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inventor 2011 on mac with parallels activation problems

18 REPLIES 18
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Message 1 of 19
jschaap
2873 Views, 18 Replies

inventor 2011 on mac with parallels activation problems

i installed bootcamp on my mac to run inventor2011 unders win7. now i bought parallels desktop 6. but when i open inventor 2011 it says that there is something broke with my activation and that i have 7 days left or to repair. when i do repair and enter the activation again all seems ok. bu then inventor will not start anymore. also underbootcamp it not works anymore. i unstalled the whole application and installed it again under bootcamp. but as soon as i do the same starting inventor 2011 under parallels i get the same problem and again now inventor willnot start again... it is now 3.39 in the morning and i getting pritty tired of this siatuation... what is wrong and how do i solve this!

 

thanks

18 REPLIES 18
Message 2 of 19
Dennis_Jeffrey
in reply to: jschaap

Did you turn off antivirus, set the Windows UAC to lowest setting and install with administrative priveledges? If not, uninstall and reinstall with these guidelines:

 


http://teknigroup.com/support/InstallAdsksoftware.htm

Please mark this response as "Accept as Solution" if it answers your question.
____________________________________________________________
Dennis Jeffrey, Author and Manufacturing Trainer, Autodesk Inventor Certified Expert
Autodesk Manufacturing Implementation Certified Expert
Autodesk Silver Manufacturing Partner

Subscribe to the free digital "The Creative Inventor Magazine" now available at: http://teknigroup....

XP64 SP2, GeForce 9800GT-1GB, Driver: 6.14.12.7061, 8GB Ram, AMD Athlon II 3.2 Ghz
Laptop: Win7-64 Pro, 4GB, ATI Graphics on board, 2012 Ultimate, IV2011 or 2010 Pro, all SP's
Message 3 of 19
jschaap
in reply to: Dennis_Jeffrey

i did, no antivirus, no uac etc.....

i really would like some help why under parallells my activation gets ***-up

Message 4 of 19
blair
in reply to: jschaap

Check the Autodesk website for any Hot-fixes. Also install SP1 as well.


Inventor 2020, In-Cad, Simulation Mechanical

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Message 5 of 19
jschaap
in reply to: blair

does anyone actually has inventor on a mac running it with parallels/vmware and bootcamp all the time.. it seems i can only do one of them. as soon as i switch it needs repair and when re-enter the activation code it works in the environment where i put to code. as soon as i go to the other environment it does not start up any more and also then switch back to the environment where i putted the code, also not anymore... this is vice versa, it does no matter where, bootcamp or vmware/parallels i re-activate again (repair)

Message 6 of 19
blair
in reply to: jschaap

http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/autodesk_inventor_on_the_macintosh_faq_041410.pdf


Inventor 2020, In-Cad, Simulation Mechanical

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Message 7 of 19
jschaap
in reply to: blair

while there is nothing in that pfd that would help. i am running macbook pro i5 with 8gb so i have all the specs. i do remember tough, that a long time i saw autodesk mentioning this part of activation and what to do with it, but can not find it anywhere anymore. also i looked on this forum about this issue, and a lot! of people have the same problem. and it seems ,as they also say, it is : running inventor or in bootcamp exclusively or run it in parallel/vmware exclusively. how can autodesk say that they support mac on bootcamp and parallels since it does not seem through for the full 100%, only exclusively for the one or the other environment..

Message 8 of 19
blair
in reply to: jschaap

I think the problem is when changing from Boot-Camp to Parrells. One or the other and not switch back and forth.


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Message 9 of 19
CChev
in reply to: jschaap

I'm running Inventor on an iMac through VMWare Fusion with Win 7 (although with Office apps).  The magic (touch context) mouse is a bit of a pain but otherwise the setup is fine.  I added some extra RAM.  I could not get a SpaceExplore (3DConnexion product) to work.  Didn't even try BootCamp.  I did try Parallels first.  I don't remember the specifics as to why I quit that approach but it didn't take me long to make the decision after getting everything set up.

Message 10 of 19
cmcconnell
in reply to: CChev

I highly recommend Bootcamp - It is just like running a windows PC...

Mechanix Design Solutions inc.
Message 11 of 19
dan_inv09
in reply to: jschaap


@Anonymous wrote:

while there is nothing in that pfd that would help.


 

From that "pfd":

 

"

7. What about licensing?
You can use Inventor software with a stand‐alone license, or as a client node on a network license. Using the system as the Inventor network license server is not supported.


Note: The Inventor licensing engine is sensitive to hardware configuration changes in stand‐alone licensing mode. Hardware configuration changes can cause licensing issues when you use Inventor in both Boot Camp and Parallels on the same machine. The first time the licensing engine encounters a hardware configuration change, it attempts to recover from the error. Close the licensing error dialog box the first time it is encountered and restart Inventor in either Boot Camp or Parallels. You can usually recover from the first license error using this method.

