Can you "lock" a configuration

Can a configuration of a part or assembly be locked so it cannot be edited?

This is currently a limitation in the software. 

This limitation has been reported to SolidWorks development team as SPR# 266538

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Maybe someone has another solution for this problem?

I don't know of a way to lock the configuration, but have you thought about creating

a design table?  This way you go into one file, and control everything there.

Sometimes what I do when I have a complex file with configurations and I want to start "playing" is autocreate a design table and save it out to a file.  That way, if I really hose something I can just go back in time by bringing the design table back into the file.

I use design tables for 75% of my work and that keeps roaming fingers from messing with my models. Seeing that I'm the only person who does the solidworks designing.

They think its easy till they try it and mess it up.

I have to say that using a design table is probably the best idea.  However, if you do not want to set that up than you could take the time and use the Configure Feature option.  I have found that this works pretty well in this type of situation.  Just go through your features and suppress or unsuppress them using the Configure Feature table and then everytime you add another feature that you want to control in configurations just do the same thing for that feature.  It may not "lock" it as well as a design table but it will work better than going through each configuration and suppressing each feature individually.  

I would realllllllllly like to see lockable configurations implemented in SolidWorks. Despite my lobbying, our company has decided to not use configurations to represent multiple similar-but-different parts. This is because our PLM/PDM system cannot cope with changes to some configurations but not to others: it sees a change to any configuration as a change to every configuration. Even though we can revise individual configs, we cannot check-out the revised configs while others are still released.

If SolidWorks enables a configuration locking feature, only then can I go to PTC to ask them to enable Windchill to recognize locked configurations and allow checking-out of unlocked configurations only. Which would make my life and the lives of my fellow designers significantly less frustrating.

Please vote for SPR# 266538! It's been 8 years!

Lock. No.

However, you can pick if the table is in charge or not. So everything but the table is locked, or the table if fed by changes to specific dimensions in each config.

Very good idea! Especially for assemblies, bolt assemblies like this one

I have a lot of configurations of diameter and thickness of part package and I have to correct configurations of bolt, nut and washers often because of my mistake when I add a new config.