Install and License ENVI

These instructions describe how to install and license ENVI on Windows, UNIX, and Mac platforms. See the following sections:

ENVI has the following system requirements:

Operating systems:

Windows 10 and 11 (Intel/AMD 64-bit)

macOS 12, 13, and 14 (Intel 64-bit and M-series*)

Linux (Intel/AMD 64-bit, kernel 4.18.0 or higher and glibc 2.28 or higher)

* The Rosetta 2 emulator is required to run Intel-based ENVI on M-series Macs.

An X-Windows manager is required for macOS. ENVI was tested using XQuartz 2.8.5 on an M1 chipset.

ENVI was tested with ArcGIS Pro version 3.3.

The best hardware configuration for ENVI will depend on the type of processing that is anticipated. Consider the following items when selecting a system configuration for use with ENVI.

The amount of hard-drive space that is needed for ENVI depends on the specific workflows and data that will be used. Our technical support group uses systems with 1 TB of disk space, which is more than adequate for day-to-day use. However, this would not address the needs of a production facility that processes large amounts of data on a daily basis.

A solid-state drive (SSD) is highly recommended for optimal performance.

Most image display and processing capabilities in ENVI and IDL have been designed to work with minimal amounts of system RAM. Having a lot of RAM can help to avoid occasional memory allocation problems, especially with large datasets. Tests have shown that 8 GB of RAM is adequate for most tasks run using the latest versions of ENVI and IDL. However, if you anticipate working with very large datasets, or if you are building custom applications with ENVI+IDL code, then you may consider adding more RAM to your system.

For optimal performance, your graphics card should have a minimum of 1 GB RAM and should support OpenGL 2.0 or later. Also be sure to install the latest drivers for your graphics card. If you anticipate implementing sophisticated graphical displays while building custom applications in ENVI+IDL, or if you expect to work with large datasets, then the more RAM the better.

ENVI only supports CPUs with the Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) instruction set. In general, any CPU after 2011 will contain this instruction set.

Tip: If you need to install ENVI on multiple computers, you can record an .ini file during an installation of ENVI, then use that .ini file to silently install ENVI on the other computers. See Windows Silent Installation for details.

You must have administrator privileges to install software on Windows. Install ENVI from a web download or a DVD as follows:

Start the installer:

The commands listed here may require root or sudo privileges. An X-Windows manager is required for Mac. Install ENVI from a web download as follows:

Uncompress the filename.tar.gz archive file that was downloaded to your computer. For example, envixx-linux.tar.gz or envixx-mac.tar.gz, where xx is the version number.

Unpack the file:

Start the installer with this command:

From a terminal window, change directories to INSTALL_DIR/envixx. Enter a command at the shell prompt to start an application:

envi: Start ENVI + IDL.

envi_rt: Start ENVI.

envihelp: Start ENVI Help.

Add the -classic flag to run the ENVI Classic version of the above applications.

An X-Windows manager is required for Mac. Install ENVI from a web download as follows:

Start the installer by navigating to the envixx-mac.pkg file that was downloaded to your computer and run it.

Activate your license using the ENVI-IDL License Administrator tool. You may be prompted to launch the License Administrator after installation, or you can open the License Administrator tool with one of the following:

Linux: From a terminal window, launch the envi_idl_license_admin command from the INSTALL_DIR/envixx/idlxx/bin/ directory. Sudo or root permissions are required.

Note: A graphical session is required to run the License Administrator user interface. Some Linux distributions disable this when the sudo command is invoked (i.e., the required DISPLAY environment variable is not set). If this is the case for your Linux distribution, use an alternative to sudo (such as direct root login or su), or the sudo configuration should be updated appropriately.

See the following sections for managing licenses:

See also Licensing Utility for instructions to manage licenses using a command-line utility.

If you are upgrading your software version and a new license is required, you can use Upgrade License on a machine with Internet access to automatically get an upgraded license.

To update a license, perform these steps:

Click the Upgrade License button.

The License Administrator checks the licensing portal to determine if a new license is available to you.

If any parts of your license are eligible for upgrade, you will see a list of upgradable Activation Codes. Select the licenses you want to upgrade and click Upgrade License.

Click Close to close the dialog.

These steps activate a license on a machine that has Internet access:

Click the Activate Online button.

Type, or paste, the activation code(s) into the field.

Click Activate. When activation is complete, you will see the message Activation succeeded.

Click Close to close the dialog.

The following steps describe how to use the License Administrator activate a license on a machine that does not have Internet access.

Attach the file to an email addressed to one of the following, with the subject License Request:

geospatialsupport@nv5.com (U.S.)

supporteu@nv5.com (E.U.)

Your local sales representative

NV5 Geospatial Solutions, Inc. will email a license.dat file to you.

You can also generate machine information from the command line using the get bindings command of the Licensing utility.

This version of the product can use floating licenses hosted by the new NV5 Geospatial License Server licensing engine. It will not work with any License Servers supported before this version.

If you were previously connected to a legacy License Server and the new License Server is installed on the same machine, the License Administrator will detect the IP address you were connected to. A dialog will appear and asks if you want to connect to the address on the new License Server. Click Yes.

