Task Host Issues on Virtual Machine

[AlexB]

I have started looking into using a virtual as a PDM task host to perform our file conversions to .pdf, etc. when we issue our Solidworks files with a revision. Now, this process works fine on a desktop PC that I've left connected to the network that is always on and logged in, but that's not an ideal long term solution. So, looking into a virtual machine hosted in an ESXi Vsphere environment is the direction we're looking in.

My question to anyone else that may have set this up is, have you gotten something like this to work for you? My issue right now is that I've installed Solidworks and PDM on a fresh machine and configured everything to get the system to run as the task host. Everything works fine and the converted file is created, but Solidworks will not let go of the SLDWORKS.exe process. The IT personnel can't figure out what's going from the machine side and I can't from the CAD side.

The specific issue is that I can open Solidworks and let it load. Then I close the software via the red 'x' or File -> Exit. From there, the process just hangs until I kill it via the task manager. I let it run overnight and it still needed to be killed the next morning. Needless to say, the task host isn't working because SW isn't closing. I'm reaching out to my VAR as well, but they just got gobbled up by GoEngineer so we'll see how long that takes...

help?

[bnemec]

Is the VM a desktop or server image of windows? Asking in case the IT guy just installed server by default.

I assume you're running the "out of box" SW Task Add-in that comes with PDM Pro?

Kind of a long shot, but is the logged in user in the local admin group on the VM?


I'm kicking around the same thing as our archive and sql servers are both VMs on VSphere. The kicker is needing a user to log in on bootup. I've added vault location to startup folder on our task host so that starts up the PDM service and auto logs in once the user logs in. I've read there can be some security concerns of logging in a user automatically.

[Diaval]

I have started looking into using a virtual as a PDM task host to perform our file conversions to .pdf, etc. when we issue our Solidworks files with a revision. Now, this process works fine on a desktop PC that I've left connected to the network that is always on and logged in, but that's not an ideal long term solution. So, looking into a virtual machine hosted in an ESXi Vsphere environment is the direction we're looking in.

My question to anyone else that may have set this up is, have you gotten something like this to work for you? My issue right now is that I've installed Solidworks and PDM on a fresh machine and configured everything to get the system to run as the task host. Everything works fine and the converted file is created, but Solidworks will not let go of the SLDWORKS.exe process. The IT personnel can't figure out what's going from the machine side and I can't from the CAD side.

The specific issue is that I can open Solidworks and let it load. Then I close the software via the red 'x' or File -> Exit. From there, the process just hangs until I kill it via the task manager. I let it run overnight and it still needed to be killed the next morning. Needless to say, the task host isn't working because SW isn't closing. I'm reaching out to my VAR as well, but they just got gobbled up by GoEngineer so we'll see how long that takes...

help?

The task host can be run on a VM without issues. For the problem you are seeing, you should check a few settings on the VM.

First check to see if 3D Hardware acceleration has been enabled for the VM. This should be turned on.

Second, check the version of the VMWare SVGA 3D driver that is installed on the client.

• RMB on the start menu and go to Device Manager

• Expand Display adapters, then RMB on the VMware SVGA 3D and go to Properties

• Go to the Driver tab and note the driver version - If the driver version is 8.17.1.1 you need to update it to at least 8.17.2.14

[AlexB]

Is the VM a desktop or server image of windows? Asking in case the IT guy just installed server by default.

It is a freshly created desktop image.

I assume you're running the "out of box" SW Task Add-in that comes with PDM Pro?

Yes, the default solidworks task convert add-in (SWTaskAdd-in)

Kind of a long shot, but is the logged in user in the local admin group on the VM?

Yes, the account we're using has full admin permissions

The task host can be run on a VM without issues. For the problem you are seeing, you should check a few settings on the VM.

First check to see if 3D Hardware acceleration has been enabled for the VM. This should be turned on.

Second, check the version of the VMWare SVGA 3D driver that is installed on the client.
RMB on the start menu and go to Device Manager
Expand Display adapters, then RMB on the VMware SVGA 3D and go to Properties
Go to the Driver tab and note the driver version - If the driver version is 8.17.1.1 you need to update it to at least 8.17.2.14

The driver is 8.17.2.12 so I'll have them update that.

I'll definitely have them check the other setting as well. Thanks for the insight, I'll let you know if that helps at all

[Ryan Dark]

Did you hear back on this?

[AlexB]

Did you hear back on this?

Still waiting on IT to make the suggested changes, but the VAR suggested the same thing as Diaval.

[AlexB]

The suggestions from Diaval did solve my issue.