PTC Windchill PDM

Essentials Getting Started

Guide
PTC Windchill 10.2 M030

Copyright 2016 PTC Inc. and/or Its Subsidiary Companies. All Rights Reserved.
User and training guides and related documentation from PTC Inc. and its subsidiary companies (collectively
"PTC") are subject to the copyright laws of the United States and other countries and are provided under a
license agreement that restricts copying, disclosure, and use of such documentation. PTC hereby grants to the
licensed software user the right to make copies in printed form of this documentation if provided on software
media, but only for internal/personal use and in accordance with the license agreement under which the
applicable software is licensed. Any copy made shall include the PTC copyright notice and any other
proprietary notice provided by PTC. Training materials may not be copied without the express written consent
of PTC. This documentation may not be disclosed, transferred, modified, or reduced to any form, including
electronic media, or transmitted or made publicly available by any means without the prior written consent of
PTC and no authorization is granted to make copies for such purposes. Information described herein is
furnished for general information only, is subject to change without notice, and should not be construed as a
warranty or commitment by PTC. PTC assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies
that may appear in this document.
The software described in this document is provided under written license agreement, contains valuable trade
secrets and proprietary information, and is protected by the copyright laws of the United States and other
countries. It may not be copied or distributed in any form or medium, disclosed to third parties, or used in any
manner not provided for in the software licenses agreement except with written prior approval from PTC.
UNAUTHORIZED USE OF SOFTWARE OR ITS DOCUMENTATION CAN RESULT IN CIVIL
DAMAGES AND CRIMINAL PROSECUTION.
PTC regards software piracy as the crime it is, and we view offenders accordingly. We do not tolerate the
piracy of PTC software products, and we pursue (both civilly and criminally) those who do so using all legal
means available, including public and private surveillance resources. As part of these efforts, PTC uses data
monitoring and scouring technologies to obtain and transmit data on users of illegal copies of our software.
This data collection is not performed on users of legally licensed software from PTC and its authorized
distributors. If you are using an illegal copy of our software and do not consent to the collection and
transmission of such data (including to the United States), cease using the illegal version, and contact PTC to
obtain a legally licensed copy.
Important Copyright, Trademark, Patent, and Licensing Information: See the About Box, or copyright
notice, of your PTC software.

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT RIGHTS

PTC software products and software documentation are commercial items as that term is defined at 48 C.F.
R. 2.101. Pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 12.212 (a)-(b) (Computer Software) (MAY 2014)
for civilian agencies or the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) at 227.7202-1(a)
(Policy) and 227.7202-3 (a) (Rights in commercial computer software or commercial computer software
documentation) (FEB 2014) for the Department of Defense, PTC software products and software
documentation are provided to the U.S. Government under the PTC commercial license agreement. Use,
duplication or disclosure by the U.S. Government is subject solely to the terms and conditions set forth in the
applicable PTC software license agreement.
PTC Inc., 140 Kendrick Street, Needham, MA 02494 USA

Contents

Technical Support .................................................................................................6

Documentation for PTC Products...........................................................................6
Comments ...........................................................................................................7
Overview ....................................................................................................................9
Prerequisites............................................................................................................. 11
Licenses...................................................................................................................17
Installation and Configuration .....................................................................................19
Installation .........................................................................................................20
Configuring Windchill ..........................................................................................45
Integrating with Your CAD Application .........................................................................73
Working with Creo Parametric .............................................................................74
Installing Windchill Workgroup Manager for a Third-Party CAD Application .............99
Moving Forward: Ongoing Windchill Administration.................................................... 101
Business Administrative Tasks........................................................................... 103
System Administrative Tasks ............................................................................. 119
Using the Windchill Help Center ............................................................................... 149

About This Guide

The PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide walks you through the
installation, configuration, and administration procedures unique to PTC
Windchill PDM Essentials.
In addition, the guide provides detailed information about Creo Parametric
integration and links to additional Windchill documentation to consider as you set
up PTC Windchill PDM Essentials at your site.

Technical Support
Contact PTC Technical Support through the PTC website, or by phone, email, or
fax if you encounter problems using this product or the product documentation.
The PTC eSupport portal provides the resources and tools to support your PTC
Windchill implementation:
https://support.ptc.com/appserver/cs/portal/
For complete details, see the PTC Customer Support Guide:
http://support.ptc.com/appserver/support/csguide/csguide.jsp
You must have a Service Contract Number (SCN) before you can receive
technical support. If you do not know your SCN, see Preparing to contact TS on
the Processes tab of the PTC Customer Support Guide for information about how
to locate it.

Documentation for PTC Products

You can access PTC documentation using the following resources:

PTC Windchill Help CenterThe PTC Windchill Help Center includes all PTC

Windchill documentation. You can browse the entire documentation set, or use
the search capability to perform a keyword search. To access the PTC
Windchill Help Center, you can:

Click any help icon

in PTC Windchill
Select Help Windchill Help Center from the Quick Links menu at the top
right of any PTC Windchill page
Use the following link to access all PTC help centers:
https://support.ptc.com/appserver/cs/help/help.jsp
Reference Documents websiteThe Reference Documents website is a library
of all PTC guides:
http://support.ptc.com/appserver/cs/doc/refdoc.jsp
A Service Contract Number (SCN) is required to access the PTC
documentation from the Reference Documents website. If you do not know
your SCN, see Preparing to contact TS on the Processes tab of the PTC
Customer Support Guide for information about how to locate it:

http://support.ptc.com/appserver/support/csguide/csguide.jsp
When you enter a keyword in the Search Our Knowledge field on the PTC
eSupport portal, your search results include both knowledge base articles and PDF
guides.

Comments
PTC welcomes your suggestions and comments on its documentation. To submit
your feedback, you can:

Send an email to documentation@ptc.com. To help us more quickly address

your concern, include the name of the PTC product and its release number
with your comments. If your comments are about a specific help topic or
book, include the title.

Click the feedback icon

in the PTC Windchill Help Center toolbar and
complete the feedback form. The title of the help topic you were viewing
when you clicked the icon is automatically included with your feedback.

1
Overview
PTC Windchill PDM Essentials is a preconfigured, packaged solution designed
for rapid, small deployments by customers with basic MCAD data management
needs. The package contains everything needed for basic CAD data management
except the operating system (OS).
Summary

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 is bundled with PTC Windchill PDM Essentials
and is automatically installed and configured. This bundled SQL server
version is licensed with, and can be used only with PTC Windchill PDM
Essentials.
The following Windchill capabilities are included and preconfigured in PTC
Windchill PDM Essentials:
Support for managing Creo Parametric CAD documents
Support for managing documents (PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, TXT)
Server-side representation publishing and client-side viewing
Creo View Lite is included for client 3-D viewing and markup.
Creo Parametric CAD worker, publishing adapter, and the associated
license are included and automatically configured for publishing
Windchill Directory Server (for managing users)
The following Windchill Workgroup Manager products are bundled and
installed on the server and available for client deployment.

Windchill Workgroup Manager for Creo Illustrate

Windchill Workgroup Manager for Creo Schematics
Windchill Workgroup Manager for Creo Elements/Direct Drafting
Windchill Workgroup Manager for Creo Elements/Direct Modeling
Windchill Workgroup Manager for AutoCAD

Windchill Workgroup Manager for Autodesk Inventor

Windchill Workgroup Manager for SolidWorks
Windchill Workgroup Manager for Mathcad
Windchill Workgroup Manager for Arbortext IsoDraw
The following Windchill capabilities are excluded:
No support for parts (WTParts), part configurations, or advanced
configuration options (only CAD documents and documents, such as
Microsoft Word or text documents, are supported).

Note
WTParts are Windchill parts. CAD data for Creo Parametric parts and
SolidWorks parts is managed in Windchill as CAD documents.
No support for content replication
No support for change objects
No support for indexed content search (Windchill Solr is not installed)

Note
Attribute search is supported.

10

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

2
Prerequisites
PTC Windchill PDM Essentials is deployed on a single physical or virtual
machine on which Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2012 is installed.

Note
Multi-core processors on a single physical or virtual machine eliminate the
necessity for multiple machines in order to support up to 25 active CAD users
and up to 200 active web browser users. For this reason, there is no provision
for supporting a multi-machine deployment.

11

Server Hardware Requirements

12GB of available RAM (16 with concurrent server-side publishing)

Note
You must have a minimum of 8GB of available RAM on a physical or
virtual machine in order for the installation environment to be verified by
the Windchill Installation Assistant. Ensure that there is at least 8GB of
available RAM.
If the server is intended only as a demonstration or test server, you can
disable this check in the WindchillSetup.exe.config file before
installation. After obtaining and opening the media (see Obtaining the PTC
Windchill PDM Essentials Media on page 32), this file is located in the
media directory. Set the following parameter value:
<appSettings>

<add key="preCheckRAM" value="false"/>

</appSettings>

For customers that regularly work with larger assemblies that include more
than 500 components and require more than 2 GB of RAM to open in Creo
Parametric or another CAD application, use the following calculation to
determine the amount of RAM required: add the total amount of RAM needed
to open your largest assembly in Creo Parametric to the base configuration
listed above. For example, if the largest assembly requires 8 GB of RAM to
open in Creo Parametric, and concurrent server-side publishing is enabled, the
calculation for the required amount of RAM is 16+8=24 GB.
2 processors (4 recommended with concurrent server-side publishing)
50 GB of disk space for software components
Disk space for file content (CAD documents and documents, such as
Microsoft Word or text documents). Use the following steps to calculate
required disk space:
1. Estimate current total file space used for CAD and office files
2. Estimate rate of growth over 3-5 years (for example, 30% per year)
3. Compute estimated total needs over 5 years
Disk space = [(Current file content) + (.3/year*Current file content)*(5years)]

12

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

Ensure that the media used for backups can also accommodate the projected
growth.
The server name cannot include an underscore (for example, PDM_
Essentials_Server). Rename the server, removing underscores, if necessary
Compressed volumes are not supported for Microsoft SQL Server and cannot
be used for PTC Windchill PDM Essentials

Server Software Requirements

Windows Server:
Windows Server 2012 64-bit (Standard Edition or higher)
Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit (Standard Edition or higher)

Java Runtime Environment (JRE) Version 7, Update 51 or later

Caution
No existing versions of Windchill, Creo Parametric, or SQL Server can be
currently installed. Double check for any installations and, if they exist,
uninstall them and restart the server. After reboot, ensure that there are no
Windchill, Creo Parametric, or SQL Server components installed before
installing PTC Windchill PDM Essentials.
Client Software Requirements

Windows Operating System

Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit)

Windows 8 (32-bit or 64-bit)
Windows 8.1 (32-bit or 64-bit)
Solaris 10 (SPARC & x64)
Macintosh OS X 10.10.x
Web Browser
Internet Explorer
For Windows 7: Internet Explorer 8, 9, 10, 11(32-bit or 64-bit)
For Windows 8: Internet Explorer 10 (32-bit or 64-bit)
For Windows 8.1: Internet Explorer 11 (32-bit or 64-bit)
Mozilla Firefox ESR 31.0.x
Google Chrome 39.0 or higher
Apple Safari 8.0.x or higher

Prerequisites

13

Java Plugin:
1. Version 7, Update 37 or higher
2. Version 8, Update 20 or higher

Windchill Desktop Integration (Windows 7 and Windows 8 clients only):

Microsoft Office 2007, 2010, or 2013
Microsoft Outlook 2007, 2010, or 2013

Client CAD Application Compatibility

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials is optimized for use with Windows Server and
Microsoft SQL Server to support up to about 25 CAD users and up to about 200
web users.
The following CAD application versions are compatible with PTC Windchill
PDM Essentials:

Version compatibility for Creo Parametric (formerly known as Pro/

ENGINEER):
Creo Elements/Pro 5.0 M260 or later
Creo Parametric 2 M080 or later, 3 F000 or later

14

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

Refer to the following link for the latest Creo Parametric compatibility
matrix: http://www.ptc.com/view?im_dbkey=124498.

Caution
You must use the same major version of Creo Parametric (Creo
Parametric 2 or Creo Parametric 3) for both server-side publishing and
the CAD client working with PTC Windchill PDM Essentials. For
example, if you use Creo Parametric 2 for server-side publishing, you
must use Creo Parametric 2 as the CAD client. Or, if you use Creo
Parametric 3 as the CAD client, you must use Creo Parametric 3 for
server-side publishing.
PTC Creo Parametric 2 M110 is bundled with PTC Windchill PDM
Essentials 10.2 M020 for server-side publishing. Therefore, Creo
Parametric 2 is the supported CAD client. To use Creo Parametric 3 as
the CAD client with PTC Windchill PDM Essentials 10.2 M020, you
must either upgrade the server instance to Creo Parametric 3, or
uninstall the server instance of Creo Parametric 2 and install Creo
Parametric 3. Then, you must configure a Creo worker. For more
information about upgrading or installing Creo Parametric, refer to the
Reference Documents page of the PTC support website for upgrade
and installation guides: https://www.ptc.com/appserver/cs/doc/refdoc.
jsp. For more information about configuring a Creo worker, refer to the
following article: https://www.ptc.com/appserver/cs/view/solution.jsp?
n=CS34814.
Creo Elements/Direct Modeling 18.1 M040, M050, or M070; 19.0 F000 or
M010
Creo Elements/Direct Drafting 18.1 M040, M050, M060, or M070; 19.0
F000 or M010
Creo Illustrate 2.0 M040 and 3.0 M020
Creo Schematics 2.0 M010 or later, 3.0
Mathcad 15 M020, M030 or later
Mathcad Prime 3.0 F000 or later

Refer to the following link for the latest Windchill Workgroup Manager
compatibility matrix: http://www.ptc.com/view?im_dbkey=157177.
Version compatibility for thirdparty CAD applications:
SolidWorks 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014
AutoCAD 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 (AutoCAD, AutoCAD Mechanical,
and AutoCAD Electrical)

Prerequisites

15

 Autodesk Inventor 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015

Refer to the following link for the latest third-party CAD applications
compatibility matrix: http://www.ptc.com/view?im_dbkey=157177.

Note
For a detailed list of all available software and hardware compatibility
matrices, see http://www.ptc.com/partners/hardware/current/support.htm.

Note
Integration of PTC Windchill PDM Essentials with a third-party CAD
application requires the installation of a workgroup manager (which is
included) and the registering of the CAD client with the server. For more
information, see Integrating with Your CAD Application on page 73.

16

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

3
Licenses
A SQL Server 2012 Standard Runtime edition is bundled with PTC Windchill
PDM Essentials and is licensed as part of a package seat. This bundled SQL
Server can only be used with PTC Windchill PDM Essentials.
If you wish to use the publishing functionality, you must have available a valid
Windchill Visualization Adapter license (for the CAD publishing). This license is
checked out when the system is enabled for publishing, a publishing job is
running, and a CAD worker is active. The Windchill Visualization Adapter license
(part number: PKG-5055-F ) must be ordered through your PTC partner. There is
no extra charge, but a customer can only order this license once. When ordering
this package, you must provide the hostID of your server. You will receive a
license file from PTC that you must import into your FlexNet license server in the
same way as any other Creo Parametric module.
You must configure your FlexNet license server and add the Visualization Adapter
license before you install PTC Windchill PDM Essentials. For more information
about installing a Windchill Visualization Adapter FlexNet license on your license
server, see the Specifying License Entry for Previously Generated License Files
section (under Configuring Licenses for the Creo Applications > Generating or
Updating Licenses) of the Installing Creo 2.0: Creo Parametric, Creo Direct, Creo
Layout, Creo Simulate, and Creo Options Modeler document located at the
following URL: http://www.ptc.com/cs/help/creo_hc/creo20_hc/common/books/
install.pdf.
Additionally, dedicate the publishing license for use by the Creo Parametric
publishing client on the PTC Windchill PDM Essentials server. For details, see the
following URL: https://www.ptc.com/appserver/cs/view/solution.jsp?n=CS44898

17

4
Installation and Configuration
Installation ................................................................................................................20
Configuring Windchill .................................................................................................45

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials streamlines the process of installing and

configuring Windchill, automating much of the work and providing an intuitive
Windchill Installation Assistant and Windchill Setup Assistant to walk you through
the process.

19

Installation
The installation portion of PTC Windchill PDM Essentials involves acquiring the
package, and then running a simple installation assistant that specifies installation
settings and installs Windchill.
About the Installation
The PTC Windchill PDM Essentials installation configures the system as follows:

Windchill is configured as a Windows service

This service automatically starts and stops all the Windchill processes in the
proper sequence. When the server is rebooted, the Windchill processes are
automatically started in the proper sequence.
SQL Server database is installed and configured
SQL Server 2012 Standard Edition (embedded runtime version) is
automatically installed, configured, and optimized for Windchill dedicated
use.

Note
PTC Windchill PDM Essentials cannot be connected to an existing SQL
server installation.

A file vault is automatically configured to manage your CAD and office files
The deployment automatically configures a single file vault (external to the
database but on the same server machine) with automatic folder creation
enabled so that you do not have to perform any vault management (other than
to ensure that the vault location has sufficient space for all the versions saved
and for expected growth).

Note
Older versions are not automatically purged. Manually purge older
versions in order to manage space. For more information, see Managing
Space on the File Vault on page 119.

Windchill Directory Server is automatically configured and backed up

The Windchill Directory Server manages users and is automatically
configured with the system. A Lightweight Directory Interchange Format
(LDIF) file is automatically created as a directory backup once a day at 1:00 a.

