Jump to content

Tim Ardoin

Vectorworks, Inc Employee
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    181

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Reputation

126 Spectacular

Community Answers

1

See answers

4 Followers

Personal Information

  • Location
    United States

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

  1. Tim Ardoin
    Hi all, Sorry for this issue. Unfortunately I've made several attempts to reproduce this without success. Starting with various initial installs and various update paths, without luck. If anyone who has had the problem happen (hopefully @Sebastiano B. ) could describe their update path, ie, what you originally installed, and which updates you went through on the way until you experienced the problem. I suspect it could be a problem along that path. A VWIM log, or multiple logs (~/Library/Logs/...) would help too, especially the one from the update after which the problem appeared, if you're able to track that down and DM it to me. I have been focusing on the "libicudata.74.dylib" symbolic link being missing, so thank you for that image @Sebastiano B. ! Also, symlinks are historically tricky, so it's possible there's an issue in VWIM's logic that handles them, but if so, it's currently undiscovered. I'd love to discover and fix that if it exists. Thanks all and best regards, Tim
  2. Tim Ardoin
    Hi @RMPSL, Thanks for the feedback and the tip about ALLUSERS. I'll look into that and amend the above post with it when I understand better how it affects things. Can you clarify what you mean by "VWIM worked better for us"? Do you mean better than MSI, or better in general than for some other customers? Or do you mean it worked better than the (somewhat experimental/non-officially supported) MSI that Computerworks had for awhile? Regarding the viewer - there is a separate MSI for this. Because of how MSI works and because a common use case is to have both the Viewer and the Full install installed in parallel, a separate Viewer MSI was required. I'll do some work to see if I can figure out what state that is and where to get it. Unfortunately the current state of being able to download these is a little bit in flux currently. More soon.
  3. Tim Ardoin
    NOTE: This article is intended for IT professionals with an understanding of the command line/terminal interface. Legacy (VWIM Command Line): 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 initiate a silent install of Vectorworks in a network environment or are specifically instructed to do so by Vectorworks Technical Support. The Vectorworks installer provides a command line interface for driving a silent installation from the command line. We also provide a native .msi package on Windows and .pkg package on MacOS. We suggest and expect you will want to use the native packages, and that is what this document explains. For the Install Manager's command line interface, please reference the Command Line Installation of Vectorworks 2025 document, as the interface is unchanged. MSI (Windows): The MSI is available in the Customer Portal downloads section or by choosing "Advanced" from the VWIM triple bar menu. It is provided as a zip file. The zip file contains the msi file itself, .cab files that contain the payload, a productcode.txt file, and finally an "install.bat" file that can simplify and/or serve as a base for your install process. To install Vectorworks, a few arguments must be passed to the MSI to provide the serial, LDF (License Description File), and Installation Directory. The install.bat file clarifies and checks these options, as well as checking for proper privileges and creating a log file. The usage of install.bat is: install.bat "Vectorworks2026.msi" "C:\Program Files\Vectorworks 2026" "ABCDDE-XXXXXX-XXXXXX-LLLLLL" "c:\mytemp\DD-LLLLLL.ldf" "msiLog.txt" The parameters are, in order: The path and filename of the .msi file (not the zip). The install directory The serial number An LDF file, previously downloaded This can be an empty string ( "" ) . If so, the MSI will attempt to fetch the LDF file from our servers based on the serial number. If successful, that fetched LDF will be used. A path and filename to a log file, useful to diagnose problems. Please note that this file may contain the serial number as msiexec will log it. The batch file runs msiexec on the msi, passing the requested parameters. It's possible to use msiexec directly, and the .bat file can be used as a reference for how to do this. Also in the batch file are instructions for doing a command-line uninstall. PKG (MacOS): On mac, a .pkg file is provided. This is available by clicking "Advanced" from the triple bar menu in the Install Manager. This file requires a configuration .plist file placed next to it, so it can retrieve the serial number, a path to the LDF file, and an optional list of users for which to store serial number information. The plist file must be named vw2026.plist, and must be located next to the .pkg file. Here is a sample plist file: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>users</key> <array> <dict> <key>username</key> <string>user1</string> <key>serial</key> <string>EMXDDM-XXXXXX-XXXXXX-LLLLLL</string> </dict> </array> <key>serial</key> <string>EMXDDM-XXXXXX-XXXXXX-LLLLLL</string> <key>ldf</key> <string>/tmp/DD-LLLLLL.ldf</string> </dict> </plist> The "users" array is optional and will cause the postinstall script in the pkg to create the licensing plists and copy the LDF into a user folder for each entry. The outer "serial" will be copied to the system location /Library/Preferences. Additionally, the outer "serial" and "ldf" keys are used internally to determine which features of Vectorworks to install. Note that user1, the serial numbers, and the LDF name should be customized to match your items. Once the plist file is created, the following command can be used to install the pkg: sudo installer -pkg ./Vectorworks2026.pkg -target /Applications It is currently required that Vectorworks installed via a pkg is installed to /Applications/Vectorworks 2026/. Note that once installed, MacOS remembers this install. To install a second time (for example if you delete the install folder), you must first tell macOS to forget it as follows: sudo pkgutil --forget net.nemetschek.vectorworks.installer
