Command Line Installation of Vectorworks 2025

Thank you! I was looking for this and thanks to Support from Melbourne Ben was able to point me in the right direction to this.

--ldf \tmp\XX-XXXXXX.ldf is missing "C:"

Edited September 17 by jarradwelsh

 

There are discussions in your forums for this solution. I assume there is another. For G keys, the LDF is not required. Or was not in the past and had a passthrough.

 

Start-Process -Wait -FilePath ".\resources\installer\Install Vectorworks2024.exe" -ArgumentList '--mode unattended','--unattendedmodeui none','--Serial "G#######################" ','--installdir "C:\Program Files\Vectorworks 2024" --LDFChoice licenseID' -passthru

 

What should the new command be as it is not listed in the commands via running cli.bat.

 

When trying to run online or offline options:

 

Could not download LDF. If this is an offline installation, please supply a local LDF file with --ldf <file>
Could not get a valid LDF.

 

Thank you!

I believe I have found the issue. I did not have to use the LDF command, once I had the proper G key. Thank you!

Hi, thanks for the new silent install feature. I like the vwim solution.

 

is there an option for silent uninstall too?

Why do you always have to fiddle with the installer for every major release? It this some kind of occupational therapy for the devs?
So far, every single time, I've had to spend at least half a day of work to get the new release ready to be installed silently with our DM.
Other solutions don't do this. Most provide an MSI and I'm done in less than half an hour.

I second the whish for a silent uninstall feature. My sanity will seriously suffer if I have to uninstall the old version every year on 100+ devices.
Also, the CLI installer doesn't create shortcuts. Is this by design, or just an oversight?
 

How do I uninstall v2025 manually? It's not listed in the control panel / programs!
Running the VWIM Gui from c:\program files\vectorworks 2025\Vectorworks Install Manager" just gives me a black screen.
Are we beta testing here?

Edit: running the VWIM from the path I used for the CLI install will launch it "usable". But no uninstall option.
 

Edited October 25 by RMPSL

On 10/25/2024 at 8:21 PM, RMPSL said:

How do I uninstall v2025 manually? It's not listed in the control panel / programs!
Running the VWIM Gui from c:\program files\vectorworks 2025\Vectorworks Install Manager" just gives me a black screen.
Are we beta testing here?

Edit: running the VWIM from the path I used for the CLI install will launch it "usable". But no uninstall option.
 

I've noticed that the program doesn't end up in the list of installed programs if you install it via CLI.  It means cleaning registry out manually to uninstall, and also adding your own shortcuts manually, (which can be done as part of a command line install).

we could also find what registry entry is created for it to turn up in the insatlled list when doing a standard install and then creating that key as a part of the command line install.

 

On 10/27/2024 at 8:06 AM, Robbie Battam said:

 It means cleaning registry out manually to uninstall, 
 

Which is a freaking joke for a "professional" software, especially one this expensive.

Yes, I can manually script an uninstall job that deletes files and reg keys, but Vectorworks not showing up in the software-inventory (pulls info from the installed software list) is a big problem.
Do I really have to figure out how to add it to the list in my install script, or will they fix this?

I'm already 7 hours into this mess, most of it because I have to do trial and error due to the lack of proper documentation.
Having to pour this much work into this is very frustrating (and costly!), especially when you're used to properly streamlined install solutions from other vendors.
 

I've created a support ticket, and they asked for the installerlog.txt.
The cli installer doesn't create that file.

Where should I send my bill for beta testing services? 🙂

Hi all,

 

The lack of silent/CLI uninstall was indeed an oversight. However it is now supported (in VWIM > 784348). The lack of creating an entry in "Programs/Features" (the older version) or "Apps & features" (the more modern version that doesn't work as well) is now fixed (that bug existed in GUI and CLI).  Uninstalling starts the embedded VWIM app, currently you have to pick "Uninstall" from the menu but I'm looking at starting it with uninstall open to save that step.

 

I will look into the lack of desktop shortcut for CLI installs. I think I know why it does this, and how to fix it.