20

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

m. The eight most recent backups are saved in the WindchillLDIFBackup

subdirectory of the File Vault location you specify on the Configuration page
of the installation assistant detailed below.
Apache Tomcat webserver and servlet engine is automatically configured
This webserver manages the display of web pages and the handling of user
requests. It is automatically configured to use available ports and optimized
for Windchill use.
Server-driven publishing is automatically configured to generate thumbnail
and 3D visualization formats when CAD files are checked in.
A Creo CAD worker is automatically installed and configured as part of the
system. Server-side publishing can be enabled or disabled during the Windchill
Setup Assistant and the publishing schedule can be specified using WVS Job
Scheduler Administration. By default, a thumbnail and 3D image is
automatically created when a drawing is saved or checked in. The system can
be configured to publish during non-working hours if the server cannot handle
the publishing load on top of the CAD and browser client loads.

Caution
You must use the same major version of Creo Parametric (Creo Parametric
2 or Creo Parametric 3) for both server-side publishing and the CAD client
working with PTC Windchill PDM Essentials. For example, if you use
Creo Parametric 2 for server-side publishing, you must use Creo
Parametric 2 as the CAD client. Or, if you use Creo Parametric 3 as the
CAD client, you must use Creo Parametric 3 for server-side publishing.
PTC Creo Parametric 2 M110 is bundled with PTC Windchill PDM
Essentials 10.2 M020 for server-side publishing. Therefore, Creo
Parametric 2 is the supported CAD client. To use Creo Parametric 3 as the
CAD client with PTC Windchill PDM Essentials 10.2 M020, you must
either upgrade the server instance to Creo Parametric 3, or uninstall the
server instance of Creo Parametric 2 and install Creo Parametric 3. Then,
you must configure a Creo worker. For more information about upgrading
or installing Creo Parametric, refer to the Reference Documents page of
the PTC support website for upgrade and installation guides: https://www.
ptc.com/appserver/cs/doc/refdoc.jsp. For more information about
configuring a Creo worker, refer to the following article: https://www.ptc.
com/appserver/cs/view/solution.jsp?n=CS34814.
For more information about the Job Scheduler, see the WVS Job Scheduler
Administration Help Center topic.

Installation and Configuration

21

Installing PTC Windchill PDM Essentials

Preparing for the Installation
Before beginning the installation, make sure your environment is set up correctly.
For more information, see Prerequisites on page 11.

Note
You must have a minimum of 8GB of available RAM on a physical or virtual
machine in order for the installation environment to be verified by the
Windchill Installation Assistant. Ensure that there is at least 8GB of available
RAM.
If the server is intended only as a demonstration or test server, you can disable
this check in the WindchillSetup.exe.config file before installation.
After obtaining and opening the media (see Obtaining the PTC Windchill
PDM Essentials Media on page 32), this file is located in the media directory.
Set the following parameter value:
<appSettings>

<add key="preCheckRAM" value="false"/>

</appSettings>

Preparing the Server for Installation

In particular, the server should be set up appropriately to prepare it for the
installation. First, ensure that there are no existing installations of Windchill, Creo
Parametric, or SQL Server. If any installations exist, uninstall and restart the
server before continuing. Then, follow the directions in the following sections,
based on the Operating System of your server:

Note
Be sure you have administrator privileges on the server machine.
Server Preparation for Windows Server 2008 R2

22

Ensure that Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) is installed

Install or enable .NET Framework 3.5.1

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

Install .NET Framework 4 update: KB2533523 (Microsoft .NET Framework 4

Reliability Update 1 KB2533523)
To optimize Microsoft Internet Explorer for Windchill, ensure that the
Enhanced Security Configuration is disabled on the server:
1. In Server Manager, on the left navigation pane, select Server Manager
(Server Name).

2. Under Security Information, in the list of links on the right, click Configure
IE ESC.

Installation and Configuration

23

The Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration window appears.

3. Under Administrators, select Off, and then click OK.

Temporarily turn off Windows Firewall for the domain:
1. In Server Manager, on the left navigation pane, select Server Manager
(Server Name).

2. Under Security Information, in the list of links on the right, click Go to

Windows Firewall.

24

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

3. Under Domain network settings, select Turn off Windows Firewall (not
recommended), and then click OK.
Server Preparation for Windows Server 2012

Enable .NET Framework 3.5.1:

1. In Server Manager, on the left navigation pane, select Dashboard.

2. Under Roles and Server Groups, in the Local Server section, click
Manageability.

3. In the Manage menu, select Add Roles and Features.

The Add Roles and Features Wizard opens.

Installation and Configuration

25

4. On the Before you begin page, click Next.

5. On the Select installation type screen, select Role-based or feature-based
installation and click Next.

26

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

6. On the Select destination server page, select Select a server from the server
pool, find the applicable server in the Server Pool table, and then click
Next.
7. On the Select features page, expand .NET Framework 3.5 Features, select .
NET Framework 3.5 (includes .NET 2.0 and 3.0), and then click Install.
To optimize Microsoft Internet Explorer for Windchill, ensure that the
Enhanced Security Configuration is disabled on the server:
1. In Server Manager, on the left navigation pane, select Dashboard.

2. Under Roles and Server Groups, in the Local Server section, click
Manageability.

Installation and Configuration

27

3. Under Properties, click the IE Enhanced Security Configuration value,

which is currently set to On.

The Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration window appears.

4. Under Administrators, select Off, and then click OK.

28

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

Temporarily turn off Windows Firewall for the domain:

1. In Server Manager, on the left navigation pane, select Dashboard.

2. Under Roles and Server Groups, in the Local Server section, click
Manageability.

Installation and Configuration

29

3. Under Properties, click the Windows Firewall value, which is currently set
to Domain: On.

The Customize Settings window appears.

4. Under Domain network settings, select Turn off Windows Firewall (not
recommended), and then click OK.
Additional Server Preparation
In addition to the above preparation steps that are dependant on your servers
Operating System, perform the below preparation steps for Windows Server 2008
R2 and Windows Server 2012:

Ensure that Java Runtime Environment (JRE) Version 7, Update 5 or later is

installed.
For more information on determining which version of JRE is installed, refer
to the following online procedure.
Ensure that you have a PDF reader installed on the server (such as Adobe
Acrobat). This is needed to open and read the PDF documentation included in
the PTC Windchill PDM Essentials media.
Configure the server if there is no corporate domain name server.
If you are installing in an environment where there is no domain name server,
you need to configure your Windchill Server as a workgroup and add a
domain extension for the workgroup:
1. On the server machine, click Start, right-click Computer, and then select
Properties.
2. In the Properties window, select the Computer Name tab, and then click
Change.

30

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

The Computer Name/Domain Changes dialog box opens.

3. In the Member of section , select Workgroup, and then type a name for the
workgroup.
4. Click More to open the DNS Suffix and NetBIOS Computer Name dialog
box.

5. Type a fully qualified domain name in the Primary DNS suffix of this
computer field, and then click OK.

6. Click OK to accept the change to Workgroup and to close the Computer

Name/Domain Changes dialog box.
Reboot the server to ensure that Microsoft Windows does not have existing
reboot requests pending.

Installation and Configuration

31

Adding the Publishing License to Your FlexNET License

Server
If you wish to use the publishing functionality, you must have available a valid
Windchill Visualization Adapter license (for the CAD publishing). This license is
checked out when the system is enabled for publishing, a publishing job is
running, and a CAD worker is active. The Windchill Visualization Adapter license
(part number: PKG-5055-F ) must be ordered through your PTC partner. There is
no extra charge, but a customer can only order this license once. When ordering
this package, you must provide the hostID of your server. You will receive a
license file from PTC that you must import into your FlexNet license server in the
same way as any other Creo Parametric module.
You must configure your FlexNet license server and add the Visualization Adapter
license before you install PTC Windchill PDM Essentials. For more information
about installing a Windchill Visualization Adapter FlexNet license on your license
server, see the Specifying License Entry for Previously Generated License Files
section (under Configuring Licenses for the Creo Applications > Generating or
Updating Licenses) of the Installing Creo 2.0: Creo Parametric, Creo Direct, Creo
Layout, Creo Simulate, and Creo Options Modeler document located at the
following URL: http://www.ptc.com/cs/help/creo_hc/creo20_hc/common/books/
install.pdf.
Additionally, dedicate the publishing license for use by the Creo Parametric
publishing client on the PTC Windchill PDM Essentials server. For details, see the
following URL: https://www.ptc.com/appserver/cs/view/solution.jsp?n=CS44898

Running the Installation Assistant

Obtaining the PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Media
PTC Windchill PDM Essentials contains everything you need to deploy
Windchill. Obtain the media using one of the following methods:

32

Order the USB flash drive that contains the media from your PTC partner.
Using the machine on which you want to install, download the ZIP file that
contains the media from the ptc.com/support page, using the download
manager option.

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

Opening the Media Files

Make sure you have at least 50 GB of available space on the server machine, and
designate a location for the media files. Depending on whether you obtained the
media on a flash drive or in a ZIP file, use one of the following methods to open
the media files:
Flash Drive
ZIP File
1. Insert the flash drive into the USB 1. In a Windows Explorer window,
port of the machine on which you
navigate to the designated location
want to install.
with at least 50 GB of available
space and create a folder for the
2. In a Windows Explorer window,
media files.
open the contents of the flash drive.
Tip
Tip
If your USB adapter is slow, it
Use a meaningful folder name,
may ultimately save you time to
such as Windchill PDM
copy the media folder to the
Essentials Installer.
designated location with at least 2. Be sure you have a ZIP utility that
50 GB of available space. This
can unzip/unarchive a ZIP file in
may take an hour or more.
WinZip format, for example 7Zip
or WinZip.
Tip
To download either 7Zip or
WinZip:

Go to http://www.7-zip.org/,
and then download and
install the 7Zip utility.
OR

Go to http://winzip.
todownload.com/ and then
download and install the
WinZip utility.
3. Locate the downloaded ZIP file,
and then right-click and select [Your
ZIP Utility] Extract Here.

Installation and Configuration

33

Flash Drive

ZIP File
4. Browse to the location of the folder
you created, and then click OK.
Note
Extraction may take between 5
and 15 minutes depending on
the speed of your system.

1. After opening the media files, right-click the application file (not the CONFIG
File) WindchillSetup and then select Run as administrator.

Caution
Do not select WindchillSetup.exe.config, make sure the file
type is Application.
A User Account Control window appears asking if you want to allow the
program to make changes. Click Yes.

34

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

The Windchill Installation Assistant opens on the Introduction page.

To continue, click Next.

2. On the Agreement page, read the license agreement, select I accept the license
agreement, and then click Next.

Installation and Configuration

35

3. On the Options page, if you have an existing instance of PTC Windchill PDM
Essentials and are upgrading to a new release, select Installation for Upgrade,
specify the location of your existing instance, and then click Next. Otherwise,
select New Installation and click Next.

For more information about upgrading, see Upgrading to a New Release of

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials on page 134
4. On the Validation page, the installer checks your environment to ensure that
Windchill can be properly deployed. If any system prerequisites are not met,
the installer does not continue and you must resolve the issue and restart the
installer. For more information, see Prerequisites on page 11.

36

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

After the validation is successful, the assistant prompts you to click Next.

5. On the Configuration page, enter information in the following areas and then
click Next.

Installation and Configuration

37

Windchill Components

Specify Install LocationThis file path is the default installation

location for Windchill. To specify a location other than the default
installation location, type the desired location or click Browse and
select the desired location.

Note
The install location folder must be writable.

File Vault

Specify File Vault LocationThis file path location is where all of your
CAD and document files are stored. To specify a location other than
the default location, type the desired location or click Browse and
select the desired location. If you are upgrading to a new release, this
field includes the file vault location of your existing instance and
cannot be changed.
Windchill Directory ServerType credentials for the Windchill Directory
Server. Make a secure record of this information for future management.
User NameThis user name is preset to cn=Manager and cannot be
changed.
Password

38

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

 Confirm Password

Windchill Application ServerType credentials for the Windchill

Application Server. This is your initial site administrator account. Make a

secure record of this information for future management.

Base Data LanguageSelect the language you want the system to use
when displaying the base data for templates (products, libraries,
workflow). For example, if you are installing Windchill on an English
server but you want the system to use German language templates,
select German. The Windchill client browser always uses the browser
language preferences for displaying information on the client.
User NameThe default user name is wcadmin. Accept this default
user name or type a new user name.
Password
Confirm Password
Company InformationThe installation assistant populates the company
information based on your domain information, if possible. Review the
information below and change if necessary.
Organization NameYour company name. This name is used to
identify your organization context in Windchill. The installation
assistant auto-fills this field based on your internet domain, change if
necessary.
Internet Domain NameThe internet domain name for your
organization.
Contact Email AddressThe contact email address for your
organization. This address receives administrative messages and
notifications from the server.

Note
This address is not the address from which users receive Windchill
notifications. That address is specified on the next page, see step 5.

Note
The organization you specify is intended to represent your company
and to contain and organize the data for your company employees. For
use within a single company, it is best not to create multiple
organizations as this will increase the complexity of managing and
understanding the system.

Installation and Configuration

39

6. On the second Configuration page, enter information in the following areas,

and then click Next.

Note
If you are upgrading to a new release, some of the information on this page
is auto-filled and may not be edited.

SQL ServerSpecify an installation location and credentials for the SQL

Server. Make a secure record of this information for future management.

Specify Install LocationTo specify a location other than the default

location, type the desired location or click Browse and select the
desired location.
User NameThe SQL Server user name is preset to sa and cannot be
changed.
Password
Confirm Password
Creo Publisher License ServerThe following license server information
is used by Windchill for publishing functionality such as automatically
generated 3D formats for use with Creo View
Specify one of the following license server options.
Dont InstallSelect this option to not install the publisher.

40

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

 Single License ServerSelect this option if you only have one

license server. This is the default.
Triad License ServerSelect this option if you have backup license
servers.
License ServerType information in one or both of the below license
server fields. The system will attempt to communicate with the license
server host you specify.
HostName
Port

Note
A notification appears if the system is unable to reach the server
over the port provided. Review your license server host name and
port to ensure it is correct before proceeding.

Email ConfigurationEmail server information is used for delivering

email notifications to your email server, such as Windchill event

subscriptions. This functionality is optional. To set up email notifications,
enter information in the following fields:
SMTP Host
SMTP Port
From AddressThis address is the address the email notifications are
identified as being from when delivered. This field must use a valid
email format: <address>@domain.com

Tip
Use an address that is easily recognizable as being a Windchill
notification, such as Windchill@yourdomain.com.
SMTP User Name
SMTP User Password
7. On the Review page, review your configuration to ensure everything is correct.
To make corrections to a previous page, click Back. After you have reviewed
the configuration options and verified that they are correct, click Install.

Installation and Configuration

41

The installation time is estimated between 13 hours; it need not be

monitored. During installation, the installer displays the progress of each
component.

Note
The log file from the Windchill Installation Assistant can be found at the
following location, where <PDMEssentials_Media> is the location where
you opened the PTC Windchill PDM Essentials media files and started the
WindchillSetup application file: <PDMEssentials_Media>WC_
PDMEssentials.01\logs\SuperInstaller.log. For more
information, see Opening the Media Files on page 33.
8. After all components have been successfully installed, click Finish.
The Windchill Installation Assistant closes and a Windows Security window
appears, requesting credentials for the server on which the installation has
been completed.

42

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

9. Type the Windchill Application Server user name and password specified on the
second Configuration page, and then click OK.

Tip
Unless you specified a new user name, the default is wcadmin.

Installation and Configuration

43

The Windchill Setup Assistant Launcher page opens in your default browser
indicating you have successfully installed the Windchill solution.

Note
If Internet Explorer blocks the Windchill Setup Assistant Launcher page,
add it to the list of trusted sites.

The Windchill Setup Assistant launches automatically. If the Windchill Setup

Assistant does not launch after about a minute, click the Click here if assistant
does not appear link to manually launch it.

Note
Even after the Windchill Setup Assistant launches, do not close the Windchill
Setup Assistant Launcher page. After the Windchill Setup Assistant is
completed, this page automatically launches the Windchill Home
page. If
the Windchill Setup Assistant Launcher page is closed, however, you can still
open the Windchill Home
page from your browser favorites or a shortcut on
the desktop after the Windchill Setup Assistant is completed.

44

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

Configuring Windchill
After the installation assistant is finished installing Windchill, the system is ready
for configuration. PTC Windchill PDM Essentials includes a convenient Windchill
Setup Assistant that streamlines and simplifies several configuration steps and
automates parts of the configuration process.

Using the Windchill Setup Assistant

After completing the PTC Windchill PDM Essentials installation, the Windchill
Setup Assistant opens in a browser window. It may take up to a minute to
completely load and render this initial page.

Tip
This documentation is available from the Help Center at any time by clicking
the help button . For more information, see Using the Windchill Help
Center on page 149.

Installation and Configuration

45

This Windchill Setup Assistant is organized into five pages, described below. Your
progress through these pages is indicated at the top.

The current page number is orange, completed or skipped page numbers are green,
and pages not yet completed have gray numbers.
Each page is optional, use the Back and Next buttons to go to applicable pages, or
click the step number. Click Finish at any time to complete the Windchill Setup
Assistant.

Caution
After clicking Finish and closing the Windchill Setup Assistant, you cannot
access it again. Be sure you complete all of the configuration options that are
applicable to your organization before completing the Windchill Setup
Assistant.
1. Number Scheme on page 47Use the Number Scheme page to enable and
configure a number scheme to use for automatically generating numbers for
new CAD documents. The default setting is to prompt users to manually enter
identifying numbers for CAD documents.
2. Publishing on page 48Enable server-side publishing and automatically
generate thumbnails and 3D viewable images that are accessible from CAD
documents. Specify publishing filters to define what file types are published.
This configuration option is only available if you selected the option to install
Creo Parametric publishing.
3. Version Scheme on page 49Select a scheme to use for file version
management.
4. Participants on page 49Add users as participants and select the team roles to
which they belong.
5. Attributes on page 53Add attributes to make available for CAD documents
(for example, part, assembly, and drawing files). Attributes are visible and
modifiable from within the CAD application.

