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This page is dedicated to users installing the latest Advance software versions (Advance Steel, Advance Concrete, Advance Design). This section provides useful information related to the Advance software installation (requirements, installation steps, licensing, etc).
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Hardware and software requirements
Hardware
PC with Pentium Processor min. 2 GHz (4 GHz recommended)
Main memory min. 2 GB
For Advance Steel and Advance Concrete: AutoCAD® compatible graphics-card (for more information, see http://www.autodesk.com/autocad-graphicscard)
For Advance Design: Windows compatible graphics adapter (128 MB video RAM recommended), with the latest video driver (recommended by the manufacturer), with support for OpenGL
Network adapter
DVD Drive
Windows compatible printer or plotter
Supported Windows platforms: Windows Vista (32-bit or 64-bit version), Windows XP Pro
Supported AutoCAD platforms (for Advance Steel and Advance Concrete): AutoCAD® 2007, ADT 2007, AutoCAD® 2008, AutoCAD® Architecture 2008, AutoCAD® 2009, AutoCAD® Architecture 2009, AutoCAD® 2010 or AutoCAD® Architecture 2010.
Advance Concrete 2010: approx. 500 MB.
Advance Steel 2010: approx. 900 MB.
Advance Design 2010: approx. 400 MB
If you are familiar with Windows installations, you can run a customised installation and choose to not install certain files such as help or tutorial documents. Thus you will save disk space (not recommended).Installing Advance may take from 5 to 10 minutes depending on the installation type (typical, compact, customised) and on the system speed.
1. Check the available disk space on your computer.
2. In your Windows session you must be logged in as administrator or you must have administrator rights.
3. Disable any antivirus software running on your computer during the installation.
You can specify an installation folder during the software setup, but it is recommended to keep the default folder suggested by the installation wizard.
Insert the installation DVD into the DVD drive. The setup program starts automatically and the following dialog box appears.
| Click SETUP. |
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| Select the preferred language and the AutoCAD® version. Then click OK. |
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| Proceed with the steps in the installation wizard to complete the setup. |
An activation code and a serial number are required to use Advance commands in AutoCAD®.
Without an authorisation a temporary license for 5 days may be installed.
If you have any problems contact your reseller or GRAITEC support.
All Advance licenses are provided by a license server. When Advance is successfully activated, according to the activation code and the serial number provided when purchasing the software, you will be able to use it as per license rights purchased and within the terms of the license agreement.
Once Advance is installed, you must activate a license to use the software.
The license is activated online, through the Internet connection. If you do not have an Internet connection, the License manager provides an option to activate the license offline.
Starting the activation process
The activation process starts on launching Advance. Follow the steps of the License manager to activate the product. Once the license is activated, the License manager is no longer displayed.
You can activate a license or request an evaluation license without starting AutoCAD® or Architectural Desktop, selecting from the Windows Start menu: Programs > Graitec > Advance XXX > License Utility
Migrating from a previous version
If you are upgrading from a previous version, you will receive a new activation code. When activating the license, use the existing serial number and the new activation code.
Important!
If you are using Advance with a USB dongle, you will get the license rights based on the dongle ID. Be aware that you cannot use Advance without a dongle. To use the new license online activation process without a dongle, please contact GRAITEC.
Online activation for new Advance users
Before starting, make sure you have the serial number and an activation code; otherwise you can request an evaluation license or you can use Advance for 5 days.
To activate an Advance license, proceed as follows:
| 1. Start Advance and select from the starting screen I want to activate my license. Click Next.
You can also select Programs > Graitec > Advance XXX > License Utility from the Windows Start menu. |
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| 2. Enter the serial number and the activation code. Click Next. |
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| 3. Your computer contacts the activation server at GRAITEC; the license rights are written in the database. The activation server receives the information and processes it. If the activation code and the serial number are registered, then the license rights, according to the license agreement, are transferred from GRAITEC to the customer. After clicking Finish in the last dialog box, Advance starts automatically. |
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If the activation code and the serial number are not registered, the GRAITEC activation server informs you about the activation code mismatch. If you mistyped one of the codes, click Restart and try again.
If you do not have a serial number and activation code (or if the existing ones are not recognised) a temporary license for 5 days can be installed. Click Install a temporary license for 5 days.
