IMAGINiT Technologies Support Blog

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There you'll find many of our older posts, as well as on-demand webcasts, video tips, ideas for future improvement, and more. 

Content from our amazing technical team will continue! We hope you’ll join us: https://resources.imaginit.com/support-blog.

Vault Add-In won't load in Inventor-'System.IO.FileNotFoundException...'Autodesk.Inventor.Interop...'

Issue:

The Vault Add-In won't load in Inventor with an error similar to the following:

'System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'Autodesk.Inventor.Interop, Version=...'

Performing a repair on the 'Autodesk Inventor_version Add-In' in Control Panel doesn't get rid of the error.

Manually trying to load the Inventor Vault and Edm Add-ins keeps them unloaded.

Causes:

The error is caused by a missing folder and .dll file, see this Autodesk article:

"System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file of assembly 'Autodesk.Inventor.Interop, Version=##.#.#.#..." in Inventor when attempting to use or install the Vault Add-in

For example this based on the error above the following folder is missing:

Solution:

1.Uninstall and reinstall Vault Client to get the folder back.

• Go to Autodesk Account to get a full download: How to download in Autodesk Account
• Or use Autodesk AVA

2.Install the appropriate Vault Client updates based on the updates installed on Vault Server:

• Vault Build Numbers

 

 

Double-click on an IPJ opens Project Manager instead of Inventor 2020

Issue:

Double-click on an Inventor .ipj project file opens the Inventor 2020 Project Manager instead of opening Inventor with that project set current. 

Right-click on the .ipj and choosing 'Open With' and selecting Inventor 2020 opens Inventor but doesn't set the project current.

Cause:

This is a documented issue caused by the Inventor 2020.3 update:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Double-clicking-on-the-ipj-file-does-not-open-Inventor-but-opens-the-project-editor-instead.html

Solution:

Install the Inventor 2020.3.1 update or newer to fix this:

Inventor 2020 updates

If this still doesn't resolve it, verify that these settings are correct in the registry:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Inventor.ProjectDocument\Shell\Edit\Command
C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Inventor 2020\Bin\ipj.exe "%1"

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Inventor.ProjectDocument\Shell\Open\Command
C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Inventor 2020\Bin\Inventor.exe /pf"%1"

Verify that the .ipj file type is associated with Inventor 2020 in Windows:

• Go to Windows Start and type in 'default apps' to open the Choose a default app for each type of file.

• If Autodesk Inventor 2020 is not the default program associated with the file type click on the app and choose Inventor 2020 from the list.

If this doesn't resolve the problem perform a clean uninstall of Inventor 2020:

Note: Backup your Tools>Application Options settings to an XML file before if you customized Inventor.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Clean-uninstall-of-Inventor-2020.html

Reinstall Inventor 2020 from a full download in Autodesk Account or AVA:

https://blogs.rand.com/support/2020/06/autodesk-download-manager-and-download-now-method.html

https://blogs.rand.com/support/2020/03/download-a-product-using-autodesk-ava.html

 

Inventor 2021 Slow Performance When Editing Parameters and Formulas

By: Jeff Arbogast , CSV | Solution Center Team Lead

Issue:
Inventor 2021 Slow Performance When Editing Parameters and Formulas.

Causes:
This behavior appears to be caused by update 2021.0.1.

Solution:
Remove Inventor 2021 update 2021.0.1.

How to Switch Currently Installed Autodesk Multi-User Seats to Single-User Seats

By: Jeff Lotan | Sr. Tech Support Specialist

Purpose: Switch your currently installed Autodesk Software over from a Multi-User (a.k.a. Network) installation to a Single-User (a.k.a. Named User) license installation.

There are a few steps to this process, and each one must be done to ensure a smooth transition on the user’s machines:

1. You need to add Users and assign software licenses to each user in the Autodesk account/manage website so they can obtain a license and use the software.

Single-User licensing is much different than even the old Standalone licensing. The Contract Manager, Software Coordinator, Primary Admin or Secondary Admin must add the users into the Autodesk Management portal and then assign the product(s) to the user.

Contract Managers (and Primary/Secondary Admins)
Add users into the User Management section and assign users a license. See the Additional Links section at the end on how to change admin roles. This link will provide detailed instructions on how to invite users and assign users under User Management. https://blogs.rand.com/support/2020/06/assign-single-user-products-in-autodesk-account.html

Important Note: All Named-user licenses are activated and tied to the user’s Autodesk Account, which is tied to the user's email address and the password they have selected. You cannot use the same email address for multiple users, so each user must have a unique email address.

