Corrupt Registry

SOLIDWORKS How To Questions
1

I’ve been having some strange behaviors in solidworks off and on, and I’ve decided that the problem is a corrupt registry. Deleting the registry makes the problems go away, but I also lose all of my customization. (The problems I’ve seen are no custom appearances and no material favorites, among other things.

What is the most painless way of rebuilding a corrupt registry? Is it possible to save anything, or do I have to start from scratch? How do I even figure out what all of my customizations are?

I have two computers setup almost identically. Can any settings be shared between the two? (I think exporting settings from one computer and importing them to the other is what corrupted the registry.) I have the registry exported from my home computer (which appears to be working without any issues.) importing those settings to my work computer creates the issues.

2

I have a custom profile made that we can load when our registry gets corrupted so that we can get back all the settings customization we have without “reloading the corruption”. I was told importing settings can import the corruption, but I’ve never had anything that I had reset get instantly corrupt after.

3

I want to work on a “SW Registry” repair tool which can remove “corrupted” registry items.

4

Let me know when you have it done. I will buy a copy.

5

When you have a “corruption”, save the SW registry and send it to me. So I can compare what could be wrong.

6

So… i am not sure will this help…

If you create a backup of your setting using SOLIDWORKS COPY SETTING Wizard, you can actually “examine” the *.sldreg file in notepad to see what customization you made (and maybe even fix your corrupt registry)
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One trick i learned is to rename the *.sldreg to *.reg so that it is easier to examine in notepad++

7

Where are those custom appearances and material favorites saved? If they’re saved somewhere other than in the SW installation folder, and if you use the Copy Settings Wizard to save your customizations, then I don’t understand what you’re losing by resetting the registry.

8

I’m losing all of my menu and toolbar customization.

9

The Copy Settings Wizard should take care of that.

10

The copy settings wizard is what I am using, and what is creating the corruption.

11

The copy setting wizard basically “copy” all your solidworks registry…
So if your registry is corrupted when you copy the setting, reloading it will corrupt the registry again

12

Computer A - Working fine. Export settings.

Computer B- Import settings from computer A. Things are now not working as expected.

I think I will go one setting at a time adding it back to the registry until I figure out what is causing the problem.

13

Different hardwares? Perhaps something about the graphic card? Have you checked the famous enhanced graphic performance option?

14

Thank you for explaining that.

15

Likely there is a spoiler in the registry outside of your settings but in a position that still affects your settings.

16

I would try updating graphic drivers and see if you get different results, SolidWorks is really picky with these.

17

When you import settings, don’t import everything. Pick one group and test. This way you know which one cause problem.

18

I use Notepad++ compare addin to check good and bad reg.
I see a few entries in wrong section.