SolidWorks CAD Worker Configuration

[JohnArchibald]

I am using Windchill PDMLink Release 12.1 and Datecode with CPS 12.1.2.1

Has anyone used a SolidWorks CAD Worker without Desktop Integration? I want SolidWorks to act in the same way as CREO.

[Dobi]

The Solidworks CAD Worker shouldn't have anything to do with your Desktop Integration. That's just for non-CAD data management via file explorer - things like Word documents. 

On the publishing side, you'd publish non-CAD with an Office worker and Solidworks needs an appropriate version of the Workgroup Manager installed as well as an appropriate version of the Creo View Adapters. 

Is your question on publishing? Or just usage? 

[ScottMorris]

I have not looked into this in a while, but PTC did have a desktop integration with Solidworks back in the day. Not sure if it still exists or not. Its concept was based on the desktop integration for MS Office, but was implemented differently. 

[ScottMorris]

You can pull the Creo View Adapters installation guide from PTC Support and it spells out the process to setup Solidworks CAD Workers. We have one running on TEST and PRD. It takes a bit of work to dial it in and work the way you want to, but definitely a solid solution. 

We have a Linux cluster environment and have some unique work-arounds with CVA to support it, but its been pretty solid. If there is anything I would redo, it would be putting the Solidworks CAD workers on Win10 or Win11 instead of WinServer to get a little more stability from Solidworks. 

[HJ1]

Oooo, this is interesting..

"If there is anything I would redo, it would be putting the Solidworks CAD workers on Win10 or Win11 instead of WinServer to get a little more stability from Solidworks. "

..because there's use cases I think also within the community who would say the opposite  🙂   I'm trying to make an educated decision which to try next. Currently we're running SW-workers on Win 10, but it's a pain.

Could you be more specific which versions of SW and Win server you're running and what sort of issues you're experiencing?

[jbailey]

Solidworks itself is not supported to be installed on a Server OS. since we installed our SW Worker on a W10 OS, it has worked almost flawlessly... the "almost" refers to the general Creo View Adapter quirks that hit every worker.

[HJ1]

Thanks for the comment already a while ago, appreciate it.

Ok, I think I've already accepted that there'll always be at least some householding to keep it up and running (most common the UWGM COM error and then the related clean-up of temp files and restart of the worker).