Up and Ready

Installing AutoCAD Service Packs silently

This one is pretty easy!  Just download the Service Pack i.e. AutoCAD 2013 SP2. Type in the following commands in a command prompt:

cd C:\path\of\your\downloaded\SP

[Enter]

AutoCAD_2013_SP2_64bit.exe /quiet

[Enter]

NOTE: C:\path\of\your\downloaded\SP = The location of your Service Pack

If you want to convert an .exe to a .msp so that you can add it to a deployment, you need to run this command:

AutoCAD_2013_SP2_64bit.exe /e ./AutoCAD_2013_SP2_64bit.msp

Reference:

http://usa.autodesk.com/getdoc/id=TS17060725

http://beingcivil.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/11/how-to-extract-msp-file-and-apply-it-to-the-admin-image.html

Thanks to Alison Gangler for sharing this tip to the community.

Deployment Search Paths: Browse vs Cut & Paste

I was working on a case recently in which I was adding search paths for AutoCAD 2014.  I wanted to let you know that it you can it's best to cut & paste the path/paths instead of browsing to it.  The path may not save properly if browsing to multiple folders.

The workflow is below:

1.  Select Create Deployment via the Wizard.  

2.  When you get to the product list, expand accordian to configure deployment.

3.  When you add additional paths, just cut and paste the new path instead of 'browsing" to it.

I have included some videos as proof of concept:

Create Deployment  Acad-2014-create-2-path

Modify Deployment  Acad-2014-create-2-path-modify

Thanks to Ivor Du Bois for confirming this workflow solved the problem. 

AutoCAD 2012 + .NET 4.5 + Hacking the "setup.ini"

One of our more ingenious Product Support Techs figured a workaround for installing AutoCAD 2012 on computers with .NET 4.5 pre-installed.  Please note that AutoCAD 2012 doesn't really support .NET 4.5 so hack with caution...

The Situation:

• Client builds their computers with .NET 4.5 installed.
• Client tries to install AutoCAD 2012 on those computers and it will fail.

Reason:

AutoCAD 2012 tries to install NET 4.0 and when it tries, it fails because .NET 4.5 is already installed. You could uninstall .NET 4.5 and install AutoCAD, but for this user, .NET 4.5 was on the stock machine image.

Solution:

Remove .NET installation by hacking the setup.ini file.

Backup the original setup.ini file and call it setup.ini.bak then use Notepad to edit setup.ini file.

• NOTE:  Editing the setup.ini file from an existing deployment will NOT work.

Locate the line [or search for DOTNET]:

• PREREQUISITE=IE;SSE2;DOTNET20;DOTNET4;DOTNET4LANG; etc….

Delete anything with DOTNET in it.

• DOTNET20;DOTNET4;DOTNET4LANG

Save the file.

Now install or build a deployment with the removed NET pre-requisites. This will allow AutoCAD 2012 to install on a machine with .NET 4.5 already installed. This customized installer will not install .NET.

Please note that AutoCAD 2012 was built for .NET 4.0 and not .NET 4.5.  .NET4.0 is similar to .NET 4.5 so if you experience issues, you may need to install 4.0 at some time in the future.  Please work with caution...

Thanks to David Dembkoski for this tip.

Windows 7 N + Autodesk Civil 3D 2013 + Storm & Sanitary Analysis

I just learned something new today. It's a flavor of Windows called: Windows 7 N. It is Windows 7 "Not with the Media Player."

The implications of this special flavor is that when you run AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 with Autodesk Storm & Sanitary Analysis 2013 installed, you will get this error:

 Error 1904. VisioForge_Video_Capture_4.ocx failed to register.

You will need to manually install the Windows Media Player to get around this problem.

Reference

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itprogeneral/thread/7967abc0-b1fd-402e-86f3-79827d5f62c5/

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/190990

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2012/10/civil-3d-2013-where-is-storm-sanitary-analysis-subassembly-composer.html

Thanks to Byron Morales for sharing this tidbit of information.

Laws: Don't delete your original deployment files

Unless you like to hack the registry, please don't delete a deployment on your network until you are absolutely not using it.  For example, if your site is not using any Autodesk 2011 product, then you can delete all the 2011 deployment packages on the server.

The computer that has the Autodesk software installed will be looking at deployment location for repairing, re-installing and patching of the software.

It is much easier to not delete the deployment than to hack the registry to a  valid location of the software.

Even if you have created a new deployment, hacked the registry and you have duplicated the deployment path, another variable to consider is if you have included Service Packs in the original deployment which can then affect a repair & re-install  of the product.

NOTE:  This can potentially apply to just regular installed/extracted software as well.   i.e. C:\Autodesk

Thanks to Alison Gangler for this suggestion

Maya 2013 Extension deployment error: The copy functions cannot be used.

If you are creating a deployment with Maya 2013 Extension Pack on Windows, you will get this error:

The copy functions cannot be used.

