Up and Ready

Installing Autodesk products with Sophos Antivirus

We recently got this case into Product Support....

"Basically an update for Sophos Antivirus can cause an instance of  the Windows installer to run in the background. Since Windows will not allow two installers to run at the same time, anything that uses an MSI will result as an error that usually says something to the effect of “there is an installation running, please wait until the install is complete”.

This occurs in both cases of trying to uninstall and reinstall. When trying to install from the Design Suite (original media) everything will look as if it is going to work out fine, you can put in your serial number and set up your licensing etc. but at the end splash screen just shows a FAILURE with a big red X in the checkbox. When you check the log file in the temp folder, the error kicked back is a 1618.

The fix is pretty painless once you figure out the problem [I can’t take credit for the solution]. Basically you download the script from Sophos, on the page referenced below, manually kill the Windows installer in task manager, and run the fix….and viola!"

http://www.sophos.com/en-us/support/knowledgebase/118323.aspx

Thanks to CJ Sondgerath for sharing this tip with the community.

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.

2013: FLEXnet Feature Codes for Autodesk products

The Network License Manager controls the licenses that are issued and handles license requests through feature codes, which are specific to the networked application.  

Please check out this solution for 2013 products:

http://usa.autodesk.com/getdoc/id=TS18708301

Error 1603: Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable ATL Security Update (x86)

I absolutely hate 1603 errors!

I recently got this interesting case with AutoCAD 2013 and this wonderful message:  Installation Complete. Some products failed to install.

When you look at the log file, you get this error:

2012/9/27:08:33:05    slick    STLR-MAPS-02     Install    Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable ATL Security Update (x86) Failed Installation aborted, Result=1603

The first plan to attack is to try to uninstall all the C++ components.  It is a very similar workflow to these blog posts:

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2012/08/error-install-net-framework-runtime-40-kb2468871-failed-installation-aborted-result1603.html

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2012/01/installation-the-case-of-microsoft-visual-c-2010-1603-error.html

This did NOT resolve the issue

In this interesting scenario, the problem was with the temp folder.  I was trying to get access the log files and  I typed this in the Start > Search programs and files window:

%temp%

...and I got this error:

Windows cannot find 'C:\Temp'.  Make sure you typed the name correctly. and then try again.

WOW, how old school Windows NT!

In this case, the problem was rather simple, create a C:\Temp folder. Once the C:\Temp folder was created, AutoCAD installed!  

 Personally, I would have kept the default settings for the TEMP and TMP folder as:

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp

Thanks to Joe Steel for confirming that this solution worked and I love 1603 errors if there is a solution for them.

The case of the AutoCAD and the Windows Blue Screen of Death

You are running on Windows 7 x64 and you are running AutoCAD 2012.  AutoCAD was running previously and when you launch it now, you get the Windows Blue Screen of Death.

You have tried the following:

• Uninstalled and reinstalled the software.
• Reset the settings.

In this case....it was not Autocad, it was a Trojan called the Google Redirect Virus. Quite a little nasty bug to find and get rid of. It attaches itself to a running process so it doesn’t get picked up by the Anti-Virus programs. In this case, it must have attached to an acad.exe process and when we tried run AutoCAD, it caused the crash. I downloaded TDSSKiller from Kaspersky and was able to find it and remove and everything is working fine now.

Thanks to David Duffy for sharing this tip with the community!

Borrowing a license for Maya doesn't allow you to use mental ray

If you plan to borrow Maya using this universal method that works with most Autodesk products: About Maya > Product Information > Borrow License, you will notice that you will not be able to render a file using mental ray.

Video:  Maya-borrow-default

Believe it or not, the instructions to get mental ray to work is in the documentation.  The reason for this odd behavior is because mental ray is a ‘sub feature’ of Maya.

If you are using Maya and you plan to borrow a license and require mental ray, please review the following steps here and click on:

Licensing Guide for Media & Entertainment 2013 Products (pdf)

The abridged instructions for borrowing a license for Maya on Windows is below:

1.  Download NLM from www.autodesk.com/nlm-ipv4-windows and install it on client computer that you want to borrow Maya on.

2.  Run the LMTOOLS utility on the client computer.

3.  Open the LMTOOLS utility by selecting Start > Programs > Autodesk > Common Utilities > FlexLM License Utilities.

4.  In the LMTOOLS utility, switch to the Borrowing tab. 

In the Vendor Name field, enter adskflex
Enter the Return Date
Enter Return Time
Click Set Borrow Expiration

5.  Launch Maya.

6.  Create a poly sphere and add a directional light and render it using mental ray.

7.  If you are still connected to your license server. This automatically borrows a license for that sub-feature.

8.  Click on the Don’t Borrow Any Today when your are done or you will continue to borrow other Autodesk products on your computer that your license server is issuing.  This will only happen if you launch the product.  i.e. Softimage, MotionBuilder, Mudbox.

Video:   Maya-borrow-correct

Thanks to Ming Mah for demoing this workflow to the support team.

Reference:

http://usa.autodesk.com/getdoc/id=TS14166095

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2012/03/licensing-autodesk-network-license-manager-1110-is-ready.html

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2011/11/general-licensing-how-to-borrow-a-license-from-the-license-server.html

Installation: Can’t run CAD Manager Control Utility with Autodesk 2013 Products

When you run CAD Manager Control Utility shipped with 2013 products and you have some of the 2013 products installed you might get the following error.

"Your system registry keys are invalid. Please reinstall your Autodesk application and try again"

Please add the following registry keys to fix this issue.

Registry Key Hive (Please adapt the path marked in red with the specific language and product you have installed)

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R19.0\ACAD-B001:409\CadManagerControl\Cloud]

Type:dword

Name:CustomizationSync

Value:00000000

Note:

Editing windows registry instructions can be found here

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310516

"Important: This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756 How to back up and restore the registry in Windows"

Running Composite with a lot of CPUs

Just an FYI.  If you are running a dual x 8 core computer with Hyper-Threading [HT] turned on, Composite will not run and crash just after the splash screen.

2 CPUs x 8 Cores per CPU x 2 [HT] = 32  CPUs = Composite Crash!

There is a reference post here in The Area:

http://area.autodesk.com/forum/autodesk-composite-toxik-and-combustion/general-discussion/composite-crashes-on-startup---too-many-cores

The temporary solution is to disable Hyperthreading.  The Development team has been alerted of this issue.

Using a Mac as a license server and "Server line says" error...

We are starting to get more cases on this interesting issue when using a Mac as a license server. Normally, you would need to use the built-in Ethernet card to generate a license file but you may actually now need to use the  802.11n Wi-Fi wireless networking card instead if you get this error:

Server line says #, hostid is #

I have seen this error before affecting Mac Mini's but I have now seen this problem on an iMac running Mac OS 10.8 (Mountain Lion).  NOTE:  The server software is not supported yet on the latest Mac operating system.

Apple is not including a built-in Ethernet card for some of their hardware.  It is an interesting co-incidence.

http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs/

Thanks to Eric Kunzendorf for confirming this solution.

Reference

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2011/08/general-licensing-using-a-mac-mini-as-a-license-server.html

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2012/01/quick-start-setting-up-a-license-server-on-mac.html

AutoCAD for Mac 2012 & 2013 and Mountain Lion

For more information on AutoCAD for Mac 2012 & 2013 and Mountain Lion [10.8] compatiblity, please check out this technical solution:

http://usa.autodesk.com/getdoc/id=TS20109560

Reference:

http://autodeskcare.com/post/31341257887/the-wait-is-over-autocad-for-mac-can-now-run-on