Microsoft Security Updates Might Cause Problems - Hole Thread Unavailable

[kelly.young]

UPDATE 12/07/17 

Greetings Inventor Forum Community,

Microsoft recently released some security updates for Windows operating systems.

There are currently three updates that I am aware of that break functionality. 

Inventor 2011-2015 appears to be affected. 

Thread functionality for the hole command, bolted connections, and content center may show as undetectable or an unavailable error.

An article has been created showing the solution: 

AKN: Thread-related operations do not work in Inventor after installing Microsoft security updates -...

Inventor is unable to load thread data after installing Windows 7 (KB4041681) and 10 (KB4041676) sec...

Primary Solution Summary: Change the value for the registry key, UseExcelToReadthreadFile, from 0 to 1:

Alternative Solution Summary: Uninstall the following updates from the Windows Update list.

• KB4041681 (Windows 7)
• KB4041676 (Windows 10) 

Also, it breaks functionality in Core AutoCAD and its connection with Microsoft Excel. 

Excel data extraction from AutoCAD shows "DeleteMe" in spreadsheet

Will keep updating post as more information becomes available.

[Xun.Zhang · Accepted solution]

Hi Kelly,

Thanks for headsup. You are right, the problem was tracked down in our internal defect system. This seems to be very critical and It was affecting Inventor 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 on Windows 7.

After more validation, the problem was resolved after removing KB4041681.

Will keep you update for any progress.

[kimK7B54]

Unfortunately, Windows 10 will try to reinstall the update immediately after you uninstall it (less than an hour on my machine).

In order to prevent this from happening, you will need to disable windows update service.

press win +r keys (run) and type in "services.msc"

scroll down to "Windows Update", and RMB on the startup type.  Select "Disabled", restart windows.

Credit goes to my brother for telling me how to disable it.  Thanks Keith.

[Mark.Lancaster]

@kimK7B54

Word of caution here..  Disabling Windows updates can also be  bad thing too.  There are crucial updates that need to be applied every so often.   Yes I'm not a fan of these auto-updates and since lately they seem to be impacting the Autodesk community..  But you may want to rethink this as being your solution.  

Why didn't you change per the registry change (that was recommended)?

[kimK7B54]

Caution, yes.  But the option is not getting any work done.  I'd rather disable windows update than start editing the registry.  All of my work involves ifeatures that have threads.  This broken functionality prevented the ifeatures from inserting at all, preventing me from getting much needed work done.  Autodesk needs to stop requiring 3rd party software for basic functionality.  Try going to Microsoft and buying Excel;  You can't.  All I found was subscription to office 365, which according to Autodesk, is not adequate.

[kimK7B54]

Update 1691 was the culprit on my machine.  I'm running Windows 10 home, 64bit.

[alh-telesis]

We have the same issue.

Inventor 2015 and Office 2010.

The REGEDIT change does allow the user to use the threads, BUT will continually ask them to update the thread.xls file to the lastest version of Excel. 

For our network deployed Design Data, that is not helpful.

Something I did not check with the REGEDIT were the other functions Inventor calls Excel for. Things like catalog editor , etc. I question if this will allow them to work as well.

It also seems we are not the only ones affected. Other application are seeing problems importing xls files.

https://www.computerworld.com/article/3232095/microsoft-windows/microsoft-patch-problems-persist-bad...

Good Luck, but I am going to remove this update for now.

And after it is removed I "HIDE" that update so it does not reinstall.

In this way, we can continue to use the "Automatic Update"

[Anonymous]

How do you "hide the update".

First I changed the registry and that helped when modeling the part. I then started an assembly with the new part and found that I could not constrain to the holes in the part. Inventor was not recognizing the hole as an axis. I created an axis through the hole then was able to constrain to the axis.

However this is a long workaround.

I have removed the update now and am still wanting other updates, just not the problematic one.

I appreciate your help.

[alh-telesis]

In Windows 7

First I change the Windows Update Setting to "Check for updates but let me choose..." or "Never check..."

Second I uninstall the update.

After the restart, you will see the Update reappear in the Download and Install updates. Click the "1 important update.." link to see the list of updates available.

Right Click on the offending Update and "Hide update".

Click OK and never worry about it again.

If you do need to reinstall it later, "Restore hidden updates" is on the left side of the main update window.

Youtube has several videos showing the steps under "Hide Windows 7 Updates"

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

You sir, are AWESOME

[kelly.young · Accepted solution]

UPDATE SOLUTION:

Thread-related operations do not work in Inventor after installing Microsoft security updates - KB40...

[al3x360]

Hello, we found out that the KB was not installed however, i found a KB with the only last digit was installed recently and on the description, contains all the same words that the KB listed on the First post  . 

i checked all the updates listed on the first post they were not installed so I did the modification on the registry, but now, it takes very long time to load all the parameters on the dialog box . anyone has experienced the problem ? 

i'm IT administrator on my organisation .

[alh-telesis]

To answer your first question ... of the three possible offending Windows Updates, only one was installed on any of our Windows 7 workstations. And that was all it took to break the Inventor Excel link.

As for the second question ... Using the REGEDIT solution does seem to increase the time Inventor needs to open the thread table ... at least for the first time that session.

[al3x360]

Ok, thanks for the fast reply

i have this KB installed  : http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=4041686  Update KB4041686

Microsoft says :  "This non-security update includes improvements and fixes that were a part of KB4041681 (released October 10, 2017) and also includes these new quality improvements as a preview of the next Monthly Rollup update"

With the help of the wmic qfe command i was able to identify updates on the workstations running W7 :  i'll try to remove this KB plus the other one and see the result, then share the informations here if i see some improvements . 

[helge_brettschneider]

Hi alh-telesis,

the delay during the first time accessing the thread feature of the hole command is dune to a "quiet/hidden" start of excel in the background. When you check the task manager there you will find an excel entry.

Regards,
Helge

[al3x360]

oh, ok . But was this "problem" already here before the KB installation ? i mean is it normal ? A user told me the "waiting time" was not present before the problem starts . 

[alh-telesis]

The wait time is only when you Force Inventor to open Excel with the REGEDIT change. Like Helge said, Excel is opening in the background and it takes time. Once Excel is opened in the back ground, there should not be anymore wait time to use the tables.

Another issue with this change, at least for us, was Excel continually wanted to save the threads.xls file to the latest version, a .xlsx file.  BUT, as soon as you did that, Inventor could not find the file.

We had no issues with thread tables or clearance tables or catalogs, etc, until Microsoft sent out those updates. 

Without the offending update and without the REGEDIT change, we are working normally again. No wait time.

[al3x360]

Ok 🙂  i saw many Excel process when selecting the thread type. 

After uninstalling the KB and rebooting the workstation plus disabling the regedit modification, i'm not able to select the option on the dialog box and have to tweak the registry to have it to work again but with wait time  . 

i may have found a fix for the multiple Excel dialog boxes : i had to navigate to the thread.xls file then add the current user  on the security tab and allow him to modify the file, then no more dialog boxes appears .

[twilhelm1]

The Regedit appeared to work with our Windows 7 users but it didn't work with Windows 10 users.

With our Windows 10 users we had to uninstall the update.

Then our IT has to go and shut off the automatic windows updates so it wont install it again

In all about 20-30 minutes per user. 

Is there a patch in the works and if so when is it anticipated to be ready? 

[kelly.young]

Hello all,

I have updated the primary post to include the most up to date information available.

As new information arises I will update the initial post and reply to bump to the top of the forum.

Thank you for working through this issue and all of the constructive, informative, and helpful comments to other members of the community.