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Often, you install Cadence^® products with default settings and that's sufficient to work with the tools. However, you might encounter instances when the default settings may not be enough to serve your requirements. For example, when multiple users access the installation on a single system, or if you inadvertently delete a shortcut, a feature, or worse, the entire product. What if you are not the administrator on a system, and still go ahead with installing software? In such cases or for any configuration conflict, use the Config utility of the Cadence OrCAD^® and Allegro^® installer to quickly resolve any issues. The user-friendly interface and use model of the utility makes configuring installations easy for you.

Let’s discuss each of the tasks you can perform using the utility one by one, but first, let’s see how you can access the utility.

Accessing Config Utility

The installation configuration utility or the Config Utility is part of the Cadence OrCAD and Allegro installation files and is available at the following location:

<install_directory>\tools\InstallUtils\InstallConfig.exe

For example, C:\Cadence\SPB_17.4\tools\InstallUtils\InstallConfig.exe.

Installing Using Non-Admin Privileges

Release 17.4-2019 of Cadence OrCAD and Allegro Installation requires administrator privileges to perform a few tasks on Windows systems, such as setting up Windows firewall exceptions or installing Microsoft Visual C++ (MSVC) Redistributable or SQLite ODBC Drivers. When you install without administrator privileges, tasks that require admin rights are skipped. However, you can run the Config utility with admin rights to complete the skipped tasks and make the installation ready for use. Just select Perform one-time system-level configuration and follow the steps.

To know more about using Config utility to perform one-time system-level configuration, refer to our previous post, Installing Cadence OrCAD and Allegro Products Without Administrative Rights.

Restoring Installer Configuration

Any Start menu shortcut or environment variable that is removed or a redistributable package that is uninstalled can be restored using the Configure option of the utility.

To restore an installation configuration, follow these steps:

1. Select the Configure option and click Next.
2. Select the required configuration tasks from the Configure Options page and click Next.

       

3. Specify the Installation location and Working Directory.

        

        Note that you can also perform additional configurations, such as enabling environment variables.

4. Click Configure.
   The installation is configured based on the selected options.
   This might take a minute or two depending on the tasks and size of the installation. After the configuration is complete, the Summary dialog is displayed.

       

5. Click Finish to close the dialog box.

The installation configuration is restored for you.

Configuring Environment for Another User

Cadence OrCAD and Allegro Release 17.4-2019 products installed on a system using the per-user mode can be used by different users logging in to the system. But, for that, first, you must configure the system using the Configure environment to use another user installation option of the Config utility.

To access the installation by another user, log in to the system with that user's credentials and perform the following steps:

1. Select Configure environment to use another user installation radio button and click Next.
2. Specify the Installation location and Working Directory and click Configure.

         

That’s it. Wait till the configuration is completed. The installer creates the required shortcuts and sets up environment variables based on the products already installed.

Removing Programs and Features Entries

If you remove the installation directory by mistake without uninstalling the product, removing the installation signatures makes the system ready for a fresh installation. Use the Remove Programs and Features Entry option of the Config utility to remove installation signatures from the system. This option also removes the release from the Uninstall or change a program list of Windows Control Panel. It is important to understand that this option does not uninstall the application, but lets you run a fresh install by removing the installation signatures (registry entries) from a machine.

To remove release signatures, perform the following steps:

1. Select the Remove Programs and Features Entry radio button and click Next.
   The next screen displays the releases available for cleanup.

2. Select the release to be cleaned up and click Cleanup.

           

           The signatures of the selected release are removed from the system.

Over to You

Now that you are aware of the Config utility, you can make the best use of it to deal with many configuration issues. If you are an administrator, this utility takes some load off you because it is easy to use and resolves the conflicts at the user end without administrator intervention.

To quickly recount, here are the tasks you can perform using the Config utility:

• Completing installations done without administrator privileges
• Configuring installation on a system for access by multiple users logging in to the system
• Restoring mistakenly removed installation configuration
• Cleaning up installation signatures from your machine

Contact Us

For any feedback, including any topic you want to be covered, write to us at pcbbloggers@cadence.com.

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About BoardSurfers

The BoardSurfers series provides solutions to the various tasks related to the creation and management of PCB design using the Allegro platform products. The name and logo of this series are designed to resonate with the vision of making the design and manufacturing tasks enjoyable just like surfing the waves. Regular, new blog posts by experts cover every aspect of the PCB design process, such as library management, schematic design, constraint management, stackup design, placement, routing, artwork, verification, and much more.