46

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

Number Scheme
Numbering schemes control how numbers are generated for baselines, documents,
CAD documents, and dynamic documents. You can configure Windchill either to
prompt the user to manually enter numbers or to automatically generate numbers
using a defined scheme.

Select one of the following options:

Enter Numbers manuallySelect this option if you want users to manually

specify a number for each new CAD document. For example, if you get new
part numbers from an ERP or MRP system, from another part number
generator, or if you manage a list of numbers in a spreadsheet.

Note
CAD document file names and numbers must be unique across the system,
this uniqueness is enforced by Windchill.

Generate Numbers automatically using standard schemeDefine the scheme

you want all generated numbers to have using the following optional fields:
Number Of DigitsSelect the number of digits for the number scheme.
Windchill pads with zeros. For example, the number one using a six digit
number scheme appears as 000001.
PrefixType a prefix. Each number begins with this prefix. For example,
the number one using a prefix of PTC and a number of six digits appears
as PTC000001. The prefix must use the following characters:
alphanumeric (AZ, az, 09), hyphen(-), or underscore(_).
SeparatorType a character to use as the separator between the prefix and
number. For example, the number one using a prefix of PTC, a number of
six digits, and a separator of a dash appears as PTC-000001.

Installation and Configuration

47

 Base NumberType the number you want to use as the number on which
to begin incrementing. For example, the first number that is assigned if the
numbering scheme uses six digits, a prefix of PTC, a separator of a dash,
and a base number of 000101 is PTC-000101.
SeparatorType a character to use as the separator between the number
and the suffix. For example, the number one using a prefix of PTC, a
number of six digits, a separator of a dash between the prefix and the
number, a separator of an asterisk between the number and the suffix, and
a suffix of CAD is PTC-000001*CAD.
SuffixType a suffix. Each number ends with this suffix. For example, the
number one using a prefix of PTC, a number of six digits, a separator of a
dash between the prefix and the number, a separator of an asterisk between
the number and the suffix, and a suffix of CAD is PTC-000001*CAD. The
suffix use the following characters: alphanumeric (A-Z, a-z, 09), hyphen
(-), or underscore(_).
For more information about object numbers, see the Object Numbering Help
Center topic.
For more information about number schemes, see the Creating Numbering
Scheme Rule Content Help Center topic.
Publishing
On the Publishing page, specify whether or not you want server-side publishing to
be enabled and select any applicable publishing filters. Server-side publishing
automatically generates thumbnails and 3D viewable images that are accessible
from CAD documents.

Enable PublishingEnables server-side publishing for parts, drawings, and

assemblies for Creo View using the PVS format. Clear this checkbox to
disable server-side publishing.

Note
If you choose not to enable server-side publishing, viewable images are
created client-side during custom Creo Parametric checkin.

48

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

Select types to publishFor Creo Parametric, select the file types for which to

generate 3D viewable images and thumbnails. File types that are not selected
are not published at all. This is used to manage server load.
Creo Part
Creo Assembly
Creo Drawing
For more information, see the Visualizing Parts and CAD Documents help Center
topic.
Version Scheme
On the Version Scheme page, select a version numbering scheme from the list that
you would like to use when revising version-controlled items.

Tip
The ASME version scheme adheres to the standards of the American Society
of Mechanical Engineers.
For more information, see the Object Versioning Help Center topic.
Participants
The Participants page is used to add users to predefined profiles and team role
groups. These groups are associated with permissions for Windchill information
and actions at various steps of the life cycle.

Note
It is a best practice to add at least one user to each predefined role/group. A
user can be added to multiple roles/groups.

Installation and Configuration

49

To add a participant:
1. Click the create new user icon

2. In the User Attributes section, enter information for the new user. An asterisk
(*) indicates a required field.

Note
The default password for the added user is the same as the User Name
specified here. You can change users passwords or inform users to change
their password when they first log on.
For information on how to change user passwords from the Participant
Administration utility, see the Changing User Passwords Help Center
topic.
When instructing users to change their own password, refer them to the
following Help Center topic: Changing Your Password.
3. In the Role/Group Membership section, select one of the following groups from
the Assign Group list of predefined team roles, and then click OK.

50

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

AdministratorAlso referred to as the Organization Administrator, users

associated with this profile have visibility to administer the system and the
ability to create, update, and delete all objects at the organization level.

Note
This administrator (Organization Administrator) is not the same as the
site administrator (wcadmin), who manages the site context and is
specified in the installation assistant. However, the same user may be
created as Site Administrator (wcadmin) in the Windchill Installation
Assistant and assigned to the Administrator role (Organization
Administrator) in the Windchill Setup Assistant.

ManagerUsers associated with this profile can perform the following

actions:
Product ManagementCreate and manage products and content
within a product, including changing the state of an object (to release
it, for example).
Library ManagementCreate and manage libraries and content within
a library, including changing the state of an object (to release it, for
example).
Promotion Requests ManagementInitiate and approve promotion
requests.
Document ManagementManage CAD documents and view, create,
and edit non-CAD documents.
Organization AdministrationPerform organization administration
tasks, such as adding and managing organization users.

For more information about administrative tasks, see Moving Forward:

Ongoing Windchill Administration on page 101.
CAD AuthorUsers associated with this profile can view, create, and edit
CAD documents in products and can view CAD documents in libraries.
ContributorUsers associated with this profile can create and edit

Installation and Configuration

51

documents and can view CAD documents that are in the released state.
These members can also view and markup 3D viewable images
associated with CAD documents.
ViewerUsers associated with this profile can view documents and CAD
documents that are in the Released state.

Note
You can only select one role/group for the current user. If you want to add
this user to more than one role/group, follow the above steps for each role/
group. For example, if you want to add a user to the CAD Author and the
Contributor groups, you must add that user to the participants list twice,
once for each intended group.
For more information about the available roles and groups, see Participants on
page 58.

Note
The Manager group is automatically added to the Product Creators group
and the Library Creators group. Other than Organization Administrators,
only members of these groups can create products and libraries,
respectively.
Each added user appears in the participants list.

To remove users from the list, select the checkbox in front of each user and click
the remove selected objects icon .
To edit information for a user in the list, select the checkbox in front of the user
and click the edit objects icon .

52

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

When all users are added, click Next to continue.

For more information, see the Creating a New User Help Center topic.
Attributes
The Attributes page is used to specify custom attributes that you want to associate
with CAD models such as parts, assemblies, and drawings. These attributes are
created as Windchill global attributes. These Windchill attributes are associated
with parameters in Creo Parametric if the Windchill attribute Internal Name and
the attribute type matches the CAD parameter name and type, and if the CAD
parameter is designated. If this association is in place the parameter or attribute
values are automatically exchanged between the server and CAD file.
For more information, see the Mapping Creo Parametric Parameters to Windchill
Attributes and About Attribute Mapping Help Center topics.
Commonly displayed Windchill attributes for CAD documents include those in
the following table.
These attributes are included in Windchill, use the Attributes page of the Windchill
Setup Assistant to create additional attributes for your CAD documents.
Attribute
Number
Name
File Name
Version
State
Last Modified

Modified By
Description
Type

Document Category
Location

Installation and Configuration

Description
The number of the CAD document
The name of the CAD document
The CAD file name that is the primary
content of the CAD document
The revision and iteration of the CAD
document
The life cycle state of the CAD
document
The date and time that the CAD
document master was most recently
modified
The name of the user that last modified
the CAD document master
The description note on the CAD
document iteration
If the CAD document is a subtype,
displays the "Display Name" of the
subtype
The category and subcategory of the
primary content of the CAD document
The current database storage location
(context and folder) of the CAD
document
53

Attribute

Description
The date and time that the CAD
document master was created
The name of the user that created the
CAD document master
The CAD tool in which the CAD file
was created
Indicates whether all dependents of the
CAD document were checked in or not.
(Value: True or False)
Will be true if the object is generic of a
family table
Will be true if the object is instance of a
family table
Will be true if the object is a ghost
object (that is, has incomplete
dependencies)
Indicates the subcategory of the CAD
document
Displays the check-in comment of the
iteration
Indicates in which context the object
resides
Indicates the life cycle template being
used for the CAD document

Created On
Created By
Authoring Application
Missing Dependents

Generic
Instance
Incomplete Object

Document Subcategory
Checkin Comments
Context
Life Cycle Template

To add an attribute:
1. Click the add attribute to list icon

54

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

The Add/Edit Attributes page opens in a new window.

2. In the Attributes section, enter information into the following fields:

Display NameType the attribute name you want to be displayed in

attribute lists. The attribute name cannot begin with PTC_ (for example,
PTC_NetWeight), and the name cannot contain special characters
(characters that are not alpha-numeric) except hyphens and underscores,
which are allowed.
Internal NameThis name is automatically generated based on the Display
Name and is the string you should use to create and designate matching
CAD file parameters in Creo Parametric.
TypeSelect one of the following attributes from the list. The value
selected in this list determines which attribute fields are available.

BooleanTrue/False (Yes/No)
Integer NumberInteger number (no decimal)
Real NumberDecimal number
Real Number with UnitsDecimal number with units
StringText

Units Of MeasureFor an attribute type of Real Number with Units, select

the units indicating the quantity of measure you want the numeric attribute
to represent.
DescriptionType an attribute description.

Installation and Configuration

55

Minimum ValueFor an attribute type of Integer Number, Real Number, or

Real Number with Units, type a minimum possible numeric value. This
field, along with Maximum Value, defines a range of valid numeric values.

This range is inclusive, meaning the minimum and maximum values are
allowed as well as the numeric values between.
Maximum ValueFor an attribute type of Integer Number, Real Number, or
Real Number with Units, type a maximum possible numeric value. This
field, along with Minimum Value, defines a range of valid numeric values.
This range is inclusive, meaning the minimum and maximum values are
allowed as well as the numeric values between.
Default ValueType a default value for the attribute. Characters allowed
are defined by the attribute type:
Integer NumberNumeric values allowed.
Real NumberDecimal values allowed.
Real Number with UnitsCharacters allowed are the same as the Real
Number attribute type.
StringAll characters are allowed.
Boolean Default ValueFor an attribute type of Boolean, select whether
you want the default value to be Yes, No, or blank (no default value).

Each added attribute appears in the attributes list.

To remove attributes from the list, select the checkbox in front of each attribute
and click the remove selected objects icon .
To edit information for an attribute in the list, select the checkbox in front of the
attribute and click the edit objects icon .
When all attributes are added, click Next to continue.
For more information on the attributes added by the Windchill Setup Assistant, see
Attributes on page 69.

56

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

Completing the Windchill Setup Assistant

After your configuration selections are complete, click Finish.

Caution
Make sure you have specified all of the configuration settings you need before
clicking Finish, the Windchill Setup Assistant cannot be opened again.
The configuration specifications are applied and the Windchill server restarts. This
may take several minutes.
When the configurations have been successfully applied:

The Windchill Home

page opens in your default browser.

Tip
On the Windchill Home
page, the browser address bar contains the
server name and location; everything before /app/ in the address. For
example, http://servername.ptcnet.ptc.com/Windchill. Email this address to
each user; it is used when they set up integration between Windchill and
their CAD application. For more information, see Integrating with Your
CAD Application on page 73.

A shortcut to the Windchill Home

A link to the Windchill Home

page is created in the bookmarks or favorites
of your default browser.
A Windchill Windows service is created so that when the server machine is
rebooted, all of the Windchill components automatically start in the proper
sequence. For more information, see Restarting the Windchill Windows
Service on page 120.

page is created on the server desktop.

Additional Configuration Steps for Autodesk Inventor and SolidWorks

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials is configured with the Creo Parametric CAD
worker installed on the same machine as Windchill.
If you wish to publish formats for Autodesk Inventor or SolidWorks, you must
purchase the CAD adapter for these applications and configure a CAD worker on
a separate physical or virtual machine because Autodesk Inventor and SolidWorks
do not support installation into a Windows Server operating system.
For more information, see Configuring a Remote CAD Worker for Autodesk
Inventor and SolidWorks on page 110.

Installation and Configuration

57

Understanding the Automated Configuration

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials automatically configures Windchill for
convenient, immediate production for basic CAD data management. This section
briefly describes these configurations to help you get started in your new
environment. The following configurations are covered:

Participants on page 58
Library Template on page 63
Product Template on page 64
Policy Administration and Access Control Rules on page 66
CAD Data Management Life Cycle on page 67
Attributes on page 69
Publish Rules on page 70

Participants
Windchill uses the term participant to mean a user, group, or organization. The
PTC Windchill PDM Essentials configuration defines the following ways to
organize participants:

Organization GroupsPTC Windchill PDM Essentials includes five out-ofthe-box organization groups. Users are added to one or more of these groups
as part of the Windchill Setup Assistant:

58

Administrator
Manager
CAD Author
Contributor

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

 Viewer

Note
The Manager group is automatically added to the Product Creators group
and the Library Creators group. Other than Organization Administrators,
only members of these groups can create products and libraries,
respectively.

Installation and Configuration

59

These groups define user configurations for profiles, shared teams, and roles.
New users should always be added to one or more of these groups.
ProfilesA profile controls what information and actions are visible to the
user or group associated with the profile. Each organization group (with the
exception of Administrator) is associated with a corresponding profile of the
same name.

A description of each profile follows:

ManagerUsers associated with this profile can perform the following
actions:
Product ManagementCreate and manage products and content
within a product, including changing the state of an object (to release
it, for example).
Library ManagementCreate and manage libraries and content within
a library, including changing the state of an object (to release it, for
example).
Promotion Requests ManagementInitiate and approve promotion
requests.
Document ManagementManage CAD documents and view, create,
and edit non-CAD documents.

60

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

 Organization AdministrationPerform organization administration

tasks, such as adding and managing organization users.
For more information about administrative tasks, see Moving Forward:
Ongoing Windchill Administration on page 101.
CAD AuthorUsers associated with this profile can view, create, and edit
CAD documents in products and can view CAD documents in libraries.
ContributorUsers associated with this profile can create and edit
documents and can view CAD documents that are in the released state.
These members can also view and markup 3D viewable images
associated with CAD documents.
ViewerUsers associated with this profile can view documents and CAD
documents that are in the Released state.

For more information, see the Profiles Help Center topic.

Shared TeamsPTC Windchill PDM Essentials includes the following shared
teams:
Library TeamAutomatically associated with all libraries created with the
Team Library template.
For more information, see Library Template on page 63.
Product TeamAutomatically associated with all products created with
the Team Product template.
For more information, see Product Template on page 64.
For more information about teams, see the Teams Help Center topic.

Installation and Configuration

61

For more information about shared teams, see the About Shared Teams Help
Center topic.
RolesA role relates members in the context to information and activities
managed in that context. The PTC Windchill PDM Essentials out-of-the-box
shared teams automatically include roles that correspond to the out-of-the-box
organization groups. Each organization group, along with all of its members,
is automatically included in the corresponding shared team role:

Note
The Administrator group is not included in the shared teams because
members of that group administer the system rather than viewing and
managing data.

62

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

For more information, see the About Roles and Groups Help Center topic.
Library Template
A predefined library template named Team Library is automatically created and
configured as follows:

A Shared Team called Library Team is automatically associated with libraries

created using the Team Library template.

RolesThe Library Team includes all of the predefined role groups listed
in the Windchill Setup Assistant, except Administrator. All roles except for
Manager have read-only access to the released content of the parts library
and only a user in the Manager role is allowed to create objects in the
library. Users added to an organization group are automatically added to
the associated library role for any libraries that were created using the
Team Library template.
For more information about the predefined role groups, see Participants on
page 58.

Installation and Configuration

63

Permissions for libraries created with the Team Library template are
defined by predefined access control rules. For more information, see
Policy Administration and Access Control Rules on page 66.
Using the Team Library template, a library named Parts Catalog is automatically
created during the PTC Windchill PDM Essentials installation with all of the
above configurations.

For more information about libraries, see the About Libraries Help Center topic.
For more information about library administration, see the Working with Products
and Libraries Help Center topic.
Product Template

A predefined product template named Team Product is automatically created and

configured as follows:

64

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

A Shared Team called Product Team is automatically associated with products

created using the Team Product template.
RolesThe Product Team includes all of the predefined role groups listed
in the Windchill Setup Assistant, except Administrator. Users added to an
organization group are automatically added to the associated product roles
for any existing products that were created using the Team Product
template.
For more information about the predefined role groups, see Participants on
page 58.
Permissions for products created with the Team Product template
(including permissions to life cycle states of CAD documents) are defined
by predefined access control rules. For more information, see Policy
Administration and Access Control Rules on page 66.

For more information about products, see the About Products Help Center topic.
For more information about product administration, see the Working with
Products and Libraries Help Center topic.

Installation and Configuration

65

Policy Administration and Access Control Rules

Access control rules are predefined for the following domains as children of the
parent Organization domain:

Library TeamDefines the access control rules for the Parts Catalog library
and any other library created from the Team Library template. These access
control rules specify the permissions of participants based on the team role to
which they are assigned.
Product TeamDefines the access control rules for products created from the
Team Product template. These access control rules specify the permissions of
participants based on the team role to which they are assigned. Among the
permissions defined, access control rules are specified for the life cycle states
of CAD documents.

For details about CAD document life cycle states and participant permissions,
see CAD Data Management Life Cycle on page 67.

66

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

For more information about the Parts Catalog library and the Team Library
context, see Library Template on page 63.
For more information about the Team Product template, see Product Template on
page 64.
For more information about team roles, participant, and organization groups, see
Participants on page 58.
For details about Policy Administration and Access Control Rules, see the Policy
Administration Help Center topic.
CAD Data Management Life Cycle
A basic life cycle called CAD Data Management is predefined during the
configuration and associated with user roles and groups through access control
rules. The CAD Data Management life cycle is automatically associated with all
documents and CAD documents.