 

MSI could be an option, not that it saves you at this point @RMPSL (sorry) but moving forward. The problem is it's currently somewhat limited and isn't going to work well with "updates" but that might not be a concern if you just make it uninstall and reinstall the new version.

 

Also @RMPSL you mentioned other solutions, can you give an example (in our industry) and summarize what it does well? I do admit we should be stronger for sites and deployment and am committed to improvement there where possible. Thanks!

 

(Edit - uninstall CLI usage follows):
 

cli.bat/sh uninstall --help  
Usage: Vectorworks 2025 Updater uninstall [options]

Uninstall the application and all of its related files.

Options:
  -d, --dryrun     Only show what would be done during uninstall without making any changes.
  -u, --uid <uid>  Uninstall using supplied uid (Mac only)
  -g, --gid <gid>  Uninstall using supplied gid (Mac only)
  -h, --help       display help for command

 

 

Additional edit: CLI does indeed create a .log file, or should, in the Windows temp folder at %USERPROFILE%/AppData/Local/Temp. Let me know if that's not the case in your environment and I'll look into it.

 

 

6 hours ago, Tim Ardoin said:

Hi all,

 

The lack of silent/CLI uninstall was indeed an oversight. However it is now supported (in VWIM > 784348). The lack of creating an entry in "Programs/Features" (the older version) or "Apps & features" (the more modern version that doesn't work as well) is now fixed (that bug existed in GUI and CLI).  Uninstalling starts the embedded VWIM app, currently you have to pick "Uninstall" from the menu but I'm looking at starting it with uninstall open to save that step.

 

I will look into the lack of desktop shortcut for CLI installs. I think I know why it does this, and how to fix it.

 

MSI could be an option, not that it saves you at this point @RMPSL (sorry) but moving forward. The problem is it's currently somewhat limited and isn't going to work well with "updates" but that might not be a concern if you just make it uninstall and reinstall the new version.

 

Also @RMPSL you mentioned other solutions, can you give an example (in our industry) and summarize what it does well? I do admit we should be stronger for sites and deployment and am committed to improvement there where possible. Thanks!

 

(Edit - uninstall CLI usage follows):
 

cli.bat/sh uninstall --help  
Usage: Vectorworks 2025 Updater uninstall [options]

Uninstall the application and all of its related files.

Options:
  -d, --dryrun     Only show what would be done during uninstall without making any changes.
  -u, --uid <uid>  Uninstall using supplied uid (Mac only)
  -g, --gid <gid>  Uninstall using supplied gid (Mac only)
  -h, --help       display help for command

 

 

Additional edit: CLI does indeed create a .log file, or should, in the Windows temp folder at %USERPROFILE%/AppData/Local/Temp. Let me know if that's not the case in your environment and I'll look into it.

 

 

So Tim, 

That means there's a new version of the install package available in customer portal? or do we just run the cli.bat updater to retrieve this change?  I guess I should probably implement it sooner rather than later, ive got a deployment setup but it would be nice to have the ability to remove it from the deployment platform also using the cli option.

10 hours ago, Tim Ardoin said:

Also @RMPSL you mentioned other solutions, can you give an example (in our industry) and summarize what it does well? I do admit we should be stronger for sites and deployment and am committed to improvement there where possible. Thanks!

 

Thank you very much for the fixes!
One of the other solutions would be AutoCAD. Yes, they also don't use a standard installer, but their deployment creator does all the legwork and puts out a .bat file that can be used with very little changes.

