Autodesk Inventor® Hardware Web Site

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Last Updated
04/25/2008

Autodesk Inventor® R2009 Install/Hardware/Graphics Information

Standalone License alert:

The license files must never be deleted or altered.
1. Any change will trigger license failure. You will then be required to re-authorize all impacted products. License file Location:
  1. XP: <OS Drive>:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Autodesk\Software Licenses
  2. Vista: <OS Drive>:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Software Licenses
2. Do not restore your hard drive or Re-image it without first exporting the licenses with the Portable License Utility.
3. In addition, Inventor needs access to modify the master boot record on the boot drive. This is used to store licensing information. Software that blocks this or periodically restores the Master Boot Record will lead to license failure.

Please read first: Inventor 2009 system requirements (link) and AIP 2009 ReadMe.

This readme is the superset of the Inventor installation readme documents.

Errata and Useful Information

Caution: Read this before installing Inventor
Let the installer decide about 32/64-bit
Location of any Missing document
Installing SQL databases
Windows may update during your installation
InventorView
Windows Vista information

Miscellaneous Install Issues & Tips

When switching Media allow time for media to spin up
Security levels when installing, modifying or using Inventor.
Debugging Access Blocked Situations
Installation of Inventor on servers or Virtual systems.
Disk Cost, slow update
Importing custom libraries
Canceling during installation of Content Center libraries
Adding additional Content Center libraries
Setup XP pr Vista for Optimum performance
Using Custom Installation to ...
Pre-check: Port 80 in use
Installation form a directory
DirectX software fails to install
Running on 64-bit

If you need to report an installation Problem

General information for using Inventor

Highpoints of Inventor 2009

1. Capacity or 3GB problems? Don't fight, switch to Vista 64. Inventor and ACM both now run in native 64-bit mode, greatly increasing capacity beyond anything that can be done on a 32-bit operating system. Vista 64 has many improvements that are not in XP-64. It also supports DirectX10, which has additional functionality and completes Microsoft's vision for DirectX
  1. Suggest a minimum of 4GB of physical memory.
    1. Physical memory is still the best buy for performance. It reduces or prevents swapping of data and code to a hard drive. It also allows Windows to pre-fetch more data from the hard drive, further improving performance.
      1. Note that physical memory is the actual memory installed in your computer. Address space on a 64-bit system will show as 8192GB in Inventors help dialog.
    2. Buy and configure memory cards in your system to allow the largest potential upgrade of memory in the future.
    3. If you are buying a new system, shop for 8 or more memory slots if you can.
    4. 32GB of physical memory is not unreasonable for a large project.
  2. A graphics card that supports DirectX10 with 256+MB of memory is recommended.
2. Inventor and ACM both support network license time out functionality where an idle license is returned to the license pool. This functionality must be enabled on the license server. It is designed to be totally transparent to the end user.
3. Inventor and ACM have enhanced network license sharing.

Errata and useful information

Caution: Your System could be damaged: Building a 32 or 64-bit Deployment
1. Two deployment images must be built:
  1. A 32-bit image must be installed on a 32-bit target.
  2. A 64-bit image must be installed on a 64-bit target.
  3. It will help if the deployment name includes either 32 or 64.
  4. Do keep the deployment path short. The limit is about 55 characters total. This includes the first "\" in the UNC path to the name of the deployment.
To insure the installation of the correct installation of 32 or 64-bit software, always run Setup.exe to start the standard installation. Running the .msi files is not supported for general installation.
Documents: On each DVD: The Docs directory. DVD 2, 3, and 4 contain readme documents. DVD 1 contains all other documents. After installation many of these may be found in the install directory After installation, look for a Pss or Docs directory under each products install directory. (Note on a 64-bit system, 32-bit products install to Program Files (x86).)
SQL databases for Content center and Vault can not be installed on compressed or encrypted drives
1. This will fail and prevent the databases from ever being installed.
Caution: Windows Update may start, finish, and reboot during an Inventor Install. You may be able to recover by re-running the Inventor installer, but you may not be able to uninstall one or more products. Please either disable automatic updates or watch the install. You need to monitor the screen at least every 10 minuets.
1. To rescue the system, re-format the hard drive.
The Inventor View on the media should not be used. We determined late in the cycle that critical errors remained and we disabled the installation. Attempting to use it will cause problems, as will the Version from any 2009 AutoCAD product media.
Vista Information
1. If the Network License Manager is installed on Vista, UAC must be disabled while editing the license file.
2. Before authorizing with a standalone license, you must be logged in as an Administrator and UAC must be disabled.
3. To change the Inventor addins loaded at startup:
  1. If logged in as a USER or ADMINISTRATOR with UAC enabled, run the addin manager "as administrator". If necessary, provide the password. It will always appear to work, but in reality, the changes will not be locked in.

