Revit 2011 / 2012 circumstance

[Richard Dyck]

Searching for advice on this frustrating circumstance.
I'm currently attending formal classroom training on Revit Arch. where we use 2012. Last year I was invloved in similar using 2011 so I downloaded 2011 education version at home for my studies. Now however, the files I work with in class are 2012 which I am not able to open at home because of the way Revit doesn't save backwards. I've tried uninstalling 2011 and installing 2012 education version a few times without success. I'm thinking there might be some residual files remaining on my system that are effecting the attempted installs of 2012. This might have to do with the 3 year license clock. Does anyone have any experience with this?
Rick

[blads]

I don't know if this applies to educational software but if you have issues installing 2012 Revit software this procedure is often recommended to uninstall / reinstall…



2012: How to Complete a Clean Install [Uninstall] of Revit products

Issue

There may be circumstances where Autodesk Revit® 2012 products need to be removed from the workstation to allow for a clean installation. The following process will ensure all residual files are properly removed as well.

Solution

Use the following procedure to uninstall Revit 2012 products and remove any remnants from your system. The end result is a clean system on which you can reinstall.

Note that all paths listed by default are for Revit Architecture 2012. Substitute the product name below based on the Revit 2012 product you are uninstalling:

Autodesk Revit Architecture 2012/RAC 2012
Autodesk Revit Structure 2012/RST 2012
Autodesk Revit MEP 2012/RME 2012

Substitute the current Windows login name for %username%.

Please ensure to backup any custom family or template files prior to following this procedure:

Log on as a Local System Administrator and disable any Antivirus programs.
Remove the specific Revit 2012 product from the Windows Control Panel:

Windows Vista/Windows 7: Control Panel > Programs and Features > Uninstall the specific Revit 2012 product
Windows XP: Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs > remove the specific Revit 2012 product
Remove the 2012 Material Library from the Windows Control Panel:

Windows Vista/Windows 7: Control Panel > Programs and Features > Uninstall the Autodesk Material Library 2012
Windows XP: Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs > remove the Autodesk Material Library 2012
Use Windows Explorer to locate and delete the following folders as appropriate.

Windows Vista/Windows 7:
• C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Revit Architecture 2012
• C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\RAC 2012
• C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit Architecture 2012
• C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit Architecture 2012

Windows XP:
• C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Revit Architecture 2012
• C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Data\Autodesk\REVIT\2012
• C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Application Data\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit Architecture 2012
• C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Autodesk\RAC 2012
Open the system registry (Windows Start menu > Run > Regedit). Locate and delete the following registry keys as appropriate.

Windows XP/Windows Vista/Windows 7: 32 bit
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit Architecture 2012
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit Architecture 2012
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\RAC 2012

Windows XP/Windows Vista/Windows 7: 64 bit
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit Architecture 2012
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\RAC 2012
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit Architecture 2012

Warning! Problems caused by improperly editing the Windows registry could render your computer operating system unusable. Microsoft provides a wealth of critical information that you need to know about the registry in the Microsoft Knowledge Base at http://support.microsoft.com.

Use the Microsoft® Registry Editor only at your own risk and only after backing up the registry as well as the system.dat and user.dat files as outlined for your operating system in the Microsoft Knowledge Base and in the related solution, TS66513. Additional information about the registry is also contained in the Help topics in the Microsoft Registry Editor.
Restart the workstation.
Before reinstalling Revit products

In Windows Explorer, delete the contents of your Windows Temp folder, but do not delete the Windows Temp folder itself. You can locate the Temp folder by entering %TEMP% in the Address bar of Windows Explorer.
Use the End Task feature to end any anti-virus programs.
Note: Disabling anti-virus programs from the system tray may not be sufficient. Virus checking programs may block certain activities that are seen as suspicious (for example, accessing the registry, adding/removing/updating DLL files, and so on), even though these activities are common when installing or removing programs.

Several anti-virus programs can be disabled by right-clicking the taskbar icon and selecting Disable from the shortcut menu. For more information about disabling your anti-virus software, refer to the vendor of that software.

Important! It is important that you not only disable the anti-virus software but also use the End Task feature to end the anti-virus software.

To verify that an anti-virus program is not still running in the background as a TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident Program):

Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7

Press [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Delete].
Click Task Manager.
On the Processes tab of the Task Manager, select the process for the anti-virus program and then click End Process.
You are now ready to install Revit 2012 products on the clean system.
To do this make sure you are logged in as administrator and have applied all the recommended and critical windows updates.

That you have cleaned out the temp folder for this user.
Clean out the Windows temp folder:

Restart your system.
In windows click Start > Run.
In the Run box type %temp% and click “OK”. A windows explorer window will open and display the files in your TEMP directory.
Select and delete as many files as possible (there may be a few still in use).
Close the explorer window.
If you are using Win 7 or Vista that you have disabled the UAC (User Account Control) for this login. (refer procedure below)
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Turn-User-Account-Control-on-or-off

Once these above procedures have been applied Start the install of the Revit 2012 version software.