switching to Vista 64 - Revit activation switching

[ws]

I have RAC 2009 activated on an XP Pro 32bit OS machine which I am going to change to a Vista 64 OS (masochism I know :roll: ;))

Would anyone know how I deactivate the existing Revit install (I assume you need to do this?) so that I can reinstall it on Vista 64?

Do you have to use the portable license utility for this sort of thing?

thanks.

[m20roxxers]

Yeah the PLU (portable licence utility) would work fine.

Just make sure Revit is installed on both machines, then open the PLU Utility on the Vista machine you want to licence to transfer to and copy the computer name and ID.

On your existing machine (where the Revit licence is) you add the computer name and ID to the PLU list. Then click export and it will create the licence file for you.
Put the file on your other machine, USB or email work fine and then use the PLU and import the licence across.
There is a comprehensive help file in the PLU to help if you have any questions and it's pretty straight forward.

[ws]

thanks, I didn't notice the Help button on the PLU dialogue.

It mentions what to do when making hardware changes to a machine - export to an intermediate PC - and changing the OS is probably the same procedure (I hope;)).

[ws]

..just for the record it did work - I think ;)

When transferring the licence back to RAC 2009 on Vista 64 I got the licence imported confirmation but when I looked in Revit it seemed to need activation unlike when I exported it to another machine.
So, I pressed the 'Register' button and it activated OK and I got an email from Autodesk confirming the activation.

So... is that a new activation (I already had a Home use 2nd activation)?

Maybe it doesn't count as I notice that the Revit PLU code for this PC is the same after Vista 64 was installed as when it was running Windows XP (hardware based I guess).

Anyway, RAC 2009 works OK so far in Vista 64 even with Aero enabled.
A slight performance hit I would say in OpenGL, but that is to be expected.

Quite impressed with Vista 64 (SP1) to date - but I did spend weeks checking compatibility issues with the hardware in advance and downloading new drivers etc.

[iru69]

I've done the whole PLU a couple of times, and IIRC, that doesn't sound like it "worked"... if you got an email from Autodesk, I think you re-activated. But I haven't done it in a while, so maybe the procedure has changed.

My experience also would suggest that the PLU is ridiculously confusing and unintuitive, though I'm glad they have something for that sort of thing. Fortunately, it's rarely needed in our practice and it sure beats the whole stupid USB dongle that apps like ArchiCAD and Chief Architect have.

Aside from the recent activation bugs in the last couple of releases, my experience with Autodesk's activation policies is one of the few areas I'd give Autodesk a bunch of credit. We use the "Home license" (e.g. 2nd activation) with all our seats, we often upgrade or rebuild computers mid-year, and we've rarely run out of activations... and when we have, a quick no-fuss phone call/email has resolved it. I feel we've kept up our end of the bargain by buying a license for every user, and I'm glad Autodesk has kept up their end of the bargain by not giving us a hard time when we need to activate the software we've purchased (I could go on about how I think having to activate software in the first place is a crock, but that's another topic).

Glad you're digging Vista 64 so far. Vista is an excellent OS, and it's been a rather interesting study in both marketing and sociology to see how badly it's been maligned in the marketplace, mostly by people who have absolutely no idea what they're talking about.

[ws]

Thanks, I suspect you are correct, that it was actually another activation - possibly the fact that I kept the computer name the same and that the special code which the PLU shows for the machine did not change between OSs meant that it did not count as a 3rd activation - anyway, it works ;)

Re. Vista 64, whether SP1 has made a big difference I'm not sure but it was perhaps the simplest OS install I've ever had. I can remember the 'fun' I used to have with OS/2, NT4, Win 2k, various Linux versions and even XP and credit to MS, this was very easy.
Vista even spotted that my SB sound card did not have Vista drivers and gave me a link to the creative website to download some.
It is a bit of a game checking if 64 bit versions of applications are available - but (touch wood) everything works so far including Office 2003.
Just about to try CS3, so fingers crossed ;)

A bonus is that in Vista the handwriting recognition features are automatically available once you install a Wacom tablet. With a bit of training it works quite well (it doesn't like post/zip codes though).