Autodesk Design Review is not installed and is required to view files

[Maxim-CADman77]

Several times it happened already at our workplace so I'm becoming a bit fed up .... thus posting it here.

Sometimes Vault Explorer users start see message:

"Autodesk Design Review is not installed and is required to view files

Autodesk Design Review can be downloaded for free from www.autodesk.com"

...instead of visualization in "Preview" Pane's "Preview" Tab (after clicking on Thumbnail).

Of course I wouldn't ask here any questions if ADR in fact was not' installed to the PCs but it is installed in all those cases and opens DWF outside Vault just fine.

In some cases just restaring PC is enough

in other cases even uninstalling and clean install ADR and even Vault Explorer doesn't help ....

 thus OS reinstallation is the only but as you might guess the least desired workaround.

I'd like to know what could give this weird effect and what is the best workaround for this.

Software used:

Vault Explorer 2014 build 18.100.12.0

OSes - deifferent (Win XP x64, Win 7 x64)

[Elisabeth_Boehm]

Did you get any error when installing Autodesk Design Review? 
Were you able to try the alternative method of deploying to install Autodesk Design Review instead?

When installing Design Review and Autodesk DWG TrueView the installation order is not important. However, in some cases, the DWGImporter.dll might not be registered correctly. 
Solution: Register the DWGImporter.dll manually.

1. From the Windows taskbar, choose Start > Run.
2. In the text box, type regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Autodesk Design Review\DWGImporter.dll"
   or
   In the text box, type regsvr32 "C:\Program Files (x86) \Autodesk\Autodesk Design Review\DWGImporter.dll"
3. Press Enter. This should register the DLL.

-->  http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/adr2013_install_guide.htm

[steveh3]

I believe there is a bug somewhere, but I can't consistently repeat it. We see this in 2014 periodically (2-3 times a month) on different workstations. All we do is close Vault and restart and magically ADR is installed again.

I tried to pin point what is causing it, but can't.

[Anonymous]

I had this issue at a client and here is how I fixed it.

They were using the following:

- Autodesk Vault Professional 2014 

- Service Pack 2 (Installed without installing Service Pack 1)

I uninstalled Service Pack 2 and installed Service Pack 1 and then Service Pack 2.  Typically, the ReadMe for the Service Pack will state if it does or does NOT include earlier Service Packs, but I don't see this information listed anywhere, so I installed SP1 and then SP2 and it fixed this issue.

http://knowledge.autodesk.com/sites/default/files/file_downloads/Readme_Vault_2014ServicePack2.html

[Maxim-CADman77]

Thanks for sharing this info ... but it seems not applicable in our case (we use Subscription Release, and afaik there is no SP2 for it yet - http://crackingthevault.typepad.com/crackingthevault/2013/11/vault-build-numbers.html).
Any other ideas?

[Anonymous]

I'm experiencing the same issue and was wondering if you were able to determine the cause of this error? 

[steveh3]

It appears that the XPS viewer no longer views 3D content...so you are back to loading design review again.

Per Jason on the support team...

From the AutoCad Help...

[dvsmiller9]

This continues to happen with Vault Pro 2017 and newer computers (running Win 7).  A repair of both Design Review and Vault fixes it, but only temporarily.  This has happened for several releases and two computers for each of my drafters and myself.  I'd say the finger points to Design Review 2013 that we are still waiting for a replacement for, a systemic fault in Vault code that has not been fixed through several releases, or Windows updates that play havoc with the registry (though I haven't been able to directly verify it).

[Maxim-CADman77]

(TO Elisabeth_Boehm)

Manual registering of DWGImporter.dll doesn't help.

[cbenner]

Wait,... just want to clarify...  are you still having this issue after three years, or is this a new case of the same problem?

[Maxim-CADman77]

The issue is actual for at least one PC here.

Uninstall VE, ADR and installing again does not help.

[steveh3]

Chris...if you are speaking of the original post by MaximUdad, Yes...we still see this in 2016. All we have to do is restart Vault and magically ADR works again. Believe it's a memory leak somewhere. Works for 10-30 drawings then get the message that ADR is not installed.

As far as I know effects every workstation here.

Also..Just upgraded our test server to 2017.....will see if it's a problem there.

[cbenner]

There are some known issues with the preview handler surrogate host, at least in 2017,... they are working on a fix.  In the meantime I was told to kill that service when the issue occurs.  It will re-start automatically the next time you try to view a dwf in Vault.

I'm just wondering of this could be the same or a similar issue as what you all are seeing.  In task manager look for prevhost.exe and terminate the process.  See if that handles the problem?

[Maxim-CADman77]

There is no prevhost.exe running on the faulty PC (Vault Pro 2014)

[steveh3]

FYI...Running VP2016 with Windows 10...

Viewed 12 files and got the adr Error...

Hit OK and then now you see that ADR is not installed.....

Went to task manager and didn't see the PrevHost process running as Chris pointed out...but did see "Preview Handler Surrogate Host". Took a stab at it and ended this process and ADR within Vault started working again...

Autodesk...please fix this or show us how to fix this permanently.

Best,

Steve H.

[jbelt]

I would like to add that one of our customers is still seeing this problem in Vault (Professional) 2017. 

Just like STEVEH mentioned: after viewing about 15 previews they would get the same error message.

And just like Chris and Steve said, after manually stopping the Preview Handler Surrogate Host process we can continue viewing previews.

After installing the latest update (2017.0.3) this has changed a bit however: now, after viewing about 15 previews there will just be a message that the Preview Handler Surrogate Host has stopped responding. I have to click close the program twice but after that I can just refresh the browser and continue watching previews.

This makes working around the problem a bit easier, but of course the error message is disruptive for the enduser and we would very much like to see this problem solved.

[dvsmiller9]

Still seeing this with Vault Pro 2018 and Design Review 2017.  It happened after trying to update the view through Vault.  Tried repairing both with no success. Also killed prevhost.exe.  The process DID NOT restart automatically the next time I tried to view a DWF associated with a DWG.  Closed Vault again, restarted Vault, tried viewing the file in the preview and now it shows.  Prevhost.exe restarted this time.

VERY frustrating!

[miechh]

This problem still exists at this moment. I know we should upgrade to the latest release of Inventor and Vault. After opening an Autocad Drawing from Vault 2017 and closing it, the stated message appeared in the Vault Basic 2017 preview Tab. On my system there's no process called Prevhost.exe nor the other previewhost process.

[cbenner]

This problem is repeatable after approximately a dozen file previews.  I have monitored GDI objects on Task Manager and you can actually watch the number climb to 10,000 (crash time), as you click on dwf previews.  It takes roughly 10-12 views and then the previewer predictably crashes.  Using the prevhost killer will reset the viewer, but it's not a fix, just a bandaid.

I've made people at Autodesk aware of this, but then I've gotten so busy that I lost track of where they are on a fix or patch for this.  It may be that in 2019 this will have gone away?  Please?  @Senthil_Kumar anything to add?  

[santomp]

@miechh @cbenner May I know the environment current you are using? Please make sure to install the latest updates as well latest ADR (https://www.autodesk.com/products/design-review/overview) as we recently submitted a fix for this.