Tip of The Week: The Do’s and Don’ts of Switching PCB Releases

Blog Post created by andrew_audova on Dec 13, 2014

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The Configurator has been discontinued in all VX releases, replaced by the 'Registrator' and 'Release Switcher' programs. Here are the main points to know about on the topic of switching between PCB VX releases (for example: EE VX.1 and PADS VX.0):

The 'Release Switcher' is available in the Start Menu at the following location:
- Mentor Graphics PCB Admin Utilities > The MGC PCB Release Switcher
VX releases support "side-by-side" registration, which means you no longer need to switch between releases like you did with the Configurator, for pre-VX versions.
- There are a couple of exceptions when running the 'Release Switcher' is required, in order to define which VX release is the "active" release:
  - Automation
  - File Associations (for ex: double-clicking a .pcb to open Xpedition and the design in one action)
When you first run the 'Release Switcher', it may not know about all of the releases on your system, especially if they are in different install targets. The 'Release Switcher' learns, and in turn populates the list, as you 'Browse' to different releases.
In the 'Release Switcher, when browsing for the 'Release', navigate to the product root folder that is under the installation target.
- Example target locations for releases installed to the default and recommended 'C:\MentorGraphics' target:
  - C:\MentorGraphics\7.9.5EE
  - C:\MentorGraphics\EEVX.1.1
  - C:\MentorGraphics\PADSVX.1
Do not attempt to use the 'Configurator' to configure a VX release, or to switch releases.
Use the 'Release Switcher' to switch releases, even pre-VX releases (for example, EE 7.9.5 or PADS 9.5).
- Also works for releases in completely different root target locations (with the Configurator you had to run "Configurator -clean" every time you switched).
The Release Switcher is essentially a 'wrapper' program. It sub-invokes the 'Registrator' for any VX releases, and the 'Configurator' for pre-VX releases.

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milostnik Dec 19, 2014 8:18 AM

In a multiuser environment (like for us Windows Server 2008) the Release Switcher has to be run in administrator privilege, this means the user has to be set temporarily as administrator.

Sometimes the instance running the release switcher will be elevated in a environment where not all user settings are visible, so be careful with this, and assure that for the time the switcher is run the resources (mapped disk, other variables) are seen.

As a consequence all variables will be set in the system wide scope.

Before attempting to configure for another user you need to move the relevant variable form system scope to user scope. Use any method you know (our AE suggested the superb RapidEE utility)

Even though Release Switcher is far better that Configurator, there is still some polish to do.

Hope this note helps

Matija

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dcox Jul 20, 2015 8:48 PM

We found that installing VX.1 from the regular Mentor install program took 10 - 15 minutes to run on the server, but we eventually found out why. It was uncompressing itself to a temp directory and self targetting the directory as the source. We uncompressed the program into its component pieces and ran the standard install program, which started right up. Unfortunately, the first time my EE did this, the program that appeared in the "source" box was for an Expedition viewer that had install files located on another server entirely, and he reinstalled the viewer by mistake. He hadn't noticed, so unless you run the 1.6G+ install program and wait, make sure the source and target installation is correct. We also found the registry had some errors that prevented us from double-click launching Layout. This is documented on the support site, but basically when you are running VX.1, some of the registry key values still point to the older program so windows gets confused and reports a dll entry error. So, you edit the registry with Regedit and search for "powerpcb.exe". When you find a key that has a value (not the key name) that contains a path to the powerpcb.exe program, you need to change the part of the path that reads "9.5pads" to "padsvx.1". We found between three and five entries that needed changing. Part of my job as cad admin is to install new versions of software and run it through its functions to verify nothing got broken before the group updates, so I use the MGC Release Switcher quite a bit

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john_zsori Jul 21, 2015 4:31 PM

Does Release Switcher work with the new Standard Plus? I'd like to be able to go between Standard Plus and 9.5 easily.

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andrew_audova @ john_zsori on Jul 22, 2015 3:12 PM

Yes it does, John.

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lcjon Oct 1, 2015 8:03 PM

Processing release switcher to use 9.5 applications but have license issue preventing output capability. What do I do?

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andrew_audova @ lcjon on Oct 2, 2015 12:10 PM

If you've already installed your latest/greatest licenses from SupportNet and the problem persists, you might want to open a new Service Request.

To install a license file in PADS 9.5 - Navigate in your Start Menu to 'Mentor Graphics SDD > PADS Licensing Assistance > Install License File'

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lcjon @ andrew_audova on Oct 2, 2015 1:52 PM

Thank-you for the response Andrew!

This sounds like I need to download a new license in order to process v9.5 after switching from VX1...true?

HaGD, LCJ

From: andrew_audova <mentor@jiveon.com>

To: L.C. Johnson <lcjon@yahoo.com>

Sent: Friday, October 2, 2015 2:11 PM

Subject: Re: - Tip of The Week: The Do’s and Don’ts of Switching PCB Releases

#yiv6110851705 * #yiv6110851705 a #yiv6110851705 body {font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;}#yiv6110851705 #yiv6110851705 h1, #yiv6110851705 h2, #yiv6110851705 h3, #yiv6110851705 h4, #yiv6110851705 h5, #yiv6110851705 h6, #yiv6110851705 p, #yiv6110851705 hr {}#yiv6110851705 .yiv6110851705button td {}

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Tip of The Week: The Do’s and Don’ts of Switching PCB Releases

new comment by andrew_audova - View all comments on this blog postIf you've already installed your latest/greatest licenses from SupportNet and the problem persists, you might want to open a new Service Request. To install a license file in PADS 9.5 - Navigate in your Start Menu to 'Mentor Graphics SDD > PADS Licensing Assistance > Install License File'

Reply to this email to respond to andrew_audova's comment.