2. Users must then verify the product(s) assigned to them are visible in “All Products and Services."

Once the User is assigned, have the user go to https://manage.autodesk.com and log in with their email address and use their existing password. Normally, the user will get an email from Autodesk (if it's a new account), and they will need to complete the account creation steps in the link that Autodesk sends. Once in their account, have them verify they can see the assigned software before trying to run and “sign in”.

3. Change the client machines existing software over from Multi-User/Network to Single-User licenses.

There are two possible Multi-User license workflows on the client machines that need their
licensing changed:

a. You downloaded the individual software components and installed each software package separately. This will be the easiest to change over.

i. Launch each Autodesk program installed that needs to be changed to a Single-User license.

ii. In the upper right corner click the dropdown and select “Manage License”.

iii. Then Click on “Change License Type” (in blue)

 

iiii. Once clicked you should be presented with one of the following screens. Select “Sign In” or Single User to launch the licensing sign in and have them enter their email address and Autodesk Password to re-activate the software as a Named User. Depending on the version you are changing the dialogs may be different, just follow the prompts.

or

b. You installed your software from a Suite download (i.e. Building Design Suite Premium).
You have two options:

i. Uninstall, reboot, and install from a non-suite download. On each machine with the older Suites, you will need to uninstall each base product that is being replaced. Review this blog and look at the bonus section at the end.
ii. Get one machine up and running using uninstall/reinstall and then use our blog to reinstall the products taken off, and reactivate using the sign in process outlined above. This step is REQUIRED since the product keys for the software are fixed in the ProductInformation.pit file and cannot be changed after activation. You must uninstall the products, so you can go back through the activation and put in the correct product key when re-activating, or see next step.

If you do not want to uninstall and reinstall everything on each machine, there is another option.

If you feel the need to update your current installs to the new Subscription, here is the process to follow:

1. Install the Collection Software on a machine that does not have the Suite already installed. Generally, Install the same products you have installed already as part of the Suite.
   a. You MUST install and activate each product and product year you are replacing in the Suite
   b. If you do not install and activate all products and all years, then you will have to uninstall and
   re-install the products you missed
       i. For example, if you miss AutoCAD 2017, and try to run it after you replace the ProductInformation.pit file, it will fail to run and give you an error.
2. Activate the Software with the License from the Collection on that machine
3. Look for ProductInformation.pit file that is created in this folder: C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\AdLM.
4. Make a copy the ProductInformation.pit file and save it to a location you can access later
   (USB stick or Network Drive)
5. Go to a machine that currently has the old Suite installed and navigate to the folder:
   C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\AdLM
6. Rename Old License Machine ProductInformation.pit file (so you have it available to restore easily
   in case new .pit file does not work).
7. Copy the saved ProductInformation.pit file from Step 4 into this directory
8. Open Autodesk Product and follow the activation screen and input the new Serial number
   and Product Key

Please note: the process below will only work for 2018 and newer Suites, any 2016 and older suites will have to be uninstalled and reinstalled, due to the fact that Licensing information was encrypted and stored on the machine at the time of installation. If the suite product key was used to install the applications, the stored key would not allow for a Collections activation. The only solution is to uninstall and reinstall the products.

Assign Single-user Products in Autodesk Account

Only Contract Managers and Primary/Secondary Admins can manage single-user product users.

Note: To change the Contract Manager or Primary/Secondary Admins see https://blogs.rand.com/support/2020/06/how-to-change-the-contract-manager-primarysecondary-admins-and-software-coordinator.html

The Autodesk Account website is where you add/remove users, assign them single-user software licenses and cloud services. In order to be able to activate and download their software, assign users a license seat under User Management. See https://blogs.rand.com/support/2020/06/autodesk-download-manager-and-download-now-method.html on how to download software.

The following will walk you through how to add users, assign them software by user or product and how to delete users.

User Management

Single-user products are managed in the New View under User Management:

New View: where you manage single-user subscriptions and assign users a license to give them access to their software downloads, cloud services and activation.

Classic View: See https://blogs.rand.com/support/2020/06/assign-multi-user-products-in-autodesk-account-.html on how to assign multi-user licenses.

