Installing new software seems like a daunting task for most of us. You may feel burdened with concerns like how to install and what options to choose, and so on. So, in this post, I will unload your worries and share some best practices to make the installation process simpler and one that meets your requirements.

To begin with, you should first download the software. There are two ways to go about it. First is the traditional method, where you must download the complete media to a local disk before installing it. If you are a new user, that is installing the media first time and you see that the hotfix version is also available, then you must download both the Base as well as the Hotfix media. You can download Cadence OrCAD and Allegro products media directly from the Downloads site. The second method is the modern approach to download and manage all the Cadence OrCAD and Allegro products. You only have to download and install a small application, Download Manager that helps you to configure all your releases at once. 

After downloading the media, let’s discuss the install options you have, and which one should you choose. Note that selecting the right installation method depends on the number of users and available systems. I am going to explain the usage of every option. So, keep reading for more details!

1. Installing for Single-User

Do you want to install on your laptop or some other system for yourself only? If yes, then this installation is for you. Whether you are installing through a setup launcher or Download Manager, the first thing to do is to select OrCAD and Allegro product install options to start the process.

In the following steps, when you define installation settings, do not forget to choose Only for me option as you can see in the next image.

By doing so, Cadence OrCAD and Allegro products are installed in per-user mode, which means that installed products are configured on a single system and for one and only one user. Any other user of the same system will not be able to access the installed products.

You would be able to run the installation even if you do not have administrator rights on the system. As everything is local to your system, you will notice a quick launch time and high performance while working with the software. That’s the biggest advantage!

Now, you must be thinking that there is an additional overhead to maintain the installation. That is, you would have to go and check for the new hotfix version whenever it comes and update the installation. Don’t worry about that, as there is a pretty cool way that Download Manager offers to keep your installation up to date to the latest version. You can set Update Mode to either Notify, or Download, or Download and Install, and you are all good!

2. Installing for Multiple-Users

When there is more than one user, the method of installation will be determined by the number of systems available.

a. Single-System Installation

In a situation where you have only one system, which is accessible to multiple users and all of them want to use the same product installation, you must install in All Users mode. When defining installation settings, choose Anyone who uses this computer (All Users) as shown in the following image.

This mode of installation will configure the product installation on a per-machine basis. All registered users can now use the same product installation. Note that it is necessary that whoever is initiating the installation must have administrative rights on the system.

Let’s discuss another scenario where different users want to use different products on the same shared system. You might be wondering if it is all possible. Yes, it is. In this case, each user must perform the respective product installation with their login credentials and choose the installation settings option, Only for me. Users do not need administrative rights and their installations will NOT interfere with the others. Each installation will be unique, and all the registered users can access the same system with different product installations.

b. Server-Client Installation

In a big team, where everyone has their systems to work and wants to access the same installation, the best way is the server-client installation method. The media can be installed on one central system or a server. All the users must perform Client Installation on their respective systems.

It is a one-time process for all the users installing the client. The server system has to be kept up to date per the latest version of the software and all the clients will automatically use the same version. Ensure that network is up and active all the time so that clients can access the server without compromising with performance.

c. Silent Installation

Installing through the command line becomes handy when you do not want to go in the nitty-gritty of installation steps. Anyone who wants to install a product on a system can do so without being bothering about choosing install options, install mode, product selection, and so on. Simply providing a configuration (.ini) file to users will do the job. You can start the silent installation from the command line using the configuration (.ini) file.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are lots of possibilities to install the products you want. Whether you are installing on one system or dozens or hundreds of systems, managing single or multiple users you can leverage the capabilities of Cadence OrCAD and Allegro installer and Download Manager to conveniently install a product.