Note
Although there are other standard Windchill life cycle templates visible in the
Templates table for an organization and in the Life Cycle Template
Administration utility, as a best practice, use the CAD Data Management life
cycle template that is configured to be automatically associated with all
documents and CAD documents.

Installation and Configuration

67

The CAD Data Management life cycle controls access based on role and current life
cycle state of the document.

The following table describes the access behavior for a document or CAD
document that is created with the CAD Data Management life cycle:

For more information, see the About Life Cycles Help Center topic.

68

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

Attributes
Custom CAD document attributes that were created in the Windchill Setup
Assistant can be viewed by site or organization administrators in Windchill using
the Type and Attribute Management utility, accessed by clicking the Type and
Attribute Management link from Site
Utilities or Organizations
Utilities.
Under Manage Types, navigate to EPM Document CAD Document.

For more information, see the Working with the Type and Attribute Management
Utility Help Center topic.
Custom CAD document attributes created in the Windchill Setup Assistant are
defined as global attributes and collected under the defaultEPMOrganizer set. To
view and edit the global attributes in the Type and Attribute Management utility,
click the Manage Global Attributes icon
and navigate to defaultEPMOrganizer.

For more information, see the Managing Global Attributes Help Center topic.

Installation and Configuration

69

Publish Rules
Default Publish Rules are configured to automatically generate formats typically
needed in manufacturing and procurement whenever a Creo Parametric CAD
model is released. These Publish Rules also enable users to manually generate
formats for specific Creo Parametric CAD models as needed. The default Publish
Rules are configured as follows:
Action
Check In

Life cycle state change

Behavior
When a Creo Parametric CAD
document is checked into Windchill, a
thumbnail and representation is
generated.
When the life cycle state of a Creo
Parametric CAD document is changed
to Released in Windchill, the following
Publish Rules behavior applies:
A thumbnail and representation is
genereated.
For Creo Parametric parts (.prt) and
assemblies (.asm), the following
formats are generated:

IGES
STEP
For Creo Parametric drawings (.
drw), the following formats are
generated:
PDF
DXF

70

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

Action
New Representation

Behavior
At any time, the New Representation
action can be selected to generate a
representation for a Creo Parametric
CAD document. When New
Representation is selected, the
following Publish Rules behavior
applies:
For Creo Parametric parts (.prt) and
assemblies (.asm), any one or more
of the following formats can be
manually generated:

Scheduled Publish Job

PDF
DXF
IGES
STEP
DWG
CGM
If a publish job is scheduled, the
following Publish Rules behavior
applies for objects in a released state
when the scheduled job executes:
For Creo Parametric parts (.prt) and
assemblies (.asm), the following
formats are generated:

Installation and Configuration

IGES
STEP
PDF
For Creo Parametric drawings (.
drw), any one or more of the
following formats can be manually
generated:

IGES
STEP
For Creo Parametric drawings (.
drw), the following formats are
generated:

71

Action

Behavior
PDF
DXF

Note
Publish jobs are not automatically scheduled in this configuration. For more
information about setting up scheduled publish jobs, see the WVS Job
Scheduler Administration Help Center topic.
Editing these default Publish Rules requires you to manage the Publish Rules
XML file located in the following subdirectory of your installation location:
Windchill\loadFiles\smb\PublishRulesForEssentials.xml.
The following Windchill Visualization Service properties are set as part of the
default Publish Rules configuration:

publish.usesPublishRules=ARBORTEXT PROE
publish.republishonepmdocumentchange=true
publish.publishonepmdocumentchange=true

For more information about managing Publish Rules, see the Using Publish Rules
Help Center topic.

72

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

5
Integrating with Your CAD
Application
Working with Creo Parametric ....................................................................................74
Installing Windchill Workgroup Manager for a Third-Party CAD Application ....................99

After you have successfully installed and configured the Windchill server, you can
set up the integration with your CAD application on client workstations. This
section provides you with the information you need to get set up and working with
Creo Parametric, Creo Direct, and Creo Elements.
For information about installing a Windchill Workgroup Manager and setting up
integration between Windchill and a third-party CAD application (such as for
AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor, or SolidWorks), see Installing Windchill
Workgroup Manager for a Third-Party CAD Application on page 99.

73

Working with Creo Parametric

This section provides basic information on the administrative and CAD user tasks
necessary to integrate Windchill and Creo Parametric.

Administrator Initial Setup

Before users can start using Windchill, an initial setup must be performed to
configure certain business processes and to establish a seamless data exchange
between Creo Parametric and Windchill. The next sections describe necessary
configurations performed by an administrator.
Configuring an Attribute Exchange Between Windchill and Creo
Parametric
You must map the attributes and parameters of Creo Parametric to Windchill
attributes. This mapping ensures that attributes and parameters are propagated and
properly updated in both Windchill and Creo Parametric.

Note
Windchill attributes were created during the PTC Windchill PDM Essentials
installation, using the Windchill Setup Assistant. For more information, see
Attributes on page 53.
For more information, see the Mapping Creo Parametric Parameters to Windchill
Attributes and About Attribute Mapping Help Center topics.
In addition, you may need to manage system attributes and parameters, and
customize out-of-the-box Windchill attributes, or those you created during the
installation of PTC Windchill PDM Essentials, to create the necessary additional
CAD attributes.
For information about managing Windchill global attributes, see the Managing
Global Attributes section of the PTC Windchill Help Center.
Using CAD Document Templates
When the data in Creo Parametric is managed by Windchill, you must select a
CAD document template used by Windchill to create a new object. A CAD
document template determines the attributes that you need to specify when
creating a new CAD document.
CAD document templates are created and managed from the Templates pages in
Windchill, which are accessible only to administrators. The CAD document
templates can be created in the context of a product, library, project, program,
organization, or site.

74

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

For more information, see the About CAD Document Templates Help Center
topic.
Both Windchill and Creo Parametric use default template files when creating a
new object. In Creo Parametric these objects are called start parts and in Windchill
they are referred to as CAD document templates. Creo Parametric start parts can
be managed in Windchill so that both applications use the same set of template
files. For more information, see CAD Document Templates and Creo Parametric
Start Parts on page 98.
Creating a Repository for Your Data
Before users start working on a new design, you typically create a new product or
library in Windchill to manage the new products data. Within this product, users
can then set up a workspace to work on their portion of the design.
To learn about creating a new product or library, see the Working with Products
and Libraries Help Center topic.
Enabling Workspaces
By default, the workspace may not be listed in the Windchill navigation pane in
the embedded browser or in a standalone Windchill window. To display the
workspace link in the navigation pane, set the preference Workspace to yes
using the Windchill Preference Management utility.
For more information, see the Displaying the Workspace Help Center topics.
Noting the Server Name and Location
In order for users to work with Windchill, they must register a Windchill server
and select an active workspace on that server. On the Windchill Home
page, the
browser address bar contains the server name and location; everything before
/app/ in the address. For example, http://servername.ptcnet.ptc.com/Windchill.
Email this server address to each CAD user.
Creo Parametric Parameters and Windchill Attributes
During the Windchill Setup Assistant for PTC Windchill PDM Essentials,
Windchill custom attributes were specified to be associated with CAD models.
Additional Creo Parametric designated parameters can be mapped to Windchill
attributes. Attribute mapping transfers parametric information from the CAD
models created in Creo Parametric to the Windchill system.
For more information, see the Mapping Creo Parametric Parameters to Windchill
Attributes Help Center topic.

Integrating with Your CAD Application

75

Other Considerations
This topic provides additional considerations for setting up the integration of Creo
Parametric and Windchill.
Configuring Object Collections
The collection process determines how an objects dependents are collected when
the object is selected for a data management operation, for example, Check In. An
administrator or a user can define the default collector behavior using the
Preference Management utility.
For more information, see the About the Collector and Configuring the Initial
Collection of Objects for Actions Help Center topics.
Configuring Revisions
An administrator can configure the sequence of steps in the revision process by
using the Initial Revision Parameter preference in the Windchill
Preference Management utility.
For more information, see the Administering Revision Help Center topic.
Suggestions for Further Reading
Your primary resource for information on Windchill processes and functions is the
Windchill Help Center, which you can access from the embedded browser or from
standalone Windchill browser. Once Windchill is installed, launch the Windchill
Help Center by clicking one of the following:

Quick Links menu in the upper-right corner of the Windchill screen

Help buttons

throughout the user interface

Note
The Windchill Help Center is also available on https://www.ptc.com/
appserver/cs/help/help.jsp.
For more topics regarding the administration of the integration between Creo
Parametric and Windchill, refer to the Configuring Windchill for Interoperation
with Creo Parametric Help Center topic.

76

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

When learning about Windchill, you may be interested in the following general
administrative topics:
Windchill process or
functional area
Configuring access control
Configuring life cycles
Setting preferences
Creating new subtypes
Using Windchill workflows

Where to find information

See the Security Management section of the
PTC Windchill Help Center.
See the Life Cycle Template Administration
section of the PTC Windchill Help Center.
See the Preference Management section of
the PTC Windchill Help Center.
See the Managing Types section of the PTC
Windchill Help Center.
See the Workflow Template Administration
section of the PTC Windchill Help Center.

Getting Started for CAD Users

This chapter provides basic information on how to start working with Windchill
and Creo Parametric. The next topics describe a streamlined approach to common
data management functions.
For more detailed information about working with Creo Parametric and Windchill,
refer to the Getting Started with Creo Parametric section of the PTC Windchill
Help Center.

Connecting to a Windchill Server

To work with Windchill, you must register a Windchill server and select an active
workspace on that server.
Registering a Server
1. In Creo Parametric, select Tools Server Management; or in the ribbon, select
File Manage Session Server Management. The Server Management window
opens. The Servers tab has two sections: the top section lists registered
servers, and the bottom section lists the workspaces available on the selected
server.
2. Select Server Register New Server. The Register New Server window opens.
3. Specify the server name to appear in the Folder Browser.

Integrating with Your CAD Application

77

Tip
As a working practice, it is recommended that all users in a company
register the server using the same name.
4. Specify the location by entering the URL to the Windchill server. You can get
this information from your Windchill administrator.

Tip
On the Windchill Home
page, the browser address bar contains the
server name and location; everything before /app/ in the address. For
example, http://servername.ptcnet.ptc.com/Windchill.
5. Click Check to validate the server location.
6. Enter the user name and password in the authentication window.
7. Select the active workspace.

Note
If you are setting up your connection for the first time, a default workspace
is created in each Windchill product that you have access to. If you are
connecting to a previously registered server, you can select from a list of
available workspaces. For more information, see Creating and Activating a
Workspace on page 85.
8. Click Close.
9. Designate the primary server by right-clicking it in the list and selecting Set as
Primary Server (or in the Server Management window, by clicking Server Set
as Primary Server).

Note
Once registered, the active workspace is listed in the Folder Navigator. If
desired, you can now create your own workspace on the primary server and set
it as active. For more information, see Creating and Activating a Workspace
on page 85.

78

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

Getting Familiar with the Windchill Embedded

Browser
Creo Parametric contains two distinct areas:

Navigators This pane contains the Folder, Favorites, History, and Search
navigators.
Windchill embedded browser This pane allows you to view and access data
for the locations selected in the Folder navigator, for example, the contents of
a workspace or the contents of a folder on a Windchill server.

Note
The Creo Parametric embedded browser is the only browser that supports the
connection between your CAD application and a Windchill server. A
standalone Internet Explorer or Mozilla browser does not support connectivity
between Creo Parametric and Windchill.
Learning About the Windchill User Interface
Once connected to the Windchill server, the embedded browser displays Windchill
pages and functions. To learn about the basics of the Windchill user interface, you
can review the Windchill Quick Start Guide, accessible from the Quick Links
menu.

Integrating with Your CAD Application

79

Using Windchill Data Management Actions from Creo Parametric

When Creo Parametric is connected to Windchill, Windchill inserts certain data
management actions in your applications user interface, for example, Check In
and Check Out.
In addition, the behavior of some of the commands in Creo Parametric is changed,
such as Save or Open. For example, when Creo Parametric is connected to
Windchill, Open and Save use the workspace local directory as the default
location.

Searching for Existing Data in Windchill

Windchill provides powerful search tools that allow you to locate and retrieve
product information of all types.

Note
Your ability to search for and retrieve information depends upon access
control policies implemented at your company. An object can exist in the
Windchill database but not appear in your search results because of these
policies.
The following sections provide an overview of Windchill search functionality. For
detailed information, see the Searching for Information section of the PTC
Windchill Help Center.
Global Search
A global search is a keyword search performed against all contexts for which you
have access. The global search fields are located in the upper right of the
Windchill browser page:

Keep the following search guidelines in mind:

80

By default, keywords are only compared against the Name and Number
attribute field values.
The keyword must match the complete field. For example, if you are searching
for a document named Plan Contact Matrix and enter plan contact, the
search fails. Use wildcards to broaden your search.
All Windchill searches are case insensitive.

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

Use the following procedure to perform a global search:

1. From the drop-down menu on the left, select All Types or one or more specific
object types:

Note
You can modify the list of available object types using the Global Search
Default Types List preference. To set this preference, navigate to Quick
Links My Settings Preferences. Expand the Search preference group
and right-click Global Search Default Types List to change your preference
setting. For more information, see Preference Management.
2. Enter one or more words in the search field. Text separated by spaces is
interpreted as separate search strings joined by an AND operator.
3. Click the search icon

or press ENTER to start the search.

Search results appear in the Search tab. For more information, see Search Results.

Integrating with Your CAD Application

81

Tip
To cancel a search that is in progress, click the cancel icon
search progress indicator above the Search Results table.

next to the

Use the drop-down menu next to the Search field to access your search
history and saved searches, or open the Advanced Search page:

For more information, see Search History.

Advanced Search
Use the Windchill advanced search capability to perform detailed search queries.
Using more specific criteria reduces search time and limits the number of database
objects that are returned. Advanced search also allows frequently used searches to
be saved, shared with others, altered, and reused.
To access the advanced search, open the Navigator and select the Search tab. Click
Advanced Search at the top of the tab. You can also select Advanced Search from
the global search drop-down menu:

For more information, see Advanced Search.

82

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

Saved Searches
You can save search criteria sets on both the Search and Advanced Search pages.
This makes frequently performed or highly detailed searches more convenient.
Individual users can save searches for their own use; administrators can create
saved searches and assign them to groups of users. For more information, see the
Saved Searches section of the PTC Windchill Help Center.

Using Windchill Workspaces

Windchill Workgroup Manager provides you with a workspace a private area
managed by Windchill that enables you to collaborate on a project with other
designers.
The primary purpose of a workspace is to allow you to work on a portion of a
design without impacting data in the Windchill commonspace. Once you are ready
to expose design changes to the rest of your team, you can check in your design in
Windchill.

Tip
In Windchill, you can create multiple workspaces. This is useful if you are
working on several projects at a time, enabling you to maintain each projects
data in a dedicated workspace.
For more information, see the Introduction to the Workspace Help Center topic.
Viewing Objects in a Workspace
Once you save a file from your application or check out an object from Windchill,
it appears in your private active workspace in Windchill.
To view objects in your workspace, click the active workspace node

in the

Folder navigator. The embedded browser shows the contents of the workspace.

Tip
You may wish to customize the view of the workspace table (for example, add
columns that display important object attributes) by creating a new table view
or modifying an existing one. You can create several views for different
purposes. For example, you may have a view that shows the status of the
objects, such as out-of-date. For more information on creating custom views
of the workspace table, see the PTC Windchill Help Center topic, Creating
and Editing New Table Views.

Integrating with Your CAD Application

83

To obtain information about an object in the workspace, open its information page
by clicking the information icon . The information page called from the
workspace presents the workspace-relevant details for the object.

Tip
The objects information page opened from the commonspace may have
different contents than the information page opened from the workspace.
You can configure how objects are displayed in the workspace table by selecting
the desired view. You can select one of the following views:

As a List (default)

Featured ObjectsFeatured Objects is a view designed to restrict the number

of objects displayed in the workspace to the ones likely to be the most
interesting to you, as defined by the following rules:
Include objects initially selected for Add to Workspace or Check Out
actions
Include all checked-out objects
Include all objects modified locally or in the server-side workspace
Include drawings included for selected items

Note
The Featured Objects view filter is sticky, and will retain your last view
selection should you navigate away from the workspace and return.
Toggling the view between As a list and As a Featured Objects list in the
workspace toggles the value setting for the preference, Workspace
Workspace Display, between All items and Featured items, respectively.
Populating a Workspace
There are several ways to populate your workspace. Some of them include:

84

Save an object from your CAD applications session using Save or Save to
Workspace.
Locate and then check out and download an object from a commonspace
folder in Windchill to your workspace.
Import objects into the workspace from a location on your hard disk.

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

Creating and Activating a Workspace

You can create a new workspace either from Creo Parametric using the Server
Management utility or from a workspace table in Windchill.
Creating a New Workspace using the Server Management Utility in
Creo Parametric
1. From Creo Parametric, select Tools Server Management; or in the ribbon,
select File Manage Session Server Management. The Server Management
window opens.
2. Click Workspace New.
3. Specify a unique name for the workspace and select the context (product or
library) where you want the workspace to reside.
4. Click OK. The new workspace is added to the list of the workspaces in the
Server Management window, and it immediately becomes your active
workspace.

Integrating with Your CAD Application

85

Creating a New Workspace from a Workspace Page in Windchill

1. In the embedded browser or in standalone Windchill, browse to find the
product within which you want to create a workspace.
2. On the Browse tab, expand the product node and click the Workspaces link.

