Friday, September 3, 2010

Silenting installing Revit Add-ons

Working for an organization with multi offices, installing software can be a time consuming. I'm not IT, don't want to be IT, but making sure that everyone has functioning software is more often than not something a BIM or CAD Manager needs to attend to.

To minimize time someone has to spend installing software, I wanted to create a batch file to install Revit and then the add-ons. The only interaction I want to have to do for the install if to double click on a single file and walk away. Working with some of the talented people at Autodesk I have been able to create a batch file to install the main product and several add-ons for Revit. The add-ons, like worksharing monitor are the tricky ones to silently (no user interaction) to install.

To automate the install process, the first thing I did was create a network deployment. Autodesk's Help file provides some basic information on completing that task. For add-ons that are a standard .msi file, I used one of the following command lines to install the software in silent mode (thank you Anthony).

msiexec /i /quiet
msiexec /i /passive
msiexec /i /qn (No UI)
msiexec /i /qb (Basic UI)
msiexec /i /qr (Reduced UI)

I now could then make my batch file to install Revit. The following is the basic syntax for installing:

pushd \\network folder install location
RevitVersion.lnk (name of the network deployment shortcut)
msiexec /i addonname.msi /quiet

Below is the batch file that I created for our Revit Architecture 2011 64-bit install. Note that we store our add-ons in a different folder location so we don't need to have duplicate copies for 64 and 32-bit versions as well as Revit flavors. Comments are shown in itlaic

pushd \\adclic03\bim\Installs\RAC2011\64-bit\
RAC2011-64.lnk
popd (This resets the folder location)
pushd \\adclic03\bim\Installs\RAC2011\Additional add-ons\ (location for 2011 add-ons)
msiexec /i worksharingmonitor.msi /quiet (installs worksharing monitor)
msiexec /i globelink2011.msi /quiet (installs globe link)
msiexec /i 2011dblinksetup.msi /quiet (installs DB Link)

This has simplified the install procedures, but we must still install any add-ons that are an .EXE separately like the Revit Extensions. I'm sure there is a way to do that, just haven't found it yet.

There are of course other methods to install apps, like pushing thru Group Policy, but I don't have a means to perform that. If you have any suggestions or comments, let me know.

Revit OpEd: Dept. of Subtle - Moving Fields in a Schedule

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Multiple Layer Slabs and Slab Edges - From The Revit Clinic

Multiple Layer Slabs and Slab Edges

From The Revit Clinic

When a substrate layer is added to a floor's structure, it will cut the slab edge, rather than the edge cutting through and directly attaching to the slab. While some of you may be aware of possible ways to work around this, I wanted to relay a method as I still see the question float around.

The following screenshot shows the default behavior when you add an edge to a slab with a substrate layer:

Slab edge01


To have the edge cut through that layer, first Unjoin the geometry:

Slab edge02


Then Join it, making sure to select the edge first and then the slab:

Slab edge03

I hope this helps!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Revit OpEd: Revit MEP and CADworks - Online Presentation

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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Revit OpEd: File Size - A Red Herring?

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Friday, August 27, 2010

Revit OpEd: Revit Technology Conference 2011 - USA

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Saturday, August 21, 2010

Revit OpEd: Dept. of Questions - Can Revit?

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Friday, August 20, 2010

Revit OpEd: Re-Numbering Elements

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