Installing using the Ansys automated installer

Starting in 2025R1, all 3 Ansys Optics simulation tools; Lumerical, Speos and Zemax OpticStudio, can be installed using the Ansys Automated Installer, compatible on both Windows and Linux.

For installation of older versions of Lumerical, follow the instructions in these articles on Windows and Linux (RedHat/Rocky Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, Ubuntu) installation guides.

Authored by Adan Wang, Lito Yap and Don Dickinson

Downloading and Starting the Automated Installer

The Ansys Automated installer can be downloaded following the instructions here. An Ansys account is required to access the download page to the installer. After download, you can follow the instructions here to start the installation.

Installing Lumerical, Zemax or Speos Products

Windows

Note: If you have Microsoft Visual Studio installed, please first uninstall Microsoft Visual Studio, install Lumerical using the automated installer, and then reinstall Microsoft Visual Studio if needed. Otherwise, functions related to the Intel MPI, such as remote jobs configured using it as a resource type, may not work properly. Alternatively, you may refer to the Windows Installation Guide, and install without the Intel MPI.

During the installation, you first will need to login with your Ansys ID to confirm you are an active licensed customer.

Once logged in, you will be able to choose an installation path. It's recommended to leave the default location.

Next you are presented a list of products to install.

Important note before continuing: There may be more things selected by default than you need. Remove the green dot / checkmark from any products or categories that you do not want or that you do not have a license for.

You can install specific products by checking the appropriate boxes. All photonics products are under the “Optics” section including Speos, Lumerical and Zemax Ansys OpticStudio.

Note the Ansys Optics Launcher is optional; It only includes sample Lumerical files and buttons to launch the various Optics products. It is installed automatically as a prerequisite, or can be installed independently.

For Lumerical, you can also select to download the Docker files for containerized workflows by selecting the Lumerical-RPM option.

Following the selection, installation will begin.

Linux

During the installation process, Lumerical and Photonics Verilog-A options can be selected under the “Optical” section.

For Lumerical, you can separately select the Photonics Verilog-A option. You can also select to download the Lumerical Docker files for containerized workflows by selecting the Lumerical-RPM option.

Licensing and Usage

After installation, the the Ansys licensing Client Settings (recommended) can be used to configure license access for all optics products. See License configuration using the Ansys Client Licensing Settings app for details on this.

Lumerical License configuration using Optics Launcher

Notes

This section applies only for configuring Lumerical license access.
If you have already configured the Ansys Licensing Client Settings application, you can skip this.
OpticStudio and Speos only uses Ansys Licensing Client Settings application.
On Windows, you can find the launcher executable under \Launcher\bin\Launcher.exe under the installation directory or in the Start Menu under "Ansys Inc" or the "Lumerical" folder.

Otherwise the default path is:

 "C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\[[verpath]]\OpticsLauncher\bin"

On Linux, the Ansys Optics Launcher can be launched with the following command:

 /ansys_inc/[[verpath]]/Lumerical/bin

After launching the launcher, follow the following steps to configure the license:

Select “I have a license from Ansys…”
Choose either “…configure my license only for Lumerical products”, if you will only be using Ansys Lumerical products, or choose “…configure my license for All Optics products” if you are using Ansys Lumerical products together with either Ansys Speos® or Ansys Zemax OpticStudio® software (this uses the Ansys Licensing Client settings app instead).
Follow the instructions below to configure your license:
1. Configure to use a specific licensing server: Lumerical license configuration with the Ansys Optics Launcher
2. Configure to use the Ansys License Manager: License configuration using the Ansys licensing client settings
3. Request an evaluation license through the Lumerical Free Trials portal. For further information on the process, see the Knowledge Base article on How to request an evaluation license
4. If you are using Lumerical from a workshop, consult with your workshop organizer to obtain a workshop license.

The licensing configuration is now complete, and you can follow the this Knowledge Base article on running Ansys Lumerical products.

Lumerical Custom Installation Options

The automated installer does not currently support custom installations on Windows where components are individually installed, please refer to the Windows Installation Guide Knowledge Base article on the procedures to install this using the standalone installer.