Installations and You, 2015

It is that time of year again!  The 2015 product releases are starting to trickle out on the subscription site, and many of you will be taking advantage and adopting early.  Whether you are keen to try out the new features, or just to take comfort in being at the latest version, it will pay dividends to pause for thought and consider the following before your itchy trigger mouse finger tries to cash cheques that your smooth-running design office can't handle.

Backup your data

Firstly, the Vault.  This is the most important one not to get wrong.  The potential for unexpected downtime while efforts are made to restore functionality is fairly high, and there is the possibility of data loss.
Pose these questions to yourself, or the IT individuals involved in your upgrade/install:

- Do you have experience with the installation or upgrade of Vault and are aware of the potential pitfalls?
- Have you read the installation guide, cover to cover?  There's a lot of content in there and it is all important.
- Do you have an understanding of how Vault relates to SQL Server?
- Do you know the part that IIS plays in your set-up?

If you answer no to any of these questions then you need to either put in some time to understand what is required prior to your install, or get an experienced professional involved.

Backup your data

When it comes to Inventor, there are some important aspects to consider particularly when upgrading.  Backing up your Application Options is just the tip of the iceberg:

- Do you know which resources are shared on your network and how to back them up?
- Do you understand which non-shared resources get completely replaced during an upgrade and how this might affect your projects?
- Are you aware of the migration process in its various forms?

Then there is licensing.  Do not mix up single and network at the install - a mistake here will likely lead you to reinstalling the entire suite (the registry can be modified instead but only if you are confident in knowing which keys to change, and this has to be done for every individual application).

Backup your data

- Do you have your new license file, with the correct server information?
- Do you need to upgrade LM Tools?
- Can your clients communicate with the license server and do you know how to diagnose if they can't?

Micro Concepts support line will be available to offer advice on any specific queries you have with your installation.  If you are certain that you want to proceed on your own then we would advise clearing up any gaps in your knowledge before you do and give us a call to run things through.

Backup your data

Unfortunately what we cannot do is guide you step by step or run installations remotely.  This is due to the length of time the actual installation process takes and this can become much longer when issues arise, the diagnosis of which is compounded by the sheer number of variables that could be the cause.  For Micro Concepts to be involved any deeper than an advisory role it is necessary to arrange a site visit.  If you choose to hire the services of another contractor, make sure you confirm with them that they absolutely know what they are doing!

Finally:  Backup your data!

Installation issues with Microsoft .NET Framework (error: 1603)

We've received a few support calls of late where Microsoft .NET Framework has interfered with the installation of Autodesk products.

e.g. "2013/4/4:16:35:22 PC Install .NET Framework Runtime 4.0 Failed Installation aborted, Result=1603"

This can be .NET 4.5 or previous versions and may be related to corruption.  Corrupted frameworks will render you unable to uninstall them from Add/Remove Programs.

This tool over at Download Crew will enable you to get rid of the framework of your choosing, and then allow you to proceed with your product installation.

http://www.downloadcrew.com/article/12721-net_framework_cleanup_tool_5-8-2012

Autodesk Exchange Apps for Inventor 2013

Autodesk Exchange Apps is an online resource where you can browse and purchase Apps (including product-specific content such as models, training materials and eBooks) – and is available to several Autodesk Products. You can download some items for free and others for a nominal fee. Purchasing is handled via PayPal at this time. Purchases and downloads can be tracked online, or by using the Autodesk Exchange App Manager that is included with the respective Autodesk product.

Access the Autodesk Exchange Apps website here: http://apps.exchange.autodesk.com/

Windows 8 Support for Autodesk products

Autodesk intends to support many of the key products on Windows 8 and will add additional products to the list of products supported on Windows 8 as updates and future versions are released. Autodesk Product Support will provide its best effort to assist customers who have issues with products that are not currently supported.

The Autodesk products listed below have been tested and are confirmed as working correctly on Microsoft Windows 8 operating system:

• Autodesk 3ds Max 2013
• Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2013
• Autodesk Maya 2013
• Autodesk MotionBuilder 2013
• Autodesk Mudbox 2013
• Autodesk Softimage 2013
• Autodesk SketchBook Designer 2013

Note: This technical solution will be updated as new Windows 8 compatibility information becomes available.

Support of .NET Framework 4.5 and Vault 2013

Microsoft recently released the version .NET Framework 4.5.

At this stage Vault 2013 (Server and Client) and all previous releases of Vault are not supported with .NET Framework 4.5. Installing .NET Framework 4.5 is done at your own risk!

Autodesk have already received reports of Vault not working properly after installing .NET Framework 4.5.

This is an extract from the Cracking the Vault, Manufacturing Community Blog

AutoCAD 2013 SP 1.1 is Go

In our last Technical Bulletin we were advising people to not install AutoCAD Service Pack 1, until Autodesk had corrected an issue in the patch.

 

You can apply this update to AutoCAD 2013 (with or without SP1) running on all supported operating systems and languages. Consult the readme file for installation instructions and more details on the primary issues resolved by this update. Be sure to install the correct update (32-bit or 64-bit) for your software and operating system.

 

This Service Pack can be applied to AutoCAD 2013 installed as a standalone application as well as AutoCAD 2013 installed from the following Autodesk Design Suites.