Edit: I can confirm that a log is created at at %USERPROFILE%/AppData/Local/Temp
One entry from the file that caught my eye:
[2024-10-25T08:11:10.176Z] - error: An error has occurred checking for self-updates:
  error: {
    Error: Cannot find channel "latest.yml" update info: HttpError: 404 Not Found
    "method: GET url: https://server7.cw-onlineupdate.de/nuc/vw/VW2025/root/30/CW/deu/vwimapp/vwimapp/latest.yml?noCache=1ib1blclg\n\nPlease double check that your authentication token is correct. Due to security reasons, actual status maybe not reported, but 404.\n"
 

Edited October 29 by RMPSL

3 hours ago, Robbie Battam said:

So Tim, 

That means there's a new version of the install package available in customer portal? or do we just run the cli.bat updater to retrieve this change?  I guess I should probably implement it sooner rather than later, ive got a deployment setup but it would be nice to have the ability to remove it from the deployment platform also using the cli option.

I think it should self-update automatically, and we also should be able to trigger the update with this command:
cli.bat download-latest-updater c:\vwim_new -p w

But unfortunately it fails:
[2024-10-29T08:05:38.265Z] - stdout: Informationen zum neuesten Vectorworks 2025 Updater werden abgerufen
[2024-10-29T08:05:39.208Z] - error: An error has occurred
  error: {
    Error: Got a non-2XX (404) status code downloading https://server7.cw-onlineupdate.de/nuc/vw/VW2025/root/30/CW/deu/vwimapp/vwimapp/latest.yml
        at Request._callback (C:\VWIM\resources\cli.js:9483:20)
        at self.callback (C:\VWIM\resources\cli.js:68435:22)
        at Request.emit (node:events:513:28)
        at Request.<anonymous> (C:\VWIM\resources\cli.js:69404:10)
        at Request.emit (node:events:513:28)
        at IncomingMessage.<anonymous> (C:\VWIM\resources\cli.js:69326:12)
        at Object.onceWrapper (node:events:627:28)
        at IncomingMessage.emit (node:events:525:35)
        at endReadableNT (node:internal/streams/readable:1359:12)
        at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:82:21)
 

Edited October 29 by RMPSL

I see the problem, the link has a double directory:

https://server7.cw-onlineupdate.de/nuc/vw/VW2025/root/30/CW/deu/vwimapp/vwimapp/latest.yml

Remove one of the vwimapp folders from the URL

It should show as this:

https://server7.cw-onlineupdate.de/nuc/vw/VW2025/root/30/CW/deu/vwimapp/latest.yml

Then, the YAML file will download.   If that is a hardcoded url from running the updater, then download it manually,  and use the method where you can specify the file location to update from locally.

I've attacthed the YAML file here as well.latest.txt

If you download this one, you'll need to rename it from .txt to .YML, I did that to get around their attachment restrictions.

Hi all, a few answers/etc:

 

First, sorry I didn't realize you were both ComputerWorks customers. The changes I made for command line uninstall will be available for ComputerWorks in Update 2 (this is mostly due to the need for localization of the new strings that were added). If that's a problem let me know and I'll see what can be done. S

 

I confirmed the self-update is broken due to the vwim/vwim issue, which should be fixed tomorrow morning.

The other thing regarding ComputerWorks is that there's already a MSI available for it. So maybe look into that - their support can direct you to it (sorry, I don't really have that information). But I was told it is linked with the download link and there's even a tutorial there so that might help as well.
 

So to summarize:

• Self-updating for CW is broken but will be fixed tomorrow morning (nice find on the vwim/vwim thing).
• Once self-update works, a new VWIM (either from self-update or downloading again) will:
  • Not yet have the CLI uninstall option
    • Will be present in Update 2. Talk to me if this is unacceptable.
  • Will fix Windows lack of programs & features entry
• Look into that MSI if you're interested in that.
• Let me know here if you need anything else and I'll do my best.

 

Best regards,

 

Tim

 

 

 

Again, Tim, thank you very much! Your fast response & fixes are much apreciated.
We will be able to live with the lack of CLI uninstall until U2 is released.
And I'll definitely contact support for the MSI option, so far I've found no hints anywhere of it's existence.

