Remove newer version warning

[Pieterdp]

I work for a company that is still running v 10.5. It takes some time for us to go through acceptance testing / approval for new versions of software, and therefore we will only upgrade to version 11 in November at the earliest.  At the moment there is a warning just above the workflow stating that a newer version of Alteryx designer is available, which decreases the size of the workflow canvas etc. There is a dropdown to to defer this warning for a period of time (90 days/1 year etc), but this appears to make no difference as the warning shows on every startup of Alteryx. It would be great for this warning to be removed/the deferral to actually work as it becomes old pretty quickly when I have to remove this warning on every startup.

Thanks!

[MattB]

Thanks @Pieterdp for the idea. We do currently have a couple method to suppress the warning. Please follow the below steps and let me know if this works for you. Please keep the ideas coming as these help us gauge customer demand and therefore refine our roadmap.

Option 1: Blocking access to the URL used for version check

This option requires the ability to block access or calls to a certain URL. If the Alteryx Designer is unable to make the connection, the Designer will still continue to function correctly, but will not display any information about any new versions available.
Important! Using this option will also prevent any checks for CASS updates. If you would like to prevent Designer version checks, but still enable CASS checks, use Option #2.

1. The URL used for version checks is http://downloads.alteryx.com/Version.xml
2. Using a firewall, proxy or other mechanism, block access to that specific URL.
Note: You may want to still enable access to downloads.alteryx.com to still access downloads in the future, and prevent access to just the Version.xml file, though preventing access to either or both will still disable the check.

Option 2: Modify the Designer’s local settings file

This option requires modifying an XML settings file specific to each user on a given machine where the Designer is installed. This file contains many user configuration options, including a setting for how long to disable a version check for. With this option, we essentially set that date to one far in the future to prevent version checks.

1. Locate the UserSettings.xml file for the user on the machine. This file should exist at C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Alteryx\Engine\[Current Version of Alteryx]\
2. Inside of UserSettings.xml, add the following nodes (or update the values if the nodes already exist)

<DisableVersionCheckUntil NoInherit="True">01/01/2020</DisableVersionCheckUntil>

<VersionCheckDisabledByBuildNum value="26351" NoInherit="True" />
Note the highlighted values – the first value indicates the next date at which to perform the version check, specified in MM/DD/YYYY format. The second highlighted value indicates the current version of Alteryx that is installed – be sure that this value matches the currently installed version of Alteryx.

[Pieterdp]

Thank you! Second option worked perfectly.

[MattB]

Excellent!

[autolycus]

How do you do this for all users on a given machine?

[ep15222]

Did you ever find a solution for All users ?

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[ClayVan]

For others that found post this when trying to disable update notifications, please note that the URL provided back in March of 2017 is no longer the URL the client checks.

The new URL is https://whitelist.alteryx.com/v1/downloads/v1/Version.xml.

I don't know when this change occurred, but this is the case in version 2018.4.5.55178. As previously stated by MattB, this URL can be blocked at the firewall to disable the update notifications.

Until this capability is provided as an HKLM registry key or a programdata XML file, the only options (that I can think of) at the machine level to disable this would be to:

1. Add "127.0.0.1 whitelist.alteryx.com" to the hosts file.

2. Replace the Alteryx Shortcuts with an executable (or PowerShell script) that edits the two XML nodes (see MattB's post from March 2017) in the user’s security context, then launches AlteryxGui.exe. Sadly, you can't replace the entire XML as it contains other unique configurations.

3. Run a script/executable as a local admin account that loops through all user directories and edits the two XML nodes in any instances of *AppData\Roaming\Alteryx\Engine\*\UserSettings.xml.

4. If you are able to place a “UserSettings.xml” in the correct directory before first launch, then you can specify only the nodes you want, and the client will write the rest.

          However, if this were during an upgrade instead of a fresh install, the user would lose all of their configurations.

Ultimately, it is probably easiest to simply communicate with end users that updates are managed by you or your team and they will be notified when a new version can be or will be installed.

However, I will add my voice to those wishing that disabling update notifications and other user-level settings ("SendUsageStats" & "DefaultDistanceUnits" come to mind) were available at the system level either as an install flag or a system level registry key/config file.

[TenBob]

I created a PowerShell script to edit the file in each user's profile or copy a default UserSettings.xml file if not found. I created this for version 2019.3.5.17947. You can edit it for your version or modify it for any version found. Hope this helps.

#################### Edit UserSettings.xml file #######################

$profiles = (Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\Users" -Force -Exclude "Public","*$*","Temp","System","Administrator","ADMIN~1","Default*","All Users" | Where-Object { $_.PSIsContainer }).Name

foreach ($profile in $profiles)

{

$AlteryxUserDir = "c:\Users\$profile\AppData\Roaming\Alteryx\Engine\2019.3" # Change this location to the relevant version number #

# Does UserSettings.xml exist? #

if (!(Test-Path "$AlteryxUserDir\UserSettings.xml"))

{

# Create user folder if it doesn't exist and copy sample UserSettings.xml file (with edited fields to prevent update check) #

New-Item -ItemType Directory $AlteryxUserDir -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

Copy-Item -Path ".\UserSettings.xml" -Destination $AlteryxUserDir -Force

} else {

# Edit the XML file (if found) #

# Read XML contents

$xml = [xml](Get-Content "$AlteryxUserDir\UserSettings.xml")

# Find 1st node to edit #

Select-Xml -Xml $xml -XPath "//DisableVersionCheckUntil" |

# Edit check date to a future date #

ForEach-Object { $_.Node. '#text' = '01/01/2050' }

# Find 2nd node to edit #

Select-Xml -Xml $xml -XPath "//VersionCheckDisabledByBuildNum" |

# Edit build number for version 2019.3.5.17947 #

ForEach-Object { $_.Node. 'Value' = '17947' }

# Save the XML file

$xml.Save("$AlteryxUserDir\UserSettings.xml")

}

}

[khess85]

I've noticed that if you update the UserSettings.xml file with a date later in the future using Notepad and open Designer that the setting change does not persist to disable the version update notification.

STEPS

1. Ensure Designer is closed

2. Open the UserSettings.xml file

3. Change the date: <DisableVersionCheckUntil NoInherit="True">01/01/2050</DisableVersionCheckUntil>

4. Save the file

5. Open Designer (no version messaging appears)

6. Close and re-open Designer (version messaging reappears)

Is there any way to make these settings persist?  I've tried unchecking the "Save Layout & Settings on Exit" option as well in the User Settings and still the message appears in Designer (although it appears to stay set at 2050 in the XML file).

[Pwood]

@khess85 - I having having the same issue with the message reappearing (actually never going away) after adding the following values in the UserSettings.xml file

<DisableVersionCheckUntil NoInherit="True">01/01/2050</DisableVersionCheckUntil>

<VersionCheckDisabledByBuildNum value="42691" NoInherit="True" />

After going back to check the UserSettings.xml file I no longer see my entries which suggests that the UserSettings.xml file is being re-created at each launch of the software.  Based on this I cannot see how @Pieterdp or others got it to work.

So, in a nutshell I too am looking to not have the message banner that there's a new version available for download and for the Admin installation of the Designer software.

Has anyone found a solution that works?