Miscellaneous Install Issues & Tips

When switching DVD's please allow the media time to spin up before clicking OK.
Inventor security levels
1. Administrator for installation (UAC off on Vista)
2. User on all supported operating systems (with UAC on for Vista) for normal operations
3. Expected Administrator activities (UAC off on Vista)
  1. Install, Uninstall, Repair, Authorize the license (using Register Today).
  2. Install patches, and service packs
  3. Change addins to be loaded at startup
  4. Run multiple versions of Inventor at the same time.
  5. On Vista UAC must be off (or use run as Administrator)
    1. To re-register Inventor (happens when switching between versions os Inventor)
    2. To change the addins to be loaded on startup
    3. Register the license with Autodesk
4. Expected User rights
  1. Can not change the addins that are loaded at startup.
  2. Can not access the expected restricted areas of the hard drive.
    1. For Vista many things have been moved from Program files to places where the user has better access. See the readme file.
  3. Can not run multiple versions of Inventor.
    1. The user may reboot between different versions of Inventor.
  4. This is intended for normal production work.

Debugging Access blocked situations:

Messages like "This installation is forbidden by systems policy. contact your site administrator." usually mean exactly what they say. Your site administrator has placed limitations on what you can do. The general debug process for this situation is:
1. Make sure that you do have full ADMIN rights (UAC off or "Run as Admin" on Vista).
2. Make sure that restrictive applications such as anti-virus software are disabled. Autodesk does test installation with Anti-virus software enabled, but we can not test every package/version in the world.
3. If installing with a standalone license, disable BIOS OR security software settings that prevent writing to the boot record.
4. Check this page, the Inventor news group and other resources for applications that conflict with Inventor.
5. Make sure that you actually need to install the configuration you are trying to install.
  1. For example, are you trying to install IIS. This is only mandatory if your are going to server files from Vault or Content Center to other systems.
    1. It is not recommended that you share files from your workstation. This can lead to Access denied messages for other systems when the workstation is busy.
    2. Inventor can use a lot of resources. to the disadvantage of file sharing.
  2. The alternative of installing ADMS instead of IIS is much simpler. It does not require a workstation to be a WEB server, which corporations may not allow. Performance is about equal on the local system in either configuration.
    1. Using ADMS is desirable if each workstation hosts its own content center libraries.
    2. This reduces network traffic and generally gives good performance.
6. Work with the site administrator. The general process is to temporarily remove the corporate restrictions, then add them back one at a time, until the source of the problem is located.
7. After installation, Inventor is intended to run as a standard (restricted) user.
  1. Currently on XP, data files, templates, samples etc, are stored under "Program Files" A User account does not have read access to them.
    1. The system Admin can set up read/write access as needed.
    2. Copy files to another location. Unfortunately, Inventor has hard coded references to some of these files, so copying them is not a complete solution.
    3. For Vista, almost all files to which the user needs access have been moved to the locations recommended by Microsoft. Please consult the Inventor readme
8. Running multiple versions of Inventor at the same time DOES REQUIRE full Admin rights (UAC off on Vista) at all times.
9. To occasionally switch between different versions of Inventor on the same system as a "user" just reboot when you desire to switch to a different version of Inventor.

Installation of Inventor and AutoCAD Mechanical on servers, Virtual systems etc., is not supported, or licensed.

Updating disk cost may take a long time if you have drives mapped to large servers.

If you are importing previous custom libraries while installing current products, please allow several Gigabytes of extra disk storage space and carefully follow the instructions. See the readme.

Canceling the installation during the installation of ADMS or any content libraries causes complex problems. If at all possible, let it run to completion.

If you do cancel, the ADMS, SQL software, the libraries installed must be removed and that part of the installation re-installed. See the readme.

