Up and Ready

Saving drive space + Deployments + Autodesk Suites

If your company owns a Suite but you don't actually use the whole suite, you can save a lot of space when downloading and creating deployments.  The workflow is as follows:

The downloading part of the equation...

1.  For example, if you own the Building Design Suite Standard 2014 and you only need AutoCAD Architecture 2014 setup, just download [browser download] a point product if available via our Virtual Agent (#3) or Subcription Center.

2.  Create a deployment of AutoCAD Architecture 2014 using the Building Design Suite Standard 2014 Serial number and product key.

3.  In the example above, using a browser download, the size of the Building Design Suite Standard 2014 is [4 GB + 4 GB + 523 MB] & for AutoCAD Architecture 2014, it is 2.4 GB.  That is a savings of 5835 MB.

The deployment part of the equation...

1.  Create a deployment using AutoCAD Architecture 2014 download.

2.  Below is the size of the deployment for AutoCAD Architecture 2014.

3.  Now create a deployment for Building Design Suite 2013 but select only AutoCAD Architecture 2014.

NOTE:  You cannot uncheck the Material Library 2014 and Autodesk 360 in the Suite.  I can also confirm that AutoCAD Architecture 2014 includes the 2 components above.

3.  Below is the size of the deployment for AutoCAD Architecture 2014 only using the Building Design Suite Media.

4.  That is a savings of [7.12 GB - 4.48 GB] of 2640 MB.

Reference

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2013/01/quick-start-downloads.html

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2013/05/building-design-suite-premiumultimate-2014-autocad-2014-windows-xp.html

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2013/01/deploying-revit-2013-one-box-with-a-building-design-suite-license.html

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2013/09/quick-start-suite-deployment-tips.html

Blocking Facebook will cause Mudbox to Crash

If you site blocks Facebook access, you may notice that Mudbox will crash.  This is because the Welcome Screen for it connects with the Mudbox Facebook Community.

In order to get past this problem, please rename the following Facebook connectivity plug-in from:

C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Mudbox 201x\plugins\MudLife.mp to Mudlife.mp.OLD

Thanks to the Development Team for alerting us of this issue.

General Licensing: Activating Autodesk MotionBuilder 2014 on Linux

Most part of our products is activated online automatically. In some cases you may need to manually activate your standalone license product using an activation code provided by Autodesk. When you need an activation code you usually send the request code provided by the software during the activation at launch. The request code is usually displayed on screen and it is a 32 digits alphanumeric string.

MotionBuilder 2014 on a Linux OS uses a different activation method where the activation code is not based on a request code but on an .xml file.
The XML file MOBPRO2014en_USLongCode.xml is created during installation on you filesystem's /tmp folder.
So, if you need an activation code for MotionBuilder 2014 on Linux you have to submit this xml file in order to obtain the activation file (MOBPRO2014authcode.xml), that you have to select once you have pressed the Browse button:

To request an activation code or file either point to http://www.autodesk.com/licensesupport or checkout the following article:
General Licensing: Getting an Activation Code Manually

Quick Start: Suite Deployment Tips

A "sweet" collection of Tips and Tricks grouped as a Quick Start Guide for creating deployments:

1.  Laws: Don't delete your original deployment files

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2012/11/laws-dont-delete-your-original-deployment-files.html

2.  How to move deployment Image to another system?

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2013/09/how-to-move-deployment-image-to-another-system.html

3.  Saving drive space + Deployments + Autodesk Suites

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2013/09/saving-drive-space-deployments-autodesk-suites.html

4.  Modifying Deployments and freezing....

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2013/07/modifying-deployments-and-freezing.html

5.  Defeating the 256 character limit when creating a deployment!

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2012/08/defeating-the-256-character-limit-when-creating-a-deployment.html

6.  Deployment Search Paths: Browse vs Cut & Paste

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2013/06/deployment-search-paths-browse-vs-cut-paste.html

7.  Saving Drive Space using mapped drives

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2013/08/installing-autodesk-suites-updates-and-saving-drive-space.html

 8.  Modifying deployments and the missing program

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2011/07/design-review-2012-deployment.html

Maya 2014 & the case of FOUNDATION.dll Error

We came across this interesting error awhile back with Maya 2014.   This is a daunting error because this is pointing to a Windows problem.  It is not even sending a CER report to Autodesk!

One clue to the solving problem was that the 'normal' account caused the problem but the Administrator account did not and Maya worked perfectly.  The first thing that comes to mind is privileges. We started by using Procmon to check for items being denied.  It is the same workflow noted here:

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2013/09/revit-crash-at-startup.html

The error was still there after we cleared all denied items, so we needed to get another Procmon file.  The last file actually contained no problems. i.e. denied.  We just went to the last line item for Maya.exe to see if there was a problem....

Serendipity!   In this case, the problem was caused by using a symbol in a user name.  i.e. $F  Athough some symbols can be used in Windows for a name of a file or folder, it's best not to use them.  Please note that in Windows, this is not the same a C$.

Activation Looping when launching an Autodesk Product

We recently encountered a case where AutoCAD 2014  [standalone] is requesting to be activated after each launch of the software.

