The Inventor Nastran button does not appear in the Environment tab in Inventor

Issue:

After installing Inventor Nastran, the "Autodesk Inventor Nastran" button does not appear in Autodesk Inventor under the Environment tab.

An example of what the button would look like under the Environment tab in Inventor:

Solution:

Items to check first:

1. Make sure you have installed Autodesk Inventor before installing Nastran Inventor.
2. Both versions of Autodesk Inventor and Nastran Inventor must match. For example, if you install Inventor 2024, you must also install Nastran Inventor 2024.
3. Open Nastran Inventor 20xx to start Inventor and get the button to appear under the Environment tab in Inventor.

If the above items have been met and the "Autodesk Inventor Nastran" button still doesn't appear in Inventor, try the following:

1.  Exit Inventor, and open Windows Explorer.
2. Browse to c:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Inventor 20xx\Addins (change the xx in 20xx to the version that is the issue).
3. In the Addins folder locate the file "autodesk.nastranincad.inventor.addin" or "autodesk.invenotr.nastran.addin" and open this file in Notepad to edit.
4. Locate the line "<Assembly>NEiInventor.dll</Assembly>" and change the <Assembly> line to <Assembly>C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Nastran In-CAD 20xx\System\NEiInventor.dll</Assembly> where "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Nastran In-CAD 20xx\" is the location where the In-CAD software is installed (with the appropriate year), and the "System\" folder is where the file NEiInventor.dll is located.
5.  Save the file and exit NOTE: Do not create duplicates of the file "autodesk.nastranincad.inventor.addin" in the Addins folder, Example: "autodesk.nastranincad.inventor-Copy.addin" or file "autodesk.nastranincad.inventor.Old". Files with the same beginning text "autodesk.nastranincad.inventor" will cause a problem. If you would like to backup the file, copy it to another folder as a backup.
6. Start Nastran Inventor and open a model. Check the Environment tab to see if you now see Autodesk Inventor Nastran.

About the Author

Installation Technical Support Specialist<br><br>Ken Williams has over 20 years of experience as a systems administrator helping organizations with installation, configuration, and maintenance. At IMAGINiT, Ken puts his knowledge of Microsoft, SQL, servers, and Autodesk to work ensuring clients are able to stay up-and-running, install their software easily, and maintain their solutions.

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