Thanks to Guillaume Boucher for letting us know of the problem.  The Maya Development team has been alerted of the issue as well.

Epilogue

There is a solution to this problem and the workaround is below:

1. Downloaded Maya 2013 Extension.
2. Extract it.
3. It has the following folder:

C:\Autodesk\Maya_2013_Extension_CEJ_Win_64-bit\x64\Maya\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2013.5 

4. Rename it to:

C:\Autodesk\Maya_2013_Extension_CEJ_Win_64-bit\x64\Maya\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2013

5. Create deployment and install it.

Error: The copy functions cannot be used.

In this case, an educational site was installing the Autodesk Design Academy 2013 and the following error came up during the deployment creation:

The copy functions cannot be used.
Failed to copy the following files:  E:\3rd Pary  
to
\\SERVERNAME\Packages\ACAD2013\AdminImage

In this case, the solution is easy.  The problem was that the deployment was started on a local workstation [Computer A]  and was trying to create the deployment over the network on Computer B.

You will need to have the instalaltion media on the actual server [Computer B] and create the deployment on the server  [Computer B]  using a Windows Remote Desktop  Connection on Computer A.

Defeating the 256 character limit when creating a deployment!

If you are creating a deployment and you get a 1304 error or a 2350 error, you have exceeded the 256 character limit for your deployment.

While going through some of the forum posts, I found a solution to the long character limit and I have been able to confirm that it works for "Revit".  I am going to assume that it should work for all Autodesk products.

1. In this scenario, I created a Revit Structure 2013 deployment and the files will be located here:

C:\A_REALLY_LONG_DEPLOYMENT_PATH\SERENDIPITY\PNEUMONO-ULTRA-MICRO-SCOPIC-SILICO-VOLCANO-CONIOSIS\HEPATICO-CHOLANGIO-CHOLECYST-ENTERO-STOMIES\HEPATICO-CHOLANGIO-CHOLECYST-ENTERO-STOMIES\HIPPOPOTO-MONSTRO-SESQUIPED-AL-IA\RST2013

Before creating the deployment, a folder must be shared first before the deployment is created. The trick is that the shared path must be as short as possible.

2. Share the folder at: RST2013.

3. Create your deployment via the installation wizard at: \\YOUR-COMPUTERNAME\RST2013.

For the average joe, this may not be too exciting but for a lot companies have pre-designed their shared folders for data management and they typically would like to keep the deployments and the shared templates in the same location, this is cool!

Sample of Shared Data files:

\\DataServer\ACME-ARCHITECTURE-TORONTO\Autodesk\Revit\Shared-Files\Company-Standard-Templates\Metric

Sample of Install Location:

\\DataServer\ACME-ARCHITECTURE-TORONTO\Autodesk\Revit\2013\Deploy\Installx64

The shared folder for anything Revit for Toronto is located here:

\\DataServer\ACME-ARCHITECTURE-TORONTO\Autodesk\Revit\ 

You can create a new shared folder for the the install/creation of the deployment at:

Actual path:
\\DataServer\ACME-ARCHITECTURE-TORONTO\Autodesk\Revit\2013\Deploy\Installx64

Shared path:
\\DataServer\Deploy\Installx64

I have included some videos to demo the entire process:

Video:  Long-filenames-path-deployment-workaround

Video:  Long-filenames-path-deployment-installed

Reference

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2012/04/autodesk-suites-2013-deployment-path-can-easily-exceed-256-characters.html

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2011/05/error-1603-and-1304-during-deployment-creation-revit-architecture-error-1304error-writing-to-file.html

Thanks to Travis Nave, one of the ***Gurus that particpates a lot in our Install & Licensing Discussion Group.

Autodesk Suites: Modifying a Building Design Suite 2013 fails at FBX

You have created a deployment for the Building Design Suite 2013 and  when you try to modify the deployment using this method:

Create & modify a deployment > Create a new deployment configuration using an existing configuration as a template

You will get this error:

The copy functions cannot be used.

At this time the only solution is to re-create the deployment with the updated changes. This issue has been reported to the Building Design Suite QA team.

Simulation CFD 2013: You only need to download it once!

Just a quick note for Autodesk Simulation CFD 2013 customers, you can purchase an a la carte license to connect to:

• PTC® Pro/ENGINEER®
• PTC® CoCreate®
• Siemens® NX™
• Siemens® Solid Edge®
• SolidWorks®
• SpaceClaim® 

In the Subscription Center > Downloads area, you will only need to download Autodesk Simulation CFD once!  

In this example, Autodesk Simulation CFD Connection for Parasold and Pro/Engineer are exactly the same.  Autodesk Simulation CFD has all the Connection "plug-ins" installed at the same time and the license will allow you to connect to the other vendors as necessary.   The downloads in the Subscription Center must have a download for each of your purchased items but because download for Autodesk Simulation CFD is all inclusive, it is not necessary to download all the other Connection "plug-ins".