3. In the My Workspaces table that appears in the content pane, click the new
workspace icon .
4. In the New Workspace window, specify a unique name for the workspace.
5. Optionally, provide a description for the workspace.
6. Select the Activate checkbox (not available in a standalone browser) to make
the new workspace active upon creation.
7. Click OK. The system confirms that the new workspace is created.
Activating a Workspace
You can designate a particular workspace as the active workspace. The active
workspace is used as the default location for data management functions.

86

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

1. In Creo Parametric, select Tools Server Management; or in the ribbon, select

File Manage Session Server Management.
2. In the Server Management window, right-click a workspace that you want to
activate from the list of workspaces available on the selected server. Continue
as follows:

To activate a workspace on the primary server, click Activate Workspace.

To activate a workspace and make its server the primary server, click
Activate Workspace and Set Primary.

Working with Windchill

The next sections cover the most typical PDM actions that you may use while
working on your design.

Starting Out on a Design

The next sections describe different scenarios for how you may start working on
your design using Windchill.
Creating a New CAD Document
CAD documents are Windchill objects that are used to manage Creo Parametric
data in Windchill.
CAD documents can be created using the following approaches:

On-the-fly When you create and save a new object in Creo Parametric.
Created from Windchill When you create a new CAD document in the
workspace. This can be done from the embedded browser or from standalone
Windchill browser.

Creating a New CAD Document from Creo Parametric

When you create a new object in Creo Parametric and save it to the workspace, it
creates a new CAD document in your workspace.
Creating a CAD Document from a Workspace Page
1. Go to the workspace page in the embedded browser or in a standalone
Windchill browser.
2. From your workspace page, select File New CAD Document or click the
new CAD document icon . The New CAD Document window opens.

Integrating with Your CAD Application

87

3. Specify the following fields:

Organization ID

Authoring ApplicationSelecting the authoring application may preselect

values for other attributes, for example Category and Type and Template
Name.

Category

Type

Template NameSelect the CAD document template to use.

Tip
You can click the Default button to save the currently-selected template
as the default. When you revisit the New CAD Document window, the
previously-saved default value is preselected in the Template Name
menu.
4. Specify values for the attributes in the Attributes pane. The attributes listed
depend on the template selected, but typically the following attributes are
available out-of-the-box:

Number

Note
If autonumbering is on, Number is not shown as a required field and
the word Generated is displayed.

Name

File name

New Revision

Description

Location

Note
The default location is the current workspace. If you want to specify a
different location, click Select Folder and enter a path or browse to a
folder within your selected context.

88

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

5. If you want to open the newly-created CAD document in the authoring

application, select the Open in Authoring Application checkbox (available in
the embedded browser only).
6. Click Finish. The new CAD document is created in the target workspace.
Importing Files into Windchill
There are two ways to import your objects into Windchill:

Import objects into the workspace using the embedded browserYou can use
Tools Import to Workspace to select files from your local disk or another
location and import them into your workspace. Selecting a top-level assembly
default collects all required dependents for import.

Note
Import into the workspace is not supported for the files that come from
multiple authoring applications.

Save an opened file to your workspace When your Creo Parametric session
is connected to a Windchill server, you can open an object in your application
from a location other than a workspace. Then you can use Save to Workspace
to save the active object in session with its dependents to the workspace. For
more information, see Saving Your Work to the Workspace on page 92.

For more information, see the Importing Objects to the Workspace Help Center
topic.
Opening Objects in Creo Parametric
You can open CAD documents from a workspace, or from various places in the
commonspace while working in the embedded browser of a Creo Parametric
session. In addition, you can open CAD documents from a standalone browser if
an appropriate installation of Creo Parametric is installed on your machine.
Opening Workspace Object from the Embedded Browser
To open a listed workspace CAD document in Creo Parametric, select File Open
In Open in Creo or click the open in Creo icon
in the Actions column for the
object. The object is opened in your current Creo Parametric session. You can also
access the Open in Creo action from most places where CAD documents are
exposed in Windchill, as explained in the following section.

Integrating with Your CAD Application

89

Note
You cannot open CAD documents for UDFs, incomplete objects, or any file
type for which direct retrieval is not allowed in Creo Parametric.
Opening Objects from a Standalone Browser
When you are working in a standalone browser and an appropriate version of Creo
Parametric is installed on your machine, you can open CAD documents in Creo
Parametric. If a Creo Parametric session is already running, the object is opened in
your existing session. If no session is running, the action of opening an object
automatically launches Creo Parametric.
The action for opening CAD documents is available in Windchill generally where
CAD documents are exposed. In addition to the workspace, these places include
the Folder page (when CAD documents are displayed), the search results page, the
CAD document Structure tab, the Product Structure tab (when associated CAD
documents are displayed), and the CAD document information page. The action
in the
can be initiated either by clicking the open in Creo Parametric icon
Actions column for the object, or selecting Open In Open in Creo from an actions
menu.

90

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

Checking Out Files from Windchill to Make Changes

Checking out an object reserves the object for you, so you can make changes to
the object. There may be different scenarios for a checkout:

If you have an object in your Creo Parametric session that is downloaded but
not checked out, the object is treated by the system as a read-only file. Prior to
modifying the downloaded file, you must first check it out. From the authoring
application, use Check Out.
You can check out an object on-the-fly. If a CAD document is opened in
Creo Parametric but is not checked out, saving the document from the
application causes a conflict. To resolve the conflict, you can check out the
object using the Conflicts window.

You can search Windchill and locate an object in the commonspace, and then
check it out into an existing or new workspace using the Actions menu.

For detailed information, see the Checking Out Objects Help Center topic.
Adding an Object to the Workspace
1. In Windchill, locate the part/assembly of interest.
2. Right click the object and select Add to Workspace.

Integrating with Your CAD Application

91

3. The Add to Workspace page opens on the Basic collection tab that specifies
the related objects (in addition to the ones you selected) that are collected for
the Add to Workspace action.

Note
The default setting Dependents is set to Required specifies that all
dependent children (which are necessary to fully define the selected
object) are included for the Add to Workspace action.
4. Accept the default and click OK. This loads the objects into the selected
workspace.

Note
The default target location is your active workspace.
Once CAD documents are in your workspace, you may want to open them in the
authoring application. In the Actions column, click Open in Authoring Application.
From the workspace, or from almost any place in Windchill that an object is
listed, you can click the icon to access the object information page.
For more information, see the Adding Objects to the Workspace Help Center
topic.

Saving Your Work to the Workspace

Use Save to save a modified or a new object that is open in your authoring
application.
1. In an active session of your authoring application, click File Save.
2. Enter a name for the file or accept the default.
3. Click OK. The file is saved to the workspace in the local managed directory.

Tip
To save the object to the server-side workspace, use File Save and Upload

92

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

Checking In Your Work to Windchill

To make your modifications available to other members of the team, you need to
check in the object in to Windchill. Checking in your files removes the lock on the
reserved objects.
The Creo Parametric integration with Windchill provides two ways to check in an
object:

Auto Check InChecks in objects from the active session of Creo Parametric to

the Windchill server using default values set in your workspace's configuration
specification. This method of checkin is only available from Creo Parametric.
Custom Check InAllows you to specify options for the check-in process. The
custom method is available from both Creo Parametric and the workspace
page.

Note
After you have checked in your object into Windchill, you may want to clear
your workspace. For more information, see Clearing a Workspace on page 97.
For more information, see the Checking in Objects Help Center topic.

Undoing a Checkout
You may need to undo a checkout if you do not intend to check in your changes to
Windchill. This can be done from an active session of your authoring application
or from the workspace page by selecting Undo Checkout.

Keeping Your Workspace Objects Up-to-Date

An object stored in your workspace can become out-of-date after other users have
made modifications to some of its components. You can update selected
workspace objects to make sure they remain current with the latest server
information.
You can check the status of a workspace object by adding these optional status
columns to your workspace table view:

Out of Date Status

Out of Date with Workspace Configuration Status

If you set up a view to show the status column, a glyph

is out-of-date.

Integrating with Your CAD Application

indicates that the object

93

Note
Due to performance considerations, you may want to create a custom view
that can display the optional status columns when needed (using the default
view for more rapid performance during routine PDM activities). For more
information on creating custom views of the workspace table, see the
Windchill Help Center topic, Creating and Editing New Table Views.
To update objects in the workspace, use the workspace Update action available
from the workspace page of the embedded browser or standalone Windchill.

Tip
Another way to make sure everyone on the project has access to an up-to-date
design is to periodically check in your updates into the commonspace.
For more information, see the Keeping Workspace Objects Up-to-Date Help
Center topic.

Copying Objects Using Save As

You may want to use an existing design as a basis for a new design. The original
design may reside in a folder in the commonspace on the Windchill server, or it
may be located in one of your workspaces.
For details, see the About Using Save As Help Center topic.
Using Save As from the Commonspace
You can search the commonspace on the Windchill server to locate the desired
object, and then use Save As to create a copy of that object on the Windchill
server.
Consider this information about copying objects from the commonspace:

94

When you copy a top-level object and all of its lower-level parents, a new
complete parallel structure (CAD structure) is created for that object.
If you did not select the top-level object and all of its lower-level parent
objects, the system creates copies of only the objects that you explicitly
selected.

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

To create a copy:
1. Search or browse Windchill folders to locate the desired object or structure in
Windchill.
2. Open the information page of the object.
3. Select Save As from the actions list.

Note
During the Save As operation, you can assign new names to the copied
object using the Set New Name on the Save As page.
Using Save As from the Workspace
The workspace Save As action allows you to create copies of new objects that are
located in the workspace. These newly created objects are not saved to the
commonspace until you perform a checkin. The workspace Save As can be useful
if you want to investigate alternatedesign scenarios before selecting the one that
you want to check in into the commonspace. That way you do not clutter the
database with alternative design versions, and only check in the version that you
want to develop further. The rejected designs can be easily removed from the
workspace.
The workspace Save As allows you to update a dependency from an existing
parent object to the newly-duplicated object, letting you replace an old component
with a newly-duplicated component without involving the authoring application.
In addition, circular dependencies can be detected and managed.
1. Select an object in the workspace that you want to save as a new object and
click File Save As.

Note
Locally modified or incomplete objects, or objects that have never been
uploaded, are not eligible for Save As.
2. Use the Configuration menu to set rules for the dependency and configuration
of objects to be listed in the Save As table.
3. Select one or more objects and click the appropriate collection toolbar action
to gather, remove, exclude, or include related objects in the Save As table.
4. By default the system appends an underscore to the original name. You specify
a naming using the naming icon .

Integrating with Your CAD Application

95

5. By default, Save As creates new objects. However, you can specify that the
original object is reused by selecting the object and clicking the reuse icon .
6. By default, newly-saved-as objects are stored in the same location as the
original. To set a different location, select one or more objects and click the set
location icon .
7. Click Next to update a dependency from a parent object, or click Finish to
complete the Save As operation without updating parent objects.

Renaming Objects
You can use Rename from the workspace to rename only objects that have never
been checked in. After the objects have been checked into the commonspace, you
can no longer rename them from the workspace. Instead, you can rename them
from the commonspace if you have Modify Identity access permissions.
1. From the workspace, select one or more new objects to rename and select File
Rename.
or
From the commonspace or a commonspace view of an object information
page, select Rename from the Actions menu.
2. Set new values in the New Name and New File Name fields. You can either
enter values directly into the text fields available in each object's row, or you
can select object rows and click the set new name icon
to access the Set
New Name window where you can specify patterns for renaming objects.
3. Selecting one or more objects and clicking the reuse icon
name within the newly-named object structure.

keeps its current

4. Click OK.

Making Your Environment Work For You

The next sections provide tips for how to set up your working environment.

Using the Event Management Utility

You can use the Event Management utility to review log messages generated in
Creo Parametric or in a Windchill session.
The Event Management utility can be accessed in the following ways:

By selecting the Event Management link under Quick Links at the top of a
Windchill page

From a workspace, by selecting Event Management from the workspace

actions menu

96

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

From Creo Parametric, by clicking the console status icon in the status bar

By selecting Tools Event Management; or in the ribbon, File Manage

Session Event Management in Creo Parametric.

In a standalone browser, the Event Management utility starts automatically

whenever a transaction fails. When using the embedded browser, a console status
icon appears in the status bar.
For detailed information, see the Using the Event Management Utility Help
Center topic.

Clearing Cache
To clear cache from a specific workspace:
1. Click Tools Server Manager; or in the ribbon, click File Manage Session
Event Management. The Server Management window opens.
2. Click the Cache tab in the Server Management window.
3. Click Cache Tools.
4. In the Cache Management window, double-click a server in the Location list.
The Location list expands to show all workspaces on the selected server.
5. Select a workspace and click Clear Cache. The cache for the selected
workspace is deleted.

Setting Preferences
The Creo Parametric integration with Windchill allows you to set preferences that
control certain aspects of the system behavior (for example, the behavior of
Revise or Undo Check Out and customize some features of the user interface.
Depending on the nature of the preference, it can be set on the server or on the
client. Server-side preferences are set using the Preference Management utility.
Client-side preferences can be set in two ways:

The config.pro file

Environment Variables

For more information about server-side preferences, see the Preference

Management Help Center topic.
For more information about client-side preferences, see the Configuration Settings
in Creo Parametric Help Center topic.

Clearing a Workspace
After you have checked in a modified object to Windchill, you can clear the
workspace to remove objects and their dependents.

Integrating with Your CAD Application

97

1. Go to the workspace page in the embedded browser or in standalone

Windchill.
2. Select an object that you want to remove from the workspace.
3. Click File Remove or click the remove icon
in the toolbar. The Remove
from Workspace page appears, displaying your initially selected objects.
4. You can collect, remove, include, or exclude objects for the Remove action.
5. Click OK at the bottom of the Remove from Workspace page. The selected
objects are removed from your workspace.

Caution
If you remove a checked-out object from your workspace, the checkout is
undone, and any modifications made to the object are lost. In addition, the
removed objects are erased from your CAD session.

CAD Document Templates and Creo Parametric Start Parts

Both Windchill and Creo Parametric use default template files when creating a
new object. In Creo Parametric these objects are called start parts and in Windchill
they are referred to as CAD document templates. The Creo Parametric start parts
traditionally reside on your local file system, while the CAD document templates
are stored in the Windchill database. In a concurrent engineering environment,
you may find it challenging to keep all of your CAD document templates up-todate with your Creo Parametric start parts.
To remedy this, you may find it useful to manage your Creo Parametric start parts
in the Windchill database. Additionally you can also create new CAD document
templates that reference the same start part files. The result is that regardless of
whether a designer uses Creo Parametric or Windchill to create a new object, both
applications use the same set of template files.
Other advantages to managing your start parts in Windchill PDMLink are:

They are easily updated.

They are easily distributed.

They are version controlled.

Same objects are used for all new Creo Parametric CAD documents.

For more information, see the Managing Creo Parametric Start Parts in Windchill
Help Center topic.

98

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

Installing Windchill Workgroup Manager

for a Third-Party CAD Application
PTC Windchill PDM Essentials automatically installs Windchill Workgroup
Manager for third-party CAD applications on the server but each user must install
Windchill Workgroup Manager on their local machine.
To install Windchill Workgroup Manager:
1.
2.
3.
4.

On the Windchill Home

page, click Quick Links Software Downloads
In the list of available downloads, click Windchill Workgroup Manager.
Under Installing Windchill Workgroup Manager Client, click Start Installation.
Under Windchill Workgroup Manager Manuals, click the applicable user guide.
The user guide opens in PDF format. Use this guide for installation
instructions.

For information about configuring Windchill Workgroup Manager and setting up

integration between Windchill and a third-party CAD application, refer to the
Getting Started chapter of the applicable user guide.
Refer to the PTC Support page for Windchill Workgroup Manager user guides:
https://www.ptc.com/appserver/cs/doc/refdoc.jsp?p=browse_results&Product=
Windchill+PDMLink&Release=10.2&DocType=3319&Role=
You can also find Help Centers for Windchill Workgroup Manager and other
applications on the PTC Support page at the following URL: https://www.ptc.
com/appserver/cs/help/help.jsp

Integrating with Your CAD Application

99

6
Moving Forward: Ongoing
Windchill Administration
Business Administrative Tasks ................................................................................. 103
System Administrative Tasks.................................................................................... 119

After completing the simple installation assistant and the Windchill Setup
Assistant for PTC Windchill PDM Essentials, your environment is ready for
production. This section lists administrative tasks necessary to maintain Windchill
and ensure optimal performance moving forward. Each listed administrative task
includes basic information and provides applicable references. Administrative
tasks are grouped as follows:

Business Administrative Tasks on page 103These tasks are performed

within the Windchill application and are often performed by an organization
administrator:
Managing Users
Managing Products and Libraries
Promoting Items
Managing CAD Application
Managing Publishing Jobs
System Administrative Tasks on page 119These tasks are performed in the
Windchill environment, not in the Windchill application and are often
performed by a site administrator:

Managing Backups
Managing Space on the File Vault
Applying Windchill Patches
Managing License Use

101

 Restarting the Windchill Windows Service

Uninstalling PTC Windchill PDM Essentials
For an introduction to Windchill administration, see the Getting Started with
Windchill Administration Help Center topic, as well as the Resources for PTC
Windchill Administrators Quick Reference Guide.
Best Practices: Scheduling Administrative Tasks
It is important for you to create your organizations administrative schedule. The
following Help Center topic will help you determine which administrative tasks
should be done regularly and how often each should be done:
Best Practices for Monitoring and Maintenance.

102

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

Business Administrative Tasks

The following administrative tasks are performed in the Windchill client:

Site Administration and Organization Administration on page 103

Managing Users on page 104
Managing Products and Libraries on page 107
Managing the Promotion Process on page 109
Managing CAD Application on page 110
Managing Publishing Jobs on page 110

Site Administration and Organization Administration

Windchill contexts provide the framework for collecting and finding related
information. Windchill information is organized and managed within a context
hierarchy.

