Inventor Licensing

[bombadier337]

Has anyone set up Inventor and activated it? I set it up as a stand-alone license and when i tried to activate it said I had to uninstall and reinstall as a network license. Well it looks like then i have to run the deployment wizard and create a new image, etc. We aren't installing these on a network and I can't seem to figure out how these are supposed to be set up. We didn't get any instructions in our box on how to do it? Any ideas?

[Mark McLeod]

Checkout this white paper from last year.
It gives step-by-step directions for getting the license server installed and running, then the Autodesk products. Some of the selections have changed, but the process is basically the same.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/pa...le&paperid=393

[bombadier337]

I have wasted all night trying to get this software to install/activate. Has anyone had any luck? There's no way Autodesk expects every team to set up a server for the license manager.

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by bombadier337

There's no way Autodesk expects every team to set up a server for the license manager.

I would certainly hope not. That would be a darn good reason to stick with version 8 if you ask me. Sorry I can't be of assistance (haven't tried installing it yet) but please be sure to let us know of the outcome.

[bombadier337]

Well I've been talking with autodesk and the licensing for Inventor is not so slick. You have to do a network setup, configure the server, connect any computers that need a license to your network, borrow the license for 180 days and then disconnect. Which basically means setting up our home pc's (which is primarily where we use it) is going to be a huuuggggeee pain. Gah!

[Tristan Lall]

Originally Posted by bombadier337

Well I've been talking with autodesk and the licensing for Inventor is not so slick. You have to do a network setup, configure the server, connect any computers that need a license to your network, borrow the license for 180 days and then disconnect. Which basically means setting up our home pc's (which is primarily where we use it) is going to be a huuuggggeee pain. Gah!

I've set FlexLM up (locally) for Pro/E before; I used the license file mode, though. See if Autodesk will send you a license file (PTC would do it if you quoted a service contract number). That will allow you to configure a local copy of the software directly.

If that doesn't work, check to see if there is an option to broadcast the server over the internet, and if so, ask Autodesk if it's actually secure enough to do this. That would allow you to connect to the FlexLM server from home.

[sanddrag]

Why oh why can't we just install it and use it? /me cries. I'm not looking forward to Inventor 10 as much as I used to be.

See here's the problem. Correct me if I'm wrong, but these days it seems like schools have old computers because they like to keep stuff for as long as it is still functional. Students have new, good, fast computers because they are very into technology and they like getting presents for holidays and birthdays. So, the students' home computers generally seem to be more capable than the school computers. Which is exactly why we need to be able to run Inventor at home.

Currently, we have 1 (yes one) computer at school that is available for our use and capable of running inventor. However, probably over half of the students have computers at home that can do the job.

I'm hoping someone will figure out all this installatiion registration licensing junk and make us a beautiful whitepaper.

[bombadier337]

I got it to work, finally. I'm gonna write up at least a basic paper on how to do it the way I did it, though it kind of sucks and won't work with computers on a domain. But I have a laptop set up as my license server and since people on our team who use it have a wireless network at home I can set up the laptop and they can borrow the license for 180 days. My teacher's PC is setup on the school domain however so she won't be able to access the license server.

Inventor 10 seems nice so far though, I think the addition of Inventor Studio we'll really spice up the Inventor pics on CD.

Now to setup 3ds max...

[Mike AA]

Originally Posted by bombadier337

I got it to work, finally. I'm gonna write up at least a basic paper on how to do it the way I did it, though it kind of sucks and won't work with computers on a domain. But I have a laptop set up as my license server and since people on our team who use it have a wireless network at home I can set up the laptop and they can borrow the license for 180 days. My teacher's PC is setup on the school domain however so she won't be able to access the license server.

Inventor 10 seems nice so far though, I think the addition of Inventor Studio we'll really spice up the Inventor pics on CD.

Now to setup 3ds max...

Were you trying to install Inventor on the school's computer or on your own? There shouldnt be any reason for it needing to run a server instance. Or is it that big of a change from last years? I installed on my computer when I was testing things out and it installed fine, and all my computers are networked. Seems possibly a config error?

[bombadier337]

Originally Posted by Mike AA

Were you trying to install Inventor on the school's computer or on your own? There shouldnt be any reason for it needing to run a server instance. Or is it that big of a change from last years? I installed on my computer when I was testing things out and it installed fine, and all my computers are networked. Seems possibly a config error?

Well by default you need a server instance, yes that is a change. BUT, John Elliott from Autodesk emailed me to today, and you can call 1-800-225-1327 and have your licenses converted to standalone license (do this preferably before setting up the network license). Also, make sure to have your serial numbers available when you call. That's awesome though, I've had it done to mine and its working flawlessly!

[Andrew Blair]

Arrrgh! I foolishly installed a visual studio beta, then uninstalled, and now the .net framework to run autodesk will not install!!! I've seen a fix, here
http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archi...27/444085.aspx

But it doesn't work. Does anyone else have a solution???



-------------------Edit------------------------
Aha! To anyone needing a fix, here it is. I was beginning to hate Microsoft, but there is a silver lining to every software bug...
http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archi...21/410573.aspx

[teamtestbot]

It doesn't look like we will be able to take to the computer labs for a network installation, and the logistics of summoning the IT department for permission seems a little iffy anyways, so I've installed a copy at home and will try to get a copy on one of the classroom computers.

If I read the help file correctly, a network license server isn't needed if the installation is of the stand-alone types. Reading further I find that if the serial number is for a multi-seat installation, individual copies of the program can just be installed, one activated manually, and the rest will follow automatically.

If the serial number we get is for a multi-seat installation, then there shouldn't be all of this licensing problem. Did I read that correctly?

Or what if it's not...

[TimCraig]

Nope. First, I tried installing it as multiple seats single serial number and after wading through 5 or 6 CDs, it refused to get an authorization code saying it was a network product and I needed to uninstall and reinstall. Sooooo, I uninstalled and installed as a single seat, single serial number. This time I decided to check if Inventor would authorize before I installed the rest of it. It said there was a problem and offered a couple of other ways to autorize so I picked sending an e-mail. I got a reply saying it was network product and I needed to either install it on a network or contact my dealer to change the license type.

Not to look a gift horse too closely in the mouth, if it was a network product, why did it offer me methods of installation that were invalid? And I suspect most teams are like ours that don't have a network of computers to install this on and want to do individual computers. Guess I'm a little miffed after doing the installation twice and still have nothing to show for it.

[Mike AA]

Originally Posted by bombadier337

Well by default you need a server instance, yes that is a change. BUT, John Elliott from Autodesk emailed me to today, and you can call 1-800-225-1327 and have your licenses converted to standalone license (do this preferably before setting up the network license). Also, make sure to have your serial numbers available when you call. That's awesome though, I've had it done to mine and its working flawlessly!

Thats what I thought, it was possible. I will have to do that when I go to install this year, got the software boxes, after we found them under a drip in a very wet box in our front yard! At least everything inside was OK. I'll have to call Monday and install it then. Have you tried installing onto more than one computer with the same license?

-Mike

[Stu Bloom]

These two threads should probably be combined ... Inventor installation and standalone licensing issues are discussed (and resolved ) in this thread.