 

The licensing engine may not recover from subsequent changes. Do not perform further hardware configuration changes after recovering from the first licensing error. If you use Inventor in Boot Camp and Parallels on the same computer and expect to make hardware configuration changes, use network licensing for Inventor. Please see the Inventor documentation for more information about network licensing.

"

 

It clearly states that you will not be able to switch back and forth so I agree that there is nothing in there that will help you if you insist on switching back and forth. If your mac is on a network it looks like you could use network licensing - but I guess you can't have the network license on the same machine.

 

If you don't mind me asking, what makes it a good thing to run Inventor in bootcamp for a few minutes then switch and run it in parallels for a couple of minutes and then go back again? Are there features in Inventor that work better or not at all in each?

 

Message 12 of 19
SharkDesign
in reply to: dan_inv09

Why are you using parallels at all? Do you really need it?

Boot camp is far better, I know it's nice to be able to use the OSX environment as well, but you will suffer performance issues doing it this way.

  Expert Elite
  Inventor Certified Professional
Message 13 of 19
JeffShasho
in reply to: SharkDesign

Has anyone solved this problem? I am having the exact same issue and would love to have Inventor running on both boot camp and parallels

Message 14 of 19
dan_inv09
in reply to: JeffShasho

Inventor's licensing interprets boot camp or parallels as different machines. Maybe you could explain if there is some reason to use both at once, the only thing I can see is that if you figure out how to get it to work this way, you will have found a way to steal licenses.

Message 15 of 19
blair
in reply to: dan_inv09

Autodesk states one or the other. If you activate on Boot-Camp, then you must run IV on Boot-Camp, or if you activate on Parallels, then you must run IV on Parallels.


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Message 16 of 19
lure23
in reply to: dan_inv09

I'd like to share my experience on "why" to access Inventor 2011 both via BootCamp and (in my case) VMWare Fusion.

 

I've tried both (experience available on my blog) and ended up using BootCamp when I'm doing length sessions with Inventor only. Like actual work. Inventor is the only Windows program I need and actually I bought the whole Windows 7 license for running it.

 

What's better in BootCamp is:

- all memory (4GB) available for Inventor

- SpaceExplorer is responsive (usable)

 

Unlike some are saying, SpaceExplorer actually "works" even under VMWare (i.e. its own tutorials are fine) but the Inventor driver or something is very unresponsive. With an input device, one needs instant feedback. Therefore, with current software, SpaceExplorer is not usable under VMWare.

 

What's better in VMWare:

 

If I only need to try something out momentarily, it's better to be able to "visit" the Inventor / Windows world via VMWare and not need to reboot my machine. I can switch between Mail etc. and not need to close the applications. That's the only main reason to use VMWare with Inventor to me, but I regard it a valid usage case.

 

What Inventor / Autodesk could do is detect this "dual boot" situation somehow, and give a more suitable error message (s.a. "Please use networked license when running Inventor under both BootCamp and virtual machine."). That would be in line with their registration policy but also lead the users facing this in the right direction.

 

Even better, Autodesk could of course support the dual boot (if they feel the usage case is important enough). The trick is to fetch the "real" hardware configuration as BootCamp sees it, even when running virtual machine (from a BootCamp partition). With help from Apple, Parallels and VMWare (it is in their interest) this should be doable.

Asko Kauppi

IT guy into Cleantech.
Message 17 of 19
danielneuhaus
in reply to: jschaap

Hi, I realize this is an old post, but all I want to say is: I'm having the same issue, only this is four years later. I hope everything worked out. 

 

Message 18 of 19
blair
in reply to: danielneuhaus

Best to contact ADSK directly on this: http://knowledge.autodesk.com/contactus

Inventor 2020, In-Cad, Simulation Mechanical

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Message 19 of 19
DM-FMP
in reply to: danielneuhaus

I am having the same issue.  I use a mac out of professional necessity.  If I am multi-tasking or using other mac software alongside Autodesk (for most of us this will be 99% of the time) then I access the Windows world through a virtual Windows machine (I use Parallels for this and assign Windows a couple of cores and 5GB).

 

However when I am running hardware-intensive models or features within Inventor and want maximum performance then I shut down my Mac, boot it as a Windows machine using Bootcamp and let Inventor run on the raw hardware -4 cores, 16GB.  Unfortunately whilst in this mode I'm blind -I cannot access any other aspect of the business because that's all on my mac.

 

It is frustrating that the only way to achieve this necessary flexibility is by being connected to a network (i.e using Inventor in a network licence configuration), particularly since I need to access Inventor regularly on the road where there is no network available.  I have looked into purchasing and maintaining a VPN as a partial solution, but this seems rather over complicated and is useless at remote sites.  

 

Please would Autodesk consider allowing the Inventor licensing tool ( /network-license file) to sit on the same Windows machine as the Inventor 2013 software is being run on.  I do not believe this simple additional feature would present a security issue or that it would allow anybody to steal licenses, however it would benefit all their customers who use virtual machines.

 

Thanks.

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