Educational Version

[tahdesign1]

I am from a small town and I am trying to help out our local high school in getting IV setup for some new engineering classes.

They have downloaded the installation media but it seems to have issues. So before I spend time working with their setups I wanted to see if i could download the installation media for them. I wanted to do this because I know the town and school system does not have the greatest of internet connections. Just wanted to use my connections at work to pull down the media like i do for all of my contracted software.

However, when you go the the ADSK educational site it appears that you must have an account as an educator to pull it down.

Is this true or is there some other way i can get them the IV Educational installation media? 

[kennyj]

Hello tahdesign!

You can use the download manager to get the install files locally.  Then you can copy to a portable media and install from there, once installed when it asks for authorization, you would put in the authorization provided by the design package.  They also have a manual method the reseller can provide and a phone in method if you are not on the internet or have connection issues, also in the educational installation documentation.  They used to give install DVDs, but I've been out of the loop for 4 or 5 years

That said, to be clear you are trying to download a high school approved installation right?  You cannot install the downloadable educational versions of the software in a school.  Those licenses are for students to use at home or on their own systems for learning purposes only.  Autodesk provides the schools special pricing and packages for purchase, which includes the install discs or download access.  If the school uses the free educational software installs they risk Autodesk finding out and pursuing legal action against them.

I would highly recommend you proceed carefully.  Loading it on a teacher's laptop for demonstration purposes, for example (assuming the school is not-for profit) is different than loading a classroom set...

Hope this helps,

Kenny

[Mark.Lancaster · Accepted solution]

@kennyj

You are misinformed..     Educational license are free for students and qualified schools/colleges/institutions.  When you create an educational account you either select you are a student, the school, or the IT Admin of the school.  From there you can access all the free license that you need.  However a student license can only go on a student laptop or machine.  A school license can only be installed and used on school assets.

@tahdesign1

The answer to your question..  Yes you can without making an educational account.  Just go to the Autodesk Virtual Agent or follow these steps:

Download and install per:

1. Access the Autodesk Virtual Agent and follow the download links to your product.
2. Download all of the parts (some applications only have a single part to download) for your product first. Do not continue until all of the parts have fully downloaded.

3.  From there you can take these individual parts and copy them to the school's resource.
4. Once copied to the school, extract (double click) part _001_00X.sfx.exe (or the single file download).
5. In a few seconds the extraction will start and prompt you to extract to C:\Autodesk.
6. Once the extraction is finished, the installation will automatically start.  From there you can create a deployment
7. Follow the necessary steps for your product

Depending on the # of license the school is getting..  Hopefully they requested a network version because it will make your life much easier.

Update:  Also this school (which it sounds like it will be), must be considered as a qualified educational institution.

[tahdesign1]

I have download my software for years so I am very familiar with the process from a corporate level.

However, from the educational level, it does not appear that I can do it for them without having the educational account. I may speak with them and see if we can make one (or if the school has one) and use that for the download.

As far as the licenses, it appears that it is still free but just depends on how you authorize it. If it is pulled from a student and/or teacher account then it may only be used my the teacher and/or student.

If it is pulled by the schools account, then it can be used on the school computers.

[JDMather]

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@Anonymous wrote:

  Autodesk provides the schools special pricing and packages for purchase, which includes the install

Kenny

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Incorrect information.

Autodesk has made their software free to schools for several years now.

Be sure to get a institutional license from the Autodesk Student Community (not student license).

The install files are the same from any Autodesk source - use the Autodesk Virtual Agent.

Once and done!

[tahdesign1]

OK guys so I went to the Virtual Agent and it appears that I need to log in to use this.

I guess I could log in as myself but that would be tied to my corporate account.

So I assume this would need to be the schools (not the teachers) account, correct?

[Mark.Lancaster]

Disregard those options on the side..  Those options are related to questions and have nothing to do with downloading your product.

Just follow the download links to Inventor.. 

[tahdesign1]

Dohhh I see that now, thanks.

So I can pull down the software and make up and installation media for them.

The school needs and account to get the proper authorization for the class room deployment, correct?

[Mark.Lancaster]

Yes the school needs to create an educational account here.   Then select Educator or IT Admin.. Which depend on the person who is creating this account.  From there fill in their information and I would strongly suggest that they pick network license.   Have you ever set up the Autodesk Network license manager?   Once the extraction finishes (like I pointed out in my steps), the installation will start and than you can select create a deployment and push the deployment to a server resource at the school.

