System requirements for Autodesk Inventor 2012 products

Autodesk Support

Oct 8, 2023


Products and versions covered


Issue:

This article provides the system requirements for Autodesk® Inventor 2012 products.

Solution:

Whether your Windows operating system is the 32-bit or the 64-bit version, the version is automatically detected during installation. The appropriate version of Autodesk Inventor is installed. A 64-bit version of Autodesk Inventor cannot be installed on a 32-bit system and vice-versa.

Note: for disk space requirements, see the 2012 readme file.

For Autodesk Inventor 2012 Windows Users

Note: Microsoft .Net Framework 4.0 is required to successfully install Autodesk Inventor.

For General Part and Assembly Design (Typically Fewer than 1,000 Parts)

NOTE: Microsoft Vista Hotfix KB971138 is required for installation on Vista operating systems. Please refer to Microsoft hotfix 971138 required for Inventor to function fully with Vista Operating Systems for complete information and access to Microsoft Vista Hotfix KB971138

For Complex Models, Complex Mold Assemblies, and Large Assemblies (Typically More than 1,000 Parts)

NOTE: Microsoft Vista Hotfix KB971138 is required for installation on Vista operating systems. Please refer to Microsoft hotfix 971138 required for Inventor to function fully with Vista Operating Systems for complete information and access to Microsoft Vista Hotfix KB971138.

For Autodesk Inventor 2012 Macintosh Users

Boot Camp
You can install Autodesk® Inventor® Professional software on a Mac® computer on a Windows partition. The system must use Boot Camp® to manage a dual OS configuration and meet the minimum system requirements.

Mac Virtualization on Parallels Desktop
Autodesk Inventor Professional can be used on the Mac via Parallels Desktop for Mac without having to boot directly into the Windows OS, so it is easy to switch between platforms. The system must meet the following requirements:  

For more details, please read the Inventor for Mac FAQ.

Notes

  • Microsoft® Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit) Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate or Enterprise edition, or Microsoft® Windows Vista® (32-bit or 64-bit) Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate edition (SP2), or Microsoft® Windows XP Professional (SP3) or Professional x64 Edition (SP2) (1,2)
  • Intel® Pentium® 4, 2 GHz or faster, Intel® Xeon®, Intel® Core™, AMD Athlon™ 64, or AMD Opteron™ processor, or later (3)
  • 2 GB RAM or more (4)
  • Microsoft® Direct3D 10® or Direct3D 9® capable graphics card (5)
  • DVD-ROM drive (6)
  • Microsoft® Mouse-compliant pointing device
  • 1,280 x 1,024 or higher screen resolution
  • Internet connection for web downloads and Subscription Aware access
  • Adobe Flash Player 10 (7)
  • Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 6.x through 8
  • Microsoft® Excel 2003 through 2010 for iFeatures, iParts, iAssemblies, thread customization, and spreadsheet-driven designs
  • Microsoft .Net Framework 4.0
  • Windows 7 64-bit, Windows Vista 64-bit (SP2), or Windows XP Professional x64 Edition (SP2)
  • AMD64 or Intel® 64 processor
  • 8 GB RAM or more
  • CAD workstation-class graphics card
  • Microsoft .Net Framework 4.0
  • Mac OS® X 10.6.x
  • Boot Camp V 2.0 or higher
  • Intel-based Mac (64-bit Windows Vista requires an Intel Core™2 duo or Xeon processor)
  • 3 GB RAM (Recommend 4 GB for 32-bit Windows OS, 8 GB or more for 64-bit Windows OS)
  • 20 GB disk space for Apple OS partition or Windows OS partition
  • Mac OS X 10.6.x
  • Parallels Desktop 5.0 (5.0.9344 or higher)
  • Intel based Mac (64-bit Windows Vista requires an Intel Core 2 duo or Xeon processor)
  • Minimum 4 GB RAM (6 GB system memory for 32-bit Windows OS, 8 GB or more for 64-bit Windows OS recommended)
  • Minimum 40 GB available disk space (100 GB recommended)
  • Autodesk® Inventor® 2012 software application is provided both as 32-bit applications and as 64-bit applications for installation and use on the corresponding operating system only. Autodesk® Vault Explorer 2012 is a 32-bit application for installation and use on either a 32-bit or 64-bit operating system.
  • Autodesk Inventor design application and Autodesk Vault must all be the same language on a given computer. English versions of these applications will run on any language operating system. Other language versions of these applications will run on operating systems of that same language.
  • Autodesk Inventor 2012 has been optimized to take advantage of the SSE2 extended instruction sets supported on Pentium 4, AMD Athlon 64, and AMD Opteron processors. Inventor 2012 will not install on computers that do not support SSE2. Several utilities are available on the Internet that report CPUID, including supported instructions sets.
  • Recommended minimum RAM for using Inventor Tooling is 3 GB. In addition, Autodesk recommends settings which allow Microsoft Windows to manage virtual memory, as needed. You should always have at least twice as much free hard disk space as system memory (RAM).
  • Please refer to the Autodesk published graphics card information.
  • Inventor 2012 is available only on DVD media (or electronic download in some situations). CD media is no longer available. A DVD-ROM drive is not required if installing via electronic download. However, you will need 15 GB of hard disk space to accommodate the installation files and temporary files created during the installation.
  • The multimedia learning components of the Inventor Help system, such as the UI Video Tour, Command Reference, and Show Me animations, require Adobe® Flash® Player 10. If it is not already installed, you can download it from the Adobe website.
Note: Not all Autodesk product offerings may be virtualized. You may virtualize a product only if the applicable terms and conditions governing your access to and use of that offering expressly permit virtualization. Where virtualization is authorized, all conditions and limitations specified in the applicable terms and conditions apply. Autodesk may make available information regarding use of products in virtualized environments. Such information is offered solely for your convenience, on an “as is” basis, and may contain errors, inaccuracies, or may be incomplete. Autodesk makes no representations, warranties or other promises related to use of any product in any virtualization environment or with any virtualization technology. If you are authorized to virtualize and elect to do so, you assume all risks associated with such use, including, but not limited to incompatibility between the product and third-party virtualization technology and/or your virtualization environment. Read our Terms of Use for more information.

Products:

Inventor;

Versions:

2012;


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