Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
This is going to be quite a lengthy guide but one that we think you might find very useful.
Introduction
We have previously shown you how to report Autodesk serial numbers using SCCM and this has led to a number of questions being sent to us on how to deploy AutoCAD using SCCM and in turn, using the software catalog.
So, this guide will show you how to setup your CAD deployments as an application allowing you to either push out or allow as a request through the software catalog.
Prerequisites
Before we start there are a few things that you should be aware of before using this guide:
- For the purposes of this guide, we are going to use AutoCAD LT 2016 – English
- This is not suitable for an upgrade – only a clean install
- Should you wish to deploy to a machine with a previous version of CAD on it, you should ensure that it is fully uninstalled before allowing this application to be installed
- When the deployment is created, it is for the site that you have deployed it to only – deploying it to multiple SCCM distribution points does not work – if you do this, it will still install to where you created the original AutoCAD deployment to. So if you have multiple sites, you have to create an AutoCAD deployment to each of those sites and then create a new deployment for each of those sites
- You must have an excellent understanding of how AutoCAD and SCCM works
Instructions
Once you are happy with the above, then we can start the process of adding AutoCAD LT 2016 – English into our software catalog as an application in SCCM.
Extract the Installer
You should login to your Autodesk customer portal and download the FULL installer, it should be around 1.3GB in total size and a single file. The filename should be similar to this:
AutoCAD_LT_2016_SWL_English_Win_64bit_dlm.sfx.exeDouble click the file and it will ask you to extract to a location, for the purposes of this guide, we will extract it to the default C:Autodesk folder:
Depending on the machine you are using, this can take some time to extract the full 2.6GB of data.
Once this has completed you should then go to the C:Autodesk folder and run the standard setup file:
Create the Deployment
This will start to load the AutoCAD LT 2016 installer and will eventually give you the options to Create Deployment, Install Tools & Utilities or the standard Install. We want to create a deployment so click that button:
You will then be asked to complete the information required for the deployment. You will need to enter the following details:
- Deployment Configuration Name – a name for your deployment
- Administrative Image Path – this is important – this is where your clients will install the software from, so ensure it is to a UNC path with the correct share and security permissions setup on it
- The rest of the settings are custom to your own environment and not to overly important to this process
Once completed, it should look something like this:
Click Next and then accept the terms and conditions, then click Next again to take you to the licence page.
Here you should enter your serial number and product key and then click Next – or you can chose not to enter anything here and you can enter your licence keys on the end users machines after deployment:
Click Next once you are happy with your licence entry and you can then select the options that you want to have installed as part of the deployment process:
When you have made all your custom selection options, you can click the Create button. This will then run through what looks like a standard installation process and this can take some time:
When this process has completed, you will now have a source location ready to use for your SCCM deployment.
Creating the SCCM Application
You should now go to the Administrative Image Path location that you stated during the Create Deployment process and you should see a file structure like this:
You will see a folder called SMS_SCCM scripts, go into this folder and then open the text file called “YOUR DEPLOYMENT NAME_SCCM.txt”. In here you will find the installation script that you will need to use – so take note of this somewhere as you will need it later in this process. It should be similar to this:
.ImgSetup.exe /W /q /I ImgAutoCAD LT 2016 English.iniNow we need to actually create the application in SCCM, so open up your SCCM console and go into the Software Library ribbon and then drill down into Applications. Then right click on Applications and Create Application.
We are going to create this application using the MSI files available to us, so you should browse for an MSI file to this location:
DP01ShareACADLT2016x64AutoCAD_LT_2016_EnglishImgx64acadltThis is your Administrative Image Path and then drill down into Imgx64acadlt (or x86 if you are deploying x86).
In this folder, you will find an MSI file called acadlt.msi – use this as your starting point to create the application and click Next.
You can then enter all the custom details that you want, however, there is a very important part you must change to make this whole process work, the Installation program. Remember we looked at the SCCM.txt file earlier in the process and there was an installation script? this is where you should now copy and paste that script and overwrite what is in there by default. So your page should look something like this:
You should now run through and complete this wizard to completion.
This will have now created the application with a lot of default settings, but there are still changes to make as the deployment is still looking in the wrong place for its source files, so edit the application and go into the Deployment Types tab and edit the deployment:
You should now go to the Content tab and you need to amend the Content location. Instead of it being in the Imgx64acadlt folder, you should remove this part and make it so that your Content location is the root of your deployment source.
So you should end up with a Content location similar to this:
DP01ShareACADLT2016x64EnglishYou can then change any other settings you wish here to customise your deployment.
Once you have completed this, you can now deploy the application and you should then see it available in your Software Catalog.
Come back and visit us soon as we will also be writting up a guide on how to add AutoCAD language packs to your Software Catalog.
Comments
If you have any comments or questions on this guide, let please feel free to use our comments system below to leave a message.
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Why are you importing the .msi and then going back to custom program and different sources?
Why are you importing the .msi and then going back to custom program and different sources?
Why are you importing the .msi and then going back to custom program and different sources?
