About admin privilege for installation program

[jean-michel_legoff]

Hi,

This email to ask if it could be possible to find a way to install "Add-ins" without "MSI installer"...
The issue in large organisation is that Users don't have Admin privilege on their computer and so they cna't run installer programs.
Even if they are able to install Fusion 360 by their own, (as it install in user's data space), unfortunately "MSI Installer" ask for admin privileges to run.

Many Thanks

[axalea_thomas · Accepted solution]

EDIT: See method of unpacking .msi at the bottom!

I googled a bit on installing MSI as as user, but the command I found was not successful (Powershell)

msiexec /i ExtraShortcuts_win64.msi INSTALLDIR=$Env:Userprofile\test_install MSIINSTALLPERUSER=1

It is possible to unpack the installer using 7-zip (you can probably get a "portable" 7-zip that does not require installation), and inside that unpack the .cab file. However, all files are in a flat directory structure (not what most add-ins expect) and with wrong filenames:

_035Core.dll.ea1b4c53e1861b2ecafb5fb5ce961ee0
_035Gui.dll.83924908335433462d9e0337331cf8e8
_035Network.dll.2128b48911ff7b81f73528e629cb405f
_035Widgets.dll.0e38bda248282641c6d008bb33c28abd
_035XmlPatterns.dll.b379297acbef4a134f984318997547a2
_03enericbearer.dll.a7585cc52b5e40d6c5e229b77a037925
_03indows.dll.95cc9617f3d1a80bb90deae2dadb088e
_03indowsvistastyle.dll.3c01decd38aa91cb3344e5eb6d9b993a
_05f23_f162_4d1a_a632_6739febbc1bd_.png.a4978c1a97386dc6457c6153dfdd399b
_16x16_disabled.png.a669dcb3d6ff0d26068f88f1644f90c5
_16x16.png.10ab539d3e980f9d424ce79248d68fb4
_16x16.png.2133b3368809b196bcb45501927465f8
_16x16.png.8187b5dd53a30135067e204fea6bed53
_16x16.png.ede7376efba6f6bba624e06fa9d792d7
_32x32.png.0e2a7a865fe8ad67a07082ac45f95380
_32x32.png.3bbf2efb0dab4726cdc5eea0e7f1417f
_32x32.png.bc89c1b625bf6800d5a27453591441ee
_32x32.png.d7295e3f2d61ca2a1b5ecb97a58300f6
_442fa_eb00_4e12_96ea_0ffe7fc7226d_.png.cb2b548828d3182d26987df0f1c74457
_62fed_b22d_48ce_a89e_2c712113be51_.png.1e8be4ad604badc5a335ef21d8983607
_6b252_e459_45c5_91f1_147423ca26a3_.png.0aca6d78b5f359e6ea7110709f3f03f1
_72d8c_0b7e_4a0e_8248_1fef1d43ef8f_.png.bdfadaaadcffadd82d417459825f3edb
_7bba5_8866_49a6_83d7_67b90b63d604_.png.e6d1505a2469f6fc8519b8e514301675
ae57d_b4ef_41e8_8a30_3d236e6f507e_.png.1256ffeae4de0ac7f735f5d1609be737
appstore_combined.min.css.53cbd2a69e8e5757913369b5cbae2e41
b7d99_c09e_401c_8a59_0b14892583ea_.png.471a9ffd767a0409a41277a493c930ec
eb90d_c791_4150_9fd1_8e80ce44898e_.png.0c5b00a7c88bc09d8ff25f546732f7d5
eula.txt.2ab153131deba37509fc9e55067c51fd
favicon__53_.ico.328e3d834833970e6ce72905d41782cd
help.html.25e6387f7135352f43da7041d0c4bb23
mqdefault.jpg.cd350de9cc47cbe16df36e6e292340ff
PackageContents.xml.22633aa049097da70e0bdc05a5a1fcdf
ToolbarEditor.dll.1d85e5b9aeb6eacfd88537ce5a83c7a1
ToolbarEditor.manifest.6b65b9bef0f6e939ae99f529a1c3b278
xalea_Toolbar_and_Shortcuts_Editor.ico.0d6c81d117816d6063013fe3c226e9ac

The easiest way is probably to ask the add-in creator if they can supply the add-in as a Zip file. Add-ins are often submitted as zip files to Autodesk, when submitted to the app store.

They might not want to support you in that case, though.

You could also install the add-in on a computer when you have admin and then pack up the installed add-in into a zip file (this should at least work when an add-in uses the installer supplied by Autodesk). Once again, the developer might not want to support you if you installed the add-in "manually".

You can find the installation location in UTILITIES -> ADD-INS -> Scripts and Add-ins (Shift + S).

When it's in a .bundle directory, I think you want to copy the "Contents" directory and rename that to the name of the add-in. Then you can put that in a zip file. After unpacking the zip file, you can use the green plus on another computer to add the add-in to Fusion.

EDIT:

I googled a bit more. You might not be able to install the MSI as a user, but you can unpack it. Then you can add that to Fusion 360 using the + button (selecting the Contents directory seems to work) or copy it to C:\Users\my.username\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\ThePluginName.bundle .

Powershell example:

msiexec /a ExtraShortcuts_win64.msi /qb TARGETDIR=$Env:USERPROFILE\extraunpack

or

msiexec /a ExtraShortcuts_win64.msi /qb TARGETDIR=C:\users\my.username\extraunpack