For more information about the basics of contexts, see the Contexts Overview
Help Center topic.
For detailed information about the hierarchy of contexts, see the Context
Inheritance Help Center topic.
The organization you specified in the installation assistant is intended to represent
your company and to contain and organize the data for your company employees.
Some business administrative tasks are performed at the site level, some are
performed at the organization level, and some can be performed at both levels:

Managing Users on page 104Must be performed at the organization level.

Managing Products and Libraries on page 107Recommended to be
performed at the organization level.
Managing the Promotion Process on page 109Performed at the organization
levels. See applicable section below for details.

Moving Forward: Ongoing Windchill Administration

103

Managing CAD Application on page 110Performed at the site or

organization level, depending on the specific task. See applicable section
below for details.
Configuring a Remote CAD Worker for Autodesk Inventor and SolidWorks on
page 110Must be performed at the site level.

For an overview of administering contexts, see the Contexts Distributed and

Hierarchical Administration Help Center topic.
Managing Users
During initial installation and configuration, the Windchill Setup Assistant
includes a page to add users to Windchill. When adding users during this step of
the configuration, the Windchill Setup Assistant provides five groups to which the
new users are added. These groups also define profiles, roles, and shared teams.
Users should be managed at the organization level so that they belong to an
organization.
When adding new users to Windchill post-configuration, in order to ensure the
proper behavior, add them to one or more of the five PTC Windchill PDM
Essentials groups during the Assign to Groups step of the New User window.
For detailed information about adding users to Windchill and accessing the New
User window, see the Creating a New User Help Center topic.
Use the following procedure when assigning a new user to one or more of the outof-the-box groups in the New User window:

1. In the Assign to Groups step, click one of the following icons to add groups to
the table:

Add the group to table

icon

a. In the Find Participant window, enter values for one of the five out-ofthe-box roles in the search criteria fields and click Search.

104

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

Note
The selection criteria fields are not case-sensitive and you can
include the asterisk (*) wildcard character. You can also click
Search without entering any values in the fields to display all
available groups.
For more information about the PTC Windchill PDM Essentials out-ofthe-box roles, groups, profiles, and shared teams, and how they are
configured, see Participants on page 58.
Groups matching the specified criteria appear in the Search Results
box.
b. Click each group that you want to assign, and then click Add to add the
selected groups to the Participant List box. More than one group can be
selected by using Ctrl and Shift keys.

Note
Although there are other standard Windchill groups available, in
order to ensure the proper behavior, add users to one or more of the
five PTC Windchill PDM Essentials groups. For a description of
these five roles, see Participants on page 58.

Moving Forward: Ongoing Windchill Administration

105

c. Click OK to add groups to the Groups table.

2. Select Finish to add the group assignment to the database and close the New
User window.

These groups automatically associate the new users with the appropriate profiles,
and shared team roles for products and libraries.

Note
The Manager group is automatically added to the Product Creators group and
the Library Creators group. Only members of these groups can create products
and libraries, respectively.
For more information about managing users, see Using the Participant
Administration Utility.

106

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

For information on how to change user passwords from the Participant

Administration utility, see the Changing User Passwords Help Center topic.
When instructing users to change their own password, refer them to the following
Help Center topic: Changing Your Password.
For more information about roles and groups, see the About Roles and Groups
Help Center topic.
For more information about profiles, see the Profiles Help Center topic.
Managing Products and Libraries

ProductsA product is typically thought of as the physical item manufactured

and sold to customers. Windchill expands the concept of a product to include
the environment in which users collaborate to develop that end item part. This
environment is known as the product context.
For more information about products, see the About Products Help Center
topic.
LibrariesA library provides a place for storing and providing access to
commonly used objects that are shared across multiple products. Libraries
correspond to your company's organization and processes. For example,
standard hardware files, that are controlled by industry standards and that
CAD Authors have read-only access to, can be shared and associated with
multiple products. This environment is known as the library context.
For more information about libraries, see the About Libraries Help Center
topic.

It is recommended that products and libraries are managed at the organization

level.
PTC Windchill PDM Essentials includes an out-of-the-box product template and
an out-of-the-box library template, each with a corresponding shared team. New
products and libraries are created using these templates. Although you can create
additional templates, it is recommended that these out-of-the-box templates are
used for creating new products and libraries in order to ensure proper behavior.
For more information about the PTC Windchill PDM Essentials out-of-the-box
library and product templates, see Library Template on page 63 and Product
Template on page 64.
An out-of-the-box library context called Parts Catalog is pre-configured for
immediate production. This library uses the out-of-the-box library template and
includes all of the applicable configurations.

Moving Forward: Ongoing Windchill Administration

107

An out-of-the-box product context is not pre-configured. When planning the

administration and management of product contexts, keep in mind the following
two options:

Single Product ContextCreate a single product context for all products and
projects. Each product or project is created as a sub-folder within the main
product context.
Benefits of the Single Product Container model include the following:
Easier to manage and navigate

Easier to collect and share related information that crosses products

Product Context for Each Product/ProjectCreate a product context for each
product or project.
Benefits of creating a product context for each product or project include the
following:
More flexibleIf you do project engineering work, it is often easiest to
manage each project using a separate product context where you can
configure the folders and team roles uniquely for each project. You can
also define attributes for each product or project (such as customer name,
project number, start date, delivery date, and status) and create reports that
are specific to the project.
More scalableIf you have a very large number of products or projects,
you may find it difficult to navigate and to search among the items in a
single product context and you may find that opening the folders page for
a single context is slow (such as when you have hundreds of top-level
folders representing projects). Creating a product context for each product
or project makes navigation and searching easier when there is a large
number of products or projects.
Easier to control accessIf you need to separately control access to each
product or project, it is usually easier to accomplish when you use separate
project contexts (with separate teams) than with a single product context.

For more information about product and library administration, see the Working
with Products and Libraries Help Center topic.

Note
The Manager group is automatically added to the Product Creators group and
the Library Creators group. Only members of these groups can create products
and libraries, respectively.

108

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

When administering products and libraries, keep in mind the following:

TeamsProducts and libraries have teams, the members of which are assigned
to roles that define their privileges within the context. A product or library
team can consist of a local team, a shared team, or both. PTC Windchill PDM
Essentials includes an out-of-the-box product template and an out-of-the-box
library template, each with a corresponding shared team. It is recommended
that these templates are used for creating new products and libraries.
For more information about product and library teams, see the About Context
Teams Help Center topic.
For more information about local teams, shared teams, and defining a context
team, see the Defining a Context Team Help Center topic.
For more information about the PTC Windchill PDM Essentials out-of-thebox groups, shared teams, and roles, and how they are configured, see
Participants on page 58.

For more information about the PTC Windchill PDM Essentials out-of-thebox library and product templates, see Library Template on page 63 and
Product Template on page 64.
Modifying Access ControlAs an administrator, you must ensure that only
the appropriate participants have access to objects, such as documents and
CAD documents. Decisions about access rights are expressed as access control
rules. Access control is configured based on the PTC Windchill PDM
Essentials out-of-the-box groups and life cycle states.
For more information, see the Access Control Overview Help Center topic.
Security ManagementThe security management functionality provides a
mechanism to view and manipulate access control permissions on
individual objects (such as documents, CAD documents, and folders).
For more information, see the Security Management Help Center topic.
Policy AdministrationThe Policy Administration utility is used to
manage administrative domains and the access control, indexing, and
notification policies for those domains. An administrative domain is an
area that defines a set of administrative policies. A policy is a collection of
rules for types of objects within a domain.
For more information, see the Policy Administration Help Center topic.

Managing the Promotion Process

Life Cycle StatesAn organization administrator from the Administrator

group or a user in the Manager group/role can create a variety of life cycles or
modify existing life cycles. These life cycles define the states and transitions
associated with various business objects and the available transitions between
those states.

Moving Forward: Ongoing Windchill Administration

109

For more information, see the Life Cycle States Help Center topic.

For more information about the PTC Windchill PDM Essentials out-of-thebox CAD Document life cycle, see CAD Data Management Life Cycle on
page 67.
Set State ActionsFor information on the procedure of changing the state of
an object, see the Setting the State of an Object Help Center topic.
Promotion RequestsYou can use the promotion request processes to
formally request a state change for a set of objects that reside in products or
libraries.
For more information, see the Promotion Requests Help Center topic.

Managing CAD Application

The Integrating with Your CAD Application on page 73 section of this guide
describes administrative tasks to get started with the integration between PTC
Windchill PDM Essentials and your CAD application. This integration requires a
few regular administrative management tasks. Refer to the following Help Center
topic for common management tasks moving forward:
Common CAD Management Activities
For more information about administrative tasks specific to the integration
between Creo Parametric and PTC Windchill PDM Essentials, see the
Administration and Configuration Help Center topic.
Managing Publishing Jobs
It may periodically be necessary to manage publishing jobs, including viewing the
status of jobs, troubleshooting jobs, view individual jobs or queues, manage
subscriptions, and so on. This is managed at the site level.
For more information, see the Windchill Visualization Services Publishing Help
Center topic.
Configuring a Remote CAD Worker for Autodesk Inventor and
SolidWorks
PTC Windchill PDM Essentials is configured with the Creo Parametric CAD
worker installed on the same machine as Windchill.
If you wish to publish formats for Autodesk Inventor or SolidWorks, you must
purchase the CAD adapter for these applications and configure a CAD worker on
a separate physical or virtual machine because Autodesk Inventor and SolidWorks
do not support installation into a Windows Server operating system.

110

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

The below sections outline the steps to configure a remote CAD worker for the
following products:

Autodesk Inventor
SolidWorks

Moving Forward: Ongoing Windchill Administration

111

Configuring a Remote CAD Worker for Autodesk Inventor

To configure a remote CAD worker for Autodesk Inventor:
Step
1. Install supported Autodesk Inventor
application release on a remote
machine with a supported operating
system.

For Details, see

To determine which releases of
Autodesk Inventor and operating
system platforms are supported (nonFile-Sync), refer to the relevant Creo
View Adapters Software Matrix (MORspecific), located at the following URL:
https://www.ptc.com/view?im_dbkey=
148979.
To determine which Autodesk Inventor,
Creo View Adapters , Windchill, and
Windchill Workgroup Manager release
combinations are supported, refer to the
File Sync Article, located at the
following URL: https://www.ptc.com/
appserver/cs/view/solution.jsp?n=
CS51623.
Note
PTC Windchill PDM Essentials is a
Windchill solution. The above links
that reference the Windchill
platform apply to PTC Windchill
PDM Essentials.
Review the Adapter Prerequisites
section of the PTC Creo View MCAD
Adapter Installation and Configuration
GuideCreo View MCAD Adapters 2.0
Installation and Configuration Guide
(located at the following URL: https://
www.ptc.com/view?im_dbkey=
152325) to ensure your system meets
the necessary prerequisites.

2. Install and configure Creo View

Adapter for Autodesk Inventor.

112

To install the licensed Autodesk

Inventor application release on the
chosen machine, refer to the relevant
information in your Autodesk Inventor
documentation.
See the Configuring the Creo View
Adaptor for Inventor chapter of the
Creo View MCAD Adapters 2.0

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

Step

Moving Forward: Ongoing Windchill Administration

For Details, see

Installation and Configuration Guide,
located at the following URL: https://
www.ptc.com/view?im_dbkey=152325.

113

Step
3. Configure the common file system
for transferring data to and from the
remote worker.

4. Configure the WVS Worker Agent

for the remote worker.

5. Test the new remote worker.

114

For Details, see

Configure the common file system
according to the steps in the
Configuring a Worker on a Different
Windows Machine > Creating a
Common Windows-to-Windows File
System section of the PTC Windchill
Visualization Services Guide. The PTC
Windchill Help Center topic is located
at the following URL: http://www.ptc.
com/cs/help/windchill_hc/wc102_hc/
index.jspx?id=
WorkAgentConfigWorkDifferentWindowMachine&action=show.
Configure the WVS Worker Agent
according to the steps in the
Configuring a Worker on a Different
Windows Machine > Adding a Worker
to a Different Windows Machine
section of the PTC Windchill
Visualization Services Guide. The PTC
Windchill Help Center topic is located
at the following URL: http://www.ptc.
com/cs/help/windchill_hc/wc102_hc/
index.jspx?id=
WorkAgentConfigWorkDifferentWindowMachine&action=show.
Be sure to specify a Data Type of
INVENTOR in the Add Worker panel of
the Worker Configuration Wizard.
First, test the new worker from
Windchill using the Worker Agent
Administration UI Test action
according to the Testing the Worker
Agent Configuration section of the PTC
Windchill Visualization Services Guide.
The PTC Windchill Help Center topic
is located at the following URL: http://
www.ptc.com/cs/help/windchill_hc/
wc102_hc/index.jspx?id=
WorkAgentTestWorkAgentConfig&action=show.

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

Step

For Details, see

Second, test the File Synchronization
process by publishing a relevant
INVENTOR CAD Part, CAD
Assembly and CAD drawing from
Windchill.

Moving Forward: Ongoing Windchill Administration

115

Configuring a Remote CAD Worker for SolidWorks

To configure a remote CAD worker for SolidWorks:
Step
1. Install supported SolidWorks
application release on a remote
machine with a supported operating
system.

For Details, see

To determine which releases of
SolidWorks and operating system
platforms are supported (non-FileSync), refer to the relevant Creo View
Adapters Software Matrix (MORspecific), located at the following URL:
https://www.ptc.com/view?im_dbkey=
148979.
To determine which SolidWorks, Creo
View Adapters , Windchill, and
Windchill Workgroup Manager release
combinations are supported, refer to the
File Sync Article, located at the
following URL: https://www.ptc.com/
appserver/cs/view/solution.jsp?n=
CS51623.
Note
PTC Windchill PDM Essentials is a
Windchill solution. The above links
that reference the Windchill
platform apply to PTC Windchill
PDM Essentials.
Review the Adapter Prerequisites
section of the Creo View MCAD
Adapters 2.0 Installation and
Configuration Guide (located at the
following URL: https://www.ptc.com/
view?im_dbkey=152325) to ensure
your system meets the necessary
prerequisites.

2. Install and configure Creo View

Adapter for SolidWorks.

116

To install the licensed SolidWorks

application release on the chosen
machine, refer to the relevant
information in your SolidWorks
documentation.
See the Configuring the Creo View
Adaptor for SolidWorks chapter of the
Creo View MCAD Adapters 2.0
Installation and Configuration Guide,

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

Step

Moving Forward: Ongoing Windchill Administration

For Details, see

located at the following URL: https://
www.ptc.com/view?im_dbkey=152325.

117

Step
3. Configure the common file system
for transferring data to and from the
remote worker.

4. Configure the WVS Worker Agent

for the remote worker.

5. Test the new remote worker.

118

For Details, see

Configure the common file system
according to the steps in the
Configuring a Worker on a Different
Windows Machine > Creating a
Common Windows-to-Windows File
System section of the PTC Windchill
Visualization Services Guide. The PTC
Windchill Help Center topic is located
at the following URL: http://www.ptc.
com/cs/help/windchill_hc/wc102_hc/
index.jspx?id=
WorkAgentConfigWorkDifferentWindowMachine&action=show.
Configure the WVS Worker Agent
according to the steps in the
Configuring a Worker on a Different
Windows Machine > Adding a Worker
to a Different Windows Machine
section of the PTC Windchill
Visualization Services Guide. The PTC
Windchill Help Center topic is located
at the following URL: http://www.ptc.
com/cs/help/windchill_hc/wc102_hc/
index.jspx?id=
WorkAgentConfigWorkDifferentWindowMachine&action=show.
Be sure to specify a Data Type of
SOLIDWORKS in the Add Worker
panel of the Worker Configuration
Wizard.
First, test the new worker from
Windchill using the Worker Agent
Administration UI Test action
according to the Testing the Worker
Agent Configuration section of the PTC
Windchill Visualization Services Guide.
The PTC Windchill Help Center topic
is located at the following URL: http://
www.ptc.com/cs/help/windchill_hc/
wc102_hc/index.jspx?id=
WorkAgentTestWorkAgentConfig&action=show.

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

Step

For Details, see

Second, test the File Synchronization
process by publishing a relevant
SOLIDWORKS CAD Part, CAD
Assembly and CAD drawing from
Windchill.

System Administrative Tasks

The following administrative tasks are performed in the Windchill environment:

Managing Backups on page 119

Managing Space on the File Vault on page 119
Managing License Use on page 120
Restarting the Windchill Windows Service on page 120
Uninstalling PTC Windchill PDM Essentials on page 120
Updating, Upgrading, and Moving Up on page 122

Managing Backups
It is important for you to plan and implement regular backups of Windchill. For
detailed information on what to consider when setting up your backup policies and
procedures, see Windchill Backup and Recovery Planning.

Note
Backup of the Windchill Index Search files is not applicable for PTC
Windchill PDM Essentials.
Managing Space on the File Vault
If the File Vault exceeds 85% of the total space, the administrator who provided
their email address during the Configuration page of the installation assistant
receives an email notification warning of low remaining file Vault space. If you
cannot reconfigure the File Vault to allocate more space, change the location of
existing files to free up space in the File Vault.
For more information, see the Changing the Location of Files in External Vaults
Help Center topic.

Moving Forward: Ongoing Windchill Administration

119

Managing License Use

Windchill monitors the average number of concurrent licensed seats being used
simultaneously. An audit report is regularly emailed to the administrator who
provided their email address during the Configuration page of the installation
assistant. This audit report helps administrators ensure that they are managing
license use according to the number of licenses they have purchased.
Restarting the Windchill Windows Service
Certain circumstances may require the Windchill Windows Service to be restarted.
This service, once started, automatically starts all of the Windchill components in
the proper sequence. Access this Windows Service from the Start menu under
Administrative Tools Services.