Re-run the installer to add libraries.

How to set your XP or Vista operating system for maximum performance:

Windows key + Pause key takes you to System Properties (Or use explorer, select "My computer" and right click and select properties.). Click on the Advance tab then the Settings button under Performance. Then click "Adjust for best performance".
This will change the display to look like Windows 2000 by disabling fancy desktop graphics and other things. For XP Pro, this resulted in about a 15% performance improvement. In this mode, XP runs as fast as Windows 2000.
The Inventor graphics window maintains full acceleration
No performance tests have been made on Vista, but I expect that it will improve performance in this mode.
Aero look: Aero requires DirectX 10 capable hardware. It shares graphics hardware acceleration with Inventor. Changing to maximum performance for the application will disable Aero hardware acceleration, maximizing the resources available to Inventor.
NOTE: consider these only if you are comfortable with them.
1. Disable the Recycle bin or any other product nat keeps copies of every deleted file. (Right click on the recycle bin and select properties.)
2. Disable System Restore. This saves disk space and access time. Bring up the system properties dialog (Windows key + Pause key, or right click on My Computer and select properties) > System restore and turn it off.
3. Regularly defragment your hard drive. One way is to install a product like Diskkeper.
4. Configure your anti-virus software to ignore Inventor files.
Keeping your system up to date with Windows update will help to avoid getting the system infected.
Hardware improvements:
1. Multi-drive Raid 0 configuration.
2. Windows swap file on a different drive
3. Inventor data on a different drive.
4. Use 10,1000 RPM Western Digital hard drives. The main thing to look for is average seek time. Below 3ms is good. On-board Cache memory for the drive, more is better.
5. Fast Solid state drives are coming. Look for them soon.

Using Custom installation

The installer does not remember customizations. You may want to record your customizations for use when modifying an installation.
Each customization applies only to the selected product at the time. It must be repeated for each product in a multi-product installation.
1. For example, changing the installation location:
  1. From the "Review - Configure - Install" dialog, one must use "Configure" button to change the install location of each product you want to customize.
  2. The support software, that is automatically installed by a software package that needs it, will always install to their default locations.
The same customization process is used to directly select products for installation with a network license .Configuring Inventor for a network license does not automatically configure AutoCAD Mechanical.
The Autodesk Data Management Server custom install specifies the custom locations for:
1. The SQL installation folder
2. The SQL database
3. The ADMS installation folder

Pre-check: Port 80 in use

Click on the error message, it will point to the offending application.
This is NOT a conflict with Inventor or it's Content Center.
MS Security update 908531 (MS06-015) http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918165
installs a new binary program, Verclsid.exe. The Verclsid.exe program validates shell extensions before they are instantiated by the Windows shell or by Windows Explorer. If you have some old programs such as hp share to web running then the result will be that explorer will block port 80 .
To manually locate the application using Port 80
In a command window type netstat -n -o
This will give you a list of local/foreign connections and their PID.
Look for a foreign address ending in 80. Write the PID for this address.
Open Windows task manager to the process window. (Make sure that "show processes from all users" is clicked.)
Add the PID column using the View pull down.
This will show the process name.
Possible conflicts: Skype, HP Share to windows.
Thanks to the Inventor news group for this information.

To install from a directory instead of the physical media

Copy DVD 1(Inventor) into a directory
Copy DVD 2 through 4 to the same directory.
Answer "Yes" to all over-write warnings.
Execute Setup.exe in the top directory to start the installation.
Note: Installation by execution of a MSI file is not supported.
This is useful in working around media read issues, as this directory can be a shared directory or on a server.

DirectX software fails to install:

Inventor 2009: On Inventor DVD1 go to Support > DirectX and manually run DXSETUP.exe

Running on 64-bit Windows

The virtual address space is 8192.00GB (8.12TB on any 64-bit Windows OS with Inventor 2009 which is running in native 64-bit. (The physical memory will be much less.)
1. The OS actually has a limit of 128GB of physical memory.
The Capacity meter is grayed out:
1. In the registry (32-bit Windows)if you go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\PerfProc\Performance\Disable Performance Counters, make sure that the counter is set to 0.
2. In registry of XP 64 os, search registry key named “Disable Performance Counters” under HKLM and delete them all. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/248993/en-us.
  Simply, we can search HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ASP.NET_64\Performance\ Disable Performance Counters and set the counter to 0. (Note, there are some difference in XP 64 OS.)

