Changes in ..\apps\PW.cfg between Ss2 and Ss4 causing workspace issues.

We don't have Power InRoads SS2 but we do have MicroStation SS4 + InRoads SS2 and Power InRoads SS10 on a testing machine on it. ProjectWise 10.00.03.329 installed.

The PW.cfg between the 2 is identical, however neither loads the mcm.user.cfg directly. Instead they both load the same mcm.cfg in the Program Files\Bentley\ProjectWise\Bin directory then that mcm.cfg loads the mcm.user.cfg. Actually it'll load 3 different mcm.user.cfg if it can find them.

Here's how mcm.cfg loads the different mcm.user.cfg files:

%include $(PWDIR)bin/mcm.user.cfg

%if exists ($(ALLUSERSPROFILE)/Bentley/ProjectWise/Configuration/mcm.user.cfg)
  %include $(ALLUSERSPROFILE)/Bentley/ProjectWise/Configuration/mcm.user.cfg
%else
  PW_ALLAPPDATA=${ALLUSERSPROFILE}/Application Data
  %if exists ($(PW_ALLAPPDATA)/Bentley/ProjectWise/Configuration/mcm.user.cfg)
    %include $(PW_ALLAPPDATA)/Bentley/ProjectWise/Configuration/mcm.user.cfg
  %endif
  %undef PW_ALLAPPDATA
%endif

%if exists ($(LOCALAPPDATA)/Bentley/ProjectWise/Configuration/mcm.user.cfg)
  %include $(LOCALAPPDATA)/Bentley/ProjectWise/Configuration/mcm.user.cfg
%else
    %if exists ($(APPDATA)/Bentley/ProjectWise/Configuration/mcm.user.cfg)
        %include $(APPDATA)/Bentley/ProjectWise/Configuration/mcm.user.cfg
    %endif
%endif

%endif

Couple of possibilities pop to mind:

1. The Power InROADS SS2 PW.cfg is old and the installer didn't support that version so didn't replace it
2. Both Power SS2 and SS10 pw.cfgs were manually modified and at the last install of PW weren't replaced by the installer
   1. Bentley ProjectWise installers tend to leave manually modified files in place and not replace them when a new version is installed

Shouldn't have to do a complete uninstall/reinstall. Honestly just replace the pw.cfg in both with the one from Program Files (x86)\ProjectWise\Bin. That file is the only thing that integrates MicroStation based products with ProjectWise. Replacing it with the one from the program directory is pretty much what uninstall/reinstall is supposed to do.

This is my Power InRoads Ss2 PW.cfg. The %if %endif block from lines 38 to 45 fail in Ss2. The lines 44 through 47 in the Ss10 version (see further down) are the lines that will not fail, if I use the Ss10 version in Ss2.

While this is my Ss10 version

The Accessed date on both matches the date that I installed Power InRoads Ss10 and I believe I ran a repair on ProjectWise, since it was installed while Ss4 was installed.

The problem in the SS2 PW.CFG is it only checks the HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry and "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Bentley\ProjectWise\08.11\Path" that path is version specific and ProjectWise CONNECT doesn't store it's path there. (I've never seen PW store it in HKEY_CURRENT_USER, I assume that's an addition for companies that put it there themselves, or some future feature.)

You'll notice your SS10 checks the 08.11 path and when that fails checks "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Bentley\ProjectWise\Path" key. ProjectWise CONNECT does put the path in that location so it works.

I went back and checked both my pw.cfg again. My SS10 one matches yours, however my MicroStation SS4 one is below in full

#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#
#
#  $Copyright: (c) 2019 Bentley Systems, Incorporated. All rights reserved. $
#
#  Limited permission is hereby granted to reproduce and modify this
#  copyrighted material provided that the resulting code is used only in
#  conjunction with Bentley Systems products under the terms of the
#  license agreement provided therein, and that this notice is retained
#  in its entirety in any such reproduction or modification.
#
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#
#  pw.cfg - ProjectWise configuration file.
#

#----------------------------------------------------------------------
# Uncomment to disable ProjectWise integration when this product is launched from the desktop.
#----------------------------------------------------------------------
# PW_DISABLE_INTEGRATION_FROM_DESKTOP=1

%if defined (PW_DISABLE_INTEGRATION_FROM_DESKTOP)
    %if !defined (_PWEXPLORER)
        PW_DISABLE_INTEGRATION=1
    %endif

    # This variable is not needed outside this file.
    %undef PW_DISABLE_INTEGRATION_FROM_DESKTOP
%endif

#----------------------------------------------------------------------
#   Path to ProjectWise Explorer - inserted by the installer
#       *** do not alter whitespace before '=' ***
#----------------------------------------------------------------------
%if !defined(PWDIR)
    PWDIR = C:/PROGRA~2/Bentley/PROJEC~1/
%endif

#----------------------------------------------------------------------
#   Disable integration if ProjectWise StartPoint is running.
#----------------------------------------------------------------------
%if defined (_SP_DOCMGMT)
    PW_DISABLE_INTEGRATION=1
%endif

%if !defined (PW_DISABLE_INTEGRATION)
    %if !defined (PWDIR)
        # Check current user first
        PWDIR= C:/PROGRA~2/Bentley/PROJEC~1/
        %if !exists ($(PWDIR))
            # Fallback to machine level settings
            PWDIR= C:/PROGRA~2/Bentley/PROJEC~1/
        %endif
    %endif

    %if defined (PWDIR) && !defined (_MCM_CFG_) && exists ($(PWDIR)bin/mcm.cfg)
        %include $(PWDIR)bin/mcm.cfg
    %endif
%endif


#----------------------------------------------------------------------
#   End
#----------------------------------------------------------------------

You'll notice in this one Bentley has hard-coded the paths (and with Windows short names too), it doesn't use the registryread function at all.

If you want to try the uninstall/reinstall route, i would make sure all the pw.cfg files are deleted after the uninstall.

Hi Chuck,

From my testing registryread is not recognized in earlier versions of the software (before connect, although I haven't tested Ss10) and was only recently added to the list of commands that cfg files could handle.
AFAIK, the PWDIR variable is typically passed from the ProjectWise application on launch so would only be used if not launching from the explorer window. See below image

If I put the Ss10 version on my PC, it works, but modifying file in the Program Files (x86) area is the one thing we are trying to avoid.

And yes, within PW, it does work, but we were trying to place some site variables in one place that any Bentley software integrated with PW would read. This allows one location that everything through CONNECT will see.

This will go away once Ss2 doesn't run, but it's annoying that something that could (or should) be universal is not.

Remember, the goal is to not need admin privileges to configure the workspace, in or out of PW.