Ever since upgrading to 2012, the previewer in windows explorer view does not work on my machine. How do I get it working again?
Chad
Ever since upgrading to 2012, the previewer in windows explorer view does not work on my machine. How do I get it working again?
Chad
Good thought Ravi Teja.
Chad Draxler, use Ravi's suggestion for issues occurring when the user chooses to "view" the file. However, they have no effect on the preview displayed when the "preview" tab is selected.
Did anyone find a definate answer to this? I just had this issue in my test environment.
If this is a common it will hold off my upgrade, I will not go out and manually uninstall/repair a few hundred e-drawings installs.
Corey Vantilborg
I'm couldn't tell you specifically what fixed this but it does seem to be working now, unless there are parts used in a drawing that are on someone else's local machine... this really shouldn't be an issue if people are using the system properly, but if someone uses a part file that is saved on their desktop for instance, in a drawing that is in the vault, the preview will appear to be ok on other user's machines but if they actually open the file it will show up with the box and the cross through it.
I've developed the habit of opening the files in solidworks when i check or approve just to be safe.
I present to you.... the answer!....
This is an indication that the "sldthumbnailprovider.dll" DLL is not properly registered on the PC. To resolve the problem:
1. Locate this DLL on the PC. By default, it is installed to "%Program Files%\SolidWorks Corp\SolidWorks"
2. In the Start, Search programs and files bar, enter:
regsvr32 "<path to DLL>\sldthumbnailprovider.dll"
{yes use the quotation marks}
3. Press Enter
The DLL will register and the previews will display in the Windows Explorer Preview Panel.
NOTE: IF YOU ARE NOT ADMIN ON YOUR COMPUTER... YOU WILL HAVE TO RIGHT CLICK ON THE 'COMMAND PROMPT' IN ACCESSORIES AND 'RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR' *Instead of typing in text into the 'search programs dialogue box'
I copied the sldthumbnailprovider.dll file from a SolidWorks 2015 installation, to my user computers on the shop floor with only eDrawings 2015.
After registering this DLL file as Mike K suggested, Windows Explorer previews started working for all SolidWorks files.
Until I get Enterprise PDM up and running, this is a great workaround for my users that do not need to have a full install of SolidWorks on their computers.
This seems to be most commonly caused by conflicts with multiple versions of eDrawings. (You'll be amazed at how many versions you'll have on your machine if it a few years old!)
Uninstall all versions of eDrawings, via both Add/Remove programs and modify your existing SW installations and remove it there too.
Do a repair install of EPDM, this will put the latest and greatest, version of eDrawings on your machine.
I'll admit you likely don't have to remove every version of eDrawings, but there is no reason to have more than one version anyway.