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Install TouchDesigner

How to install TouchDesigneredit

Installer Versions for Windows

There are 2 versions of the Installer available for windows: The Full Installer and the Web Installer. While the first one contains the complete set of all files required to run all features of TouchDesigner, the second Installer is a considerably smaller version with a minimal set of files and the option to install support for features during the installation process or later. The difference in filesize is 2.6 GB for the Full Installer vs. 570 MB for the Web Installer.

The Web Installer does require an active internet connection if extra Installer Components are selected during the installation process.

Download

  • Download the latest version of TouchDesigner from here

Windows

  • Double-click the TouchDesigner.xxxx.xxxxx.exe file and follow the instructions on the installer dialog. Please make sure you are installing from an Administrator account.

macOS

  • Double-click the TouchDesigner.xxxx.xxxxx.dmg file and then drag the TouchDesigner icon to your Applications folder. Please make sure you are installing from an Administrator account.

Keying

  • When opening TouchDesigner for the first time, the Key Manager Dialog will guide through the process of installing a license.

Installer Optionsedit

InstallOptions.png

Custom Install and TouchPlayer options

Using this checkbox will give you more options after clilcking 'Next' such as

  • Give this installation a custom tag to identify it. This name will be used on the desktop icon and as an additional identifier on all OS references like 'Open With...' menus and 'Add or remove program' dialogs.
  • Display or hide the desktop icon
  • Customize file associations with TouchDesigner
  • TouchPlayer options
    • Include TouchPlayer desktop icon
    • Include TouchPlayer in the Open With... menu
    • Make TouchPlayer the default aaplication for .toe files (ToughDesigner files)

Install Runtime for Dongle Licensing

Check this box to include the installation of CodeMeter service which is required to use TouchDesigner with a License Dongle

Dealing with Installer Components of the Web Installeredit

InstallerComponents.png

When using the Web Installer for Windows, after choosing the installation folder or setting extra options, you will be presented with a selection dialog for Installer Components. These are files that pertain to certain features (or support for devices) we have identified as making up a large amount of the installer's file size but are not used frequently by most.

The dialog lets you choose which features the installer should download during the installation process. The size after the titles is an estimation on how much harddisc space the feature will take up when installed.

Previously installed Installer Components will be preselected.

Choosing any of the Installer Components in this process will require an active internet connection.

Download location of selected Installer Component filesedit

The installer will download selected component files into the folder %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Derivative\InstallerCache on your harddisc.

Before proceeding with the download, the installer will check if the required file already exists in the folder.

Removing downloaded Installer Component filesedit

The last dialog in the Installation routine has a checkbox to remove any downloaded files. It will only remove the files downloaded during the installation process. Alternatively, you can also delete any *.zip files in %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Derivative\InstallerCache.

Adding Installer Components after an initial Installedit

InstallerModify.png

To add Installer Components to a perviously installed release, go to Windows' "Installed Apps" dialog and select "Modify" from the right hand side drop down menu on the TouchDesigner installtion you want to modify.

Choose the Installer Components you want to add from the opening Dialog.

NOTE: you cannot remove Installer Components.

Installing Multiple Builds at Onceedit

Sometimes you will want multiple builds of TouchDesigner or TouchPlayer installed at the same time. You may need older builds to test previous projects, or you may want to try out the latest features in Experimental while keeping Official installed for your current project.

Windowsedit

When the installer detects TouchDesigner is already installed on the system, it will give you some options for managing multiple builds

Install Parallel Build

This option will install the new build alongside whatever is already installed, without removing your current TouchDesigner builds. You can also use the new 'custom tag' feature under Custom Install and TouchPlayer options on the next page to more easily identify it, for example a tag name like Official, Experimental, or ProjectName.

InstallParallelBuild.png

Replace currently installed build

This option will replace the build you currently have installed with the new build. If you already have multiple builds installed, a list will be presented letting you pick exactly which build you would like to replace.

ReplaceInstalledBuildSingle.png ReplaceInstalledBuildMultiple.png

macOSedit

  • Just drag the application to any convenient location. If it conflicts with another TouchDesigner build already there, select "Keep Both" from the pop-up dialog. To keep it more organized, you can rename the application file to include the build number.
  • Right-clicking on any TouchDesigner file and selecting 'Open With >' will show a list of all TouchDesigner builds on the computer, just select the one you wish to use.

Useful Installer Command-line switches on Windows based Systemsedit

The Installer can be used with a variety of command-line switches:

