RMPSL

VWIM worked better for us than the MSI, when I tried it last time. Now it's the other way around, MSI makes our deployment much simpler. Viewer: thank's for the info!

So, a quick update / feedback: - I had to add ALLUSERS=1 to the command line in order to get it to reliably add the shortcut to the start menu and register in control panel/programs&features - How are we supposed to install the Viewer? The install.bat says "The viewer batch doesn't take serial or ldfFile", but there is no "viewer batch", and setting SERIAL="VIEWER" (because VWIM install works with that) or leaving it empty (tried both with no serial param and SERIAL=""), doesn't work.

Wow! Thanks for embracing MSI! 🙂 I know it has been an option for a while now, but VWIM worked better for us. I'll do my deployment testing tomorrow. Fingers crossed. 🙂

Per cli.js the URL is https://activation.vectorworks.net/get-license-description-file

LDF seems to be downloaded automatically during install if there is internet access and no --ldf is provided. We install our G-Series with this command: c:\vwim\resources\cli.bat install --installdir "C:\Program Files\Vectorworks 2025" --serial "GXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX" -i "C:\vwim\install.vwim"

"Fun" fact: until U3 I was not able to cli.bat uninstall with the VWIM in my "install work" directory c:\VWIM. I had to use the VWIM installed in C:\Program Files\Vectorworks 2025\Vectorworks 2025 Install Manager With U3 it's vice versa: the VWIM in C:\Program Files\Vectorworks 2025\Vectorworks 2025 Install Manager only shows "Preparing for uninstall" (translated from German), the VWIM in c:\VWIM is able to uninstall via cli.bat

Yes. And this explains why the VWIM download is double the size of the MSI.

This isn't correct anymore. Extracting the downloaded EXE will give you a "$PLUGINSDIR" folder. Inside that folder you will find a file named app64.7z Extracting that file will give you the actual VWIM files & folders.

I can confirm that everything is working now. Thank you very much, Tim!

It's the VWIM that needed updating in order for the CLI installer to work properly. Using the new VWIM CLI you should now get the entry in programs&features and the desktop shortcut.

Sounds like your VWIM isn't up to date. It should self-update now (bug preventing that was fixed), but to be sure I'd recommend doing it manually: cli.bat download-latest-updater c:\vwim -p w This should at least fix the missing programs&features entry and shortcut.

One thing I noticed re speed difference is the size difference between MSI and VWIM offline source: MSI is about 8GB, while VWIM size is nearly double. And yes, with Vectorworks updating with MSI means always uninstalling and doing a full reinstall with the new version, which is a deal breaker for MSI in our case. But it doesn't have to be this way, MSI is able to apply differential updates via .MSP packages (Adobe Reader does this, it's official MSI is from 2015 (!) and we just push the latest MSP right after deploying the MSI), maybe you could see if you are able to provide those? In further testing I also ran into some issue with the G-series install via MSI: I did get the prompt to provide an LDF, and of course I did that, but it just kept asking - even after copying it to the install directory manually. We'll stick to the VWIM CLI for now. 🙂

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.🙂

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?

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.