How to install CATIA V5 (All Versions)

Before loading any software, you should always log in with full administrative permissions and disable your anti-virus, anti-spyware programs as well as User Account Control. Be sure your operating system has been updated with Windows Updates recently to avoid any compatibility issues with the installer.

This guide is specifically written for CATIA V5 the DS Server Administration software and setting up your 3DEXPERIENCE account. If you have a node-locked or DS-hosted license and require additional licensing assistance, please contact Hawk Ridge Systems technical support.

All licenses and software download links are distributed by DS and specific to your account. Before proceeding forward verify you have received your CATIA V5 license(s) and have been provided with your account specific software download link. If you have not, please contact Hawk Ridge Systems technical support.

This document is only to be distributed and used by Hawk Ridge Systems customers. Any other use is prohibited.

Before Installation

Hawk Ridge Systems highly recommends taking a moment before installing CATIA V5 or DS License Server Administration and checking that you are ready to load your new software.

Verify your hardware will run CATIA V5 by comparing it to the official recommended systems list for on premise installations.
Confirm that the hard drive has enough space to end up with at least 15% free space after the full installation has been completed so your new software will work as expected. CATIA V5 PLM requires about 11GB of storage space. Additional modules require additional space.
Login to your computer with full administrative rights.
Turn down the User Account Control setting (found in the Control Panel). To do this, press your Windows button, either on the screen or on the keyboard. Then type “UAC” followed by the enter key. The window that follows shows a vertical scroll bar. Make the setting “Never Notify” for the installation (requires restarting the computer to take effect) and change it back after installing if preferred.
Disable all anti-virus and anti-spyware tools.

Create a 3DEXPERIENCE ID

In order to connect to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform for software downloads and access your Training Space, a 3DEXPERIENCE ID is required.

Connect to the 3ds.com website. This may be done by entering the following URL in your browser: https://www.3ds.com/
Select the link on the upper right corner to sign in. It will be the “Profile” icon.
If you have not already done so, create your 3DEXPERIENCE ID.
You may access it by selecting the “Create your 3DEXPERIENCE ID” option below the Log In button.
Fill in the form and all mandatory fields. Select “Register” when finished.

You will receive an automatic email with the confirmation of your 3DEXPERIENCE registration; your ID will be the same as the email address used to register.

Generate the Server Target ID

You will be identifying the Target ID of the computer that will host the CATIA License Server.

First, decide what kind of license hosting you will need. CATIA can be installed as a Shared/Floating license that is licensed from a central server and used on multiple client computers, or as a Standalone locked to a particular computer. The price is the same for both options.

If in doubt, it is recommended to use the floating option as it will give you more flexibility. And if you don’t have a server, the license manager can be installed on the primary user’s computer.
NOTE: CATIA Licenses cannot be hosted on a virtual machine.

The Cloud Companion training material, if purchased, will be accessed from a browser, and will be tied to a particular email address. Select a suitable email address for this use.

Most importantly, we will need some information from the computer that will be hosting the CATIA license.

Instructions for Generating a Target ID

Please follow these steps to generate a “target ID” and send that back to us.

Download the file from this link:
Direct Link
Create a folder named CATIA on the (C:) Drive. For example, C:\CATIA
The download is a zip file containing several versions of the required executable tool called DSLicTarget.exe. The correct version for your computer will need to be unzipped/extracted to an easy to find location. Unzip the download and place the executable in C:\CATIA.
Launch a command prompt by going to the start menu and typing “cmd”. Right click "Command Prompt" and run as administrator.
Type the following and hit Enter (location of DSLicTarget.exe)
cd C:\CATIA
Then type the following and hit Enter
DSLicTarget.exe –t
Please send us the “target ID” listed on the screen, as shown.

DS Software Download

The email that was used in the previous step for creating the 3DEXPERIENCE account will need to be registered with 3DS before your links will be available to you. This should have been done for you already but in case the downloads are not showing up contact Hawk Ridge Systems technical support. If you recently purchased CATIA V5 you should have been sent an email with a unique download link direct to everything you need. However, CATIA V5, CATIA Documentation, and the DS License Server can all be downloaded from the 3DS Download site. A 3DEXPERIENCE login is required.
The steps below will walk you through logging into the 3DS Download site and downloading of necessary files.

Log into the 3DS Download site, or use the unique link sent to you upon purchase.
Click on “Access your Download”.

Direct Link

Download the 3 following files.
Be sure to filter by Release and Level at the top of the page.

CATIA PLM Express Edition 3 Documentation – this file will be about 1.1GB in size and should be named V5-6R20XX.DOC_CATIA_PLM_Express.AllOS.1-1.zip
CATIA PLM Express Edition 3 – (Part 1of2) CATIA PLM install is split into two separate downloads. Each is about 2GB in size and named similar to V5-6R20XX.CATIA_P1.win_b64.1-2.zip
CATIA PLM Express Edition 3 – (Part 2of2) This is the second half of the CATIA PLM installation and is named V5-6R20XX.CATIA_P1.win_b64.2-2.zip

NOTE: The easiest way to narrow down the CATIA Documentation download is to filter the results by Language > English

NOTE: To narrow down the CATIA installation files, deselect any filters selected from the previous note and filter by Operating System > Win64.
You will need to select the 1/2 and 2/2 downloads under the CATIA PLM Express.

DS License Server and License Administration Tool Installation

The Dassault Systems License Server (DSLS) will need to be installed onto a computer that all clients can access through the network. The CATIA PLM license file will be installed on this computer and distributed as needed to all clients.