Edited October 30 by RMPSL

So I managed to update VWIM to v 30.1.784707.11756, and using CLI.bat to install Vectorworks did create the programs & features entry and a shortcut in the start menu.
Vectorworks starts fine.
However, when I try to uninstall via programs & features I only get a black window.
When I launch the VWIM from my temp install directory, the UI is usable, but there is no option to uninstall.
When I launch the VWIM from the Installation Directory\Vectorworks Install Manager it launches correctly (after updating itself, probably because the update1.vwim contains an older versione) and there I have the option to uninstall. This is progress, because during my first tests the VWIM also didn't launch properly from there.

Edit: on a whim I tried launching the uninstall via programs & features again, and now the VWIM did start properly. Maybe the pending update prevented it from launching the first time I tried?

Edited October 31 by RMPSL

Another quick update regarding MSI silent install:
I've got it "working" in less than half an hour, and install time is 1/3 of the VWIM-CLI install (!), but
- It also doesn't register in programs & features
- The msiexec uninstall string it registers in the windows registry is incorrect and doesn't work.
- It doesn't install the updater

I'll implement our rollout with the VWIM CLI, because I've got that working better than the MSI for now.
The much faster install speed of the MSI is intriguing, though. Especially since in my test it had to use a GBit SMB connection, while the CLI install is local on NVME SSD.🙂

Edited October 31 by RMPSL

Good Article, but how to install the Vectorworks Viewer silently? We need to install the Viewer on more than 60 Clients (Windows).

Thanks,

Marc

@RMPSL Thanks - excellent info on MSI and I'll look at that ASAP although I'm surprised it's not in P&F as I remember seeing it there after installing.

Regarding the black screen, that could be related to the time of install, where the original VWIM installed Update 1 in a state where launching the embedded VWIM showed this issue. We implemented a workaround to fix this (as of Oct 30) that allows it to self-update. I also have yet to have it launch in "uninstall mode", that's on the table hopefully for Update 2.

I'll think about this speed difference. I doubt MSI packages unpack much faster than a zip, but there could be overhead for .vwim in general we could optimize out.

 

I do have a question though. Our current thinking is that MSI puts you on the "MSI" path where to update you just install the new MSI, rather than a hybrid of installing with MSI and then using the updater. Do you think that's ok? Internally MSI works very differently from how the VWIM/Updater work as far as tracking installed files so I worry about some cases like uninstall after an update. That's why there's no updater (VWIM now) after installing from MSI.

 

@MaScMVGM Unsupported currently. Should be easy to interface so stand by for that.

 

 

 

@MaScMVGM Command line install of Viewer will be supported in the next update of VWIM (it looks like you're ComputerWorks) - so Update 2 at the latest but possibly earlier. Any VWIM with revision >= 785641. Sorry for the oversight. I'm updating the document in the original post, but essentially just use "VIEWER" as the serial (and don't supply an LDF)

 

I also made a few QoL fixes/changes earlier - so for example the most noticeable would be that it now shows downloading file progress.

 

 

On 11/6/2024 at 8:42 AM, Tim Ardoin said:

@MaScMVGM Command line install of Viewer will be supported in the next update of VWIM (it looks like you're ComputerWorks) - so Update 2 at the latest but possibly earlier. Any VWIM with revision >= 785641. Sorry for the oversight. I'm updating the document in the original post, but essentially just use "VIEWER" as the serial (and don't supply an LDF)

 

I also made a few QoL fixes/changes earlier - so for example the most noticeable would be that it now shows downloading file progress.

 

 

Is there any estimation for release of Update 2? for the uninstall feature to work with cli.bat?

Hi all,

 

I have installed 2 variants here using the cli method cli.bat install --installdir "C:\Program Files\Vectorworks 2025" --serial "ELXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX" 1 variant in English, and this works well, at first it did not want to start but it turned out that the Site Protection Server also had to be updated, the other variant in Dutch, a license code had to be entered when starting up, this was apparently not included with the above method. I also saw that it did not appear in the control panel/programs so manual uninstallation is not possible. Is it also possible not to place a shortcut of the installation folder on the desktop, but a shortcut to Vectorwork.exe. Now I can do this with powershell but it would be more convenient if this happened immediately.

 

Thanks in advance