SOLIDWORKS PDM Admin User Explained (System Administrator)
Every SOLIDWORKS PDM vault contains a default user named ‘admin’ (System Administrator). This user is added automatically to new vaults and cannot be deleted. This guide will highlight the benefits and unique permissions of the PDM admin user.
Admin User Special Permissions
Some of these items apply only to PDM Standard or only to PDM Professional. PDM Professional is the full-featured offering while PDM Standard is a light version. However, both applications perform the essential functions of data management. The type of vault you have depends on the type of license being used.
- The only active user in a new vault.
- Cannot be disabled, renamed, or deleted from the vault.
- Can delete a file which is checked out by another PDM user or in another vault view.
- Can check in a file checked out by another user (Undo Checkout of Files in PDM)
- Can change the category of a checked-in file
- Access to all search favorites.
- In PDM Standard, admin is the only user that can delete files that are in another user’s private state, i.e., files added to the vault that have never been checked in. In PDM Professional, this permission can be assigned to other users.
- In PDM Professional, the admin user can log into a vault which is set to use Windows logins only.
- In PDM Professional, the admin user can change the vault settings in the SOLIDWORKS Add-in option for automatically naming files with serial numbers.
Some of the special permissions are explained in more detail below.
Reset PDM ‘admin’ User Password
Follow this guide to Reset the PDM Admin User Password.
Searching Private State Files
PDM Professional has a folder permission named “May see files before initial check-in (Private State)” which can be set for any user or group. However, in PDM Standard, this permission setting doesn’t exist and cannot be added. Only the Admin user can see Private State files of other users in a Standard-type vault. Therefore, the SOLIDWORKS PDM Admin can ensure all files are checked in before performing maintenance of some kind, such as a complete backup or decommissioning old client machines.
Ability to Log Into a Vault Set for Windows Login Only
PDM Professional vaults have three login types: ‘SOLIDWORKS PDM login,’ ‘Windows login’, and ‘LDAP login.’ PDM Standard is limited to ‘SOLIDWORKS PDM login’ only.
The screenshot below of the SOLIDWORKS PDM Archive Server Default Settings, the option ‘Allow SOLIDWORKS PDM login’ when ‘Windows login’ is enabled. If this setting is not enabled, then only Windows users will be able to log into the PDM vault, except for the admin. Since the admin user is not linked to a specific Windows profile, it can log into a vault regardless of the login type set in the Archive Server Configuration tool. This helps troubleshoot if log-in issues are active directory or LDAP server related.
Set Serial Number Options for the SOLIDWORKS PDM Add-in
When the SOLIDWORKS PDM Add-In is enabled in SOLIDWORKS, the SOLIDWORKS PDM Options become accessible from the SOLIDWORKS Tools menu as shown below from Tools > SOLIDWORKS PDM > Options…
Several options are available for using PDM within SOLIDWORKS. If you are using PDM Professional, then you can have files automatically named using serial numbers. Only if you are logged into PDM as the admin can you make changes to the settings for serial numbers on the dialog box shown below. This applies to when files are created from SOLIDWORKS. The admin user can choose whether serial numbers are applied to new files, files created by Save As, or both. The admin can set which serial number to use and to which type of SOLIDWORKS files it should be applied.
Troubleshooting Permission Issues
The admin user is a great tool to troubleshoot to determine if certain behavior or file access is permissions related.
Recommendations to make it easier to troubleshoot permissions issues:
- Assign the admin user full permissions to all folders and states in a vault.
- Do not include the admin user in any group.
When a user is unable to do a PDM operation, such as Check-In, Change State, etc., a good first troubleshooting step is to log into the vault as the admin user and perform the same operation. If the operation is successful, then there is a permission limiting the standard PDM user. Since the admin is not part of any groups, changes you make to groups won’t affect the admin. This allows the admin user to have full control over everything in the vault.
Technical Support
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