Resolving Solid Edge Network Save Issues and Improving Performance on Windows 7

There have been multiple reports of users losing Solid Edge data when saving Solid Edge files over the network on Windows 7.  Here is a fix for the network save issue and the fix also adds a nice little performance improvement to the system as well.

The issue revolves around the fact that with Windows 7, the thumbcache.dll can still have an open handle to the thumbs.db file and is unable to release the handle to the file in a timely fashion resulting in the Solid Edge file not being able to be saved to the folder.

Turning off the caching of thumbnails in hidden thumbs.db files resolves this issue.

How to turn off caching of thumbnails?  There are two methods for disabling the caching of thumbnails, enabling a group policy or editing the registry.

Disable Caching of Thumbnails Using a Group Policy.

In the Windows 7 Search box enter gpedit.msc and hit Enter:

The Local Group Policy editor is launched. In the left hand pane locate and select User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Explorer:

In the right hand pane select “Turn off the caching of thumbnails in hidden thumbs.db files” and right-click -> Edit (or double-click but I can’t screenshot a double-click):

Set the policy to Enabled and select OK:

Reboot the workstation.

Disable Caching of Thumbnails by Setting a Registry Switch

Alternatively you can disable caching by setting a registry switch.

Launch your favorite registry editing tool i.e. regedit.

Locate or create a dword key "DisableThumbsDBOnNetworkFolders" under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer and set its value to 1:

Reboot the workstation.

I have also provided a registry file that you can simply download and double-click on to install the above registry switch for you.

There is actually a Microsoft Support article around this issue which also provides the same fixes.

Implementing this fix has also been shown to improve performance in some areas of Solid Edge and Windows including the Switch Window thumbnail preview in Solid Edge when files are opened over the network.  Check out some of my other posts on improving Solid Edge performance.