NOTE: This article is intended for IT professionals with an understanding of the command line/terminal interface.
This article is not intended for all users and is not a required procedure for installing Vectorworks in a standard work environment.
Do not use these steps unless you are specifically attempting to update Vectorworks using Command Prompt or Terminal in a network environment or are specifically instructed to do so by Vectorworks Technical Support.
You can download an offline update and distribute it over the network. Clients can use the Updater to install the offline update through the 'Advanced Options' menu or it can be installed silently with the Command Line Interface (CLI) as well. Offline updates are .vwupdate files. Before updating using the offline update, the Updater application needs to be updated.
Updating the Updater:
On Mac: Open the Terminal application and use the following command:
/Applications/Vectorworks\ 2019/Vectorworks\ 2019\ Updater.app/Contents/MacOS/Vectorworks\ 2019\ Updater update-updater
On Win: Open a Command Prompt window as an administrator and use the following command:
“Vectorworks 2019 Updater.exe” update-updater
After the Updater is up to date, the .vwupdate file needs to be downloaded so that it can be used on the client machines. You can choose to download a generic update or a targeted update.
Generic offline update: can work from any prior installation to the current service pack
Targeted offline update: from one specific service pack to another (i.e. SP0 to SP2)
*this may result in smaller .vwupdater files and may be faster*
Downloading the Update:
To download, the updater can be run from a VW installation or in isolation. The below paths in the examples are next to the updater app/exe. Please note on Windows you just use the updater executable in the Vectorworks 2021 Updater folder next to Vectorworks2019.exe
Generic Offline Update:
Download a generic update that will go from prior service pack to SP2
-p m = mac
-p w = windows
<destination> is the folder to write the offline update to
On Mac: Open the Terminal application and use the following command:
/Applications/Vectorworks\ 2019/Vectorworks\ 2019\ Updater.app/Contents/MacOS/Vectorworks\ 2019\ Updater cli download-generic-update -p m <destination> SP2
On Win: Open a Command Prompt window as an administrator and use the following command:
“Vectorworks 2019 Updater.exe” cli download-generic-update -p w <destination> SP2
Targeted Offline Update:
Download a targeted update that will go from Service Pack 0 to Service Pack 2
On Mac:
Vectorworks\ 2019\ Updater.app/Contents/MacOS/Vectorworks\ 2019\ Updater cli download-update -p m /tmp SP0 SP2
This creates /tmp/SP0-SP2-darwin.vwupdate
On Windows:
“Vectorworks 2019 Updater.exe” cli download-update -p w \tmp SP0 SP2
This creates \tmp\SP0-SP2-win32.vwupdate
Applying the Update:
To apply the update, it can be opened in the updater (where Vectorworks is installed) using the Advanced Options-> Offline Update menu, or you can put it somewhere available to the client machine and use the command line updater next to the Vectorworks installation:
On Mac:
Vectorworks\ 2019\ Updater.app/Contents/MacOS/Vectorworks\ 2019\ Updater cli update -i /tmp/SP0-SP2-darwin.vwupdate
On Win:
“Vectorworks 2019 Updater.exe” cli update -i \tmp\SP0-SP2-win32.vwupdate
Below are some additional arguments that can be used in the command line interface:
# See Help
/Applications/Vectorworks\ 2019/Vectorworks\ 2019\ Updater.app/Contents/MacOS/Vectorworks\ 2019\ Updater cli -h
# See Help for a command
/Applications/Vectorworks\ 2019/Vectorworks\ 2019\ Updater.app/Contents/MacOS/Vectorworks\ 2019\ Updater cli <command> -h
# Check for Updates
/Applications/Vectorworks\ 2019/Vectorworks\ 2019\ Updater.app/Contents/MacOS/Vectorworks\ 2019\ Updater cli check
# Update
/Applications/Vectorworks\ 2019/Vectorworks\ 2019\ Updater.app/Contents/MacOS/Vectorworks\ 2019\ Updater cli update
# Repair
/Applications/Vectorworks\ 2019/Vectorworks\ 2019\ Updater.app/Contents/MacOS/Vectorworks\ 2019\ Updater cli repair
Edited by jblock
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