  4. Tim Ardoin
    @Anthony Reimer messaged. I'm hoping we can do something rapidly to help things work better on Mac - stay tuned.
  5. Tim Ardoin
    All (and specifically @DCS_Jarrad We don't currently have specific instructions for Intune or other management software beyond providing the command line interface in the initial post. That being said, this is something we are working to improve in several areas, including documentation and providing formats that work more naturally with that software. Unfortunately, for now that's all I can say regarding that. I do see some confusion above regarding serial and LDF and when you need one or the other, or both that I'll try to clear up here. First, regarding serial or LDF. Serial is always needed, and has always been needed. In VW2024, an LDF was also required, and that continues as well. The installer uses the LDF to know what to actually install. Now, if you pass just the serial, VWIM will attempt to download the LDF automatically. If it's unable to (because activation.vectorworks.net is not accessible) it will fail. If this is an offline or restricted installation where providing access to activation.vectorworks.net is not possible, the LDF file must be provided explicitly with, for example, --ldf C:\tmp\XX-XXXXXX.ldf . The LDF can be downloaded from the user portal. First, there are several possible combinations here: G (Site Protection) or E series. Online or offline. Roaming or local profiles. And I'm focusing just on site (managed) installs, not instances where every user does their own install. First, G series is easy because it installs the serial to the system instead of the user. If activation.vectorworks.net is accessible, --ldf isn't needed. If not accessible, then it's needed. Roaming/Local shouldn't matter because again the serial goes to the system location, however for offline roaming, which we think is an obscure use-case, since Vectorworks can't download the LDF, an LDF would need to be copied to the user folder manually. Please let me know if this last case is something causing a lot of pain. E series is where things get a little spicy because historically in the installer world, B and G series were written to be system-level, and E was considered user-level. I think that assumption was either wrong from the start or has grown less true over time (or both), but we have many sites with large numbers of E licenses. Because E series periodically requires activation, there should be no E series on offline computers so at least we can ignore that column, but because the installer puts the E series license only in the user's settings, roaming can be an issue. I'm considering having the installer put E series in the system location too (like G series works), maybe with an additional option to control it, but I'm not sure that's a good solution for cases where there are roaming users (users can log into any machine). I feel like maybe a utility is needed that takes a .csv of serials and usernames and can set up each user's registry or plist. Is that something that would be useful? A few loose notes: It seems like there's some calls for platform-specific vwim files, so I can work on that. The above issue with displayVersion 30.0 has been fixed (VWIM rev >= 811378) @Anthony Reimer can you send ma a log and output if you're able, of a failed attempt? As of recent vwim versions, -o allows VWIM's log file to be specified, which was often a problem to find for Mac (typically Jamf) deployments. Thanks all for the notes and feedback, and best regards, Tim
  6. DCS_Jarrad started following Tim Ardoin
  7. PaulJ started following Tim Ardoin
  8. Tim Ardoin
    Thanks for the @cberg . I was able to see the process blocking update ( Vectorworks 2025.app/Contents/Frameworks/Vectorworks Web Helper (GPU).app/Contents/MacOS/vectorworks_error_handler ). I'm asking around to see why this was stuck running. For now, the updater was working as designed, but depending on what I find out, I can have it ignore that one or maybe provide a button that lets the user attempt to kill the processes it finds. And as mentioned, have it show what it found is running. A reboot is a good remedy for now if this shows up again.
  9. Tim Ardoin
    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 updating Vectorworks in a standard work environment. Do not use these steps unless you are specifically attempting to initiate a silent update of Vectorworks in a network environment or are specifically instructed to do so by Vectorworks Technical Support. The Vectorworks Install Manager (VWIM) provides a command line interface for driving a silent or command line update from the command prompt or terminal. The CLI is accessed through calling a script file instead of the main exe/app of the VWIM: Windows: We will use a temporary folder at C:\tmp (as an example) to store the necessary files. We recommend using 7-zip for Windows to extract the necessary files. You may need an LDF file from the Customer Portal. Copy this file to C:\tmp. Download a copy of the Windows Vectorworks Install Manager from the Customer Portal into C:\tmp. This is an exe file, but it's a self-extracting archive and can be treated as a .zip file. This exe will be named something like "Vectorworks 2025 Install Manager XXXXXX.exe". Right click the exe file and choose 7-Zip-> Extract to <name>, and extract the archive to a folder. This will create a folder such as Vectorworks 2025 Install Manager 776367. Rename this folder to "VWIM" to follow the rest of this example. Start an administrator command prompt and type the following commands depending on what you want to do: cd c:\tmp\VWIM\resources This puts you in the resources folder where the command line scripts are found. To get information about the available commands: cli.bat To get information about a specific