If you need to report an installation Problem

Autodesk Product Support needs your help. One useful method is to:

Delete all files from your TEMP directory. Windows will not let you delete any files that are in use.
Run the installation.
Zip up the TEMP directory and send it to Autodesk Product support.
Go ahead and surprise them with some useful information.
To locate your TEMP directory
The default location is c:\Documents and settings\<your login>\Local Settings\Temp
Or Type %TEMP% into the windows explorer address edit box if it is visible
Or Press the "Windows" key Plus the "Pause" key to bring up the "System Properties" dialog
1. Click on the Advanced tab
2. Click environment Variables
3. Look in the "User Variables for ..." window to find it's location, which will be the value of the TEMP variable.

Known issues:

Installation/uninstallation/initial startup

DID 915339 [combined setup R12.0.12 AIP : Content Center libraries aren't selectable for installation (already installed) but it should be because they aren't installed]. Workaround:exit and re-start the installer.
DID 910965 [Making a new directory in browse dialog does not stick]
DID907637 [Installing R10 & R2009 side-by-side - no documentation, no warning, but it will fail with IIS option]
1. Do not install IIS for 2009 if you wish to continue to use R10.
DID 1056852 [Arch: Installer - Install failed after creating deployment with double byte deployment name.] - Details are not yet known.

After installation Tips & Tricks

Care should be taken when creating drawings of flat patterns. Bend and punch notes which indicate a direction do so relative to the defaulted front side view that is placed during view creation. This view is based upon the front face seen in the flat pattern state of the model. (925781). Suggestion: Use only the default (front) view when creating a view of a sheet metal flat
1603 Error when installing ADMS. Most of the time means that your password does not meet your computer’s password policy. If you pre-install full SQL, make sure that you can connect to it using the sa credentials from SQL Management Studio. More details can be found here http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/item?siteID=123112&id=10032702&linkID=9261340
Capacity meter grayed out on 64-bit OS: In registry of XP 64 os, please search registry key named “Disable Performance Counters” under HKLM and delete them all. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/248993/en-us.
Simply, we can search HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ASP.NET_64\Performance\ Disable Performance Counters and set the counter to 0. (Note, there are some difference in XP 64 OS.)
When manually configuring the use of a network license on a workstation, be 100% consistent with the case of the server names.
From our chief graphics engineer: "When it is convenient, upgrade to Vista 64. Don't bother with Vista (32-bit) but go straight to Vista 64-bit. MS developed Win XP as a 32 bit OS and Vista as a 64 bit OS. Win XP X64 seems to have some curious problems and so does Vista 32-bit. The "best bets" are Vista 64-bit and Win XP 32-bit."
As mentioned on the pamphlet you received, Inventor 2009 did not ship with Mechanical Desktop on disk. MDT will be made available as a download only from www.autodesk.com/MDT.
1. Unfortunately, due to differences in the release dates of the programs it was not available when Inventor shipped but is currently in the process of being uploaded to the web site.
Graphics issues running in the 3GB mode on a 32-bit operating system:
1. Symptoms: Error dialogs about insufficient graphics resources and/or Inventor crashes. On re-start, Inventor is running in GDI mode (software emulation).
2. Possible reasons:
  1. Inventor checks every time a new window is opened for sufficient hardware resources. If it finds insufficient resources it switches to software emulation.
    1. When this happens, all existing open graphics windows are not processed correctly. Please use Windows > New Window to make a new copy of the existing window, using the new graphics state, then shut then down the original window.
    2. This can happen when working in the 3GB mode on a 32-bit OS and opening more than 1 or 2 windows. When the driver runs out of resources (in OS space) it ceases to function.
    3. Using graphics properties troubleshooting tab to reduce the driver functionality will also cause this to happen
    4. Overheating graphics card (This often means that the fan bearings are going out.)
    5. Insufficient power to the graphics card. The extra power plug to the card is shared with other devices, or the power supply may be just too small.
    6. When using a Nvidia graphics card, Nview may process Inventor, incorrectly. It considers each tool tip in Inventor as a graphics window and uses up all of its resources, when Inventor is opened. Click here for details. This is fixed in DX10 drivers for vista.
    7. Best solution: Run Inventor 2009 on Vista 64. Inventor 2009 is a native 64-bit product. It does not have this problem.
    8. See TS1069947 for Vista-32 information about using the 3GB switch.
3. In any case: HKCU\software\Autodesk\Inventor\RegisteryVersion<nn.n>\system\Preferences\driver\Force GDI gets created. This key lets us deal with systems that report different graphics capabilities from time to time.
4. Solution:
  1. Set Inventor back to use Hardware Acceleration in the Hardware tab,
  2. Close Inventor, restart Inventor
  3. Verify that hardware acceleration is still selected.
  4. Make sure that the Force GDI key is removed
  5. Run Inventor and verify that the graphics dump does not contain the word "Force" This is done by clicking "OK" to the diagnostics dialog, pasting into notepad, and searching for "Force" (in English).