If the computer on which you want to activate the license is not connected to the Internet or you encountered problems during the online activation you can activate Advance using the offline procedure, e-mail based.
The necessary information for the software activation is written in an .xml file created based on the activation code and serial number and automatically sent to GRAITEC at license.activation@graitec.com.
Before starting, make sure you have the activation code and the serial number.
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1. Start Advance and select from the starting screen, the I want to activate my license option. Click Next.
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| 2. Enter the serial number and the activation code. Click Next. |
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| 3. In the next dialog box select I want to proceed with an offline authorisation and click Next. |
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| 4. Read the message and click Next to continue. |
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5. When prompted, save the created .xml file containing the information required for the activation on the hard drive. An e-mail message with the attached .xml file is automatically prepared. Send the request to license.activation@graitec.com. If the information in the .xml file is correct, an e-mail containing the necessary .xml file will be sent to you. |
| 6. After receiving the license, start Advance and select I want to activate my license from the starting screen. Click Next. |
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7. In the next dialog box select I have an xml file.... To specify the .xml file, enter a path or click  , browse to the file location and click Next.
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| 8. After confirming in the last dialog box, Advance starts automatically. |
Requesting an evaluation license
If you do not have an activation code and the serial number you can request an evaluation license.
If after 30 days of running the evaluation version you have not registered and provided a valid activation code and serial number, you will not be able to run Advance.
1. Start Advance and select from the starting screen, the I want to run a 30 days evaluation option. Click Next. |
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| 2. Read the message and click Next to continue. |
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| 3. Enter all the required information for the license request and click Next. |
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| 4. Advance provides the option to send the information by e-mail or by fax. Select your preference and click Next. |
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5. If the method for sending the license request was by e-mail, an e-mail message is automatically prepared. Send the request to authorization.advance@graitec.com GRAITEC will use the provided information to create the authorisation code for the evaluation license. Within 24 hours an e-mail containing the authorisation code and the serial number will be sent to you. For more information refer to the Readme.pdf file. |
| 6. After confirming in the last dialog box, Advance starts automatically. |
A network license allows running Advance on several workstations using a server to allocate the licenses.
If you have more that one license in a network environment, activate the server license on the server using a small program - ServerLicenseUtility. When activating the product, on all other client workstations you will have to specify the name of the server.
For licensing, specify if the computer is a server or client using a small program called License Server. To install this program, proceed as follows:
Browse to the Tools\License server folder on the installation DVD and start the installation by running the Setup.exe file.
Proceed with the steps in the installation wizard to complete the setup.
The license server software is installed and the Graitec License Server service activated.
To activate a server license, perform the following steps:
From the Windows Start menu, select Programs > Graitec > License Server > License utility and proceed as follows:
| 1. In the first dialog box of the Server License Utility, select Activate server license and click Next to continue. |
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| 2. In the next dialog box enter the activation code and the serial number provided when Advance was purchased. Click Next. |
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If you have more than one license and the current installation is for a client workstation, proceed as follows:
| 1. Start Advance. On the start screen select I want to connect to My company license server and click Next. |
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| 2. In the next installation step, provide the name of the machine on which the license manager is installed in the Server option. After entering the server name and clicking the Next button, the installation program searches for the specified computer. This search might take some time. |
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| 3. After the server is found, click Finish to complete the client configuration. If the server is not found, an error message will appear. |
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The LMTools application is installed with the license server software. This application verifies whether the license server is active.
1. On the Start menu, select the License Server icon in the Graitec group.
2. In the “LMTools” dialog box, enter the complete path to the license file using Browse on the Service/License File tab. This file is in the directory where the license server was installed.
3. Select the Server Diagnostics tab and click Perform Diagnostics.
4. Close the application.
Often, in practice, there are situations when Advance is used on computers that are not permanently connected to the GRAITEC license server. For example:
On a laptop
On different computers that are not connected to the company license server
The software is used both at work and at home
Therefore, GRAITEC provides a License utility - a tool that allows rehosting or borrowing a license.
License rehosting is used to transfer a license (standalone or server license) from one computer to another.
Within a network, a license can be borrowed from the company's server, for temporary use on a laptop or another computer out of the company's network.
