The new deployment 'Custom install'

[Simon_Weel]

When introduced last year, the new deployment 'feature' didn't make me happy. Fortunately, it was only for 3DS Max at that time. With the promise this would be the way to go for future releases of most software. Oh boy. So I did some suggestions for improvement. Didn't have much hope for implementation and indeed, they're not.

The most silly omission being the deployment configurations NOT being saved. So every time a change to a deployment is needed, you need to fill out all data again. Now for most programs, this is not such a big thing - most of them don't offer much configuration options anyway. But some programs do, like Revit. So as a work-around, just before clicking the 'Create deployment' button, one just saves the configuration settings to a PDF. Only to find out just the visible part of the webpage is saved. Sigh.

I wonder. What was wrong with the 'old' deployment mechanism? Surely there was room for improvement. The key word being 'improvement'. Was Autodesk overwhelmed with suggestions to fix this thing? Or was there someone at Autodesk who obviously never rolled out a bunch of programs on the office computers who thought this new deployment method was the most fantastic thing ever made?

[AllenJessup]

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@Simon_Weel wrote:

I wonder. What was wrong with the 'old' deployment mechanism? Surely there was room for improvement. The key word being 'improvement'. Was Autodesk overwhelmed with suggestions to fix this thing? 

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For me and many the problem with the old deployment was that once we had to switch from a Suite, IDSP, to a Collection; Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC Collection). Each one of the potential 25± pieces of software included in the Collection had to have an individual deployment created. Now I can customize a few deployments and be done.

Yes. There was an overwhelming amount of requests to add this feature. The greatest were probably from the those who were moved to the AEC-C.

The first off of anything always has problems. Post your idea for saving deployment configurations in the ideas forum and post a link here. I'm sure it will get quite a few votes. Including mine.

[danny.polkinhorn]

@Simon_Weel, we heard you and we're working on the ability to save configurations already.  Baby steps... 

[Anonymous]

I'm still not quite sure what the difference is between 'install' and 'deploy'. Does install specifically downloads to the local workstation and deply to the server? Is it not similar to download to the server and then copy the .exe to the workstation?

I've hit deploy. Received a message the server location is not acceptable so instead it downloaded to my local machine. I can see the 'temp' folder is now full and my workstation is working. I assume it's downloading, but for how long?!? What do I need to copy back to the server?

I'm VERY confused!!!

[danny.polkinhorn]

The easiest way to think about it:  "Install" is for installing on your own device, and "Deploy" is for installing on multiple devices.  Today, the only difference is that "Install" will start the installer automatically after download.  There will be more differences in the future based on the workflows these two options are typically used in.

[danny.polkinhorn]

Do not save this EXE to the folder where you want to create the deployment, just put it in your Downloads as it's a temporary file that kicks off the process of creating the deployment image.  See "Create deployments from Autodesk Account" in your product's help.  All products use the same content shown here (and some have additional content for their products): http://help.autodesk.com/view/ACD/2022/ENU/?guid=create_deployments_from_Account

[jeremys]

Sorry to hijack a message thread but I am unable to create a new thread and I'm question/issue is related to the Custom Install option.

We use SCCM to deploy our Autodesk software almost exclusively through Operating System Deployment (OSD) Task Sequences.  I have created and downloaded one of the new "Custom Install" packages for deployment and it works fine when I run it on a fully setup system but when I try and deploy it using a Task in my Task Sequence it errors immediately.

[GaryOrrMBI]

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@danny.polkinhorn wrote:

@Simon_Weel, we heard you and we're working on the ability to save configurations already.  Baby steps... 

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While you're working out the issues with the new deployment system, could you please include all of the configurable options/settings from previous versions of Revit? (ie designate specific templates for the different disciplines, add additional shortcuts to the file open dialog for different content locations for our different disciplines, follow the installer with an exe file for custom add-ons, etc)

-G

[Anonymous]

Hi Jeremy,

I had this issue last year with 3DSMAX 2021.  I was able to get it to deploy by creating it as a Package instead of as an Application.  I didn't like it, but it got the job done.

-Chad

[license]

Please go back to the old installation method. The new one is an absolute garbage fire. Everything from the way you configure it to the way its deployed is a step back. Also, as others have pointed out, the installer doesn't work with SCCM. It just sits there and times out due to something with named pipes. 

[FacilitiesManagementIR]

Great Idea, but...  I have the ability  all the way back to version 2019, but I cannot create a "custom install" for those. 

