Vault and Windows 10

[Malc_A]

Hi,

I'm hoping someone can help me solve a Vault problem. I recently installed windows 10 and since making that change can no longer open files from M-files. I updated to the latest Geomagic from Alibre Expert 14 before finding that the problem looks to be in M-files not Alibre. I am running M-files 7.0.2589.6. M-files worked okay with Alibre prior to changing to Windows 10. I'd really like to avoid the additional cost of upgrading M-files.

When I attempt to open a file in M-files geomagic starts to open but everything crashes before the part opens (blue screen of death and SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION error).

If I use Windows Command -> Send to -> Documents and save the part I can open the part successfuly.

I was planning to try re-installing the vault from a back-up to see if that worked but when I create a new vault from the back-up most of the files are showing 0KB. Those that arn't still don't open.

Any suggestions on how I can recover my files without manually moving all the parts to documents? (and losing the assembly structures)

Many thanks,
Malcolm

 

[DavidJ]

Well I doubt M-Files 7 is Win10 aware, current M-Files is 11.1

Re the 0kB files - I'm guessing you never checked the files in (in which case only the metadata, not the file content) is written to the server - hence the content can't be backed up.

Checked out files are held in local cache on the client computer, and only written to server at check in. Back up is done from the M-Files Server, it has no knowledge of the Client cache (even if Client and Server are on the same computer).

 

[Malc_A]

David,

Thanks for your reply. I'll be sure to check files in before back-up.

Regards,
Malcolm

 

[Gaudan]

Hello,
I am experiencing a problem similar to the one you describe in your post. Were you ever able to find a solution?
Thank you
Dan

 

[DavidJ]

For Windows 10 compatibility you need to upgrade M-Files to a later version - recently went through that with a customer, updating Client to M-Files 2015 and Server to a version compatible with that solved the issue.

 

[steveastro]

Do we now have to buy M-files separately from Geomagic ? I had to migrate my main PC to Win10 too, now I can't access my repository
Thanks for any tips.

Steve

 

[DavidJ]

Unfortunately Steve, that is the case. Geomagic dropped M-Files - GD & M-Files do still work together (for at least the time being). For full Win 10 compatibility you need a very recent M-Files edition.

 

[NateLiquidGravity]

Looks like its going to be the Alibre file Repository debacle all over again. I plan to stay on Windows 7 for as long as possible.
What are they switching to this time? Their monthly subscription and cloud based Teamplatform? Pass

 

[DavidJ]

Trouble is that TeamPlatform is an extra subscription AND does not offer the functionality that M-Files does. It does offer some handy features, but is not a direct replacement.

 

[steveastro]

Given the lack of updates, I have a horrible feeling Geomagic Design is dead.

 

[MikeHenry]

Given the lack of updates, I have a horrible feeling Geomagic Design is dead.

It may not be dead, but it sure seems to be on life support. One solution is to just drop maintenance and live with what you have now if it supplies all you need. I also got burned by GMD's lack of Vault support a few years back and all of my GMD design work is now done in the Windows File System. Too bad, Vault would have been a good feature had GMD bothered to support it.

 

[steveastro]

I just feel embarrassed that I paid for support, and they've ripped out support for the special file system they provided to work with the system, and I have data stuck. M-files, despite repeated replies that they will get to me, predictably haven't.

I haven't had a need to, but can I export the entire M-files file system as ordinary files, in a batch process ? I don't need the version information.

Right now, I really want to move on. I loved Alibre, it did exactly what I wanted. Now I am the sole user in an entire Solidworks shop, and just hate the bloat of SW compared to the clean design of Alibre.

 

[DavidJ]

Steve,

A customer with this issue reported that he could use the M-Files client interface in Win10, just that things wouldn't interact with GD.

If this is the case, then you can simply drag n drop your designs out of M-Files from your views and deposit them in WFS.

 

[MikeHenry]

If this is the case, then you can simply drag n drop your designs out of M-Files from your views and deposit them in WFS.

I did that recently after reading a similar comment from you and it seems to have worked just fine. I have 2+GB of design files but it only took an hour or so to manually copy them from Vault to WFS.

 

[MikeHenry]

M-files, despite repeated replies that they will get to me, predictably haven't.

I had pretty good luck with M-Files support for a Vault/Norton issue a few years back. They worked with me quite a bit and were communicative until the issue was resolved.

 

[steveastro]

Steve,

A customer with this issue reported that he could use the M-Files client interface in Win10, just that things wouldn't interact with GD.

If this is the case, then you can simply drag n drop your designs out of M-Files from your views and deposit them in WFS.

In which version David ? I installed M-Files 10.1 (?) on Win 10, and now I "don't have a licence". Install Version 9 ?

 

[albie0803]

I use vault with windows 10 without any issues, running the last version available to us on our free key update. 2015.1 (11.1.4310.131)

I do back up every night with incremental backups and a full backup once a week, making sure everything is checked in at the end of each day.

 

[steveastro]

I use vault with windows 10 without any issues, running the last version available to us on our free key update. 2015.1 (11.1.4310.131)

I do back up every night with incremental backups and a full backup once a week, making sure everything is checked in at the end of each day.

My key doesn't work. How do I get a new one ?

 

[albie0803]

I used to request an updated license key every time the maintenance was paid. (not that they told you that you needed to do that, I had to ask) This allowed me to keep up to date with the versions as they were released but this has ceased since they dropped vault. You should still have a serial number so if you contact M-Files and tell them you are an old alibre customer and provide your serial number you should be able to buy a subscription that will let you upgrade to the latest engine for 12 months, giving you Win10 compatibility.

Question I put to M-Files when GM dropped support:

Existing Alibre\GM vaults will continue to work with future versions of M-Files, assuming that the proper upgrade path is followed as each new version is released. (assuming that the licence is kept up to date, otherwise we have continuing usage of the last version we were licensed for.) Answer: True

Though I guess this doesn't cover where the version you have is not supported by the new operating system.

Hope this helps

 

[steveastro]

Three emails now, and no help from M-files.

How do I turn OFF the vault functionality ? Its greyed out and ticked in my system properties.