 

Add Users

Note: Adding users does not automatically give them access to software. See the ‘Single-User licenses: Assign products and services to users’ section below.

1. Sign in to Autodesk Account
2. In the left panel go to User Management > By User.
3. Select the Invite Users icon at the top right. If using Teams, choose a team in list before adding a user to it.

Note: For more information on Teams see https://blogs.rand.com/support/2020/06/manage-users-in-teams-in-autodesk-account.html.

4. Enter the user's first name, last name, and email address.
5. To add multiple users select the ‘Switch to multiples invites’ button:

6. Click Send Invite. The user's status displays as pending until they accept the invitation.

Note: Users will receive a confirmation email from Autodesk. If they do not accept the invitation within 7 days, resend the invite.

Add users in Autodesk Account:
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/customer-service/account-management/users-software/user-management/add-users

Single-User licenses: Assign products and services to users

Assign By User
1. Sign in to your Autodesk Account at manage.autodesk.com.
2. In the left panel go to User Management > By User.
3. Next to Team: select the team where the single-user subscription is in:

4. Select the user in the list to view available products.
5. Select the Assign button beside the product license to assign:

6. Select each product and service to assign to the user. The number of available seats displays next to each product.

Note: The user will receive an email notification from Autodesk that the product is assigned and available for download. They have 7 days to accept, if they do not accept within that period resend the invite.

Assign Products By User:
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/customer-service/account-management/users-software/user-management/assign-products-user

Assign By Product

1. Sign in to your Autodesk Account at manage.autodesk.com.
2. In the left panel go to User Management > By Product.
3. Next to Team: select the team name where the single-user subscription is in:

4. Select a product to see how many seats are available.
5. Click Assign users:

6. Enter in the user’s email address or paste a name and email address. Click Assign to assign all the product items or Customize to assign individual items:

7. To remove products from a user click the Unassign button:

Assign users by Product:
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/customer-service/account-management/users-software/user-management/assign-users-to-products

Remove Users

To delete users that no longer work for the company:
Note: This does not delete the user’s account but removes their software license access.

1. In the left panel go to User Management > By User.
2. Select the trash icon next to the user’s contact information:

3. In the confirmation window click on Delete.

Assign Multi-user Products in Autodesk Account

Only Contract Managers or Software Coordinators can manage multi-user product users.
The Autodesk Account website is where you add users and assign them cloud services.

Note: To change the Contract Manager or Software Coordinator see https://blogs.rand.com/support/2020/06/how-to-change-the-contract-manager-primarysecondary-admins-and-software-coordinator.html

Multi-user seat assignment does not give users access to download software or to the network licenses.

• To set up the network license manager:
https://blogs.rand.com/support/2020/06/download-and-install-autodesk-network-license-manager-lmtools-or-flexlm.html
• To generate a license file:
https://blogs.rand.com/support/2020/06/get-an-autodesk-license-file.html
• To download software:
Use the AVA-Autodesk Virtual Agent or download software as the Contract Manager or Software Coordinator.

User Management-Classic View

In Autodesk Account’s Classic User Management, you can only assign Cloud services to multi-user licenses.
• Sign into Autodesk Account.
• In the left panel go to User Management > Classic User Management.

Add Users

1. To add a user click on the +Add button under the All Users list:

2. Fill in the user’s email, first and last name and click Save & Continue.
3. To add multiple users select the Bulk Add option.
4. Enter in a list of users separated by a semi-colon and click Save & Continue.

Note: If the user does not accept the the invitation email within 90 days, resend the invitation.

Classic User Management-Add users:
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/customer-service/account-management/users-software/classic-user-management/add-users-classic-um

Assign services to users

Note: Each multi-user license allows you to assign cloud services to three users.

1. Find the user in the list.
2. Select Edit Access by the user’s name.

3. Put a check mark beside the Assign box at the top right to assign all services or assign individual services from the list.

Classic User Management-Assign product and services to users:
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/customer-service/account-management/users-software/classic-user-management/assign-products-to-users-um

Remove users

To delete users that no longer work for the company:
1. First remove any products, services or benefits assigned to the user by clicking Edit Access and removing any Assign check marks then clicking Save.
2. Click on the X by their name to delete them:

3. If there is no X button the user is a Contract Manager or Software Coordinator.
4. 4. See the link on how to change a Contract Manager or Software Coordinator prior to deleting them.