However that pales against the issue that the number one thing I ( and based on posts across the net) could use is not there.  WPAD / Auto proxy Detection settings. Your products are not proxy aware, and still have to have WPAD set to manually proxy to install and log in. A user should not have to set the custom environment  variable ADSK_CLM_WPAD_PROXY_CHECK to get installs and licensing to work. That should be in the program itself.

[triplettae]

Am I missing something? When I go to https://manage.autodesk.com/products/deployments I am presented with only a button to go to Products and Services. However, if I download from there, I get the normal installer that doesn't have the ability to create a network deployment. This won't work for mass deployment to labs.

The instructions at https://knowledge.autodesk.com/customer-service/network-license-administration/network-deployment/cr... and also other forum posts make it sound like there should be buttons to create deployments and add products right on that screen. As you can see in my attached screenshot, there is no such button to create my first deployment.

I do have network licenses that are registered and activated. I can download products and install them in the normal way. That's not a problem. However, I need to be able to install products silently and preconfigured to use the network license server the way we used to in the old installer. I can't do this if my Custom Install page is non-functional.

Is there something I have to do to activate this feature?

[aalto.university]

At our university, I have been able to create packages of some 2022 products via Custom Install and they also install fine from Microsoft ConfigMgr. I found out that emptying the C:\Windows\Temp prior to installation is a good idea.

However: I cannot currently deploy some products because they are NOT shown in the Custom Install section even thought I got them from the education portal in the same way as the others, also generated network licenses. I suspect that this is becase these missing products are not shown as having a Maintenance Plan but the others are.

How exactly are the Maintenance Plans supposed to get activated? In the e-mails I get after getting the new products it says:
"Educational institutions only: Educational licenses of current version deployed in schools include an order for a free maintenance plan. The Autodesk ID used to register and activate this license will be assigned the role of Contract Manager, and will be notified of the order and how to access these additional benefits, typically within three days after activation."

I have not seen anything related to this even after weeks after getting the Serial Numbers and creating the network licenses. I suspect that we have those existing Maintenance Plans for some products from prior EDU contracts. But how exactly is this supposed this work from now on?
 
It is a major problem for all EDU institutions if we cannot create automated deployments as they are supposed to be done.

[issac.stickley]

I can not speak for the entitlement or products not showing up in the Custom Install Tab however the below link is the updated SCCM(Config Manager) documentation for the new deployment methods.

https://help.autodesk.com/view/CONNECT/ENU/?guid=GUID-CA16B5AA-E1BD-40B2-9A1C-26D1408DDCB4

[Anonymous]

I just worked the custom install issue with support.  None of the products that I downloaded or registered showed up on a maintenance plan.  Eventually they created a maintenance plan for me and assigned the serial number to it.  I then provided them with the serial numbers of the other products and asked them to add it to the same plan.   Once they did that it appeared in custom install and I was able to build my packages.   

I asked multiple times if I was doing something wrong or if there was a step missing.  I never received an answer to that question, but Education Customers certainly shouldn't have to contact support each time we subscribe to a new product.

[triplettae]

I thought the maintenance plan was set up after going to https://registeronce.autodesk.com/ and adding the serial numbers. However, I have done this with all of our serial numbers and I still don't have anything on my Custom Install page.

[Anonymous]

I thought so too, but it's not happening.  I registered to my institution and not myself.   I've been wondering if that might be the issue.  

[aalto.university]

I also created a ticket and eventually got asked "could you please let us know the products that are missing from custom install section, please let us know product name and serial key and your school address".

I provided the information for the 2 missing products and after about 3 days got the reply that things should be OK now. Which is true, they now have an Education Maintenance Plan and appear in the Custom Install section.

Our other required products have the Maintenance Plans active from the last old-style 3-year EDU contracts, I guess.

I just hope that we won't be needing to ask for these Mainentance Plans to be renewed for each product every year, in addition to registering the new versions and network licenses. It would be nice to know if the Maintenance Plans are supposed to get activated automatically or not.

[danny.polkinhorn]

Hi @aalto.university, @Anonymous , @triplettae,

We released an update today that should address the issue you were having and show all your products in Custom Install.  This resolves an issue for customers with Perpetual licenses.  Apologies for the inconvenience and we appreciate your patience.  Also appreciate your continued feedback!

[triplettae]

Thank you! I see the products in the Custom Install section now.