Network Deployments - Include Additional Software

If you are working with Revit then you at some point must have dealt with the issues of installing these add-ons. For the Revit 2014 releases, I decided to incorporate the installation of several add-ons such as:

  • DB Link
  • Model Review
  • Batch Print
  • Worksharing Monitor
  • Revit Extensions
The documentation on how to incorporate this information into the network deployment is a little weak. I initially went down the road of determining how to create silent installs for each of these add-ons, but I was was over thinking it.

As you are creating your network deployment, you will notice that one of the sections is to "Include additional software" (see below).



This allows you to add additional .msi and .exe software to your deployment. If you adding the Autodesk Revit add-ons (with the exception of Revit Extensions), you just need to click the "Add..." button and select the add-on. You do not need to specify any Command Line Parameters.

For Revit extensions, you first need to extract the install package from the executable zip file that you downloaded from the subscription site. If you accept the defaults, the files will be extracted to C:\Autodesk\REX_2014_dlm\. Back in your network deployment, Include additional software, you want to add either the REX_x64.msi (64-bit) or REX_x86.msi (32-bit) depending on the Revit deployment you are creating. You do not need to add and Command Line parameters.

When you are done adding your additional software to include in your deployment, you can close the "Include additional software" and complete your network deployment. As your network deployment is being created, the add-ons that you have selected will be copied from the location you selected to the ...\Img\ADDONS\ folder of the network deployment. Once the network deployment has finished copying all the files, hold off on performing a test installation.

The Revit Extension addon only copied over the .msi file of the installation.We need to copy over the rest of the required installation folders from C:\Autodesk\REX_2014_dlm\REX\ to ...\Img\ADDONS\ADDON_REX_X64_0\

Your ...\Img\ADDONS\ADDON_REX_X64_0\ directory should now look as follows






Comments

  1. AnonymousApril 17, 2014 at 6:22 AM

    Especially on the part "Revit Extensions" you will not find any good description how to deploy it. I ve read several "guides" and practice some combining methods but this article was very helpfull to me. thnx a lot.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Navisworks 2018 Database Link w/ Excel - Primer

Image
For this demo, I am going to use the Gatehouse sample file that ships with Navisworks 2018. You can find the files C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Navisworks Manage 2018\Samples\Gatehouse\. If you have a newer or older version of Navisworks, the process basically works the same. The Process In order to connect an external data source such as an Excel spreadsheet or an Access database to a Navisworks model, we need to configure a DataTools within Navisworks. We will then be configuring the database connection. When working with the DataTools in Navisworks, there are a few very important rules to keep in mind. If you are using a 32-bit workstation, then you need to utilize the 32-bit ODBC drivers. 64-bit workstations need to utilize 64-bit ODBC drivers. It is also important to note, that the link to Navisworks is one way. Data can be linked and viewed inside of Navisworks, but the data can’t be updated within Navisworks. My workstations are all Windows 10 64-bit workstations. My PC’s are using
Read more

Navisworks - Multiple Iterations and Locked Files

Image
While working in Navisworks and you find that you are updating your models frequently, you have probably ran into the issue of having to close your Navisworks model in order to update your appended model. There is a quick way to get around this. In the Options Editor >  Model   > Performance , make sure “Close NWC/NWD Files on Load” is checked. This will now allow you to overwrite NWC files without unloading them in your NWF file. So when you have an updated NWC that has overwritten the existing file, you just need to refresh Navisworks for the new model(s) to load.
Read more