2009 Beta Users:

Due to an earlier bug within the Inventor MSI (which has since been fixed) it is quite possible Beta 2009 users have a registry setting that causes a non-AIP Inventor installation to request an AIP license. This will fail and Inventor will NOT be able to be run. (You never see the Activate or Run page.) No activation of licensing is required to see this problem.
Do the following (IF and only IF) you ever see the startup error message ("A license error has occurred. Contact your system ..." when running non-AIP Inventor:

Click through the error messages, close Inventor.
Using Task Manager, verify that all Inventor.exe processes are terminated.
Now, run Inventor from the Command line using one (1) of the following commands dependent upon the flavor of Inventor you have installed and are trying to now run.
NOTE: This is a ONE TIME fix. Once you do this once, you should NEVER see the problem again.
1. If you are trying to run Inv. Simulation Suite: Inventor.exe /INVPROSIM
2. If you are trying to run Inv. Routed Systems Suite: Inventor.exe /INVPRORS
3. If you are trying to run Inv. Suite: Inventor.exe /INVBUN
4. If you are trying to run Inv. Professional: Inventor.exe /INVPRO

Graphics Highlights

For the 2009 Inventor products, OpenGL is available only on Windows XP Pro/Home SP2. It is not available on any other operating system. OpenGL is now in a Legacy support stage.
DirectX 9 is the default graphics mode for Windows XP Pro/Home SP2, XP X-64
Vista defaults to DirectX 10 if the graphics card supports it. If not, it will drop back to DirectX 9.
For DirectX 9 or newer, the Microsoft WHQL certification will be considered as equivalent to the Autodesk certification.
For OpenGL certifications on XP SP2, please request them from the webmaster (at the bottom of each page). Include the exact name of the card. This must be a workstation class Nvidia (Quadro) or ATI (Fire GL) card. You may need to ship the card or laptop to us for testing if it is not one we have.
Nvidia nView:
1. If you use the Nvidia nView desktop Manager on OpenGL (XP) or DirectX9, it must be configured such that the nView Desktop Manager does not apply effects to Inventor.exe

This issue is fixed in DirectX 10 Vista drivers.
Inventor must be excluded from nView processing.
1. This is done by adding Inventor as an excluded application using a custom nView Desktop Manager settings.
2. Then make the custom effect setting "Disabled".
3. If nView effects are enabled for Inventor, either Inventor will freeze or the nView effects will be disabled for all applications when Inventor starts. The symptoms may vary depending on available system resources.