[tahdesign1]

Oh yes I am the account holder and CAD admin for our corporate account.

I use VMWare servers for both my license and Vault server so i need to talk with their IT guy on his setup to see if I can help.

[DarrenP]

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@Anonymous wrote:

The school needs and account to get the proper authorization for the class room deployment, correct?

---

yes you may need to walk them through the process to make sure they select the correct products, versions & license type

[kennyj]

All,

Sorry for the outdated / incorrect information.  Thank you for educating me!

Kenny

[tahdesign1]

OK so I downloaded the 3 files for Inventor (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3).

I expanded Part 1 and then the install screen launched. I shut that down and expanded Part 2 to the same place and the install screen launched again. Once again the same with Part 3. So I just assumed that maybe expanded Part 1 might have been grabbing both Parts 2 and 3 as it was expanded. So doing 2 and 3 individual would have just been overwriting some files that may have already been there.

So then I take the resulting installation directory and write it to a flash drive.

I sent this into the teacher and he gets the following error, any clue as to what I did wrong here?

[JDMather · Accepted solution]

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tahdesign wrote: 

I expanded Part 1? 

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How did you "expand"?

You merely double click on Part 1_of_3 and that automatically extracts all 3 to a single directory (with sub-folders) in one step.

This directory has the uncompressed install files.

I would have suggested that you not extract the files - but simply instruct the installer to double-click on 001 of 003 and follow the on-screen instructions.

[tahdesign1]

He would then end up with an installation folder on each machine because he is doing this locally.

I want to give him ready made installation media.

[JDMather]

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@Anonymous wrote:

He would then end up with an installation folder on each machine because he is doing this locally...

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The folder can be deleted after Inventor is installed.

[Mark.Lancaster]

I know that you are trying to help a school out but you are making this more difficult than it needs to be.   Take the 3 parts put them on a thumb drive.  Give thumb drive to school.   Have them copy the 3 files over to a supporting machine.   Have them extract it to the designated location.  Have the installation start and than pick create deployment.   Assign deployment to network and then run deployment on each machine.   No install media is put into each machine.

[tahdesign1]

I agree that a deployment would be the best method. However that will require interaction from the schools IT which has always been a problem.

I mentored a 1st robotics team there once and had to circumvent the IT guy to get the job done. Older gentleman that has some odd beliefs on PC use. My wife is a teacher for the school system and I have to supply her a mouse because he does not believe in them. He also once blamed the microwave in the room for messing up the network signal. I could go on and on.

So this teacher has admin on his local machines in the room but if we went to put the deployment on the network we would have to involved the IT guy.

OK so how about this.

1) I pull down the files again

2) Expanded the 1st one (which apparently expands the other two as well)

3) I have the schools software registration info so I then use that to develop a deployment here at work on my PC

4) I then move that developed deployment to a USB and the teacher uses that to install from

Does that sound like it will work?

[Mark.Lancaster]

@tahdesign1

A few things..

If you relocate the deployment after its created, you have to modify a few ini files.  Meaning the drive letter your see for the usb drive may not be the same drive letter that the school computers see.  In addition I'm not sure running a deployment on USB is even feasible but I will tag the heavy hitters of @Darin.Green and @TravisNave for their input.   In addition are these license based on network or standalone educational license?  If network, are you just going to setup the license server on a server or a PC.

Also a side note..  I know dealing with IT sometimes can be hard..  But in my opinion you as a non-employee of the school, just walking in and installing software and circumventing the system is playing with fire in my book.  In the end I don't care what you do and its none of my business..  But if I was IT for this school, or even the principle/superintendent (or etc) and I found you just came in, did what you wanted to..   I would have you removed from school ground and perhaps take legal action against you. 

[TravisNave]

Creating a deployment then moving it to a USB to install from will almost
certainly not be worth the extra trouble it'll cause. The amount of 1603,
1606, and "Insert Disc" errors would be epic. You're better off just
extracting on each machine and installing manually. If you don't have
rights on the machines to make network shares locally, which would be
preferred, then what makes you think you even have the ability to install
to begin with? I dunno, this whole thing seems kinda shady to me on the
surface.