Add Desktop Content libraries to an Inventor multi-seat deployment

Issue

You want to know how to include Desktop Content libraries into a muli-seat deployment of Inventor.

Solution1: physically include the content center library files in the deployment image

Desktop content libraries were designed for standalone users, therefore there is no built-in option to include them into the multi-seat deployment. However, you can use the Install Additional Files page of  the installation wizard to perform this task on a large number of seats. Follow this procedure:

1. Install Inventor with Desktop Content libraries needed on one of the seats. This generates the *.idcl files representing the libraries. Their location can be checked in Application Options -> Content Center -> Inventor Desktop Content.
2. Start the deployment creation wizard and follow your usual procedure until you reach the Install Additional Files page.
3. On the Install Additional Files page, use the Add Drive and Add Folder buttons to recreate the Desktop Content libraries in the default installation path depending on the target operating system:

Default path for Windows Vista and Windows 7:

C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Inventor <version>\Content Center\Libraries\

Default path for Windows XP:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Autodesk\Inventor <version>\Content Center\Libraries\

In the paths above, <version> = 2010 or a higher number depending on the Inventor version you are installing.

   4.  Select the folder on the last level and use the Browse button to add the *.idcl library files created in step 1. The complete window should look as shown below:

   5.  Proceed with the deployment creation.

Solution2: add an application options file to the deployment image

Rather than including all Content Center library files in the deployment image like proposed in Solution1, you can reduce the size of the deployment image considerably (and hence the installation time) by placing the libraries on a UNC drive and only including in the deployment image an XML option file pointing to that UNC path.

• Install Inventor and the Desktop Library files once to a local drive on any machine that is available.
• Move the library files to a common UNC network folder as explained in this wiki section (e.g.  \\ore12376043\unccontent )
• Start Inventor and in the Application Options > Content Center tab, point your local desktop content to the UNC path (in my example :  \\ore12376043\unccontent\UNCApplicationOptions.xml )
• Export the application options to an XML file (e.g. \\ore12376043\unccontent\UNCApplicationOptions.xml )
  
  
  
• Include that XML file in the deployment image creation process
• Go to the Configure Options Settings section
• Change the Application Setting from default to use your customized XML (e.g.

• deploy the image and all users will automatically have access to the common content center library files on the UNC network drive.