Setting Up the Deployment Installation

If you are looking to deploy Ideate Software across your organization, please consider using Ideate Software Installer first. It is designed to easily deploy multiple or all Ideate Software solutions and set or change licensing info without end user interaction.

While Ideate Software Installer is now the preferred deployment method, the methods described below are still expected to work. Please note that as with most executables, administrator level access is required. If you are deploying Standalone or Cloud Network, remember to configure Auto-Activation to prevent end users having to manually activate each product!

Deploying Ideate Software using MSI files

Deploying Ideate Software using EXE packages

Windows Installer Command-Line Options

 

Deploying Ideate Software using MSI files 

All MSI’s of Ideate Software applications are now available as a single download here. Unzip the package and grab the MSI’s that you need from the ‘IdeateInstallers’ folder. The MSI files can be used with various deployment methods (scripts, Windows Group policy, etc.) to push installations of Ideate Software to workstations. 

Note: When using SCCM, use ‘MSI Configuration’ instead of ‘Custom configuration’.

Automatic activation of standalone or cloud licenses is supported starting with the September 2020 releases (for versions 2018-2020). For all previous builds the activation process would need to be completed by the user from within Revit. FlexLM network licensed products will work without needing further steps from the end user, provided the license server is running correctly.

Auto-activate deployed cloud network or standalone licensed software:

Cloud network and standalone licensed software is activated by a license code. To ensure smooth upgrade or migration between different license types and codes, it is possible to enable auto-activation on the first product launch. This way the user will not need to go through an activation process for every product.

Note: These steps are not necessary when using Ideate Software Installer. Adding the license code or network server into the license.txt will ensure the same result.   

To set up auto-activation:

An example license.config file:

Ideate Software MSI Examples

Command line options can be used to create quiet (no user interaction) MSI installs suitable for network deployments. Note that a quiet install will fail if UAC is active, unless the command window is started using the "Run as Administrator" option from the right-click menu. 

Here are several examples:

A quiet Ideate BIMLink 2020.1 (without specifying license type):
    msiexec /i C:\downloads\Ideate_BIMLink_2017_1_64bit.msi /quiet 

A quiet Ideate Explorer 2020.1 install that uses a network license:
    msiexec /i Ideate_Explorer_2017_1_64bit.msi /quiet IDEATE_LICENSE_TYPE=network
    IDEATE_LICENSE_SERVER=@MyLicenseServer    

Deploying Ideate Software using EXE packages

The standard ‘exe’ packages can also be used for remote deployment of Ideate Software if your network admin suite supports exe’s. As with the MSI deployment, UAC can interfere with the process unless “Run as Administrator” is used.

NOTE: The exe command line options currently do not allow setting of the license type or server, please use the ‘license.config’ method as the second step in the process.

Basic command line examples:

../Ideate_Apps_1_9.exe /silent — Silently install all versions contained in this package (/q or /quiet will NOT work!)

../Ideate_Apps_1_9.exe /remove /silent — Silently uninstall all versions contained in this package

 

Windows Installer Command-Line Options

For a detailed explanation of standard command-line parameters see Microsoft Windows Installer documentation, visit: 

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa367988(v=vs.85).aspx

Here are some of the options commonly used with Ideate Software: 

/i [installer path and file]

(Required) Install the software from the msi file specified.

/quiet
Run install quietly with no user interaction required.

INSTALLDIR=
Installs the Ideate Software application to the specified folder. If not set, a default install directory is used: %Program Files%\Ideate\Ideate Software [Year]\

IDEATE_LICENSE_TYPE=standalone|network 
Sets the license type used by the application. 

IDEATE_LICENSE_SERVER=@YourServerName
Sets the network license servers used to check out network licenses. 

The format can use the server host name, or the IP address for the server. Multiple servers are separated by a semicolon (;). 

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