Inventor-Insert Frame dialog box suddenly doesn't open anymore

The Frame Generator 'Insert Frame' command isn't opening a dialog box anymore in Inventor.

It used to work but now it doesn't seem to invoke the command at all.

In the Status Bar it stays at 'Ready' but should update to show the command prompt 'Select a line or drag a window':

If the command seems to be working( with 'Select a line or drag a window' in the Status bar) but you don't see the dialog box, try this to get the dialog box back from off screen:

Inventor dialog box off screen

If the dialog box still can't be found try the Inventor Reset Utility:

Inventor Reset Utility

If the command doesn't start check that the Content Center Libraries are all available and set the correct location.

In Application Options > Content Center tab > Access Options, select Vault Server or Desktop Content:

Verify that the Project is configured to use all the available Content Center Libraries:

If none of the previous steps help, perform a clean uninstall to fix it:

Inventor clean uninstall

How to Uninstall and Reinstall C++ Libraries

Issue:
You are having issues with your Autodesk software and believe the issue may be corrupted C++ libraries or indications are showing that is the issue.

Causes:
This can be caused by a number factors, but usually the best way to correct it is to uninstall and reinstall all the C++ components.

Solution:
How to uninstall/reinstall C++ modules

1. Open Control Panel and click on Programs and Features

or

2. In the Upper right corner of the window look for this:

3. Click in the box and put in C++ then click the arrow or hit the Enter key to filter your results to only the C++ modules

4. Now Uninstall all existing C++ from Control panel, starting with the newest (2017) and work your way through the list

I generally see mismatches or items without file sizes when I know there are issues. Right mouse click and follow the prompts to Uninstall (not repair) the installed C++ Module(s).

5. Then Go here:
https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/visual_c_runtime_installer.html

and click on this link:

6. Download the Visual C++ v56.exe in the screen that comes up (be patient, the download will start. Once downloaded, then we need to get the additional runtimes that have been released)

7. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2977003/the-latest-supported-visual-c-downloads
Go to this section "Visual Studio 2015, 2017 and 2019" and download these updates:
x64: vc_redist.x64.exe
and
x86: vc_redist.x86.exe

8. Navigate to the Downloads folder, right mouse click on the Visual C++ v56.exe and select properties and in the box that pops up, you must unblock the file:

9. Repeat this process for the other two downloads from step 7 as well.

10. Once unblocked, right mouse click and Run As Administrator (do not forget this step) on the Visual C++ v56.exe

11. It will unpack the files and open a CMD window:

12. If you have just uninstalled the C++, you will have the option to Ignore (I), select that or Y for yes

13. Then in the next screen type Y again to proceed and let it run through the installer then click any key when prompted to close the installer

14. Go back to Control panel => Programs and Features and filter for only C++ and ensure there are 18 components now there.  If there is not, then there is an issue on that system and may need to manually install any components (x86 and x64) that do not have a match from here: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/search-result/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/How-to-remove-and-reinstall-Microsoft-Visual-C-Runtime-Libraries.html

15. Now repeat the process for the vc_redist.x86.exe & vc_redist.x64.exe, and simply follow the installer instructions

16. Reboot the machine (to ensure the changes are fully implemented)

17. Retest and see if that resolves the issues you were experiencing.

 

 

Adding 3D Printers to Inventor

By: Heath White, SR. MFG Support Specialist

Issue:
You want to add additional 3D printers to the list of available printers that ship with Inventor, but you don’t see a way to do so.

Solution:
At this point in time there is not an “easy” way to add printers. To assist with this, review the instructions below for a method to manually add printers to the 3D print environment.

Note: You will need to edit the “3DPrinterDescriptions.xml” file in order to add your own printers. The tricky part about this is that the file doesn’t exist until you change your preferred printer in the 3D Print environment as shown below:

Select a printer from the list, doesn’t matter which one, and tick all the check boxes. This causes Inventor to generate the XML you need. Close Inventor once you complete this step.

Once that is done you can follow the steps below:

1. You can find the XML file in the following location (just change the year to match your version of Inventor)- %appdata%\Autodesk  \Inventor 20XX\3DPrinterDescriptions.xml

 2. In the last line of the XML file, copy the entire line (example below); for the GUID use this link [http://www.guidgen.com/]:

3. After making and saving the edits to this file, restart Inventor and your new printer should now be in the list.