command: cli.bat <command> --help Specific example: cli.bat download --help To see the list of potential updates/targets: cli.bat download --ls To download a .vwupdate file: cli.bat download --dest c:\tmp --target <target> Specific example: cli.bat download --dest c:\tmp --target Update0 This will download a file Update0.vwim into c:\tmp that can later be used to do an offline update or full install. Note that alternately you can use the Install Manager GUI to easily download a .vwim file. To perform an update from online sources: cli.bat update --installdir "C:\Program Files\Vectorworks 2025" --serial "ELXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX" To perform an update from offline (local) sources: cli.bat update --installdir "C:\Program Files\Vectorworks 2025" --serial "ELXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX" -i "C:\tmp\Update2.vwim" --ldf C:\tmp\XX-XXXXXX.ldf This uses the previously downloaded vwim file Update0.vwim. This uses the previously download ldf file XX-XXXXXX.ldf (from the Customer Portal) MacOS: For this example we will use the folder /tmp/vwim. You can create and change to this folder by opening a terminal and typing: cd /tmp && mkdir vwim && cd vwim Download the latest Mac Vectorworks Install Manager.zip from the Customer Portal. This will be named similar to: Vectorworks 2025 Install Manager-30.0.776374-mac.zip For this example, we will rename this zip file to vwim.zip and copy it to /tmp/vwim. If you're performing an offline update: Download a LDF file from the Customer Portal. Copy this into /tmp/vwim, for example /tmp/vwim/XX-XXXXXX.ldf Extract the VWIM.zip: unzip vwim.zip This creates "Vectorworks 2025 Install Manager.app" inside /tmp/vwim. Enter the resources folder (a simplification for this example) cd "Vectorworks 2025 Install Manager.app/Contents/Resources" On macOS, we must switch to the user under which Vectorworks was previously installed. sudo su <username> For example if you installed under user "user1" then you would do: sudo su user1 (or just su user1 if you have their password). We are now ready to issue commands to the command line interface. To get information about the available commands: ./cli.sh To get information about a specific command: ./cli.sh <command> --help Specific example: ./cli.sh download --help To see the list of potential updates/targets: ./cli.sh download --ls To download a .vwupdate file: ./cli.sh download --dest <path> --target <target> Specific example: ./csdli.sh download --dest /tmp/vwim --target Update2 This will download a file Update2.vwim into /tmp that can later be used to do an offline update or full install. Note that alternately you can use the Install Manager GUI to easily download a .vwim file. To perform an update from online sources: ./cli.sh update --installdir "/Applications/Vectorworks 2025" --serial "ELXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX" The updated source files and ldf file will be retrieved online automatically during update. To perform an install from offline (local) sources: ./cli.sh install --installdir "/Applications/Vectorworks 2025" --serial "ELXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX" -i "/tmp/vwim/Update2.vwim" --ldf /tmp/vwim/XX-XXXXXX.ldf This uses the previously downloaded vwim file Update2.vwim. This uses the previously download ldf file XX-XXXXXX.ldf (from the Customer Portal). We recommend letting VWIM look up the LDF file if it's able to (ie, if there is internet access).
  10. Tim Ardoin
    Hi @cberg, Can you PM me the log from ~/Library/Logs? It should reveal what's blocking it. I'll actually make a note to have it report exactly what process it's finding in the future. Thanks for linking the above thread @rDesign . That fix should be live, so I'm wondering if there's something else running. Best regards, Tim
  11. Tim Ardoin
    @ghendrickx and all, I've implemented and deployed a fix for US/English. For US/English, upon launch of the updater, a self-update will happen and the problem should be fixed. Updaters after rev 786640 have the fix. Other distributors and languages will get the fix when they rebuild their updaters. However I think it's likely you're using a different flavor. For you or others that come across this, a workaround to get up and running with the current updater, assuming the problem is the issue I fixed, when the Updater complains about closing Vectorworks (and Vectorworks is already closed), run the following command: killall -9 QLPreviewExtension && killall -9 QLThumbnailExtension This closes the processes that the Updater is finding. You can use this command to query for these: ps aux | grep Vectorworks | grep QL After you kill the processes, switch back to the Updater and tell it to retry. There's a small chance that process could relaunch itself after being killed. This is more likely if you have a finder open with .vwx files in it, but it seems to take my system awhile and/or have to be prodded (for example, doing "Get Info" on a vwx or switching to icon view) to automatically relaunch the QL processes. Anyway, once you get past the Close Vectorworks problem, the update should proceed as normal. Please let me know if you have questions or issues. Thanks!
  12. Tim Ardoin
    I'm working on a fix. Stand by.
  13. Tim Ardoin
    @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.
  14. Tim Ardoin
    @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.
  15. Tim Ardoin
    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
  16. Tim Ardoin
    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.
  17. Tim Ardoin
    Normally, the Vectorworks Install Manager, and Vectorworks itself, automatically downloads the LDF file from our servers and you don't need to worry about it. For an offline install, since it can't be downloaded, it is supplied directly by downloading it from the user portal (on a machine with internet access of course), and supplied during installation. This was also the case for Vectorworks 2024. Offline installation isn't too common, but we still support it.
×
×
  • Create New...