The issue has been solved by setting to both the "User" and the "Administrators" full permissions to the following: Registry keys:

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER>SOFTWARE>AUTODESK
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>SOFTWARE>AUTODESK

Local drive directories:

• C:\Users\All Users\Autodesk 
• C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Autodesk
• C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk
• C:\Program Files\Common Files\Autodesk Shared (All license components)

Successful registration gets written to "C:\Users\All Users\Autodesk\ADLM".

If the User account doesn’t have full permissions, the writing of the XML registration won’t be cached in the ADLM folder.

Check if the XML file exists in C:\Users\All Users\Autodesk\ADLM.

NOTE:  On some cases we noticed that a re-image of the system was necessary as an undefined factor on the OS was causing the behavior.

Thank you to Alison Gangler for sharing the solution with the community.

AutoCAD 2014 Cascading with Product Design Suite 2014

Here is an interesting scenario for the point product AutoCAD 2014 cascading with Product Design Suite 2014.  In this test, we are using the following Autodesk Products in the matrix:

• Point Product AutoCAD 2014 = This is AutoCAD 2014 only!
• AutoCAD 2014 in the Product Design Suite 2014 = AutoCAD Mechanical 2014 with Vanilla Profile.
• AutoCAD Mechanical 2014 = One of the products in the Product Design Suite 2014.

1.  You have a network license for the point product AutoCAD 2014 and Product Design Suite 2014 at your site. 

2.  If you install the Product Design Suite 2014 only and launch AutoCAD 2014 from that shortcut, it will always use a Product Design Suite 2014 license. The reason is that this AutoCAD 2014 shortcut is actually using a vanilla profile of AutoCAD Mechanical 2014.

The main advantage is that it is saving you drive space on your computer because you don't need the point product AutoCAD 2014 installed on your computer.

3.  Because you have both the point product AutoCAD 2014 and the Product Design Suite 2014 network license at your location, if you want point product AutoCAD 2014 to cascade from the 'cheapest' license to the 'newest' license, you will need to install the point product AutoCAD 2014 on all  your computers.

4. If the computer has the point product AutoCAD 2014 as well as Product Design Suite 2014 installed, if you launch point product AutoCAD 2014, it will use a point product AutoCAD license.

5.  If you leave the point product AutoCAD 2014 running and then launch AutoCAD Mechanical 2014 that it in the Product Design Suite, it should automatically cascade up to the Product Design Suite 2014 license and return the point product AutoCAD license back into the pool.

Reference:

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2013/07/where-is-autocad-2014-in-the-product-design-suite-2014.html

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2011/11/general-licensing-subscription-suite-and-previous-version-licensing-support.html

http://usa.autodesk.com/getdoc/id=TS21379174

How to move deployment Image to another system.

To move your deployment image from one system to another please follow steps below:

1. Copy the deployment and verify that everything has been copied
from \\system1\deployment to \\system2\deployment
2. Go to  \\system2\deployment\Tools folder
3. Right click on ‘Create & modify a deployment’ shortcut and select Properties
4. Change Target path as follows:
\system2\deployment\AdminImage\setup.exe /MD \\system2\deployment\AdminImage\deployment_name.ini /ML /language en-us
5. Change Start in path as follows: \\system2\deployment\AdminImage
6. Double click on ‘Create & modify a deployment’ shortcut
7. Select ‘Modify an existing deployment configuration’
8. Make sure that Administrative image path and create log file path are correct
9. Click Next and follow the wizard.

 

Licensing Mudbox 2011 with Maya Entertainment Creation Suite Premium 2014

We don't get too many calls on cascading older products but this one was tricky.   We know that if your license is on Subscription, you can access the current version and 3 versions back.  If you have the Maya Creation Suite 2014, it should allow you to run Mudbox 2014-2011.

The following behaviour will happen:

1. Install Mudbox 2011 using 498C1 Product Key.
2. Setup a license server with Maya Creation Suite Premium 2014.
3. Launch Mudbox 2011 and there will be a 0.0.0 error.

The 0.0.0 error typically indicates that the server is working correctly but there is no license for it on the server. 

Just a note, if you have the Maya Creation Suite Standard 2014, it will run allow you to run Mudbox 2011. In this instance, you should upgrade to Mudbox 2012 if possible.

Autodesk Self-Extract Error: Autodesk Download Manager has stopped working

We recently got an interesting case when trying to extract a Browser Downloaded file.  The error is noted below:

Autodesk Download Manager has stopped working.

What is odd about this error message is that you are NOT using the Autodesk Download Manager. You are actually extracting the browser downloaded file.

We have been able to confirm that the error happens to all Autodesk software in the following scenario:

1.  Use a browser downloaded file to install our software.

2.  Software must be on a network drive.

\\computer-A\2014\Autodesk\FILENAME_##bit_dlm.sfx.exe

3.  Run the .exe from the network location and extract the file to a different network drive location.

\\computer-B\2014\Autodesk\Deploy

              

3.  Click OK and it will crash.

The workaround is to extract the files locally (C:\Autodesk or D:\Autodesk) or use Windows Remote Desktop to run the extraction and deploy it on the "data" server.

The development team is has been alerted of this issue because this has worked perfectly in the 2013 install framework.

Epilogue

A workaround to this problem is to use mapped drives [S:\Deploy] instead of using a UNC path [\\TOR2UA13809X0\Deploy].

Reference

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2012/11/laws-dont-delete-your-original-deployment-files.html

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2013/08/installing-autodesk-suites-updates-and-saving-drive-space.html