  • /SILENT, /VERYSILENTInstructs Setup to be silent or very silent. When Setup is silent the wizard and the background window are not displayed but the installation progress window is. When a setup is very silent this installation progress window is not displayed. Everything else is normal so for example error messages during installation are displayed and the startup prompt is (if you haven't disabled it with DisableStartupPrompt or the '/SP-' command line).
  • /DIR="x:\dirname"Overrides the default directory name displayed on the Select Destination Location wizard page. A fully qualified pathname must be specified. May include an "expand:" prefix which instructs Setup to expand any constants in the name. For example: '/DIR=expand:{autopf}\My Program'.
  • /LOG="folder\filename"Causes Setup to create a log file in the specified directory detailing file installation and [Run] actions taken during the installation process. This can be a helpful debugging aid. For example, if you suspect a file isn't being replaced when you believe it should be (or vice versa), the log file will tell you if the file was really skipped, and why. The information contained in the log file is technical in nature and therefore not intended to be understandable by end users. Nor is it designed to be machine-parsable; the format of the file is subject to change without notice. NOTE: The complete path to the intended location of the log file is required.
  • /ExtractWill extract all relevant files from the installation into a folder. In combination with /DIR the target folder can be specified. This can be useful if the installation process is failing for some unknown reasons. In the extracted folder structure, the TouchDesigner.exe executable can be found in the bin folder.
  • /CodemeterWill select the option to install the Codemeter runtime alongside TouchDesigner.
  • /Tag="My Tag"Allows for specifying the custom tag to more easily identify parallel installs.
  • /TDDesktopIcon=falseWill not place a TouchDesigner application shortcut on the Desktop.
  • /TDOpenWith=falseWill not include TouchDesigner into the "Open With..." context menu for supported filetypes.
  • /TPDesktopIconWill add a application shortcut to TouchPlayer to the Desktop.
  • /TPOpenWithWill include TouchPlayer into the "Open With..." context menu for supported filetypes.
  • /TPIsDefaultWill set TouchPlayer as the default application for .toe files.


For a full list of Command-line switches, please refer to this article: https://jrsoftware.org/ishelp/index.php?topic=setupcmdline

Problems during Installation on Windows OSedit

Installer exits during installation or aborts with an Erroredit

When the Installer exits during Installation without giving a sufficient reason, start a Windows Command Prompt window with Administrator privileges and run:

"C:\MyFolder\TouchDesigner0xx.xxxxx.exe" /LOG="example.log"

Send the resulting log file as a zip or link including a description of the encountered error to Derivative Support

Note: If you persistently run into an issue with the installer, you can try running TouchDesigner without actually installing it. To some extent the installer just copies files to disk and makes sure that some prerequisites are met. All the required files are contained separately in the installer and you can try extracting them using the above mentioned /Extract Installer Command-line switch.

The extracted folderstructure will contain a bin folder in which you can find TouchDesigner.exe

Installer can't continue because of insufficient access rights to folderedit

This behavior can happen during the de-installation phase of a previously installed version. The best way around this is to restart your computer and start the installation process again.

Installer can't remove previous installed TouchDesigner versionedit

In some cases the Installer will quit because it was not able to uninstall a previously installed TouchDesigner version.

Geekuninstaller, available from here, has had good results when trying to resolve install and uninstall related problems.

If the error is persistent, try re-installing the previously installed version of TouchDesigner, remove it via the Windows "Apps & features" Dialog and try installing the new version again.

Missing libraries after Installation on Windows OSedit

Installing missing libraries for Windows N and Windows KN distributionsedit

Windows N and Windows KN versions are made for the European and Korean market and due to antitrust regulations do not include Windows Media Player which parts of are required to run TouchDesigner.

You can download and install the missing features for Windows 10 / 11 here

Problems after installation with licensing or keyingedit

Windows - License Retrieval Erroredit

In some cases starting TouchDesigner will fail with a dialog titled TouchDesigner Key Retrieval Error or License Retrieval Error. The content of the error message will look similar to this:

License Retrieval Error License Retrieval Error

This can be resolved by rebuilding the wmi repository.

Please be advised though that deleting and rebuilding the repository can cause damage to the system or to installed applications.

To perform a rebuild of the WMI repository, please do the following:

  1. Disable and stop the winmgmt service
  2. Locate C:\Windows\System32\wbem and copy the wbem to another location for a backup.
  3. Rename C:\Windows\System32\wbem\repository folder (Note: it will not let you rename the folder if winmngmt service is still running)
  4. Enable and start the winmgmt service
  5. Open Command Prompt as Administrator, run the following commands:

cd C:\Windows\System32\wbem\ for /f %s in ('dir /b *.mof') do mofcomp %s

If you continue to have problems, join the support thread here.

macOS - Permissions Error when installing or disabling a keyedit

If you get a L1 Key Error when installing your key (see image below), or if you get an error disabling your key, please follow these instructions. Please make sure you are in and Administrator account.

L1KeyError.png

In your admin account, open Terminal and paste in the command:

ls -l -d "/Library/Application Support/ca.derivative"

You should get a line back like so. Note that the group owner should be admin, not wheel:

drwxrwxr-x@ 10 root admin 340 17 Jan 2017 /Library/Application Support/ca.derivative

If you are missing the directory, then enter this command in the Terminal:

sudo mkdir "/Library/Application Support/ca.derivative"

If you do not have matching permissions (1st column), then enter this command in the Terminal:

sudo chmod 775 "/Library/Application Support/ca.derivative"

If you do not have admin as a group (4th column), then enter this command in the Terminal:

sudo chgrp -R admin "/Library/Application Support/ca.derivative"

Restart TouchDesigner and try installing or disabling the key again.

Problems during Uninstalledit

Installer exits during Uninstall without erroredit

When this happen, best practice has been to restart the computer to free up any possible locks on the folder. Most commonly after a restart the remaining files will have been removed and a fresh install can be started.

See Alsoedit

Automatic Key Installation

TouchDesigner Build: