The full admin image is great, but I have too many variables that make it impossible for me to set the installer to work by the methods included in the sldAdminOptionEditor. And due to having the Toolbox included in the vault - SWPDM and the local view need to be in place before SOLIDWORKS installs.

(If SolidWorks installs without a local view it will create the folder for toolbox and then the PDM local view creation will fail).

Here is what I have done so far to create a custom automated installer for SW PDM 2016.

1. Downloaded the complete installer for SolidWorks
2. Used the setup.exe installer to create an admin image. Make sure you include SOLIDWORKS PDM Client to the product selection.
3. After the image creation completes there will be a SOLIDWORKS PDM Client folder in the new Path\SolidWorks2016SP?\64Bit folder created for the image.
   1. Copy that folder to a new location.
   2. I renamed it SWPDM2016SP2 and saved it to my E:\Installer folder. This is my local temp folder for working on the installer. For the end user installation I use a UNC path for the installation from their local shared drive, something like \\ServerName\Installers.
4. for the installation I have a couple files (I will describe each file below):
   1. Location-VaultName.cvs file
   2. Registry Settings file
   3. Install script file
   4. Install start file
5. I then have an internal website that the users go to in order to start their local installation.
6. The users then select their link and PDM installs automatically.

I am not real fond of batch files to run the installer, but it was a starting place that I could make sure everything works with before working on a VBS or C# script.

*** CVS file

This is the file that contains the information about the local view used by the ViewSetup.exe file to automate the local view creation.

• The CVS file is created by running InstallerPath\SOLIDWORKS 2016 x64 SP02\swpdmclient\setup.exe /a from the Run dialog.

• Instructions on this step are on page 115 of the SolidWorks PDM Installation Guide that can be downloaded from the customer portal on solidworks.com.

*** Registry Settings File

I use a .cmd script to configure the registry for certain things to try and make sure the installation works and the users environment is predictable.

• DNS Suffix Search List - IT does not always provide the computers setup in a way that allows the users the ability to find the data and main archive servers on the network. I use the following registry key settings to make sure the needed domains are in the search list.

  • REG.EXE ADD "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\System\DNSclient" /v "PrimaryDnsSuffix" /t REG_SZ /D "code1.emi.philips.com" /f

  • REG.EXE ADD "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\System\DNSclient" /v "NV PrimaryDnsSuffix" /t REG_SZ /D "code1.emi.philips.com" /f

  • REG.EXE ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters" /v "SearchList" /t REG_SZ /D "code1.emi.philips.com,amec.philips.com" /f

• Install Log files: this section is mainly for the SolidWorks install, but I left it in here because I will be adding the SolidWorks installation group by group after the PDM Upgrade is complete. In the script I make sure the specified folders exist just to make sure there are no issues.

  • REG.EXE ADD "HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\SolidWorks\IM" /v AdminImageLogLocalOnly /t REG_DWORD /D "00000001" /f

  • if not exist "C:\Program Files\SolidWorks2016" mkdir "C:\Program Files\SolidWorks2016"

  • if not exist "C:\Program Files\SolidWorks2016\InstallLogs" mkdir "C:\Program Files\SolidWorks2016\InstallLogs"

  • REG.EXE ADD "HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\SolidWorks\IM" /v AdminImageLogFolderOverride /t REG_SZ /D "C:\Program Files\SolidWorks2016\InstallLogs" /f

  • REG.EXE ADD "HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\SolidWorks\IM" /v AdminImageLogSkipStatusFile /t REG_DWORD /D "00000001" /f

• Change some local policy settings to allow the installer to work without errors.

  • REG.EXE ADD "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System" /v ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin /t REG_DWORD /D "00000000" /f

  • REG.EXE ADD "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System" /v EnableInstallerDetection /t REG_DWORD /D "00000000" /f

  • REG.EXE ADD "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System" /v EnableLUA /t REG_DWORD /D "00000000" /f

  • REG.EXE ADD "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System" /v EnableUIADesktopToggle /t REG_DWORD /D "00000000" /f

  • REG.EXE ADD "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System" /v PromptOnSecureDesktop /t REG_DWORD /D "00000000" /f

• Set some initial settings for PDM to make sure it works a certain way by default. For example: don't ask if you want to check out the file you are modifying and so forth.

  • REG.EXE ADD "HKCU\Software\Solidworks\Applications\PDMWorks Enterprise\PDMSW\Options" /v "ModifyWarning" /t REG_DWORD /D "00000000" /f

  • REG.EXE ADD "HKCU\Software\Solidworks\Applications\PDMWorks Enterprise\PDMSW\Options" /v "ShowFileDataCard" /t REG_DWORD /D "00000001" /f

  • REG.EXE ADD "HKCU\Software\Solidworks\Applications\PDMWorks Enterprise\PDMSW\Options" /v "ReadOnlyWarning" /t REG_DWORD /D "00000000" /f

  • REG.EXE ADD "HKCU\Software\Solidworks\Applications\PDMWorks Enterprise\PDMSW\Options" /v "LockDerived" /t REG_DWORD /D "00000002" /f

  • REG.EXE ADD "HKCU\Software\Solidworks\Applications\PDMWorks Enterprise\PDMSW\Options" /v "XRefPane" /t REG_DWORD /D "00000004" /f

  • REG.EXE ADD "HKCU\Software\Solidworks\Applications\PDMWorks Enterprise\PDMSW\Options" /v "ShowDlgOnNoRef" /t REG_DWORD /D "00000000" /f

  • REG.EXE ADD "HKCU\Software\Solidworks\Applications\PDMWorks Enterprise\PDMSW\Options" /v "ActivateDefaultPropWarning" /t REG_DWORD /D "00000001" /f

  • REG.EXE ADD "HKCU\Software\Solidworks\Applications\PDMWorks Enterprise\PDMSW\Options" /v "TreeUpdate" /t REG_DWORD /D "00000031" /f

  • REG.EXE ADD "HKCU\Software\Solidworks\Applications\PDMWorks Enterprise\PDMSW\Options" /v "TreeUnloaded" /t REG_DWORD /D "00000002" /f

The forum is too slow for making edits to the post (30 second wait to hit a backspace). I guess it is too long, every word makes the delays longer. I will continue in a new reply.