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RevitCat - Revit Consultant

Saturday 21 May 2016

Revit 2017 Install Take 2 - Using Physical Media

After my first attempts to install Revit 2017, I have just tried again, as my regular laptop came back from being repaired.  This time I used physical media to do the install, as I found it to be so painful to download/install from the Autodesk website:

Ordering Physical Media

The biggest obstacle to overcome is your willingness to pay the new 'Nominal Fee' (Aus$40) for something that was previously part of your annual subscription - so we now have to pay for something that we've already paid for!  What a cheek!  Autodesk have made some lame excuse about most people preferring the convenience of downloading the software - well that might be true if you could just download it and keep the install files locally and reuse them.  But you cannot - I tried it!
I copied the (download) unpacked install files from the C:\Autodesk folder on my old computer and put them in exactly the same location (with the same two folder names) on my repaired laptop.  Then I tried to run setup from there - but it gave an error message saying that either the connection had broken (back to Autodesk account) or the install file location had changed.  Everything I tried gave the same result.  After wasting a lot of time I decided to cough up the $40 and purchase the physical media - I was not about to waste a whole lot more time downloading again.

On the Autodesk Account, under 'Revit' the order Physical media option is hidden away under 'More Actions' as 'Get a physical copy'.
Previously, when I tried to order physical media from the Autodesk account website, it failed - giving an error message.  They seem to have fixed that now, so I was able to order the DVD, and it duly arrived a few days later, all the way from Singapore.  To add insult to injury, the website charged an additional 10% GST, despite the fact that the importer was registered in Ireland and media shipped from Singapore (overseas orders do not normally incur goods and services tax in Australia).

Install from DVD

I normally copy the contents of an install DVD onto the C: drive just to speed up the actual installation - and so that I don't need to find the DVD in order to (re)install any missing components.  This worked just fine, and setup ran happily from the C: drive this time.
I may be mistaken but it also seemed to give me much better control over what was actually installed (or maybe I just missed the options first time around during the download process, fondly imagining that I would get a chance to change them later?).
This time I was able to choose:
  • Country
  • Omit the MEP Fabrication (both imperial and metric)
  • Discipline - can be 'All', 'Construction', 'Architecture', 'Structure', 'Plumbing', 'Mechanical', 'Electrical' etc.  This means that you cannot choose a combination (say M,E + P or Architecture + Structure) - you would have to choose 'All' or just one - so I chose 'Architecture' just to keep it simple.
  • UK Terminology.  It still amuses me when I choose "the British English", which is clearly grammatically incorrect in British English, but perhaps just fine in Chinglish?

As I had previously installed with Australian content, I chose not to install any content this time around - normally it gives you a warning, but I don't remember one this time.

The install process went smoothly - no nasty error messages that I had with the online install (IDP Alexa or DXSetup), where my Anti-virus software didn't like the install process.  Several things could not be prevented from installation - the Autodesk Desktop App being one of them

Autodesk Desktop App 

 This is billed as a "Powerful cloud-centric software delivery solution".  The phrase 'cloud-centric' is enough to put me off using it - why are Autodesk obsessed with putting everything on the cloud?  Don't they realise that not everyone in the world is connected to the internet all the time - if you don't live in the USA, the internet is not always reliable, fast or available all the time!
Aside from that, I have heard from several reliable sources that the 'Autodesk Desktop App' is not a good or reliable piece of software.  In fact it may be a liability - so I intend to uninstall it immediately.

Installed Folders

Since I chose not to install the MEP Fabrication tools nor any content, the installed folders are a lot cleaner than last time.  Of course, I was able to copy the libraries and templates across after I had tidied them up and reinstated all the missing family templates, and removed the unwanted language options.
However, I did notice one piece of  bloatware that should not have been installed, considering that I specifically chose an 'Architectural' discipline install - in C:\ProgramData\Autodesk:
However, if I had been allowed to install a combined discipline of 'Architecture and Structure', that would have been very welcome.

Conclusion

The install process from physical media was dramatically better than the painful online download/install experience.  The only downside was having to pay for software that I had already paid for.  This morning, while Revit 2017 was busy installing on my laptop,  I went to the upmarket Sydney suburb called 'Double Bay', but universally referred to as 'Double Pay' - how appropriate!

2 comments:

  1. Hi Tim, for Autodesk downloads, I use the Autodesk Virtual Agent. Search for this. You can download installer files for all Autodesk products. The unpacked installer files are the same files that you get on the media. You can then install on another workstation without receiving the install error. Would have saved you $40.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Tim, for Autodesk downloads, I use the Autodesk Virtual Agent. Search for this. You can download installer files for all Autodesk products. The unpacked installer files are the same files that you get on the media. You can then install on another workstation without receiving the install error. Would have saved you $40.

    ReplyDelete