To install the DSLS and Administration Tool follow the instructions below:

On the computer acting as the server, click on the download link.
Click on “Access your Download.”
Make sure that “3DEXPERIENCE and V6” is selected at the top of the page.
At the top of the page, filter Release by the “3DEXPERIENCE R20XXx” year version and set the Level to “3DEXPERIENCE R20XXx Golden.”
Download the Dassault Systèmes License Server (DSLS) - 3DEXPERIENCE R20XXx Golden – AllOS

NOTE: The easiest way to narrow down the DSLS download is to filter the results by
Operating System > Multiple OS
Unzip the DSLS.ALLOS.zip file and run “SetupDSLS.EXE” as administrator.
This document assumes default settings and locations. Select “Next.”
For easy administration control, select “Install License Server and Administration Tool.” Select “Next.”
NOTE: If installing the DSLS on a server that has previously acted as a DS server, select “Install Server from scratch”. This option will delete any previous license keys. Creating a backup of the keys will allow them to be re-applied after installation.
Select “Enroll a License File” and browse to the license provided. If you don’t have your license file, contact support@hawkridgesys.com and provide the Target ID.
Add the default Administration Port number 4084 and Licensing Port number 4085. We recommend leaving these at their default setting, but they may need to be adjusted depending on the server environment.
The DSLS is ready to be installed. Select “Install.”

DS License Administration Tool Setup

Here, you will be connecting the LS License Administration Tool to the DSLS and enrolling the CATIA V5 license file. Once the DSLS license Administration Tool is installed the software will automatically open.

To connect LS License Administration Tool to the DSLS and enroll the CATIA V5 license file, follow the instructions below:

By default, “localhost” server should be available in the server list.
a. If current server(s) need to be removed, or no servers are available, right-click in this field and select “Add new server”.

b. In the license server name, type “localhost” without the quotation marks and select OK.
Create a text file for the License Administration Tool to point to for identification of where the server is located. For this situation both tools are installed on the same computer so we will create an identification file that points to the current computer “localhost:4085”.
a. In windows explorer navigate to C:\ProgramData\DassaultSystemes

b. Create a new folder named “Licenses”

c. Navigate to the new folder “Licenses” and create a new text file by right-clicking and selecting “New>Text Document”. Rename this document “DSLicSrv.txt”

d. Right-click the DSLicSrv.txt file and choose “Open with” and choose “Notepad”.

e. Enter the text file “localhost:4085” close and save. This will point the License Server Administration tool to the DSLS.
To point to the CATIA V5 license file, place the license file in the same locations as the DSLicSRV.txt location “C:\ProgramData\DassaultSystemes\Licenses”.
In the License Administration Tool, right-click “localhost” and select “Connect”.
Select “License > Enroll”
Navigate to the location of the license file “C:\ProgramData\DassaultSystemes\Licenses”
Select the license file and click “Open”.

The license server is now up and running and ready for the CATIA V5 connection.

CATIA V5 PLM Express Installation

This section will walk you through installing CATIA V5 PLM Express.

Unzip the two downloaded CATIA V5 packages (1-2.zip and 2-2.zip) into one folder for a successful installation.
a. Place both packages in the same folder. This folder can be located anywhere on your PC.
b. Create a new folder in this directory and name it “CATIA Install Files”.
c. Right-click package 1-2 and select “Extract All” and extract to the newly created folder “CATIA Install Files”. Repeat the extraction for package 2-2 directly into “CATIA Install Files” and both packages will compile automatically.
When executed correctly, there will be a single folder located in the “CATIA Install Files” labeled “CATIA_PLM_Express.win_b64”. Enter this folder, right-click “setup.exe” and “Run as administrator” to launch CATIA V5 PLM Express.
To begin the installation process, select “Next” on the Welcome page.
Add the destination folder. We recommend using the default destination folder below. Select “Next.”
Select “Yes” to create the directory.
For the selected downloaded files, we will use “Complete” for the installation, but you may choose “Custom” if another file set was used for this installation.
We recommend using the default ports for Orbix. However, these can be adjusted by IT if necessary.
The next step will prompt to install the ENOVIA Vault Client. In most situations, the ENOVIA client isn't needed, and this step can be skipped. If that isn't the case, please contact us at support@hawkridgesys.com.
We recommend using the default ports. However, these can be adjusted by IT if necessary.
This step will install the documentation. You will need to access the documentation zip that was downloaded from the previous steps.
a. To extract the documentation needed for the next step, right-click the documentation zip and select “Extract All”.
Click the box next to “I want to install Online Documentation” and verify the documentation zip is assessable and unzipped prior to selecting “Next”.
Return to the CATIA V5 installer and select “Next”. The installation will proceed forward and then it will prompt for the location of where the documentation files were unpacked.
Select “Browse” and navigate to where the documentation files were extracted, select “Select Folder”.
Select “Next” to continue once the installation is complete.
Select “Next” if CATIA PLM Express is not installed. Otherwise, select “CATIA PLM Express is installed” and browse to its installation folder.
Select all available documentation options and select “Next”.
Review or change any settings, if necessary, by selecting “Back.” When ready to continue, select “Install.”
Select “Finish.”
At the end of the installation process there will be an option to launch CATIA V5 PLM Express. Choose this option and select “Finish.”
Windows Defender, if used, will pop-up and require verification for Public and Private networks. We recommend accepting both networks before continuing, so that regardless of the network, CATIA V5 will run. Once the settings are checked, select “Allow access.”
On first launch, CATIA will need to be connected to the server and configurations/products will need to be selected. This will require a restart of the software. Selecting “Active Server” will allow for connection to the DSLS.
CATIA V5 PLM Express is now installed and active.