Autodesk Inventor 2011, was born on March 25, 2010 
This post is for those who are new to Autodesk Inventor 2011 Installation or those Subscription Customers willing to remove Inventor 2010 and Install Inventor 2011.
This release has major updates on Sketching, Part Modeling, Assembly, Stress and Dynamic Simulation followed by other enhancements in each modules of Inventor 2011.
In any software package, before exploring the depth of the tool, its really essential to know the installation procedure that can help us customize the tool at a later stage, like reinstall / repair etc.,
This post gives an idea as to how one can install Inventor 2011.
Where to Download the Software
Autodesk Inventor 2011 can be either download from one of the following locations
- Autodesk Developer Network (ADN Members Only)
- Subscription Center ( Subscription Customers Only)
- Students / Faculty Center ( Education Community Members Only)
- Trial Download 30 days ( Users from United States and Canada )
- Trial Download / Inquire ( Users from All Other Countries )
Installation Procedure
Autodesk Inventor 2011 is no longer available in DVD format for customers, they can either download them from the locations as mentioned above or send in a request for a the DVD’s to be dispatched to the customers.
I have actually downloaded the Inventor 2011 version from the ADN portal its a total of 3 download files
1) AutoCAD_Inventor_Suite_2011_Win_64bit.part1 – 2.7 GB
2) AutoCAD_Inventor_Suite_2011_Win_64bit.part2 – 2.7 GB
3) AutoCAD_Inventor_Suite_2011_Win_64bit.part3 – 2.4 GB
After you download the files, I would suggest you to extract all the associated files on to one folder. After extracting all the three files the total folder size would account to around 12.4 GB of data
When you click on the setup file, you will be prompted with the window shown below with a checklist
Startup Screen Checklist
As you see the figure above, it gives a clear picture about System Requirements for Autodesk Inventor 2011
When you install using XP, ensure you have Admin rights and Power User Rights to switch between different release like 2010 or 2011.
Vista / Windows 7 Users, its better to understand the UAC guide lines (User Account Control)
To disable the UAC:
- Click the START button and in the search field enter MSCONFIG.
- Click on the Tools tab and select Disable UAC.
- Press the Launch button.
- A CMD window will open. When the command is done, close the window.
- Close MSCONFIG and reboot the computer to apply the change.
During installation in the Select Preferences dialog box, you must specify your preferences for default measurement units, default drawing standard and whether to enable or disable part modification from within a drawing.
These settings cannot be reversed after installation of the product. To change the default for these settings you must uninstall and then reinstall Inventor.
License Type
The license type you specify during installation (Network or Standalone) can only be changed by uninstalling and then choosing a different license type when reinstalling Autodesk Inventor.
Language Type
The language type you specify can only be changed by uninstalling and then choosing a different language type when reinstalling Autodesk Inventor.
What can be reversed :-
After installation you can reverse any Application Options settings specified during installation in the Application Options dialog box in Autodesk Inventor.
You can also change the serial number and Product key you specified during installation after installation when you register your product with Autodesk.
After you have reviewed all these information, you can go ahead and click on the Next Button . . .
Now you will see the prompt as shown below,
Product Selection Window
Here you can make a choice on which tools can be installed. You have the following choice
- Autodesk Inventor 2011
- Content Center Libraries
- AutoCAD Mechanical 2011
- Autodesk Material Library 2011
- Autodesk Vault 2011
- Autodesk Design Review 2011
Content Center Libraries:
Content Center is comprised of default libraries containing thousands of standard screws, bolts, nuts, washers, pins, and more, that can be inserted in assemblies.
If you are a stand-alone user, select Inventor Desktop Content on the Select Access to Standard Content dialog box. This option installs the Content Center libraries on your local drive.
In Select Content Center libraries for Inventor Desktop Content dialog box, libraries are preselected based on the based on the Autodesk product selected in the Confirm Inventor product to install dialog box.
The following is the list of content which can be installed with the Autodesk Inventor products.
| ANSI Standard Content | ANSI Fasteners, Shaft parts, Steel shapes, more |
| DIN Standard Content | DIN Fasteners, Shaft parts, Steel shapes, more |
| GOST Standard Content | GOST Fasteners, Shaft parts, Steel shapes, more |
| ISO Standard Content | ISO Fasteners, Shaft parts, Steel shapes, more |
| JIS & GB Standard Content | Standard parts for JIS and GB – Fasteners, Shaft parts, Steel shapes, more |
| Feature Generators Standard Content | General features in metric and imperial units |
| Other Standard Content | Standard parts for AFNOR, AS, BSI, CNS, CSN, GOST, IS, KS, PN, SFS, SS, STN, and UNI |
| Parker Standard Content | Standard content supplied by Parker Hannifin for tube and pipe fittings (Autodesk Inventor Professional and Autodesk Inventor Routed Systems only) |
| Routed Systems Standard Content | Standard content for Cable & Harness and Tube & Pipe parts (Autodesk Inventor Professional and Autodesk Inventor Routed Systems only) |
| Sheet Metal Standard Content | Standard content for Sheet Metal parts |
| Mold Metric Standard Content | Standard content for Mold Metric parts |
| Mold Imperial Standard Content | Standard content for Mold Imperial parts |
- Autodesk Design Review (ADR): Optional. Used to view, print, measure, mark up, and revise 2D and 3D designs without the original design creation software.
