Installation Options

[RhondaLayfield]

Does anyone know where I can find all available command line switches for AutoCAD 2014? I need to suppress the welcome screen , skip activation and EULA for a SCCM 2012 R2 deployment.

[david.lau]

Welcome Screen

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2014/02/disable-welcome-screen-for-autocad.html

Privacy Statement/EULA

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2013/07/privacy-statement-for-autodesk-products.html

Activation

That  you can't do.  If you have a 10 x AutoCAD Serial Number Standalone, you need to deploy it without activating and then it will work.  If the software is network, it will just look for a license server and not need an activation.

SCCM in Enterprise deployments.  How many licenses does your site have?  This may be handy for you....

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

[RhondaLayfield]

Thank you for the response - I do appreciate it however it was not of much help. The information specified for suppressing the Welcome screen is for Autocad 2012 NOT 2014 and 2014 does not have this an option. Does anyone know how to do this with 2014?

The information specified for skipping the EULA was for a completely different scenario - they were having an issue when a user accepted the EULA they continued to get it everytime they launched AutoCad. I am trying to suppress this during installation - not delete a local file from each deployment.

You would think with a product such as this there would be a whole page full of options the Setup.exe is capable of running. Where is this page?

[david.lau]

Attached is the image where you need to set it in the deployment.  If the software is installed, you can search for the key by extrapolating the values via the blog post above. For the EULA, it's a permissions thing in the user account.  I have seen this before.  Send me a screen capture of the message, I suspect that it's a privacy statement.  The EULA only shows up during the install process.

[RhondaLayfield]

Thanks for the info. It's strange I dont have the same screen - so I created a Deployment and now to edit that deployment I launch the "Create & modify a deployment" utility which opens the Setup Initialization screen. From there I have attached a screenshot of what I see. How can I get to a screen such as yours?

[david.lau]

Hit Next and when you get to see the software list with AutoCAD 2014, just turn the widget (triangle) to expand it so that you can view the options.

[RhondaLayfield]

Okay - when I click next I get the EULA page (no widget on screen), then I see the license type and product info with serial number and a summary screen. There isn't anywhere that a widget is displayed.

[RhondaLayfield]

Okay - Got it~! Whew that was not very intuitive. So on the page that lists which software will be installed click on the arrow to open up the options. Got that done - why dont they make that stand out at all? Or at the very least have a page on their own site that I could have gotten to after days of googling for suppressing settings and finding all kinds of confused people out there - from registry hacks to running scripts after a deployment to delete all desktop icons, I am clearly not the only person who missed that.

Now that I have that changed I tried to update content in SCCM 2012 to get the right files out  on the DPs with the new configuration and it appears as though this process has corrupted permissions in some way. When I "Update Content" I get an error that CM no longer has read permissions to this folder. What the heck happenned? 

[david.lau]

I am glad you got that sorted out.  Can we start a new forum post for the SCCM issue?  Someone with some SCCM expertise can check it out.   I normally send customers this for SCCM setup of our software:

http://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/How-to-...

http://help.autodesk.com/view/INSTALL_LICENSE/2014/ENU/?guid=GUID-204188D5-F2DC-490E-B04F-CC88AF8524...

Most of our tips/tricks are on the upandready.typepad.com blog.

[RhondaLayfield]

I am still getting desktop icons for Autodesk Recap and AutoDesk 360 - how do I suppress those desktop shortcuts. I cannot find anything to configure in the modify deployment settings.

[RhondaLayfield]

Does anyone know how to do this? What happenned to David Lau? Or can it not be done?

[david.lau]

For 360, it can't be done.  For Recap, can you open the widget for it and see if there is a check box for creating a shortcut.

[RhondaLayfield]

There is no widget for Recap. Is there another way?

[RhondaLayfield]

I am a bit confused - David it appears you work for Autodesk is that correct? Why would you ask me to do something that doesnt exist? There is no widget for Autodesk Recap. I think I am beginning to understand why everyone just starts hacking around with this installation. Autodesk certainly does not make this easy!

[david.lau]

Yes.  I am an Autodesk employee.  In some instances, we need to get the software from the network to install/test/confirm an issue.  As you can see, I have done that in a previous post.  i.e. I needed to get AutoCAD 2014, expand the widget to suppress the welcome screen.  I also included the registry location for it as well if you had already deployed the software via the blog site.  i.e. Use Group Policy to push out a registry hack to suppress the welcome screen.

So to the 'Recap' issue, some items in the install framework are 'common' and will have widgets and some products will have options.  If there are no options, then there is no way to suppress the shortcut.  

Because you have access to the software, it is indeed sometimes easier to have you run through the process.  Every solution is different and sometimes you just need to do it to confirm it.

[RhondaLayfield]

I am using the AutoCAD 2014 downloaded from your site. Wont that offer the same installation options as anyone else who downloads the same software? You guys are aware that there are tons of issues around installing your product right? There is nowhere that I have found on your own site that would tell me how to install this application via SCCM and not creating shortcuts on the desktop. All the other forums have people hacking the registry, and running cleanup scripts because you don’t offer a more elegant solution. I am quite surprised that a product of this caliber doesn’t have a more intuitive and easy to manage installation solution. It’s not a $5.00 app right?

So I guess from your reply I now have to either hack the registry or go the script cleanup route (ouch – that would be embarrassing if I were you ☺).

Rhonda


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[david.lau]

Our job is not easy.  Just an FYI, if you have Subscription, you can log a case with us.  We will probably call you and setup a remote session to discuss the topic. Just an FYI, you can check out this URL: 

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2014/03/tip-searching-for-things-on-our-blog.html

Each key word is used to make finding the topic faster unless it's a one off problem.  For example, if you use Revit 2014, there are some interesting crashes.

[RhondaLayfield]

Well I have to say I am surprised. I dont feel I am doing anything outrageous with this installation and I am certain I am not the first person to deploy AutoCAD 2014 via SCCM. Why do you guys not provide documentation for this? The existing doc is just past this line and everything works - but we end up with a bunch of junk that we do not want. Do you monitor other industry threads for the amount of people looking for this same information? I'm really not trying to be mean I am just amazed at the lack of documentation - little things like suppressing desktop icons isnt really a one off issue - looking at other forums - tons of people are looking for this info. As a 32 year seasoned IT Professional I would think you would provide documentation for "Most asked" questions :-).