TOP

Licensing Highlights

By default Inventor installs in trial mode. A Serial number is not required for installation.
Network licensing has changed. See this document for simple explanation of a single license server and Cascading licenses.
1. A late change to Cascading order or AutoCAD Mechanical and Inventor licenses. This order is different from any other documentation. The first license selected by default will be the lowest (bottom of the list) one in this list that satisfies the license request.:
  1. Autodesk inventor Professional 2009
  2. Autodesk Inventor Professional for Simulation 2009
  3. Autodesk Inventor for Manufacturing 2009
  4. Autodesk Inventor Professional for Routed Systems 2009
  5. Autodesk Inventor Series 2009
  6. AutoCAD Mechanical 2009
2. In addition, license timeouts are now available for Inventor. They must be turned on in the server Options file.
  1. See the license server documentation installed in the same directory as the license server. The options file should be in the same directory as the license file and named "adskflex.opt".
3. License timeout and recovery is totally silent from the user's viewpoint. The only way to see it in action is to look at the server status. One way is to run lmtools, go to the "Configure Services" tab, select the desired service and view the log.
Autocad Mechanical, installed from any Inventor 2009 media products will run on:
1. A network license for Autodesk Mechanical 2009 (ACM) or any Inventor 2009 product
  1. If Inventor is running, ACM will share the active license.
  2. If Inventor is not running,2009 licenses are searched in this order: Mechanical, Inventor Series, Routed Systems, Simulation, Professional.
  3. For the 2008 products, this was a static sharing. Licenses for each product were obtained at startup and never changed.
    1. For 2009, even if ACM is started first, it will move to the Inventor license after a short time. If Inventor is closed, ACM will not move back to a Mechanical license.
    2. If Inventor is started using a different license, ACM will not change a second time.
2. Autodesk Mechanical Desktop is now only available as an electronic download to Inventor subscription customers.
License server:
1. The current version of FlexLM (ver. 11.4.100.0 in LMtools Help > About) or newer is required. It can be installed from the media.
2. For existing servers, stop the server, copy the executable files from the media on top of the existing ones. Then re-start the server.
  1. The executable can be found on DVD 1 of the Inventor 2009 media, > Support > NLM > Autodesk Network License Manager.
3. A sample Options file named "ADSKFLEX.OPT". (Required name. Place the file in the same directory as the license file.):
REPORTLOG +C:\report.rl
BORROW_LOWWATER 59600INVPRO_2009_0F 1
MAX_BORROW_HOURS 59600INVPRO_2009_0F 1
TIMEOUTALL 927
DEBUGLOG "C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk Network License Manager\License\debug.log"

See the documentation installed with the license server for details. Please be aware that spacing is very important in this file. Old documentation may not exactly match.

Installation Highlights

Applications that Conflict with Installation of Inventor

Spy ware, Anti-Virus, and Internet security programs, especially during installation.
1. Access to the internet should be granted when the installer requests it.
2. Installation can be completed without internet access.
"Error 1406. Could not write value to key \software\Classes\CLSID\..... (Flash from Adobe). This is no longer an issue for the 2009 products
The file Riched20.dll cannot go through the "BlackIce" firewall onto a system. The result:
1. An AutoCAD/MDT deployment image cannot be built on a server running BlackIce.
2. An AutoCAD/MDT deployment image cannot be installed on a workstation running BlackIce.
3. Workaround: Either disable BlackIce for these operations or configure it to let this file pass.
4. Support at BlackIce has confirmed that this is intentional.
The Inventor installers in the Autodesk Inventor® Series and Autodesk Inventor® Professional packages are not Microsoft Logo Compliment. Inventor can not be installed by Advertisement. This is a side effect of the technology that lets multiple versions of Inventor run on the same workstation.
An out-of-date version of Internet Explorer will have problems running our IE6 based Help system.
Some older versions of PDF Complete breaks Inventor. This is a PDF MS Office addin. When it is loaded into Office, Excel starts normally when run by hand. However, Excel will not open when requested by Inventor. This has been reported to Adobe. Workaround: Remove the addin from Excel or uninstall PDF Complete.
Avast Anti-virus 2008 will claim that they have found a "Win32:Vapsup" virus in the Vault software shipped with Inventor 2009. We have confirmed with Avast, that this is a false positive.

Special Installation Situations

Preparing for Deployments or installing from .msi files. This process is more simple if all systems have the following software pre-installed. This also reduces the potential of a deployment failing due to the needs of a reboot partway through the installation.

