Disable pdm login screen disables also cache refresh

[mp3-250]

I am testing sw2023 sp5 and I added the disable login screen key in the registry, that was introduced with sp4:
the pdm login screen is indeed suppressed unless you right click the vault folder.
No more login dialogs popping up randomly.

Problem: with the setting turned off, after the login "get the latest version" on the specified folders works, with the setting turned on "get the latest version" does not work.
well it would work if I log off from the vault, then login again for a second time....but on the first login it just not refesh the local cache. This behaviour is consistent every single time I login on both a win11 and a win10 machine installed with the same admin image.

https://r1132100503382-eu1-3dswym.3dexp ... Z710BbSfUK

1.Taking control of the SOLIDWORKS® PDM login dialog prompts

– by @Tor IVEROTH

If you have used SOLIDWORKS® PDM on a system for a while, you may find that sometimes a PDM log in prompt to one or more vault views on the system shows up – Even though you had no intention to access or log in to that particular vault.

These login prompts also seem to have a habit of showing up when least expected. Some examples where a login prompt may show are:

Starting a new email in Outlook.
Changing name of a folder completely unrelated to the vault view.
Running a Windows search.
Typing a path in the File Explorer address bar.
Starting up a new File Explorer after a reboot.

And if the login prompt for some reason does not show up modally, the prompt might show behind other application windows or on another monitor – the process that triggered the login prompt would wait until you acknowledge the login dialog. So for example, if you open File Explorer which in turn triggers a login prompt that is not displayed, to the end user this may seem as if Explorer now hangs. Explorer has not really frozen, but it is waiting for the user input. As this image illustrates, the login prompt is not initially visible until you ALT+TAB to display it.

Depending on the environment, there are even reports of some situations (often with Windows 11) where the prompt is not shown at all. With the characteristics of Explorer behaving as if it has stopped working.

You may ask, why is this happening?

A file vault login prompt will show when you are not logged in and there is an application on the system that requests access to the files or folder paths within a local file vault view. The login is needed to get the up to date information from the vault database for the file, and potentially cache a copy.

This will most often happen when you use File Explorer to browse into a vault view, in which case PDM logically will show a prompt for you to log in. However, the login prompt may also be triggered in many other circumstances. For example:

When you use the File, Open or Save dialog from within an application and the last saved path points to the vault view.
When Windows File Explorer tries to display recently accessed files or folders that includes paths under a vault view.
When the Windows desktop search index scans the vault view folders, and thereby triggers the login prompt when you are requesting information involving a vault view path – such as typing values into the File Explorer address bar.

To close the login prompt you would proceed with the login. The prompt will then not show again until you log out, or restart the SOLIDWORKS PDM process (edmserver.exe). If you do not want to log in, you have the option of exiting the dialog and a message informs you that this will disable the login prompt until you explicitly log in.

If you exit the login and thereby suppress the login dialog, it will remain suppressed from all future requests from processes that scans the vault view. However, as soon as you exit the PDM process via the tray icon, or edmserver.exe is killed, or system is restarted, the prompt will show again.

How to avoid the prompts?

To date, there have been no viable option to persistently suppress the login dialog (and remain logged out) for a vault view. While some systems only shows prompts when accessing a view, others may show them more frequently and unexpected.

Some options to reduce the frequency of the login prompts:

Use automatic login: When any process accesses a vault view, PDM automatically logs in to the view. The setting can be controlled via the administration tool, local settings, automatic login.
Set view to offline: An offline view will not prompt for login until it is set to online again. The offline/online flag is stored in the registry – so you could create a .reg file that sets the value to offline, and another to online. When user wants vault access, run the online reg file first. When disconnecting from the view, run the offline reg file. You could even have it run the offline reg file on system startup to ensure it is always starting offline.
Disable Outlook Attachment menu.
If login prompts show each time you open Outlook or create a new email, disable the setting that is outlined in Knowledge Base article QA00000121507.
Clear recent accessed locations
The Quick access menu in File Explorer has settings to disable or clear recently accessed files. Changing those may reduce the frequency of the login prompts.

