Feature Request - Save Update Downloads

There is no option to save your downloaded updates, as there was in ServiceCenter.

This feature was a great help when updating multiple installations: I keep the updates on an external drive. This allows me to point ServiceCenter to that drive and avoid having to re-download large update installers.
Gave me a clean way to manage my installations.

I would recommend including this feature in NativeAccess.

 

Same here. I use NI stuff on two computers. I also have limited mobile internet.

Would be great if Native Access could use offline installers same way the Service Center did.
If it cannot be done at least give as an option to not delete installers.

 

Agree it should be option to keep installers. Now they are automatically deleted.

 

Hopefully the installers for Traktor or Maschine will be optimized in Native Access that only needed drivers get installed. I really hated it that Service center's automatic install routine installs all drivers. No one has all controllers or soundcards NI has released.
If not please add manual setup to Native Access!

 

Thanks for you input and the time spent testing.
We can definately see the benefit of storing files for later use but it's not within our immediate roadmap.

 

Shame as this would be very useful and much appreciated, especially for those on poor/slow net connections.

 

I think it is a bit shortsighted to not have this in the current road map - "not within our immediate roadmap" sounds like management speak for it will never happen. Is the road map available to see and is there a timeline?
I would suggest that downloads/updates are kept as available to download and manually install as in the 'Download' area on site until there is no need.
I dread a time when I have to reinstal all NI software and therefore all updates, I have a horrible sinking, sick feeling when I think about having to download everything with 1mbit broadband.

 

+1 for keeping downloads!!!!!
also, does this mean we are to uninstall Service Center? or do we need to keep that for Maschine?

 

It´s a absolute "No Go"!
At least, there should be downloadable installer files without samples to be able to copy/relocate already installed samples after initial installation.

 

+1

And while it might not within NI's immediate roadmap to implement a check box - which indeed is a major challenge for a worldwide (Berlin, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Shenzhen & London) operating 400£ gorilla - it was within MY immediate roadmap to find a solution.
Install everything and whenever an iso file appears in the installation directory, copy it somewhere else. You're done in no time, e.g. after about 7 hrs attending an agonizing installation process. Pain in the ass, I would say, but works. Thanks NI.

 

Can't thumbs up this enough!!! I just posted a thread on this exact same topic. Didn't notice 1 already existed

 

Dear Native Instruments Developers,
I'm sorry that I have to say that the current behaviour of the software is not acceptable at all
Keeping the files has to to be on top of the list.

 

It seems that it is possible to copy iso files during installation, but we have to be in front of the computer at the end of the download... (so impossible for big files).
Maybe this is possible to prohibit the system to delete files in this folder.

 

+1
It really needs to be done sooner, rather than later (up the road-map?, along it?)

 

I agree. The lack of an option to keep the downloaded files for gigabytes worth of software that you may have to reinstall in the future is ridiculous. If this program is the only way to install KOMPLETE 11, then I will be holding off my upgrade until this is resolved -- mainly in protest, since although it's quite possible to copy the files out before it deletes them, it really shouldn't be necessary to jump through hoops for something so fundamental, which could be solved by NI with very little effort by simply adding a preference in Native Access to retain the downloaded files.

Meanwhile, if you do run into a problem where you can't copy the downloaded file out of the folder before Native Access deletes it, here is a workaround, at least for the more technically savvy users:

- Install Microsoft's Process Explorer (an advanced replacement for Task Manager that is available from Microsoft's SysInternals site, http://sysinternals.com).
- Once you have started a particular install or update from Native Access, watch Native Access and the download folder until you see that it has completed the download and launched the installer (At this point, you will see the downloaded Zip or ISO file present in the download folder in place of temporary download files and folders that start with "_".)
- In Process Explorer, right-click the "Native Access.exe" process and choose "Suspend". This will freeze Native Access while allowing the installer that it launched to continue. If the installer happens to complete before you've had a chance to copy the file, it will pass control back to Native Access, but it won't be able to continue running to delete the file. Note that the Native Access window may appear grayed-out or "Not Responding" after suspending it, which is to be expected.
- After you have the downloaded file safely copied to another folder, right click "Native Access.exe" in Process Explorer and click "Resume". This will allow it to continue running to delete the file and whatever else it may do following the installation.

 

Native Access failed to download both parts of the Drop Squad expansion for me, and wouldn't activate the one part that it DID download. NI Support wasn't able to help me fix it, but I eventually uninstalled the bits of Drop Squad that Native Access installed, and then I re-installed Drop Squad from the original ISO I had downloaded when I first bought the expansion. This completely installed Drop Squad (but Native Access still couldn't activate it.)

So I downloaded Service Center and installed it, and boom- it immediately detected Drop Squad and pre-populated the serial number. All I had to do was click Activate.

This only worked because I had the original installer from the pre-Native Access days. If I hadn't kept that ISO (and if Service Center was no longer working), I'd be out of luck right now. Please give us a way to keep the downloads, NI- whether through Native Access or by giving back the download links from our NI accounts.

 

The possibility to save downloaded updates is a must. NI please let us, your paying customers, keep our downloaded files

 

This is a BIG Deal for those of us with really low bandwidth. Here in the US there are over 7million connections that are less than 3 Mbps. Mine is less than 1.5 Mbps. Downloads can literally take days (have to use off -hours). I was going to get K11 for the simple reason it comes on a drive, BUT then I discovered this lack of being able to save downloaded updates. I don't know how many connections worldwide are inadequate for handling downloads , cloud based subscriptions, forced updates (ie Windows 10) but we are definitely being left behind as if there weren't some minimum bandwidth requirement.

Besides why in the world would the ability to save a download be taken away, except if it was to limit our control of how we handle installation backups?

 

Hey all. New user here!

I work for an audio software company and I can understand the politics of not wanting to complicate the GUI with menus and check boxes. For the advanced users however, it would be trivial to add a check for a "DeleteDownload" 0/1 registry entry before deleting the original. I noticed there is a registry key for "Downloader", but it has no entry's. I would be surprised if such switches didn't already exist, we just don't know what they are.

What Bill7718 is doing is very similar to what I have been doing. I simply wait for the .zip or .ISO to finish assembling in the download directory, then while it is installing, I copy it off to another directory. It doesnt affect the installation (although it does slow it down) and Native Access can't delete the original while it is being copied. You have plenty of time, especially with the larger downloads. If it is an ISO, you will even hear the Windows "New Device" sound letting you know it has been mounted by the NI ISO Mounter service. If it is a .ZIP however, you do have to watch and catch it, which is a PIA of you have a lot to download.

BTW, I LOVE this software and the music I can make!

 

Yes, I've found the same thing since my original post, that there is really no case where you don't have time to copy the file out as long as you are keeping an eye on the download folder. My suggestion to suspend the process to allow more time was unnecessary.