How to do network installation?

[AOS Germany]

I want to install my licenses on my fileserver, so all users can use the same installation. one update and all users will start the new version. ok, seems to be easy.

But I don't know how to do. NWCLI.EXE says "Wrong startup directory". That's right. I moved my local installation to the server, cause

it is a NAS-Server from DELL and i'm not allowed to run or install normal programs on my NAS-Server, then i'll loose my guarantee or my support.

Who's able to give some hints?

Greeetings from Germany
Ralph Theren

[GuthCAD Software Support]

Hello Ralph,

We will be updating the NWCLI.EXE script in the next software update. Hopefully it should fix the problem.

I will let you know when it is ready. (Estimate is middle of next week.)

So please just enjoy the holiday break!

best regards,
Paul G

[GuthCAD Software Support]

The updated network install is now in the latest software update (4.0 A.072), here:

German version:
http://www.guthcad.com/dlviewer_ger.htm

English version:
http://www.guthcad.com/dlviewer.htm

The script is called NWCLI.EXE (as before) located in the CV installation directory. Note that the CAD Viewer software has also been modified. So in your case you need to copy the complete install directory to the server. (Others would just install directly onto the server.)

Hopefully it should fix the problem. Let us know of course if not.

thanks,
Paul G.

[Stax]

When I try to run NWCLI.EXE I get the error message "The file cv1.in0 does not exist".
Why can´t I enter the licence key during the installation instead? That way I could make my own *.msi. I want to protect my licence key but you´re making it very hard.

[GuthCAD Software Support]

Hello Stax,

re.
> When I try to run NWCLI.EXE I get the error message "The file cv1.in0 does not exist".

Can you please check that you have the latest version of the software (4.0 A.72 or above) installed on the server? The latest version does not use CV1.INI, so it is probably not the latest software. (If it is the correct software the NWCLI.EXE on the server should have a file date of 05.01.2005 or greater.)

> Why can´t I enter the licence key during the installation instead? That way I could make my
own *.msi. I want to protect my licence key but you´re making it very hard.

Sorry about that, the key cannot currently be entered during installation. However we will certainly take your suggestion on board, and possibly add it to a future installation.

best regards,
Paul Guthrie

[AOS Germany]

I've downloaded the new installer. Now NWCLI.EXE is starting the installation, unfortunately it tries to write to the server share on each client installation. I'm not willing to give my users write access to that share for security reasons (e.g. the executables could be infected with viruses). NWCLI.EXE tries to create a Temp Folder in CadViewer4\PDF-XChange\ on the server and overwrite the Help an pdfSaver Folders, i think thats not necessary. As I know the pdfSaver is only for saving drawings in the pdf format, but I selected "Users cannot save drawings" at the installation.
Finally we found a solution that worked for us, without giving the users write access to the server. We copied the whole installation directory to the server share and changed the cadviewer.ini in this folder as following:
The "QIK2" variable points to the installation directory on the server and the "WorkFileDir" variable points to a local directory that we created on each user pc, e.g. "C:\Temp\".
So the temporary files can be written locally and the user dont need write access on the server share. Unfortunately, with this solution all users are using the same cadviewer.ini wich resists on the server and is write protected, so they can't change any options.

Best regards
Simon Ernst

[GuthCAD Software Support]

Hello Simon,

We have done a bit more work on the network install.

1. If "Users cannot save drawings" is selected during the server installation, then the PDF-XChange drivers are not installed. (as you rightly point out it is not necessary.)

2. User settings are now stored in CVUSER.INI instead of CADVIEWER.INI.

In your case you can still keep the manual setup that you made to the TEMP directory as you described, i.e. if you prefer not to use the NWCLI.EXE setup. It should still all work, but now a CVUSER.INI file should get created in the temp directory and store the user's own settings there. You just need to install the new software on the server.

The new version is 4.0 A.075 here.

http://www.guthcad.com/dlviewer_beta.htm


Best regards
Paul Guthrie