Order	Description	DVD location	Reboot, suppress, and silent option	Note
1	MSI Runtime 3.1	msi\WindowsInstaller-KB893803-v2-x86.exe	/quiet /norestart
2	NET Framework Runtime 3.0	support\dotnetfx\dotnetfx.exe	/q /c:"install /l /qn"	+ language pack
3	VBA Runtime	VBA Runtime	/qb	+ language pack
4	Microsoft DirectX 9.0 Runtime	support\DirectX\DXSETUP.exe	/silent
5	MSXML 6	support\msxml\msxml6.msi	/qb
6	Windows Media Format 9.5	support\WMF\wmfdist64.exe	/quiet	x64 only
7	MDAC 2.7	support\MDAC\mdac_typ.exe	/q:a /c:"setup.exe /qnt"
8	Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 (x86)	support\VCRedist\x86\vcredist.msi	/qb
9	Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 (x64)	support\VCRedist\x64\vcredist.msi	/qb	x64 only
10	Autodesk DWG TrueView 2009	support\DWGVIEWER\x86\DWGViewr.msi	/qb
11	Microsoft Windows Media Format 9 Series Runtime	support\wmf\wmfdist.exe	/q:a	x86 only
12	Microsoft WSE 3.0 Runtime	support\WSE30\Microsoft WSE 3.0 Runtime.msi
13	Autodesk OEM Viewer 2009	support\OemViewer\Aovw2009.msi	/qb

Service Pack Issues:
1. Hot Fixes:
  1. Hot fixes come out to address specific problems. The descriptions with each hot fix describe exactly how to use it.
  2. Please note that hot fixes must not be blindly installed. They have had less testing than a Service Pack and may not be compatible with other hot fixes.
  3. When installing a service pack is not advisable to pre-install all of the Hot Fixes. All hot fixes, except those that may conflict with each other or have a better solution in the service pack are normally wrapped up into the service pack.
    1. Any that are left out of the service pack, are left out of the service pack for a reason.
2. Inventor:
  1. Starting with AIS/AIP 11, Autodesk Inventor service packs are distributed as ".msp" files. They can be used directly by the Network Installation wizard. They can also be uninstalled.
  2. Service Pack un-installation methods.
    1. Login as local Administrator (UAC off on Vista) then Use "Add or Remove Programs". Be sure to check the checkbox at the top of the window "Show Updates".
    2. The AIP Modules are now included with Inventor when a deployment image is created with the Network Installation Wizard.
      1. The content Center libraries can not be distributed with a deployment image
  3. Inventor service packs are historical. They must be applied in sequence.
    1. For example, SP2 must be applied on top of the released product + SP1.
3. MDT and AutoCAD:
  1. The service packs for these products continue to be distributed as ".exe" files. To convert them to .msp files:
    1. Copy the service pack to x:\Temp. Where "x" is the drive you have selected to use.
    2. Do not type the quotes in the following.
    3. From the start menu, select Run and type "cmd"
    4. Type "x:"
    5. Type "cd \"
    6. Type "cd \temp"
    7. Type: "<Product_name>.exe /e <Product_name>.msp". This will place the msp version of the patch in your x:\temp folder.
    8. Rule: File names with spaces must be enclosed with double quotes.
  2. Each AutoCAD based Service pack is complete by itself. They are cumulative and may be applied directly to the original release, or the original release plus updates, such as a previous service pack.
  3. For example, SP2 may be applied to either the released product or the released product + SP1
4. Deployment images
  1. Deployment images are patched in the same manner as the released products. See the description above.

System Requirements Before Installation

As a practical matter, all critical updates from Microsoft (including office products) should be installed before contacting Autodesk for support.

Updating workstations to current Microsoft levels will usually avoid installation problems and increase security.

