Revit 2018 AppStack

[rnapiza]

Has anyone successfully created an AppStack for Revit 2018?  I'm able to create the AppStack, however once assigned or attached to any other desktop than the first, I get a Licensing System Error 1.  I tried the suggestions from the AutoDesk site, but no dice.

[AlexLSx7]

Yes, i have 16/17/18 building design suite premium, which includes Revit, all working together in the same appstack.

How are you licensing it? Network or standalone?

Do you have any other Autodesk products that use license running on your base image or a seperate appstack? If you do, it doesnt like that! you will need to have them all together, either base image or appstack.

Try running Revit from the capture machine with the appstack attached as well, this will add the license file to the programdata folder so it doesnt keep asking for a license when you load it on each VM.

[rnapiza]

Hi,

I have autocad 2018, 3DS Max 2018, and Revit 2018 all as separate AppStacks.

They are standalone licenses.

I'l try creating one big AppStack.

Are your desktops locked down as well?

[alexcsuk]

They have no admin rights but other than that they can do what they want. Non persistent VMs.

[rnapiza]

hmm... i have the same thing...

I've created a brand new appstack with just AutoCad and Revit, AppStack is created with no issues, license went in no problem.  However, when I launch Revit the first time, it works, however, subsequent times i get that License Error 1.  I've also run into AutoCad issues now with "fatal error invalid configuration path filename"

Are you using standalone licensing or network licensing?

I'm running out of options... my next step is to build a new parent image without Symantec Endpoint Protection...

[AlexLSx7]

I am using network licenses.

What are you using for profile management? Are you using writable volumes?

[rnapiza]

persona manager along with UEM

no, not using writable volumes

[AlexLSx7]

Is Persona doing anything with the Autodesk files in roaming/local?

When we were using Appsense it would cause lots of issues, now we are using UEM we have no issues with it.

Try logging in with Persona disabled and see if it works?

[rnapiza]

Looks like Persona was causing issues... once I had it removed from the View agent,I've been able to launch Revit multiple times on several desktops without issue.

Now I need to look at how migrate those profiles off

Thanks for your help!

Cheers!

[AlexLSx7]

No problem at all. It took me a while to get it working properly

I've never used Persona before. Do you tell it what data to capture from each program? or does it just copy the whole user profile?

If you tell it what to capture, does it have a setting to load the data when you open the software? If it does, that also causes problems. It needs to be there before you open any Autodesk program.

[rnapiza]

i inherited this environment, but as far as i was able to figure out, persona was just copying the whole profile.

i think the combination of UEM, and Persona along with AppVolumes had caused some issues.

[AlexLSx7]

Ahh right.

I would get rid of Persona and stick with UEM if you have it.

These are the settings i use. The exclude is to clear the Journal files from Revit as they get big and make the user profile quite large. Speaking to the guys that use it here they dont need them and we havent had any problems with it without.

[IncludeRegistryTrees]

HKCU\Software\Autodesk

[IncludeFolderTrees]

<AppData>\Autodesk

<LocalAppData>\Autodesk

[ExcludeFolderTrees]

<LocalAppData>\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit 2016\Journals

<LocalAppData>\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit 2017\Journals

<LocalAppData>\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit 2018\Journals

[rnapiza]

Thanks for the tip, I'l add those keys.

Persona was on the roadmap to get nixed, but the need for Architecture group to get Revit 2018 and my push for a truly stateless desktop put this on the forefront.

Looks like I'll need to update UEM to 9.3 as I am on 9.1

[AlexLSx7]

I am on 9.3 but i set it up in 9.1 originally with no issues. Easy upgrade anyway

[rnapiza]

i hope it is,  don't feel like going down another rabbit hole.

:smileysilly: :smileygrin:

[rnapiza]

@AlexLSx7 are you using writable volumes

[Ray_handels]

For as far as I know if you are using single license the license is activated based on the name of the computer you are using.

If you package it with machine A and use it on machine B it wont work.

To be honest we have been able to get everything to work on Appvolumes, only thing that is an issue is applications that have a funcky licensing model. If possible I'd suggest going to networking license. My guess is it wont work on standalone. And not just Revit or Autocad for that matter...

[rnapiza]

That seems to be the common denominator for me...

i'll get licensing working on one and then the other magically breaks.. but the application runs fine when the licensing does work.

[Ray_handels]

Do you have an option to go to network licensing or any kind of concurrent licensing model for that matter?

This is not just an issue with Appvolumes per say but more an issue of how VDI or virtual machine (also XenApp) works..

[rnapiza]

Thanks Ray!

I'm trying to convince my manager, to switch to multi-user licensing, otherwise I'll have to install apps on the gold image... which i'm trying to avoid.

If you have a technical document readily available, I can use that validate the reasons to change licensing models.