Xilinx ISE 8.1i for Windows XP

General Information

The overall installation approach is to install the application onto your local drive using a copy of the CD's on the San drives, using the Xweb interface.

This version runs on a Windows XP machine.

ISE 8.1i release notes are available at: ISE 8.1i Release Notes

To install the application to your local disk requires about 2.1 GB of diskspace, including documentation, SP2 and the optional ModelSim application.
It is recommend that you install Service Pack 2 (SP2), which is available through the Xweb, as "Step 2" within the same xweb entry as for the main application.

• Before beginning the local installation, 'delete' environment variable XILINX, if it has already been set.

• Begin by going to the Xweb application installation webpage:

  http:\\xweb.slac.stanford.edu

• In the list of applications that appears, find Xilinx "ISE 8.1i" and click on the "Multiple Step Install" button to its right.

• In the following menu, click near the bottom on "Install main app", associated with "Step 1".

• Agree to the following standard license agreement.

• You are returned to a similar Xweb page prompting for Step 1 and 2. If the download window does not appear within a few minutes, click on Step 1 again, even though it would seem redundant.

• On the next "File Download" page, you can choose either "Run" or "Save". The first choice might be easiest. It will download the installation files (after some minutes of waiting for the download-indicator window to appear). and then automatically proceed to install the application. The "Save" option only downloads the installation files. You would then have to go to the location where you saved the downloaded files and doubleclick on the *.exe file, which would initiate the install.

• On the next security warning page, click again on "Run", in case that is what you chose in the previous step.

• After some waiting where nothing seems to happen, the self-extractor window appears, ending in the appearance of the actual Xilinx installer.

• Click on 'Next', since you already have the Registration ID (in the next step).

• In the next several windows check the "I accept ... " checkbox for the license.

• In the next window "Enter Your Registration ID" enter the following four sets of digits:
  5891-7079-0461-4117

• In the next window "Select Destination Directory" specify a local dir that has no spaces in the pathname; also specify here the Programs Folder entry you would like, for example "Xilinx ISE 8.1i".

• In the next window "Select Software Modules to Install", you can leave the default selected. (about 2 GB total space required.)

• In the next "Update Environment" screen, you can choose to update your displayed PATH environment variables, which is a good idea.

• After a review of what will be done, the installation then begins.

• Apparently after the installation completes, your PC must be rebooted, for which you are prompted.

• This completes the main installation. When you first call up ISE 8.1i, you will be informed that a Service Pack, SP2 is available for downloading. I would recommend going ahead with the service pack installation.

• There is an optional additional install button on the initial xweb page for Xilinx ISE 8.1i, for the Mentor Graphics Starter Version of ModelSim Xilinx Edition III (MXE 6.0d). You can use use this application Install Mentor ModelSim MXE 6.0d if you want to try out the MXE Starter, a free, limited version of MXE, which is supposed to be seamlessly integrated with Xilinx ISE. Here is the procedure for installing it:

• Go to the same initial Xweb page as for the main installation. This time select "Starter Mentor Modelsim XE III 6.0d (optional)", and agree to the usual license requirements.

• As with the previous components, you are presented with the choice of which Step to pursue. Select again, although apparently redundant, Step 3.

• As with the previous components, you are presented with the choice of 'Running the installation, which automatically downloads the installation files, uzips and installs them. Or, you can 'Save' the installation files to a local location of your choice and do the rest of the installation from there.

• The security-warning window prompts you whether you want to 'Run' the installation script, to which you respond by selecting 'Run'. After some delay, the WinZip Self-Extractor window pops up, indicating that the unzipping of the installation files is occurring. Finally, the actual Mentor installer appears.

• You are prompted in the 'Select Components' window to specify what type of installation you would like. Select the "MXE Starter" (Limited)

• In the "Software License Agreement" window, click on 'Yes' to accept the license agreement.

• In the "Choose Destination Location" window, specify the local folder in which you would like to install ModelSim Starter.