• AutoCAD Design Suite 2013
• Autodesk Building Design Suite 2013
• Autodesk Factory Design Suite 2013
• Autodesk Infrastructure Design Suite 2013
• Autodesk Plant Design Suite 2013
• Autodesk Product Design Suite 2013

To download the new AutoCAD 2013 SP 1.1 click here.

 

To get an idea of what has been fixed in AutoCAD SP 1.1, please read the Autodesk service pack readme here.

Fatal Error Applying Service Pack 1 for AutoCAD/LT 2013

You are encountering this issue due to a problem with Service Pack 1 for AutoCAD 2013 and AutoCAD LT 2013. We are actively working on resolving this issue. It is recommended that you uninstall Service Pack 1 until further notice.

Update or Service Pack

We have had quite a few questions on this subject since the release of the Autodesk 2013 products. So, when we stumbled upon this Autodesk article, we thought it was worth sharing:

"We have seen a couple of questions come up on the Inventor newsgroup around the new Update mechanism that the Inventor team has initiated and whether Updates replace Service packs going forward.
Let it be clear that Inventor will still have Service Packs going forward! As its name implies, Updates are intended to deliver critical updates (formerly Hotfixes) on a more predictable schedule. Think of it as a bundle of Hotfixes.

Service Packs allow us to deliver more complex changes but require more time to produce and verify than Updates. Like Hotfixes, Updates only affect targeted areas of the product associated with particular issues.

There are a couple of other differences between Service Packs and Updates:

• Service Packs can be included in deployment images, Updates can not
• Service Packs increment the build number, Updates do not
• After applying an Update you will neither see a difference in the build number nor a change to the release name in the About dialog.

For example, if you apply Update1 to Inventor 2013, you will still see in the About dialog a build number 138 and a Release: 2013 RTM.

In order to verify if you have Update1 installed, you need to go to the Windows > Control Panel and use Programs and Features and View installed updates."

This is an extract from the Being Inventive, Manufacturing Community Blog

Setting Default Standards and Units in Inventor 2013

In all previous versions of Inventor you needed to customise the installation to change the default Standards and Units for Inventor from ANSI and Inches to ISO and mm.

However in the new release (2013) this option is NOT included in the installation customisation, you set this upon starting the software. To change these settings in 2013, start the software for the first time and you will see the splash screen below, select Configure Default Template.

Autodesk Suites 2013: Deployment path can easily exceed 256 [260] characters

When creating a deployment for your Suite, please try to keep the deployment path as short as possible or you may get an Error 2350 - FDI server error.

The number of characters in the a sub-component of the Suite past the AdminImage can be quite long and you may not notice this problem until you create the deployment. Here is a sample path of a file in Autodesk

Infrastructure Modeler 2012 Premium:

\\fl1\shared\Apps\Programs\Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler 2013\AdminImage\x64\Components\ESM\Program Files 64\Autodesk\Essential_Skills_Movies\3dsMax_Design_2013\de-DE\html\essential_skills_movies\design\resources\images\esm_design_2_create_objects_36x36.png

The number of characters starting at AdminImage is 196 characters and the Windows character limit is 260 characters. About 75% of the path is taken up by the Suite.

This is an extract from the Up and Ready, Manufacturing Community Blog

How to get Hold of Vault Basic (Server) 2013

For Subscription Customers, if Autodesk Vault is included in your Subscription then Autodesk Vault Basic 2013 (Server) can be downloaded from the Autodesk Subscription Center.

Simply log on to the Autodesk Subscription Center, then under Downloads, click Product Enhancements.

Autodesk Vault Updates

In the past Autodesk would release a Vault Hotfix for each issue that is discovered. This was a good strategy to get Hotfixes released to address specific issues that were affecting production. But the feedback received from Customers was that it was very difficult to roll these out individually over multiple systems.

So lately you may have noticed that many of the Hotfixes being released for Vault 2011 and 2012 are now cumulative. So a Multi Issue Hotfix, which should contain most (if not all) of the hotfixes that preced it. There will still be Hotfixes released to address hot issues, but these should be consumed with the next Multi Issue Hotfix.

There may also be a situation where a specific Hotfix is released immediately prior to a Multi Issue Hotfix, but is not consumed within it. In that case, Autodesk just could not get it published in time, but did not want to delay a big patch that could help most users. You should look at the readme of the Multi issue Hotfix to see if any issues you are experiencing are listed. If it is not listed, it should be consumed in the next Multi Issue Hotfix.

So as a rule, always install the latest Multi Issue Hotfix, and any other relevant Hotfixes between that and the preceding Multi Issue Hotfix.

Software installed/required by Vault Server 2012

You may need to repair, reinstall or uninstall\reinstall all or some of the components that Vault Server 2012 uses and need to know what those components are.

The following list contains all of the components that are installed by Vault Server 2012:

• MSI Runtime 4.5 ( installed by framework)
• .NET Framework Runtime 3.5 SP1
• .NET Framework Runtime 3.5 SP1 Language Pack
• Microsoft WSE 3.0 Runtime
• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express
• Microsoft MSXML 6

When uninstalling the components, do so in this order,

• Autodesk Vault <version> 2012 (Server)
• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express 
• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Native Client
• Microsoft MSXML 6
• Microsoft WSE 3.0 Runtime
• .NET Framework Runtime 3.5 SP1 Language Pack
• .NET Framework Runtime 3.5 SP1
• Internet Information Services