To use a license that is on a License Server, connect to the server machine as follows:

If the software was installed silently, or if you are running it headless, you can alternatively set up a text file on the machine to connect to licenses on a License Server.

To create the text file:

Create a plain text file that contains a reference to the License Server URL. Format the text as follows:

For example:

Save the file as lic_server.dat.

Copy the file to the license subdirectory located under the INSTALL_DIR. The file should have read privileges for all product users.

Examples using the default installation directory locations:

Windows: C:\Program Files\INSTALL_DIR\license\lic_server.dat

Linux: /usr/local/INSTALL_DIR/license/lic_server.dat

Mac: /Applications/INSTALL_DIR/license/lic_server.dat

To remove the machine's connection to the License Server, delete the lic_server.dat file.

If you activated a license on your machine, deactivating the license releases it so that it can be activated on a different machine. To deactivate a license:

Click the Deactivate License button.

Select the activation code(s) you wish to deactivate.

Click Deactivate. When deactivation is complete, you will see the message Successfully deactivated.

Click Close to close the dialog.

To disconnect from a License Server:

Click the Use License Server button, then click the Disconnect button.

Confirm in the dialog that you want to disconnect from the Server.

When disconnection is complete, you will see the message Successfully disconnected.

Click Close to close the dialog.

In the License Administrator, you can view details of the licenses you are using. Click View Licenses.

If you are using a license that was activated on your machine, the display shows the details for the license(s) that have been issued to you. You can copy the details to the clipboard, or save them to a file.

If you are using a license from a License Server, click Show Dashboard.

Note: If you click Show Dashboard and the message 'HTTP 404 Not Found' is returned, contact your administrator.

Note that you can combine a license activated on your machine with this user of a License Server. When combined, the software will first attempt to use a license from your machine, then it will connect to the License Server if your license does not contain the requested feature.

In the License Administrator, you can enable event logging for licenses and view the log. Event logging should only be enabled during troubleshooting, as instructed by Tech Support. Enabling this type of logging for long periods will cause an excessive number of log files being created.

To enable event logging for licensing activity, click the View Log button, select the Licensing Events tab, then click the Enable Event Logging button. You can copy the details to the clipboard, or save them to a file.

Click Refresh to update the log with the latest activity. Click Reset to clear the log details. Click Disable to stop logging licensing events.

Use the licensing command-line utility to do the following from the command line:

To use the Licensing utility, open a terminal window and change to the following directory:

To activate a license (requires Internet access):

To connect to a license server, use the --proxy_server option:

Linux/Mac: ./licensing activate --proxy_server= --proxy_port=

See the Proxy Server section for additional options.

where is in the format 0000-0000-0000-0000. Submitting the activation code contacts the licensing portal with machine binding information. The portal returns a license, which will then be installed.

You can call activate multiple times to add more codes to the existing license, without needing to deactivate.

You can enter multiple activation codes in the command. For example:

Linux/Mac: ./licensing activate

To check if a new license is available (requires Internet access):

If any parts of your license are eligible for upgrade, a list of upgradable Activation Codes will be returned. Use the upgrade option to activate them.

To get the available license upgrades (requires Internet access):

If you activated a license on your machine, deactivating the license releases it so that it can be activated on a different machine. To deactivate a license (requires Internet access):

You can also deactivate a specific license:

where is in the format 0000-0000-0000-0000.

To print the machine's key binding to the screen:

To print license details to the screen:

The following options can also be used with the licensing command-line utility.

Use the following options to connect to a proxy server (for example, a license server).

--proxy_password specifies the proxy server password for login credentials (--proxy_password=).

See the Activate a License section for a syntax example.

The Licensing utility automatically detects the licensing folder in the folder hierarchy. However, if the licensing folder is in a different location, override with the following option:

--path to specify the license folder path (--path=).

Use the following options for logging:

These instructions describe how to record an .ini file you can use to silently install ENVI on other Windows systems. This can be useful when you need to install ENVI on multiple computers.

To record the .ini file, use the commands below, then follow the prompts to install ENVI. The installation options you select will be recorded to the .ini file:

Navigate to the location of the ENVI installation executable file:

Use the following syntax, where ENVI_INSTALL_EXECUTABLE is the applicable ENVI installation executable filename from above. This syntax initiates recording the .ini file and starts the ENVI installer:

To use the .ini file to perform a silent install on other Windows systems:

Use the following command and flags to start the silent installation. In the example below, ENVI_INSTALL_EXECUTABLE_DIR is the directory that contains the IDL installer, ENVI_INSTALL_EXECUTABLE is the applicable executable filename from above, and INI_FILE_DIR is the directory that contains the .ini file:

The following is example syntax for a silent install from the DVD:

Where:

Configuring your license information requires changes to the license folder inside your IDL/ENVI installation; however, system administrators prefer to lock down access to all program files and folders. In that case, you can specify the location of your license files by defining the IDL_LICENSE_PATH environment variable and pointing it to a different location of your choice.

On Windows, the License Administrator will automatically set this environment variable to enable multiple installations of our software to share the same license.

If you need assistance, visit our website to find worldwide contact information for technical support.

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