• In the "Select Library Installation Option" window, select the installation type you would like.

• In the "Select Program Folder", select either the default presented, within an existing Folder such as the one you just created for the main application, or a Folder or your own choice.

• The installation then proceeds.

• Responses to a few questions are prompted for after the installation, which you can answer as you wish, except in the "License Request" window, click on 'Yes', since you will need a (free) license to run MXE Starter.

• After clicking on 'Finish', you are then presented with a webpage for logging in to the Xilinx website, either with an existing account, or one that you can create on the fly. Follow the remaining instructions presented for having an MXE Starter license file emailed to you. It is unfortunately not possible to share a single license. Rather, each license is tied to your local PC, necessitating a separate MXE Starter license for each machine.

• Continuing with the MXE Starter license setup, as indicated in the license request instructions two steps ago, when you first intend to invoke MXE, set up the license you were emailed as follows:

• Copy the license.dat file you were sent, to any directory of your choice
  

• Call up ModelSim XE and click on the "Licensing Wizard" menu, then click on 'Continue' in the menu that appears.

• You are prompted for the location of your emailed license file, which you can Browse to.

• In the next "License Wizard" popup window you are prompted whether you would like your LM_LICENSE_FILE environment variable augmented with the location of your MXE license.dat file. You also have the option, instead, of adding the license path to the LM_LICENSE_FILE list yourself.

• Finally, you are prompted to rerun the License Wizard to run a test of of the newly-installed license, which is straightforward. First you are presented with the same initial screen as before, in which you simply click on 'Continue'. The next screen prompts again for the location of the license file, for which the default is displayed corresponding to the location you specified during the first time through this process. Finally, the next screen allows you to specify a license file test option, which you click on to carry out the test. Sometimes this test will be invoked automatically.
  When you use ModelSim, there will an initial message to the effect that you are using a Starter version only, etc. These messages can be ignored.

• This completes all installations.

• You will be returned to the Xweb installation page, which you can now exit from.

• There is a Service Pack 2 that can be installed, which is recommendable.

• When you first call up ISE 8.1i, you will be informed that a Service Pack is available for downloading. I would recommend going ahead with the service pack installation as described below.

• Set the required environment variables, as follows

• In the /Start/Settings/Control Panel/System/('Advanced', if WinXP) environment/ menu, set the following three (system) environment variables, in case they are not yet set appropriately:

  XILINX= (your local top-level Xilinx installation directory)

  PATH should include: $XILINX\bin\nt

  LM_LICENSE_FILE should include the local license for running ModelSim, in case you installed that optional application as well.

ISE 8.1i SP2 Release Notes

• Naturally, you need to have an existing installation of ISE 8.1i on your PC before you install SP2, and your XILINX environment variable must be pointing to that local installation directory. This environment variable will be set correctly after you install the main ISE 8.1i application.

• You can install, optionally, Service Pack 2, by going to the same initial "Multiple Step Install" window for ISE8.1i. This time, select "SP2".

• After agreeing to the license conditions, you are presented with a similar menu to the initial one, in which you again click, near the top, on 'SP2'.

• As before, you can choose between 'Run', or 'Save'. The Run option handles the installation file download, unzipping and installation automatically, whereas the 'Save' option downloads the files to a location you choose. You then go to that location and double-click on the downloaded .exe file to begin the actual installation. In some cases, you may have to click on the 'Run' or 'Save' option a second time, if the download pop-up window does not appear.

• After the download has complete, you are prompted whether you want to 'Run' the file downloaded file, to which you respond by clicking on 'Run'.

• After the initial license agreement signoff, you are presented with menu "Select Destination Directory", which should display as the default, the Folder of your current installation Folder.

• The installation commences, possibly with an initial backup of your existing files, and completes without further ado.

• You can then exit the Xweb webpage.

• This completes the installation of Service Pack 2.

CAE homepage

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Bob Boeninger
Last updated: June 12, 2006