Ansys 2024R2 Geometry Service not installed.

[dkowollik]

Hi @RobPasMue,
I tried to follow your instructions on the doc pages to install the GeometryService. PyAnsys with SpaceClaim, Discovery and PyPrimeMesh is working fine to load geometries. I want to use the GeometryService like this:
from ansys.geometry.core import launch_modeler_with_geometry_service
modeler = launch_modeler_with_geometry_service()
The Feedback is a FileNotFoundError. I debugged into the launch method.

The folder GeometryService does not exist in the Ansys installation folder. Therefore, I tried to install it with setup.exe -silent -geometryservice like it is described in your documentation. The structure bundle I have does not accept the parameter -geometryservice. Therefore, I reinstalled the entire ANSYS 2024R2 release with the AnsysInstaller.exe, which is supposed to install the GeometryService bei default. This did not work. the folder is still missing. What am I missing? Is there a different bundle, I have to download? Can you please help out?

[RobPasMue]

Hi @dkowollik! I believe you are not alone on this issue - I have also experienced it myself. Currently the flag -geometryservice is not working properly. We have reported this problem to the Unified Installer team and they should try and fix it soon. However, to prevent it from blocking your installation, let me give you some steps to follow:

1. Access the Ansys Customer Portal at https://download.ansys.com/Current%20Release
2. Download the Ansys 2024 R2 ISO image 1 (only the first one is required) - see screenshot
   
3. Open the ISO image and navigate to the current folder on the screenshot (in my case the ISO image was mounted on drive D:/ so... D:\geometryservice)
   
4. Copy this WINX64.7z zip file to your current Ansys Installation folder (i.e. by default it should be C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v242)
   
5. Uncompress the zip file and extract it to C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v242 like in this screenshot
   
6. Now, you should have a folder called C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v242\GeometryService 🥳

Let me know if you encounter any issues in the process! I'm sorry for the workaround but at least it will unblock your situation.

[RobPasMue]

Hmmm... Can you try running your script from an "admin" terminal? Or open your IDE in admin mode and try running it too?

[dkowollik]

I did try ipython within "admin" mode and it worked. Afterwards, I changed the read/wirte permissions on C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v242\GeometryService\Logs to all users, tried again without "admin" mode and it also worked to start the modeler. May be it makes more sense to track the log files in the user directory like the other ansys processes do:
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Ansys\v242
Do I have to change access permissions to any other folder in GeometryServices as well?

[RobPasMue]

Aha so that was it! I'm glad you figured it out. No, I think that's the only folder you need to change the permissions on. Mostly because the logging takes place there with the Geometry Service. BTW, your suggestion makes total sense so I will incorporate it soon! I really like the idea of having it in C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Ansys\v242. Let me work on that!

Also, if my initial response helped you out to install the Geometry Service (which is the original request of the discussion), I would kindly ask you to click on "Mark as answer" on the first comment of this thread so that other users can benefit from it!

I appreciate all your time and effort to get it working @dkowollik! Your experience will definitely help other users onboard PyAnsys Geometry!

[susannehaase]

I also stumbled over the log folder permission thing. Solution:
modeler = launch_modeler_with_geometry_service(server_logs_folder = r"D:\Temp")
Regards, Susanne

[RobPasMue]

Hi @susannehaase! Thanks for commenting on this :) If you are using version 0.7.1 or above you might want to know that the server logs for the Geometry Service are now stored by default in %PUBLIC%/Documents/Ansys/GeometryService (unless specified differently via argument using server_logs_folder). Users shouldn't have problems to access this location from now onwards =)

pyansys-geometry/src/ansys/geometry/core/connection/launcher.py

Lines 591 to 596 in ef3af38

	# If we are in a Windows environment, we are going to write down the server
	# logs in the %PUBLIC%/Documents/Ansys/GeometryService folder.
	if os.name == "nt" and server_logs_folder is None:
	# Writing to the "Public" folder by default - no write permissions specifically required.
	server_logs_folder = Path(os.getenv("PUBLIC"), "Documents", "Ansys", "GeometryService")
	LOG.info(f"Writing server logs to the default folder at {server_logs_folder}.")