Documentation / Operations

Installing and removing

How to install Twinwright Studio, without questions on many computers at once, what goes where, and how to remove it.

For Linux, see On Linux.

Installing

1. Run TwinwrightStudio-<version>-setup.exe.
2. Read the licence agreement and click I Agree.
3. Keep the folder (%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Twinwright Studio), or choose another.
4. On the last page, choose whether to start Studio and whether to put a shortcut on the desktop.

The installer speaks English or Chinese, following the system's language.

For you or for everyone on the computer

The installer installs Studio for the person who runs it. It needs no administrator rights, and the Start menu entry and the desktop shortcut are that person's. Each person who uses the computer installs Studio for themselves.

The licence belongs to the computer, not to the person: every user of the computer shares it (see The licence folder).

Studio changes no file associations, no PATH and no firewall settings, and installs no service.

Installing without questions

TwinwrightStudio-<version>-setup.exe /S [/DESKTOP] [/D=<folder>]

• /S installs without pages and does not start Studio.
• /DESKTOP adds the desktop shortcut.
• /D= sets the folder. It must be the last argument, without quotes, even when the folder has spaces.

To remove Studio without questions: uninstall.exe /S in the program's folder.

What goes where

The program's folder

TwinwrightStudio.exe, the manual (manual\), README.txt, THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt and uninstall.exe. The folder stays the same over updates, so AI clients you connected keep working.

Your documents

Documents\Twinwright Studio (the Documents folder Windows gives you, also when it is redirected):

• programs\: every program's versions, and the CAM jobs' versions;
• Reports\: inspection reports, setup sheets and diagnostics packages;
• logs\: the audit log.

Tools > Settings… > Files and Log can move the programs and the log elsewhere (at the next start).

The program's own state

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Twinwright\Studio: the settings, the window's place, each machine's world (its workpiece, tools, offsets and controller settings), the AI services' keys (encrypted for your Windows account) and crash reports (kept 30 days).

The licence folder

%ProgramData%\Twinwright\licence holds the licence files, trials included, for every user of the computer. Studio makes it at the first activation or trial. If Studio cannot write there, an administrator can make the folder and let users write in it.

For special setups, these environment variables move the folders:

Updating to a new version

Close Studio, then run the new version's installer. It installs into the same folder; your work, settings, machines and licence stay as they are. Studio does not check for updates itself (see Updates).

If a copy of Studio is still running in the background (an AI client may have started one), the installer moves the old program file aside and removes it at the next update or removal.

Removing

Use Settings > Apps > Twinwright Studio > Uninstall in Windows, or run uninstall.exe in the program's folder.

What removing leaves behind

Removing takes away the program, its shortcuts and its entry in Apps. It leaves:

• your work in Documents\Twinwright Studio;
• the program's own state in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Twinwright\Studio;
• the licence folder;
• the twinwright entry in the settings of AI clients you connected.

Delete these by hand to remove everything. Deleting the licence folder does not give a trial back: the licence server gives each computer one trial of each edition.

On Linux

Installing

Studio for Linux is one file, an AppImage. Nothing is installed in the system.

1. Check the file: sha256sum TwinwrightStudio-<version>-x86_64.AppImage must give the SHA-256 on the download page.
2. Put it where it can stay, under a name without the version, so that AI clients you connect keep working after an update, and make it executable:

    mkdir -p ~/Applications
    mv TwinwrightStudio-<version>-x86_64.AppImage ~/Applications/TwinwrightStudio.AppImage
    chmod +x ~/Applications/TwinwrightStudio.AppImage

1. Start it: ~/Applications/TwinwrightStudio.AppImage, or double-click it in the file manager.

The AppImage needs FUSE 2. If it does not start for want of it, install it (sudo apt install libfuse2t64 on Ubuntu 24.04 and later), or take the .tar.gz instead: unpack it anywhere and start TwinwrightStudio in its folder.

What goes where on Linux

The licence folder is the computer's, for every user, when your account can make it or write in it. Otherwise Studio keeps the licence in ~/.local/share/Twinwright/licence (under $XDG_DATA_HOME when it is set): for you alone, and still for this computer only. To share one licence among the users of a computer, make the folder once with sudo install -d -m 1777 /etc/twinwright/licence.

Trial and activation on Linux

Trials, activation and renewal go online as on Windows, through the system's libcurl. Without libcurl or without internet, activate offline (see Licences).

Updating and removing on Linux

To update, quit Studio and put the new AppImage in place of the old one, under the same name (step 2 above). To remove Studio, delete the AppImage. Both leave your documents, the state folder, the licence folder, the keys in your keyring and the twinwright entry in AI clients you connected; delete these by hand to remove everything.