- DWG TrueView: Installed with Autodesk Inventor. This viewer is used to view AutoCAD DWG and Inventor DWG files.
- Autodesk Inventor View:
- The version that is installed with Autodesk Inventor.
- A stand-alone version that can be downloaded from the Autodesk Web site. This version, which is also installed by default with Autodesk ProductStream, is not compatible with Autodesk Inventor. It cannot be used on a computer that already has Autodesk Inventor installed.
Language Options:
You can select a different language for deployment instructions, and a language for product installations.
When you begin an installation or deployment process, the installer detects your operating system’s language. If a supported language is detected, your install or deployment pages are displayed in that language. You can change the language for the instructions from the language drop-down list on the initial page of the installation wizard.
You can also select a language for an individual product by clicking the Select Language for Individual Products checkbox on the Select the Products to Install page, and then selecting a language from the drop-down list.
The following rules apply to language selection:
- Only one language can be chosen per installation session. Meaning, you cannot chose English for one product, then select German for another product during the same installation.
- Only one language can be chosen during deployment creation. One administrative image can contain deployments for different languages, but each deployment must be targeted for one language.
- If you are editing an existing deployment, or creating a new deployment using an existing deployment as a template, the language selection drop-down is disabled. The drop-down will only display the existing deployment’s language.
- When a selected language is not supported, a default language will be chosen.
Autodesk Material Library:
The Autodesk Material library is a shared library between Autodesk 2011 products such as Inventor, AutoCAD, Revit and 3ds Max. These components may already be installed if one of these applications is already installed on your computer. If you uninstall or remove a library, the library will not no longer be available in any of the products.
There are 2 different parts to the Autodesk Material Library which are installed with Autodesk Inventor:
- Autodesk Material Library 2011: This is the library containing the material appearances used for Realistic Appearance in color styles. This component is installed by default and required for Autodesk Inventor to have full visual style and color style functionality. It is recommended you do not uninstall this component unless you are also uninstalling all Autodesk products that require this library.
- Autodesk Material Library 2011 Base Image Library: This contains low resolutions (approximately 512 x 512) for use with Autodesk Materials. This is installed by default.
- (AutoCAD Mechanical only) Autodesk Material Library 2011 Medium Image Library: This contains medium resolution (approximately 1024×1024) images for rendering materials in medium detail. This is for close-ups and for rendering objects at a large scale. This Library is an option available from the Select Products to Install page on the Installation Wizard.
NoteThe Autodesk Medium Library is not available in Autodesk Inventor. In the Select Products to Install dialog box, you have the option to install the medium resolution libraries for AutoCAD Mechanical.
The default install location for the Autodesk Material Libraries is a common files folder and cannot be changed.
If you uninstall or delete an Autodesk Material Library you must perform the following to reinstall and regain visual style and color style functionality:
- From the installer media, browse to and run: \MaterialLibrary \CM\ ProteinMaterials.msi
If you uninstall or delete the Autodesk Material Library 2011 Base Image Library you must perform the following to reinstall:
- From the installer media, browse to and run: \MaterialLibrary\CMIL\ BaseImageLibrary.msi
(AutoCAD Mechanical only) If you uninstall or delete the Autodesk Material Library 2011 Medium Image Library, you can reinstall directly from the installation media:
- In the installation media, select Install.
- In the Products to Install page, select Autodesk Material Library Medium Image Library.
- Click the install button to install the libraries.
Image libraries size:
- Autodesk Material Library 2011 – Approximately 176 MB
- Autodesk Material Library 2011 Base Image Library – Approximately 255 MB
- (AutoCAD Mechanical only) Autodesk Material Library 2011 Medium Image Library – Approximately 600 + MB
Now click next to select the country and I Accept the radio button . . .
Select the Country and I Accept to move forward
Now Enter the First Name | Second Name | Organization and type of installation – trial or with serial number
Now select the type of Installation you need and the type of product you have purchased.
Now you can select the configure the tool you need to install for example, When Installing Autodesk Inventor 2011, you can configure the following options:
- License Type : Single (Stand Alone) | Network Type
- User Profile : Similar to AutoCAD | Autodesk Inventor
- Part Modification : Enable | Disable within Drawing
- Measurement Units : Inches | Millimeters
- Drawing Standard : ANSI | BSI | DIN | GB | GOST | ISO | JIS
- Create Desktop Short : YES | NO
- Color Theme : Cobalt Color | Amber Color
- Installation Type : Typical | Custom
- Product Install Path : C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Inventor 2011\
- Service Packs : During the Installation there no service packs available for Inventor 2011
Now click on Install to proceed with the installation:
Enjoy working with another release of Autodesk Inventor 2011 . . .
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