If the Content Center (ADMS) is to be installed on your local system, file and printer sharing MUST be enabled. Search on "file and printer sharing" in windows help for information on how to do this.
Please refer to http://www.autodesk.com/inventor-graphic-cards (this site) for the latest information about graphic cards and drivers. It is strongly advised to update the graphics database each time the driver is updated.
An Internet connection is required for internet downloads and Subscription Aware access.
Microsoft Excel XP or later is required for iParts, iFeatures, thread customization, and spread sheet driven designs.
NetMeeting is no longer supported. (it causes Inventor to switch to software emulation, and only supports 16 colors.)
Installs on New systems:
1. These may have an installation error, because a reboot has been suppressed in our installation script. Workarounds:
  1. Reboot and try again.
Microsoft recommends that the size of the virtual memory swap file should be set to twice the size of the physical memory in the system.
If your are using the 3GB option on Windows XP, SP2+ Pro, the size of the swap file should be set to 4GB.
1. Check the FAQ section at this site for general information on using the 3GB option
2. Always remember that in this mode the OS has very limited functionality
  1. Microsoft suggests running no more than 2 applications at the same time due to limited Operating system table space.
  2. The Graphics driver also used the very limited operating system address space. When this is used up, you may get messages about lack of DirectX resources. Inventor will then switch to software emulation.
    1. Workaround: Open no more than 2 graphics windows at a time.
    2. When possible, close and re-start Inventor. This releases any leaked resources for both Inventor and the operating system.
  3. The very best solution: Don't fight, switch to Vista 64. Inventor and ACM both now run in naive 64-bit mode, greatly increasing capacity beyond anything that can be done on a 32-bit operating system. Vista 64 has many fixes that are not even in XP-64. It also supports DirectX10, which has additional functionality and completes Microsoft's vision for DirectX.
After installation, a workspace of 1GB minimum is required for the Undo file and other Autodesk Inventor® temporary files.
1. The default location is defined by your TEMP environment variable.
2. You can change this location by running Autodesk Inventor® and changing the location of the Undo file.
Inventor constantly puts files in your temp directory. Please delete them from time to time.
Actions, such as repair, related to the SQL data base for the Content Center may require a TEMP space up to 3 times the size of the database files (3 x 1.2GB).
When removing Autodesk Inventor® or Mechanical Desktop (AKA AutoCad or Mechanical), if you have just recently run the application, you may get a message that the remove function cannot be performed because cdilla10.exe (or cdilla64.exe) is still running.
Logout then Login and uninstall the product.
Performance:
1. Disk drive technology and the amount of physical memory has a significant impact on performance.
2. Disk fragmentation has a major impact
3. Physical memory has a major impact.
4. Memory that is not used by Inventor can be used by windows for disk drive I/O caching.
  1. A minimum of 512MB of memory is required in all cases
  2. 1 GB is really required for reasonable use. More is even better.

Graphics Requirements Before Installation

Graphics card and driver information can be found at: http://www.autodesk.com/us/inventor/graphic_cards/ Please check your driver.
1. If it is rated RED in both OpenGL and DirectX, please find a different driver.
  1. If a different driver is not available, select Direct3D and Software Emulation
2. If it is rated Yellow in one mode and Green in the other use the Green mode.
3. If it is a workstation card and not rated Green in any mode, we are working with the vendor to improve the rating.
4. Pease read the comments about the whole card family and the individual driver.
Laptops with ATI graphics: If "Enable POWERPLAY(tm)" is checked, graphics hardware acceleration is lost and the display is degraded to 16-bit color when running on battery power. Inventor then reverts to software emulation to run the graphics. The laptop must be connected to power and re-booted to resume normal operation.
Modern workstation graphics cards require 32-bit color (true color) to enable hardware acceleration. The performance of Autodesk Inventor® depends on the graphics card hardware acceleration. For additional information about hardware issues and tips, explore this site.

Installation Issues?

Hijackers: Some search tools like NTsearch.com and coolwebsearch are in reality Hijackers that take over parts of your system. NTsearch prevents any MSI installer, like the ones from Autodesk, from running.
If you don't have enough space on the OS drive:
1. For any product to be installed, the customization process starts by selecting the product and clicking "Configure".

How can I put the content of my Media on a server for use by others?

Copy the DVD media on to a directory on a computer and share it. Start with DVD 1. Ignore all over-write warnings.

Peripherals

IOmega: Do not eject the zip drive while Autodesk Inventor is running.
If your Logitech mouse is slow when Autodesk Inventor® has the focus, check your mouse setup in the control panel. If you have a check box labeled: "Disable acceleration in games," clear the check mark. The driver is treating all OpenGL applications as games.

General information for using Inventor

As part of our Continuous Improvement process, Inventor contains a Customer Error Reporting (CER) system. When Inventor has an abnormal termination, you will be prompted to send a mini dump to Autodesk. To do this, you must have an internet connection. Please include an email address to enable the Rapid Response Team at Autodesk to contact you if they need more information.
Autodesk Inventor® 11 (Series and Professional) stores the prior versions of a document as separate files in a folder called "OldVersions" located in the same directory as the current document.
The resolution of images inserted into sketches depends on the display resolution. If the display is set to 16 bits, a full color image can degrade significantly. For best results, use 32-bit resolution.
Temporary files may remain on your system after a process is terminated. Monitor your default windows working directory (%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Temp AKA %temp%) and clean it out as needed.