Moving the license from one computer to another (rehosting)
To use Advance on another computer, the license must be transferred to the other computer using the License Utility. The License Utility allows returning the license to the GRAITEC activation server and then activating it on the destination computer.
The server license can be transferred using the same procedure. This is necessary when changing the license server, reformatting the server or reinstalling WINDOWS (the license depends on the operating system installation).
Online license transfer
Before starting, close the active Advance sessions.
From the Windows Start menu, select Programs > Graitec > Advance XXX > License utility and proceed as follows:
| 1. In the License Utility dialog box, select Return application license. Click Next. |
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| 2. In the next dialog box, select the application for which to remove the license. Click Next. |
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| 3. The next dialog box displays the confirmation message. Click Finish to complete the process. |
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The license can be activated on another computer by following the steps described in the Activating the software chapter.
If the computer, from which the license is to be removed, is not connected to the Internet, Advance can be deactivated using the offline e-mail based procedure. The necessary information is saved in an .xml file and automatically sent to GRAITEC at license.activation@graitec.com. After receiving the confirmation message, the license can be activated on another computer. Before starting, close the active Advance sessions. From the Windows Start menu, select Programs > Graitec > Advance XXX > License utility and proceed as follows:
| 1. In the License Utility dialog box, select Return application license. Click Next. |
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| 2. In the next dialog box, select I want to proceed with an offline deactivation and click Next. |
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| 3. Read the message and click Next to continue. |
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| 4. When prompted, save the created .xml file containing the information required for deactivation on the hard drive. An e-mail message with the attached .xml file is automatically prepared. Send the request to license.activation@graitec.com. |
After receiving the confirmation message the license can be activated on another computer. Advance cannot be used on the source computer. For details, read the Activating the software - Offline activation.
Borrowing the license from the company's server
If the software must be used out of the office (for example, on a laptop) the license should be borrowed from the company's license server.
Borrowing a license means transferring a license from the company's server license to another computer (or laptop), for offline use, for a defined period of time. It can be used also outside of the company's network. The number of licenses on the company's server is reduced, as Advance can be used offline.
Before starting, make sure to have the activation code and the serial number for the network license.
Warning! When borrowing the license, the computer (laptop) must be connected to the server.
The license can be borrowed for a maximum of 15 days.
From the Windows Start menu, select Programs > Graitec > Advance XXX > License utility and proceed as follows:
| 1. In the License Utility dialog box, select Borrow the license from my company's server. |
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| 2. In the next dialog box, enter the company's license server name, the license information (Serial Number and Activation Code). Also, select the return date and click Next. |
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| After the return date, the license will automatically be assigned back to the server. Also, it can be returned earlier using the License Utility. |
| 3. The next dialog box displays the confirmation message. Click Finish to complete the process. |
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| The license was transferred to the laptop and the number of licenses on the server was reduced. |
Returning a borrowed license before the expiry date
From the Windows Start menu, select Programs > Graitec > Advance XXX > License utility and proceed as follows:
| 1. In the License Utility dialog box, select Return a borrowed license. |
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| 2. In the next dialog box, enter the necessary information. Click Next. |
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| 3. Click Finish to complete the process. |
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The license is available on the server again and Advance can be used on another computer within the company's network.
Repair the application license
In case a computer upgrade is preventing Advance from launching, the license should be updated or repaired.
If the computer is not connected to the Internet, use the offline e-mail based procedure.
1. In the first dialog box of the License Utility select Repair application license and click Next.
2. Click Finish to complete the process.
From the Windows Start menu, select Programs > Graitec > Advance XXX> License utility and proceed as follows:
| 1. In the License Utility dialog box, select Repair application license and click Next. |
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| 2. In the next dialog box of the License Utility select I want to proceed with offline authorisation and click Next. |
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| 3. Read the message and click Next to continue. |
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| 4. When prompted, save the created .xml file containing the information required for repairing the license on the hard drive. An e-mail message with the attached .xml file is automatically prepared. Send the request to license.activation@graitec.com. If the information in the .xml file is correct, an e-mail containing the necessary .xml file will be sent. |
| 5. After receiving the repaired license, start the License Utility and, on the first screen, select I have an xml file.... To specify the .xml file, enter a path or click and browse to the file location and click Next. |
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| 6. Click Finish to complete the process. |