workspace for the active server:

Also, if a user does not have a workspace with that name, WWGM will automatically create it during startup. You can use it to your advantage to ensure that all users start with the same default workspace after WWGM is installed.

I just copy standard .srv_mgr_db3.fldx file as a part of a silent installation script.