Solidworks Add-in Use of Temp folder

[jacob_john_RPC]

The Vault Add-in for SolidWorks 2024 & 2025 utilized the Temp folder during a number of key operations including:

• Renaming (Vault Thick Client)
• Copy design
• Scanning step of Autodesk Autoloader for SolidWorks

The Autodesk Vault Add-in for SolidWorks utilizes the C:/Users/%user.name%/AppData/local/temp.

Due to security policies this folder was being blocked by AppLocker preventing the functions above from working properly. 

After troubleshooting this with Autodesk support the response was:

"It appears that Autoloader's access to the default temporary folder is part of the current software design and may be hardcoded. At this time, the development team is unable to offer an alternative solution without modifying the underlying behavior of the application.

That said, the team is continuing to evaluate the issue, and a change may be considered for a future release if deemed appropriate."

Future releases should improve this such that the use of the temp folder is minimized entirely or the ability to redirect these files via a config file.  This is needed to improve security and accessibility.

[ihayesjr]

@jacob_john_RPC 

Thank you for posting the idea. When you open Windows Explorer and type %temp%, what folder does it go to?

[jacob_john_RPC]

When I type %temp% it goes to the folder listed above "C:/Users/%user.name%/AppData/local/temp".

If you have any suggestions to resolve this issue that would be appreciated.

[ihayesjr]

@jacob_john_RPC 

Use these instructions to change the temp location.

How to change TEMP folder and allocate free space on your system disk - WinTips.org

[jacob_john_RPC]

Hi @ihayesjr,

Perhaps I haven't explained the issue properly. 

As this changes the entire windows temp directory this wouldn't be a good solution for us. 

The requirements is to be able to separate those .tmp files generated by Vault Autoloader for SolidWorks, renaming of SolidWorks files, and copy design tool. We need a way to whitelist only the .tmp files generated by Vault Add-in for Solidworks while blocking harmful scripts for a strict security policy. 

I hope this information clarifies the issue.

[ihayesjr]

@jacob_john_RPC 

Your request isn't something Vault could help with. Whitelisting Vault's use of the temporary location would be on the application you are using to block the usage of the temp location.

[ihayesjr]

@jacob_john_RPC 

You can try this.

Vault Client writes files in default temporary folder when processing visualization file