Uninstalling PTC Windchill PDM Essentials

1.
2.
3.
4.

120

Uninstall PTC Windchill Directory Server

Uninstall SQL Server
Delete the <PTC> directory
Delete <UserHome>\PTC\Windchill\psi_iir_index.xml

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

5. Remove the following Windows services:

PTC Windchill Directory Server
PTC HTTP Server
PTC Windchill
6. Reboot the server.

Caution
This is a critical step. You must reboot the server.

Moving Forward: Ongoing Windchill Administration

121

Updating, Upgrading, and Moving Up

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials can be upgraded in the following ways:

Updating to a New Maintenance Release on page 122

Installing Critical Patch Sets on page 132
Upgrading to a New Release of PTC Windchill PDM Essentials on page 134
Moving Up to PTC Windchill PDMLink on page 145

Note
For more information, see the Types of Windchill Releases Help Center topic.

Updating to a New Maintenance Release

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials is updated in the same way as PTC Windchill
PDMLink, using the PTC Solution Installer (PSI). In order to apply platform
maintenance release updates to your deployment of PTC Windchill PDM
Essentials, you must download the Windchill service packs located in the PTC
Windchill PDM Essentials download files section of the PTC Support Web site:
http://www.ptc.com/support/support.htm.
After downloading the required images, use the following procedure to apply a
maintenance release update:

Note
PTC recommends that you always use a test (pre-production) system to ensure
that your Windchill products are operating as expected before deploying them
in a production environment. This allows you to identify any potential issues
on the test system without interfering with production system activities. After
you have installed the maintenance release on a test system and are satisfied
with the results, repeat the maintenance release installation process on your
production system. Because of the work you did on your test system, installing
the maintenance release on your production system should take less time.
If you choose to update your production server directly, make sure to back up
the server and database or take a snapshot if you deployed in a virtual
environment. This enables you to restore your system if there is an issue with
the update. For backup details, see step three below.

122

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

To prepare for the maintenance release or point release, read and understand the
updates contained in the release and determine how they will affect your systems.
This includes not only what steps must be performed to install the updates, but
how the updates may affect configurations, site-modified files, and customizations
as well as end users. Update information is located in the following places:

Current Windchill Content OverviewIdentifies the release highlights, the

media available for the release and the delivery method for the updates.
Maintenance Fixes TableIdentifies resolved issues. This information is
organized by the maintenance release. You can get the latest version of this
table from the PTC Online Support Web page for reference documents (http://
www.ptc.com/appserver/cs/doc/refdoc.jsp). For your document search criteria,
select your product from the Product drop-down list, select a release version
from the Reported Release drop-down list, and select Installation and
Configuration Guide from the Document Type drop-down list.
Windchill Maintenance Read This FirstIdentifies the manual installation
instructions to complete each maintenance release.

Caution
Make sure that the folder <Installation_Location>/Windchill/
logs exist before beginning the update procedure.
Before updating, determine whether or not your source system is set up to use the
Simple Number (also known as the Harvard Series) version scheme. Any existing
document or CAD document has a version and iteration designator. The version
scheme is Simple Number (Harvard Series) if the version of documents and CAD
documents appears as 1.1, 1.2,....2.1, 2.2,... etc. If your system uses
the Simple Number (Harvard Series) version scheme, make a note before
beginning; the update process requires an additional step. For more information,
see Post Update Steps for Simple Number (Harvard Series) Version Scheme on
page 130.
1. Create a staging directory on the target system for the images you
downloaded. Place the media files in the new staging directory:
a. Click Copy to staging.
b. Click Browse and navigate to the directory containing the CD zip file or
CD drive with the product CD.
c. Click OK.

Moving Forward: Ongoing Windchill Administration

123

Note
A staging directory is a directory where you the product CDs before
beginning the installation. This allows the PTC Solution Installer to access
each CD image without stopping to prompt you during installation.
Using a staging area provides a faster installation experience and removes
the need to insert CDs during installation.
2. If the implementation of Windchill at your site involves modifying files
supplied by PTC, it is important to understand that the maintenance
installation process could overwrite any file that is delivered by PTC (except
for the site.xconf file). This includes files that you may have modified.
If you have made site modifications and are updating to a maintenance release
or point release, PTC recommends that you follow the best practices
established in the PTC Windchill Customization Guide, also available in the
Setting Up a Directory Structure for Managing Customized files and Text
Tailoring topic of the Help Center. In particular, make sure any site modified
files are in the <Windchill>/wtSafeArea/siteMod directory.
Using the test system allows you to incorporate updates from PTC into any
site-modified files and validate the maintenance release or point release with
your own customizations without interrupting work being done on your
production system. PTC recommends that you store a copy of all site-modified
files in the safe area directory structure under the Windchill installation
directory. Then, follow the below instructions by running the PTC Solution
Installer with the service pack installation type option of "Updates for SiteModified Files to Safe Area." You will have access to the files that PTC has
changed for the maintenance release and can update your site-modified files
accordingly. After updating your site-modified files, follow the below
instructions again to run a "Complete" service pack installation on your test
system to verify that the updated system, incorporating your site
modifications, works according to your requirements.
To learn more about managing site-modified files, see the PTC Windchill
Customization Guide or the Windchill Customization Basics section of the
Help Center.
After you have installed the maintenance release or point release on a test
system and are satisfied with the results, copy the site-modified files that you
have updated to the safe area directory (<Windchill>/wtSafeArea/
siteMod) on your production system. Then, repeat the maintenance release
or point release installation process on your production system.

124

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

3. Prepare your system for the update by performing the following steps:
a. Ensure that the test system and the production system are in sync.
b. Take your production system offline by stopping any web server, servlet
engine, or Windchill servers that could interact with the Windchill product
files. This includes stopping the Windchill and Apache services (services.
msc) and closing any application that may have a Windchill file open (for
example, a text editor, a Windchill shell, or a Windchill log file).
c. Delete the content in the <Windchill>\Tomcat\instances\
folders.
d. When your system is offline, but before installing the maintenance release,
perform all necessary backups. Backing up your files is an important step
in the process. If you do not have backup files, you may not be able to
restore files if an error occurs. At a minimum, you should back up the
following:

Windchill databaseUse the database backup procedures available for

the SQL Server environment. This backup should follow your sites
data recovery processes.
For more information, see the Backing Up the SQL Server Source
Database Help Center topic.
Windchill solution installation directoryBy default, this is C:\ptc.
Back it up by creating a duplicate copy of it and keep it somewhere
that follows your sites data recovery processes.
Windchill solution LDAP directory content (LDIF file)Execute the
LDAP export procedure described in PTC Windchill Directory Server
Administration Guide. Store the LDIF file somewhere that follows
your sites data recovery processes.
For more information, see the Backing up LDAP Directory Data Help
Center topic.
PTC Solution Installer Global Registry directoryCreate a duplicate
copy of the PTC Solution Installer Global directory called installer
located in the <Installation_Location>/PSI directory. Store
the PTC Solution Installer Global Registry directory somewhere that
follows your sites data recovery processes.

To find out about the PTC Solution Installer Global Registry, see the
The PTC Solution Installer Global Registry Help Center topic.
4. If the system you are updating includes Windchill Workgroup Manager,
ensure that the client JAR files are up-to-date. The Windchill Service Pack
installation automatically rebuilds client JAR files. When you are selecting
options in the PTC Solution Installer, be sure to select Windchill Workgroup
Manager under optional products (see step 13).

Moving Forward: Ongoing Windchill Administration

125

5. Launch PSI:
a. Insert the PTC Solution Installer CD.
b. From a command prompt window, navigate to your CD drive, and then
enter the following command: setup.vbs
The PSI opens.
6. Choose the language for the installation session and click OK.

Tip
The Before You Begin panel provides links to necessary documentation to
install your Windchill solution.
7. Accept the PTC Customer License Agreement.
8. Choose Update Existing Installation and click Next.
9. Select the installation to update and click Next.
10. On the Select Product page, select Install Maintenance Release and click Next

If your solution is not in the specified directory, the installer presents the
Products to be Updated panel for you to specify the product location.
If you have made site modifications, the installer checks for the existence
of the directory where the modifications are stored: <Windchill>/
wtSafeArea/siteMod (where <Windchill> is the Windchill
Services installation directory). The installer assumes that this directory
holds a copy of all site-modified files. If the directory is not found, the
Confirm No Site Modifications Directory message appears so you can
confirm there are no site-modified files. Click Yes to continue or No and
Cancel to quit the installation.

For more information on site-modified files, see Preparing to Update the

Installation in the Help Center.
11. Specify the staging directory that contains your media, and then click Next.
12. Select whether or not to preserve existing web configurations, and then click
Next.

126

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

13. If installing an update to Windchill Workgroup Manager as part of the

Windchill update, select the checkbox next to all applicable Windchill
Workgroup Manager authoring applications you want to install.

Note
In addition to installing Windchill Workgroup Manager on the Windchill
server, the user must also install the Windchill Workgroup Manager client
software. Those instructions are located in the guide and in the Windchill
Workgroup Manager Help Center under the Installation and Configuration
section for the applicable CAD or authoring tool.
14. In the Select Installation Type panel, select Complete, and click Next.
15. PSI lists products and components that must be updated. Additionally, the PSI
lists any products that need to be reinstalled to complete the update.
Click Next.
16. If the Apache Web server and Tomcat require an update, this panel gives the
option to preserve the configuration files. If you clear this checkbox, the
existing httpd.conf file will be overwritten by the default httpd.conf
file supplied by Apache. If you select the checkbox, the existing
httpd.conf file will not be overwritten.
Click Next.
17. On the Installation Overview page, review the information and click Install.
18. When the installation completes successfully, the Installation Complete panel
displays the directories affected by the installation. Depending on the type of
installation performed, the directories can include the selected directory where
the installation took place, the selected directory and the <Windchill>/
wtSafeArea/ptcCurrent directory, or only the <Windchill>/
wtSafeArea/ptcCurrent directory.
The installation log files are located in the <Windchill>/installer/
logs directory. The log files for the installation are named:
WSP_InstallLog.xml
WSP_PtcInstall.log

Moving Forward: Ongoing Windchill Administration

127

Note
If the installation fails, a panel is displayed that contains error messages
and the names of the relevant log files. The log files can be helpful in
determining the cause of the failure.
Additional Windchill Service Pack install troubleshooting information can
be found in the Troubleshooting Your Maintenance Installation Help
Center topic.
If you file an installation support request, be sure to include the log files.
There are separate log files for each Windchill Service Pack Installation that
you do. Each set of log files is located in the installer/logs directory
under the installation directory.
19. If your site uses HTTPS, reimport the certificate of authority into the
jssecacerts file after you update your solution. For details, see the
Configuring HTTPS for PTC HTTP Server and Windchill section of the
PTC Windchill Installation and Configuration Guide or the Configuring
HTTPS for PTC HTTP Server and Windchill Help Center topic.
20. The update tool should be run after completing an update to an existing
installation using the Windchill Service Pack option (such as a maintenance
release update).

Note
The web server, Windchill Directory Server, and database should be up
and running before running the Update tool.

128

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

To execute the update tool, the following command must be executed from a
Windchill shell by a Windchill administrator (wcadmin):
Update_Tool.bat -username <username> -password <password> -noui

Caution
If the server gets shut down before the update tool completes running, an
error occurs during startup when the Windchill service try to automatically
start: The Windchill service on Local Computer started
and then stopped. Some services stop automatically if
they are not in use by other services or programs.
To resolve this issue:
a. Start the machine in safe mode.
b. Access windows services from the Start menu: Administrative Tools
Services.
c. Change the PTC Windchill PDM Essentials windows services Startup
Type property values from Automatic to Manual.
d. Restart the machine.
e. Run the update tool.
If the following message appears, the Update tool has successfully completed:
Marking phase Load New Data as completed in the database.
21. For Windchill Service Pack installations that update your Windchill solution
installation directory, verify that the versions of the updated Windchill
products are correct by navigating to Quick Links Help About Windchill
PDM Essentials.
The Release and Datecode fields should reflect the correct updated version.
You can also run the windchill version command to verify the correct
version of Windchill.
If the Windchill version shows that any component installations are
incomplete, repeat the installation, selecting the Recover installation type
option.

Note
If you are first installing into a test system, you must repeat the
installations in your production system.

Moving Forward: Ongoing Windchill Administration

129

22. See the PTC Windchill Maintenance Read This First for any manual
configuration special instructions applicable for the maintenance release to
which you are updating. You can download the latest PTC Windchill
Maintenance Read This First for your maintenance release at the following
location on the PTC website: http://www.ptc.com/appserver/cs/doc/refdoc.jsp.
This URL directs you to the PTC Online Support Web page for reference
documents. For your document search criteria, select your product from the
Product drop-down list, select the current release from the Release drop-down
list, select Read This First from the Document Type drop-down list, and select
Administrator from the User Role drop-down list.
23. When the tablespace of a modeled table is changed from WCAUDIT to some
other tablespace as part of an update, the change is detected and the following
script is generated during the Upgrade Database Schema phase:
<windchill>\Upgrade\UpgradeReports\UpgradeDatabaseSchema\MoveTablesSql-<date>.sql

If the script exists in the listed location, you need to run this script manually to
move the tables to the WCAUDIT tablespace to match with an out-of-the-box
database schema.
24. Bring the system back online by restarting the Windows services for Apache
Web Server and Windchill server.
For more information about Windchill Service Pack updates, see the Updating an
Existing Installation Help Center topic.
Post Update Steps for Simple Number (Harvard Series) Version
Scheme
After the update has completed successfully, if your source system was set up to
use the Simple Number (Harvard Series) version scheme, perform the following
additional steps:

Note
Any existing document or CAD document has a version and iteration
designator. The version scheme is Simple Number (Harvard Series) if the
version of documents and CAD documents appears as 1.1,
1.2,....2.1, 2.2,... etc.

130

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

In a windchill shell, type the following commands to add the correct properties:

xconfmanager -s
wt.series.HarvardSeries.Number.delimiter=. -s
wt.series.HarvardSeries.Number.depth=16 -s
wt.series.HarvardSeries.Number.level.1=
wt.series.IntegerSeries t codebase/wt.properties -p
xconfmanager --add
wt.series.HarvardSeries.seriesNames=MilSpec,Number -t
codebase/wt.properties -p

For more information about the xconfmanager Utility, see Using the
xconfmanager Utility.
If these steps are not performed, the following error occurs:
ERROR [ajp-bio-8010-exec-1] com.ptc.core.htmlcomp.jstable.JSPersistableDataUtility cadauth
- JSPersistableDataUtility.getValue :: wt.util.WTRuntimeException:
Unable to construct version identifier for series: wt.series.HarvardSeries.Number;
nested exception is:
java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
wt.util.WTRuntimeException: Unable to construct version

Moving Forward: Ongoing Windchill Administration

131

Installing Critical Patch Sets

A Critical Patch Set (CPS) is a Windchill update that is released by PTC at regular
intervals. During the installation of Windchill you must download this patch set
into your staging area so that it can be included in the installation process. Critical
patch sets can be found on PTCs support page, located here:
https://www.ptc.com/appserver/cs/software_update/swupdate.jsp

Note
The Critical Patch Set is a self-contained download. While this download
should be sufficient for most updates, in some cases you may need to
download separate product installation CDs if those products are also being
updated with the CPS. For more information on the products that are being
updated with the CPS refer to the Critical Patch Set Release Notes.
Critical Patch Sets are installed in the same way as a typical Maintenance Release,
though some of the screens and options may vary slightly.

Note
For more information about installing Maintenance Releases, see Updating to
a New Maintenance Release on page 122.
To install the Critical Patch Set use the following procedure:
1. Download the Critical Patch Set and extract it to a Staging Directory, ensuring
that all extracted files maintain the same directory structure.
2. Stop Windchill and the Apache/HTTP Server.
3. Within the Staging Directory navigate to PTCSolnInstaller.01 and click setup.
vbs to launch the PSI.
4. Accept the license agreement.
5. When prompted, select Update Existing Installation.

6. Select the instance to apply the CPS to and click Next.

7. Select Install Critical Patch Set.

132

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

8. Ensure that both the Critical Patch Set Staging Directory and the original
Install Staging Directory are selected and click Next.

9. Complete the install as normal, and then restart Apache/HTTP Server.

Moving Forward: Ongoing Windchill Administration

133

Upgrading to a New Release of PTC Windchill PDM

Essentials
PTC Windchill PDM Essentials can be upgraded to a newer major release. This
upgrade process is performed the same as upgrading PTC Windchill PDMLink.
For information about supported upgrade source and target releases, refer to the
PTC Windchill Supported Upgrade Paths matrix.

Note
PTC recommends that you always use a test (pre-production) system to ensure
that your Windchill products are operating as expected before deploying them
in a production environment. This allows you to identify any potential issues
on the test system without interfering with production system activities. After
you have upgraded to the new release on a test system and are satisfied with
the results, you are ready to repeat the upgrade process on your production
system. Because of the work you did on your test system, upgrading on your
production system should take less time.
If you choose to upgrade your production server directly, make sure to back up
the server and database or take a snapshot if you deployed in a virtual
environment. This enables you to restore your system if there is an issue with
the upgrade. Backup details are available as part of the procedures in this
section.

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials 10.1 Upgrade to PTC Windchill PDM

Essentials 10.2
Before upgrading, ensure that your target system is set up properly according to
the PTC Windchill PDM Essentials 10.2 prerequisites. For more information, see
Prerequisites on page 11.