Thanks for this article, helped me a lot! However the de-/ reinstallation fails on my clients, at the moment I am using the default “msiexec /x {…}. ” What is the best way to implement a save deinstallation for the application distribution?
Yeah the MSI uninstall wont work. Its a nightmare for uninstall to be honest, but this is the official documented way of doing it…
To summarise the procedure, you first convert the deployment name_Uninstall.txt file to a batch file with ANSI encoding. Then you open the batch file and select the products to uninstall by removing the comment markers from the applicable command lines. Finally, you run the batch file to uninstall the products.
Here are the detailed steps:
1. In the deployment folder, open the file deployment name_Uninstall.txt in Notepad or a similar text editor.
2. Click Save As, in the Encoding list, select ANSI, and then change the file extension to .bat. The recommended file name is deployment name_Uninstall.bat. Note that ANSI encoding is required to create an executable batch file.
3. Open the created batch file, and enable the uninstallation commands by removing the “::” characters at the beginning of the “::call :funcUninstall” command line for each product that you want to uninstall.
4. Execute the batch file with Administrative privileges.
Thanks for your help. Yes, but the following steps to implement that .bat into the application depliyment, so that users can uninstall autocad via Software Center, is left out in the documentation. So how do you handle deploying newer versions and general uninstalls?
Thanks for this article, helped me a lot! However the de-/ reinstallation fails on my clients, at the moment I am using the default “msiexec /x {…}. ” What is the best way to implement a save deinstallation for the application distribution?
Yeah the MSI uninstall wont work. Its a nightmare for uninstall to be honest, but this is the official documented way of doing it…
To summarise the procedure, you first convert the deployment name_Uninstall.txt file to a batch file with ANSI encoding. Then you open the batch file and select the products to uninstall by removing the comment markers from the applicable command lines. Finally, you run the batch file to uninstall the products.
Here are the detailed steps:
1. In the deployment folder, open the file deployment name_Uninstall.txt in Notepad or a similar text editor.
2. Click Save As, in the Encoding list, select ANSI, and then change the file extension to .bat. The recommended file name is deployment name_Uninstall.bat. Note that ANSI encoding is required to create an executable batch file.
3. Open the created batch file, and enable the uninstallation commands by removing the “::” characters at the beginning of the “::call :funcUninstall” command line for each product that you want to uninstall.
4. Execute the batch file with Administrative privileges.
Thanks for your help. Yes, but the following steps to implement that .bat into the application depliyment, so that users can uninstall autocad via Software Center, is left out in the documentation. So how do you handle deploying newer versions and general uninstalls?
Thanks for this article, helped me a lot! However the de-/ reinstallation fails on my clients, at the moment I am using the default “msiexec /x {…}. ” What is the best way to implement a save deinstallation for the application distribution?
Yeah the MSI uninstall wont work. Its a nightmare for uninstall to be honest, but this is the official documented way of doing it…
To summarise the procedure, you first convert the deployment name_Uninstall.txt file to a batch file with ANSI encoding. Then you open the batch file and select the products to uninstall by removing the comment markers from the applicable command lines. Finally, you run the batch file to uninstall the products.
Here are the detailed steps:
1. In the deployment folder, open the file deployment name_Uninstall.txt in Notepad or a similar text editor.
2. Click Save As, in the Encoding list, select ANSI, and then change the file extension to .bat. The recommended file name is deployment name_Uninstall.bat. Note that ANSI encoding is required to create an executable batch file.
3. Open the created batch file, and enable the uninstallation commands by removing the “::” characters at the beginning of the “::call :funcUninstall” command line for each product that you want to uninstall.
4. Execute the batch file with Administrative privileges.
Thanks for your help. Yes, but the following steps to implement that .bat into the application depliyment, so that users can uninstall autocad via Software Center, is left out in the documentation. So how do you handle deploying newer versions and general uninstalls?
Hi, I use the same procedure for ACAD LT 2017 but it ask for a reboot and launch a count-down after install. I can’t seem to find the argument for the command to prevent the reboot like a /norestart or something. If you have any ideas.
Much appreciated.
Paul
I’ve not ran into that problem, but you could try these switches…
REBOOT=ReallySuppress
/norestart
Thanks, I’ll try this and post the answer if it works.
Hi, I use the same procedure for ACAD LT 2017 but it ask for a reboot and launch a count-down after install. I can’t seem to find the argument for the command to prevent the reboot like a /norestart or something. If you have any ideas.
Much appreciated.
Paul
I’ve not ran into that problem, but you could try these switches…
REBOOT=ReallySuppress
/norestart
Thanks, I’ll try this and post the answer if it works.
Hi, I use the same procedure for ACAD LT 2017 but it ask for a reboot and launch a count-down after install. I can’t seem to find the argument for the command to prevent the reboot like a /norestart or something. If you have any ideas.
Much appreciated.
Paul
I’ve not ran into that problem, but you could try these switches…
REBOOT=ReallySuppress
/norestart
Thanks, I’ll try this and post the answer if it works.