Clear recent accessed locations
The Quick access menu in File Explorer has settings to disable or clear recently accessed files. Changing those may reduce the frequency of the login prompts.

A new feature to control the display of the login prompt is introduced in SOLIDWORKS PDM 2023 SP4 and 2024 SP0.

You can now fully control if the login prompt should show, or remain suppressed until you explicitly select to login. This means that no process will trigger the login prompt automatically, thereby avoiding unwanted prompting.

To suppress the login prompt for a vault, on a 2023 SP4 or later client

Open the registry editor.
Browse tab: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\SolidWorks\Applications\PDMWorks Enterprise\Vaults\[vaultname]
Create a new DWORD (32-bit) value named DisableAutoLoginPrompt
Set value to 1 (1=on, 0=off)
Repeat with each vault view you wish to suppress the login prompt.
Restart system (or exit SOLIDWORKS PDM via tray icon and restart Explorer.exe process via Task Manager.

From now on, the prompt will only appear when you right-click the vault view or tray icon and select Log In.

Notes on the new feature

The setting is defined per current user profile and per vault.
When enabled, the setting will supersede the automatic login (if enabled).
Exiting PDM via the tray icon, or logging out will suppress the login prompt again.

[jcapriotti]

Wonder if its related to the long standing bug with launching the login from the standalone search tool. If the user clicks on a shortcut to the "search.exe" in the PDM folder, the login prompt comes up but it doesn't cache the files. You have to logout and back in. This is really old.....like a decade.

I tried getting around but forcing the auto login but we have recently went to a new Windows image using Microsoft Azure AD cloud logins and PDM doesn't support it. Our PDM is still hooked into our old local AD. Thinking of breaking it from AD and just go straight PDM logins.

[bnemec]

Wonder if its related to the long standing bug with launching the login from the standalone search tool. If the user clicks on a shortcut to the "search.exe" in the PDM folder, the login prompt comes up but it doesn't cache the files. You have to logout and back in. This is really old.....like a decade.

I tried getting around but forcing the auto login but we have recently went to a new Windows image using Microsoft Azure AD cloud logins and PDM doesn't support it. Our PDM is still hooked into our old local AD. Thinking of breaking it from AD and just go straight PDM logins.

I wonder if that is why they hide the Search.exe with no out of box shortcuts in start menu or task bar? The out of box way to access the Search.exe is through a vault view.

I did not know about that the cache on login does not work when login starts in Search.exe We have automatic login set (since we're connected to AD) so PDM is logged in through Outlook most of the time I think.

[SPerman]

I'm on 2022 and I struggled with the autologin and file caching. I eliminated the problem by only working on 1 computer, but will eventually be a problem when there is a second designer.

[jcapriotti]

I wonder if that is why they hide the Search.exe with no out of box shortcuts in start menu or task bar? The out of box way to access the Search.exe is through a vault view.

I don't think there has ever been an official shortcut to the search.exe, you launched it from from inside the vault. We manually created it and then added it to our deployment package.

It must use some different code to login that misses the auto-cache that was added later. I had an SPR for it at one time but can't find it now in their knowledge base.

[mp3-250]

update: the bug is triggered when loggin in from explorer.exe, from the pdm tray icon the latest version screen cames out.

from my tests:
double clicking the vault root folder is now ineffective and it does not trigger the login screen.you need to RMB and select login. or use the tray icon RMB menu.

the pdm tray icon is the process edmserver.exe. that is the pdm client that controls explorer inside the vault folders.
the pdm login screen(blue window) is not a child of edmserver.exe and even closing the tray icon keeps it alive.
my guess is that launching the login screen from explorer does not make the tray icon aware of the login until you enter the pdm folder, which with login suppression requires an additional double click after the login screen (RMB vault folder, click login, login screen is displayed, after login you are still on the hdd root folder and you need to double click the vault to enter). the refresh cache is probably related to the login process, not to the first time you enter the pdm root folder from explorer apparently...

there is still the possibly that is a bug limited to my machines and my admin image setup.