Have you installed a configuration of Vault Data Standard, only to have it randomly stop working? The problem may lie with Windows Security…

Windows the Mighty Protector
Scripts have the potential to harm your computer. With this in mind, when they are downloaded from the Internet or from a network location, Windows can sometimes put a block on them, preventing them from running. This block can be seen when looking through the general properties of a file:

So what’s the problem?
Unfortunately, Vault Data Standard makes use of .ps1, .xaml and .xml files, all of which can be blocked by Windows. In this case, your Inventor and Vault will operate normally until a VDS dialogue is called (e.g. when you are saving a file in Inventor, or creating a new folder in Vault), in which case simply nothing will happen. No error message, nothing. By preventing their operation, Windows security can put a freeze order on your VDS.

How do I fix it?
Fortunately, the issue can be solved by unblocking all of VDS’s files. This is a simple matter of right-clicking each .ps1, .xml and .xaml file in the configuration, and in the General tab, clicking ‘Unblock’. By default, the configuration of a VDS can be found in the following two folders (and subfolders), and consist of 63 or so files.

• C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Vault 2018\Extensions\DataStandard\CAD\
• C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Vault 2018\Extensions\DataStandard\Vault\

Unfortunately, the process of manually unblocking would need to be repeated for each file, and for each deployment of VDS; this can take a lot of time. Luckily, we have devised a way to automate the process!

Automatically removing the blocks
The blocks can be removed via another script (either a .bat or a .ps1 file). This is eminently useful if baked into a deployment program for a particular VDS configuration.

• Using a PowerShell script: This will unblock all the files in a folder, but not in subfolders.
  get-childitem *.* | Unblock-File
• Using a batch file. This will unblock a single file.…
  echooff.>”C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Vault
  2018\Extensions\DataStandard\CAD\addins\breadCrumb.ps1″:Zone.Identifier
  …repeat for each file in the deployment
  

And just like that, you can allow the operation of VDS on your Windows machine again. Wonderful!