Note
During the upgrade process, the term source system refers to your existing
installation of PTC Windchill PDM Essentials 10.1 and the term target
system refers to the new installation of PTC Windchill PDM Essentials 10.2
that you are installing and upgrading to.

134

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

The PTC Windchill PDM Essentials upgrade process can be done using one of the
following two methods:

Upgrading with source and target systems on same host machine (in-place
upgrade) on page 135This upgrade method takes place with the source and
target systems on the same physical or virtual machine. It is useful if you are
not changing hardware as part of your upgrade. Make sure to run a test
upgrade on a clone of the production server before upgrading the production
server itself.
Upgrading with source and target systems on separate host machines on page
140This upgrade method is best if you are upgrading to new hardware and
allows for test upgrades to the target system before opening it to production.

Upgrading with Source and Target Systems on Same Host Machine

(In-Place Upgrade)
This upgrade method takes place with the source and target systems on the same
physical or virtual machine. This method is useful if you are not changing
hardware as part of your upgrade. Make sure to run a test upgrade on a clone of
the production server before upgrading the production server itself.
1. Shut down the Windchill server and backup the database, Windchill Directory
Server, and file vaults before performing a test or production upgrade.
2. Download and install the latest WinDU and WinRU patches for the source
system release level from the following URL: http://www.ptc.com/support/
windu.htm. The Windchill Diagnostic Utility (WinDU) detects corruptions or
issues that would cause upgrade failure or data corruption. The Windchill
Repair Utility (WinRU) is a tool that fixes various data integrity problems that
are reported by WinDU. You can find documentation for the Windchill
Diagnostic Utility by clicking the link for the Windchill Diagnostic Utility and
downloading the latest documentation.
3. On the source system, make sure the Windchill server, Apache server, and
LDAP are running, and then execute the WinDU.bat script from a Windchill
shell to launch WinDU.
4. Run upgrade-mandatory Windchill Diagnostic Utility (WinDU) tasks on the
source system and resolve any reported issues. Ignore the ESI Schema
Detector task. For more information, refer to the WinDU and WinRU guides
available at the following URL: http://www.ptc.com/support/windu.htm.
To help with entering the correct information in the upgrade manager, the preupgrade Windchill Diagnostic Utility (WinDU) task Upgrade Property
Collector is executed on the source system. This WinDU task gathers
information about the source system and adds it to the
GatheredSourceUpgrade.properties file in the <Windchill>/
Upgrade/ directory. The Upgrade Manager uses this file during the Gather
Upgrade Properties and Gather System Properties phases to pre-populate

Moving Forward: Ongoing Windchill Administration

135

many fields and simplify the process of gathering system configuration

information needed for upgrading. If the
GatheredSourceUpgrade.properties file was not used, the fields
can be edited manually.
Windchill Repair Utility (WinRU) tasks are available to repair problems.
Contact PTC technical support for help resolving issues. The PTC eSupport
portal provides the resources and tools to support your PTC Windchill
implementation: https://www.ptc.com/appserver/cs/portal/
5. Shut down the Apache and Windchill servers.
6. Backup the source database (SQL Server 2008 R2) and export LDAP at the
same time:

Caution
Windchill must be shut down before performing this step.
For more information about exporting and backing up a SQL Server database,
see Backing Up the SQL Server Source Database.
Use the LDAP export settings illustrated in the following image:

For more information, see Exporting Entries to an LDIF File.

136

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

7. Launch the Windchill Installation Assistant for the PTC Windchill PDM
Essentials target release to which you are upgrading.
The Windchill Installation Assistant detects the existing installation of PTC
Windchill PDM Essentials and, on the Options page, auto-selects Installation
for Upgrade under Install Options.
Specify all required information and complete the Windchill Installation
Assistant of the target release of PTC Windchill PDM Essentials. It is not
necessary to execute the Windchill Setup Assistant because the configuration
information will be migrated from the source database. For more information,
see Installation and Configuration on page 19.

Moving Forward: Ongoing Windchill Administration

137

8. Import the source systems LDAP data into the target system Windchill
Directory Server. Windchill Directory Server is installed and running on the
target system after performing the installation at <Windchill>\
WindchillDS. Use the LDAP import settings illustrated in the following
image.

For more information, see Importing Entries.

9. Start the target system Windchill Apache.

138

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

10. Perform the following steps to use the file output by the Upgrade Property
Collector WinDU task:
a. On the target system, create the GatherUpgradeProperties folder
in the following location: <Windchill>/Upgrade/
UpgradePhases.
b. Copy the GatheredSourceUpgrade.properties file from the
source system to the following location on the target system:
<Windchill>/Upgrade/UpgradePhases/
GatherUpgradeProperties/.
c. Rename the GatheredSourceUpgrade.properties file in the
target location to upgradeUser.properties.
For more information about the Windchill Diagnostic Utility, refer to the
following URL: http://www.ptc.com/support/windu.htm.
11. Launch the Upgrade Manager by executing UpgradeManager.bat from a
Windchill shell.
12. Execute the Upgrade Manager according to the steps in the PTC Windchill
Upgrade Guide.
13. Upgrade the SQL Server 2008 R2 database to SQL Server 2012. The SQL
Server 2012 installer is found in the PTC Windchill PDM Essentials media,
navigate to the SQLServer2012 directory and execute setup.exe. For
more information, refer to the Microsoft documentation.
14. Use the SQL Server Collation Conversion Utility to move the data from the
source SQL Server 2008 R2 system to the installed SQL Server 2012 target
database using Changing SQL Server Database Collation procedure.
15. From a Windchill shell, execute the following commands to ensure Windchill
uses the target database on SQL Server 2012 UTF16:
a. xconfmanager -s wt.pom.jdbc.service=<SQL_Server_
Instance_Name> -t "db/db.properties" -p
b. xconfmanager -s wt.pom.jdbc.host=<SQL_Server_Host_
Name> -t "db/db.properties" -p
c. xconfmanager -s wt.pom.jdbc.port=<SQL_Server_Port>
-t "db/db.properties" -p
16. After validating the target system, use the ServiceTool utility to recreate
Windows services for Apache, Windchill Directory Server, and Windchill:
a. Stop Apache, Windchill Directory Server, and Windchill servers.
b. In a Windows command prompt, navigate to the following location, where
<Installation> is the PTC Windchill PDM Essentials installer folder:
<Installation>\Scripts
c. Execute the following command, where <Windchill> is the location of
your new target PTC Windchill PDM Essentials installation:
ServiceTool <Windchill>\Windchill

Moving Forward: Ongoing Windchill Administration

139

Upgrading with Source and Target Systems on Separate Machines

Upgrading with the source and target systems on separate machines involves first
upgrading the SQL Server 2008 R2 database, and then moving the upgraded
information to the SQL Server 2012 database on the target system. This process
requires that you have a source host, a target host, and a third host (an interim
host) for upgrading the SQL Server 2008 R2 database before moving the data to
the target SQL Server 2012 database. This upgrade method is best if you are
upgrading to new hardware and allows for test upgrades to the target system
before opening it to production.
The following is a high-level overview of the PTC Windchill PDM Essentials
upgrade process:
1. Shut down the Windchill server and backup the database, Windchill Directory
Server, and file vaults before performing a test or production upgrade.
2. Download and install the latest WinDU and WinRU patches for the source
system release level from the following URL: http://www.ptc.com/support/
windu.htm. The Windchill Diagnostic Utility (WinDU) detects corruptions or
issues that would cause upgrade failure or data corruption. The Windchill
Repair Utility (WinRU) is a tool that fixes various data integrity problems that
are reported by WinDU. You can find documentation for the Windchill
Diagnostic Utility by clicking the link for the Windchill Diagnostic Utility and
downloading the latest documentation.
3. On the source system, make sure the Windchill server, Apache server, and
LDAP are running, and then execute the WinDU.bat script from a Windchill
shell to launch WinDU.
4. Run upgrade-mandatory Windchill Diagnostic Utility (WinDU) tasks on the
source system and resolve any reported issues. Ignore the ESI Schema
Detector task. For more information, refer to the WinDU and WinRU guides
available at the following URL: http://www.ptc.com/support/windu.htm.
To help with entering the correct information in the upgrade manager, the preupgrade Windchill Diagnostic Utility (WinDU) task Upgrade Property
Collector is executed on the source system. This WinDU task gathers
information about the source system and adds it to the
GatheredSourceUpgrade.properties file in the <Windchill>/
Upgrade/ directory. The Upgrade Manager uses this file during the Gather
Upgrade Properties and Gather System Properties phases to pre-populate
many fields and simplify the process of gathering system configuration
information needed for upgrading. If the
GatheredSourceUpgrade.properties file was not used, the fields
can be edited manually.

140

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

Windchill Repair Utility (WinRU) tasks are available to repair problems.

Contact PTC technical support for help resolving issues. The PTC eSupport
portal provides the resources and tools to support your PTC Windchill
implementation: https://www.ptc.com/appserver/cs/portal/
5. Shut down the Apache and Windchill servers.
6. Backup the source database (SQL Server 2008 R2) and export LDAP at the
same time:

Caution
Windchill must be shut down before performing this step.
For more information about exporting and backing up a SQL Server database,
see Backing Up the SQL Server Source Database.
Use the LDAP export settings illustrated in the following image:

For more information, see Exporting Entries to an LDIF File.

Moving Forward: Ongoing Windchill Administration

141

7. Install PTC Windchill PDM Essentials 10.2 on the target system. For detailed
information, see Installation and Configuration on page 19. Once you have
executed the Windchill Installation Assistant, your target server is ready for the
upgrade. It is not necessary to execute the Windchill Setup Assistant because
the configuration information will be migrated from the source system.
8. On the interim server, restore the backup of the SQL Server 2008 R2 source
server database to a different SQL Server 2008 R2 server and reconfigure the
user log-on according to the Restoring the SQL Server Database procedure
in the PTC Windchill Upgrade Guide.

142

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

9. Import the source systems LDAP data into the target system Windchill
Directory Server. Windchill Directory Server is installed and running on the
target system after performing the installation at <Windchill>\
WindchillDS. Use the LDAP import settings illustrated in the following
image.

For more information, see Importing Entries.

10. Start the target system Windchill Apache.

Moving Forward: Ongoing Windchill Administration

143

11. Perform the following steps to use the file output by the Upgrade Property
Collector WinDU task:
a. On the target system, create the GatherUpgradeProperties folder
in the following location: <Windchill>/Upgrade/
UpgradePhases.
b. Copy the GatheredSourceUpgrade.properties file from the
source system to the following location on the target system:
<Windchill>/Upgrade/UpgradePhases/
GatherUpgradeProperties/.
c. Rename the GatheredSourceUpgrade.properties file in the
target location to upgradeUser.properties.
For more information about the Windchill Diagnostic Utility, refer to the
following URL: http://www.ptc.com/support/windu.htm.
12. Launch the Upgrade Manager on the interim system by executing
UpgradeManager.bat from a Windchill shell.
13. Perform the upgrade according to the steps in the PTC Windchill Upgrade
Guide. The restored SQL Server 2008 R2 instance on the interim system is the
target system during this process.
14. Use the SQL Server Collation Conversion Utility to move the data from the
restored and upgraded SQL Server 2008 R2 interim system to the installed
SQL Server 2012 target system using the Changing SQL Server Database
Collation procedure. The source database in this procedure is the restored
and upgraded SQL Server 2008 R2 database on the interim server.
15. From a Windchill shell, execute the following commands to ensure Windchill
uses the target database on SQL Server 2012 UTF16:
a. xconfmanager -s wt.pom.jdbc.service=<SQL_Server_
Instance_Name> -t "db/db.properties" -p
b. xconfmanager -s wt.pom.jdbc.host=<SQL_Server_Host_
Name> -t "db/db.properties" -p
c. xconfmanager -s wt.pom.jdbc.port=<SQL_Server_Port>
-t "db/db.properties" -p

144

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

Moving Up to PTC Windchill PDMLink

An existing installation of PTC Windchill PDM Essentials can be upgraded to
PTC Windchill PDMLink. This process is called moving up. Moving up creates
an installation of PTC Windchill PDMLink that uses the same database that your
previous installation of PTC Windchill PDM Essentials used, making all of your
existing data available for use with the full functionality of PTC Windchill
PDMLink.
After moving up, you must manage profiles in order to give users access to
functionality in PTC Windchill PDMLink that was not available in PTC Windchill
PDM Essentials. For more information, see Managing Profiles Moving Up on
page 146.
Your existing installation of PTC Windchill PDM Essentials must be the same
release as your planned target installation of PTC Windchill PDMLink. If you are
planning to move up from PTC Windchill PDM Essentials to a newer release of
PTC Windchill PDMLink, you must first update or upgrade your existing
installation of PTC Windchill PDM Essentials to the same release level as your
planned target implementation of PTC Windchill PDMLink; then you can move
up to PTC Windchill PDMLink. For more information, see

Updating to a New Maintenance Release on page 122

Upgrading to a New Release of PTC Windchill PDM Essentials on page 134
Supported upgrade and move-up paths

Use the following procedure to move up to PTC Windchill PDMLink:

1. Launch PSI:
a. Insert the PTC Solution Installer CD.
b. From a command prompt window, navigate to your CD drive, and then
enter the following command: setup.vbs
The PSI opens.
2. Choose the language for this installation session and click OK.
3. Accept the PTC Customer License Agreement.
4. Choose Update Existing Installation and click Next.

Note
The process of moving up to PTC Windchill PDMLink does not create a
new installation. Rather, your current PTC Windchill PDM Essentials
installation is moved up toPTC Windchill PDMLink.
5. From the list of installations to update, select your existing instance of PTC
Windchill PDM Essentials, and then click Next.

Moving Forward: Ongoing Windchill Administration

145

6. On the Select Product page, select Move up to PTC Windchill PDMLink, and
then click Next.
7. Review the update installation settings and click Install.
The move up to PTC Windchill PDMLink begins.
8. When the move up is complete, on the Installation Results page, click Done.
9. Start the PTC HTTP Server, the PTC Windchill Directory Server, the PTC
Windchill PDMLink server, and the database.
Managing Profiles Moving Up
In order for users to use the parts and change management features of PTC
Windchill PDMLink, existing profiles must be modified or new profiles created:

Note
The following procedure is completed in the PTC Windchill PDMLink client.
The PTC Windchill PDMLink system must be up and running before you
begin.

Modifying existing profilesThe easiest way to give users access to parts and
change management features in PTC Windchill PDMLink is to modify the
PTC Windchill PDM Essentials out-of-the-box profiles. Modifying these outof-the-box profiles gives all participants who are members of the
corresponding groups access to the features you specify. PTC recommends
you modify the CAD Author and Contributor profiles. When editing each
profile on the Set Action Visibility step of the Edit Profile window, in the Profile
Actions table, select the appropriate checkboxes for the following actions:

View Change Monitor page

Create Parts
Create Change Requests
Create Change Notices
View Part Configurations
View Part Instances
View Related Changes
View Change Baseline Report
View Related Part Alternates
View Related Part Substitutes
View Related Parts

For more information, see Editing a Profile.

146

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

For more information about the PTC Windchill PDM Essentials out-of-thebox profiles, see Participants on page 58.
Create new profilesIf you do not want to allow access to parts and change
management for all participants in one of the out-of-the-box profiles, you can
create new profiles and either associate specific users, or create new
organization groups to associate with the new profiles.
For example, create a profile called Full Change and one called Full Part.
1. On the Set Action Visibility step of the New Profile window, in the Profile
Actions table, select the appropriate checkboxes for the following actions:
Full Change
View Change Monitor page
Promote
Create Change Requests
Create Change Notices
View Related Changes
View Change Baseline Report

Full Part
Create Parts
View Part Configurations
View Part Instances
View Related Part Alternates
View Related Part Substitutes
View Related Parts

Note
If other actions are applicable to the profile you are creating, select the
appropriate checkboxes.
2. You can add participants to profiles using one of the following options:
In the Profile Members table, of the Select Members step, add
participants directly to Full Change that you want to have access to
change management, and add participants to Full Part that you want to
have access to creating and managing parts.
OR
Create organization groups for the new profiles using the Participant
Administration utility:
a. Create an organization group called Full Change and one called
Full Part.
b. Add members to the Full Change group that you want to have
access to change management, and add members to Full Part that
you want to have access to creating and managing parts.

Moving Forward: Ongoing Windchill Administration

147

c. On the Assign to Profiles step of the New Group window, search for
and select the Full Change profile for the Full Change group, and
the Full Part profile for the Full Part group.

Note
Alternatively, groups can be added as members of a profile
from the Edit Profile window. For more information, see Editing
a Profile.
Participants that are members of the Full Change group have access
to change management features, and participants that are members
of the Full Part group have access to part features.
For more information, see Creating a New Profile and Creating a New Group.

148

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

7
Using the Windchill Help Center
The Windchill Help Center provides one searchable location for documentation on
Windchill solutions and products.

149

The Windchill Help Center is automatically installed locally with PTC Windchill
PDM Essentials. Once Windchill is installed, launch the Windchill Help Center by
clicking one of the following:

Quick Links menu in the upper-right corner of the Windchill screen

help buttons

throughout the user interface

Note
The Windchill Help Center is also available on https://www.ptc.com/
appserver/cs/help/help.jsp.
Initially, the help center displays documentation for all products. Use profiling in
order to view only the documentation describing functionality available with PTC
Windchill PDM Essentials.
1. Under the configuration tab , click the profile settings icon .
2. Under Product, select the Windchill PDM Essentials checkbox.
3. Select the Save Configuration Settings checkbox at the bottom of the pane, and
click Submit.

150

PTC Windchill PDM Essentials Getting Started Guide

Now only topics relevant to PTC Windchill PDM Essentials are displayed in the
table of contents and returned in search results.

Using the Windchill Help Center

151