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andrew_audova @ lcjon on Oct 2, 2015 4:07 PM

Nope, just making sure that you have the latest licenses installed on your system. Probably best to open a new SR so we can take a closer look at your system and licensing configuration.

Thanks!

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8 Comments

milostnik Dec 19, 2014 8:18 AM
In a multiuser environment (like for us Windows Server 2008) the Release Switcher has to be run in administrator privilege, this means the user has to be set temporarily as administrator.
Sometimes the instance running the release switcher will be elevated in a environment where not all user settings are visible, so be careful with this, and assure that for the time the switcher is run the resources (mapped disk, other variables) are seen.

As a consequence all variables will be set in the system wide scope.
Before attempting to configure for another user you need to move the relevant variable form system scope to user scope. Use any method you know (our AE suggested the superb RapidEE utility)

Even though Release Switcher is far better that Configurator, there is still some polish to do.

Hope this note helps
Matija
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dcox Jul 20, 2015 8:48 PM
We found that installing VX.1 from the regular Mentor install program took 10 - 15 minutes to run on the server, but we eventually found out why. It was uncompressing itself to a temp directory and self targetting the directory as the source. We uncompressed the program into its component pieces and ran the standard install program, which started right up. Unfortunately, the first time my EE did this, the program that appeared in the "source" box was for an Expedition viewer that had install files located on another server entirely, and he reinstalled the viewer by mistake. He hadn't noticed, so unless you run the 1.6G+ install program and wait, make sure the source and target installation is correct. We also found the registry had some errors that prevented us from double-click launching Layout. This is documented on the support site, but basically when you are running VX.1, some of the registry key values still point to the older program so windows gets confused and reports a dll entry error. So, you edit the registry with Regedit and search for "powerpcb.exe". When you find a key that has a value (not the key name) that contains a path to the powerpcb.exe program, you need to change the part of the path that reads "9.5pads" to "padsvx.1". We found between three and five entries that needed changing. Part of my job as cad admin is to install new versions of software and run it through its functions to verify nothing got broken before the group updates, so I use the MGC Release Switcher quite a bit
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john_zsori Jul 21, 2015 4:31 PM
Does Release Switcher work with the new Standard Plus? I'd like to be able to go between Standard Plus and 9.5 easily.
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- andrew_audova @ john_zsori on Jul 22, 2015 3:12 PM
  Yes it does, John.
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lcjon Oct 1, 2015 8:03 PM
Processing release switcher to use 9.5 applications but have license issue preventing output capability. What do I do?
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- andrew_audova @ lcjon on Oct 2, 2015 12:10 PM
  If you've already installed your latest/greatest licenses from SupportNet and the problem persists, you might want to open a new Service Request.
  
  To install a license file in PADS 9.5 - Navigate in your Start Menu to 'Mentor Graphics SDD > PADS Licensing Assistance > Install License File'
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  - lcjon @ andrew_audova on Oct 2, 2015 1:52 PM
    Thank-you for the response Andrew!
    
    This sounds like I need to download a new license in order to process v9.5 after switching from VX1...true?
    
    HaGD, LCJ
    
          From: andrew_audova <mentor@jiveon.com>
    To: L.C. Johnson <lcjon@yahoo.com>
    Sent: Friday, October 2, 2015 2:11 PM
    Subject: Re: - Tip of The Week: The Do’s and Don’ts of Switching PCB Releases
    
    #yiv6110851705 * #yiv6110851705 a #yiv6110851705 body {font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;}#yiv6110851705 #yiv6110851705 h1, #yiv6110851705 h2, #yiv6110851705 h3, #yiv6110851705 h4, #yiv6110851705 h5, #yiv6110851705 h6, #yiv6110851705 p, #yiv6110851705 hr {}#yiv6110851705 .yiv6110851705button td {}
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    Tip of The Week: The Do’s and Don’ts of Switching PCB Releases
    new comment by andrew_audova - View all comments on this blog postIf you've already installed your latest/greatest licenses from SupportNet and the problem persists, you might want to open a new Service Request. To install a license file in PADS 9.5 - Navigate in your Start Menu to 'Mentor Graphics SDD > PADS Licensing Assistance > Install License File'
    Reply to this email to respond to andrew_audova's comment.
    Following Tip of The Week: The Do’s and Don’ts of Switching PCB Releases in these streams: Inbox
    
    This email was sent by Mentor Graphics Communities because you are a registered user.
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    - andrew_audova @ lcjon on Oct 2, 2015 4:07 PM
      Nope, just making sure that you have the latest licenses installed on your system. Probably best to open a new SR so we can take a closer look at your system and licensing configuration.
      
      Thanks!
      Like • Show 0 Likes0
      Actions

Tip of The Week: The Do’s and Don’ts of Switching PCB Releases

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