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Troubleshooting & FAQ🔗

What is the MVTec Software Manager?🔗

The MVTec Software Manager is a tool to install, uninstall and manage MVTec Software Products.

Do I have to install the SOM?🔗

We recommend installing SOM to customize and manage your installed products. However, you do not need to install SOM to install or use MVTec products. All MVTec products can be also be used without SOM. For more information, see Advanced information and use cases.

Do I need to login?🔗

Using SOM to download and install products requires a log in. Additionally logging in is not required to use offline installers. It is also not required to use or uninstall existing MVTec products. For more information, see Login information.

Which resources such as cookies, registry, configuration files, and environment variables does SOM use?🔗

The following resources are used:

  • Cookies: The SOM frontend uses cookies to authenticate against the backend.
  • Registry: On Windows every installed product writes registry keys.
  • Configuration file: SOM uses som.conf located at %APPDATA%\MVTec\SoftwareManager\som.conf when you adjust settings.
  • Environment variables: SOM itself does not use environment variables. However, it may set environment variables for the installed products for example HALCONROOT.

What is an “Offline Installer”, and how do online and offline modes differ?🔗

The Software Manager can work in two modes: offline and online. An offline installer is a pre-bundeled installation package for MVTec products that can be installed without an internet connection because SOM installs the product from the local repository.

SOM decides which mode to use by checking whether a repository is located next to som.exe:

  • If a repository is detected, SOM start in offline mode and installs products and packages from the local repository.
  • If no repository is found, SOM starts in online mode which is the GUI in the webbrowser.

To convert an offline installer to an online Software Manager, move som.exe out of the repository folder. You can also copy a current som.exe into an older repository.

How do I create a custom installer in SOM?🔗

Since the MVTec Software Manager version 1.5.0 you can create custom offline installers from all products listed in the current catalog. For more Information, see Using the custom installer.

The offline SOM has an older version, what now?🔗

You can update the older SOM by copying a newer som.exe into the same directory, replacing the old one. Then start the SOM.

What is the difference between a custom installer and an offline installer?🔗

With a custom installer, MVTec product packages can be adjusted before the installer is created. In contrast, the packages included in the offline installer are already pre-adjusted and cannot be changed. Therefore, the offline installers are custom installers created by MVTec. Both let you install MVTec Products without requiring an internet connection. For more information, see Using the custom installer.

Is a SOM offline installer independent of an already installed SOM?🔗

A SOM offline installer is independent of any already installed or currently running SOM. It indicates that it is running in offline installer mode, ignores any stored configuration file in %APPDATA%\MVTec\SoftwareManager\ , and always uses the default settings. It does not reuse an existing SOM session. Instead, it shows an error if the required port is already occupied.

How do I clear SOM space on my disk?🔗

Cached repository files can be deleted to free disk space. For more Information, see About offline usage.

Why doesn’t my browser display SOM?🔗

There can be several reasons:

  • The browser is outdated.
    ⤷ Update your browser or use a different one.
  • JavaScript is disabled.
    ⤷ Activate JavaScript.
  • A firewall is blocking the backend port used by SOM to display the frontend. The port is set to 8188 by default. For more Information, see MVTec Software Manager backend and frontend communication.
    ⤷ Configure your firewall to allow access to the backend port used by SOM to display the frontend.

Why is the frontend locked?🔗

The MVTec Software Manager can be locked via the icon. To unlock, see Lock function in the Software Manager.

Why do I get a Windows Defender Firewall warning?🔗

On Windows systems, the following warning may be issued by Windows Defender upon the first start of the Software Manager:

Windows Defender message

Windows Defender Firewall has blocked some features of this app.

You can safely click Cancel unless you intend to access the SOM web server from another machine in your network. In that case, click Allow access. For security reasons, the Software Manager only listens to localhost (the machine it is running on) by default. To accept connections from other machines, replace “localhost” with your machine name in the settings of the Software Manager.

Why does the Software Manager not start?🔗

If the Software Manager refuses to start at all, start a command line and run som -v --debug=all to access debug logs.

The expected output from a successful SOM startup is as follows:

MVTec Software Manager 1.8.0
b88800fe1fef7ac8616e79faba087a76481f07bb
mode: user, user: foo, os: windows
listening on http://localhost:8188

It shows the tool name, the version number, the commit on which this version is based, the mode (“user” or “system”), username, operating system, and the URL to access the current session. Any other output may indicate a problem during startup.

By default, the Software Manager listens on port 8188 for incoming HTTP connections.
If this port is in use on your system, use the command line option --port, and configure another default port in the settings.

Why does the MVTec Software Manager set environment variables only for the current user, even during installation for all users?🔗

The Software Manager sets environment variables only for the current user, regardless of whether the installation is configured for all users. System-wide environment variable values, such as those set in the system-wide PATH, cannot be overwritten for individual users. For consistency, other environment variables are also set only for the current user.

For normal environment variables, the user value overrides the system value or is evaluated before it. As a result, the user effectively takes precedence. With PATH, this behavior is reversed: the system-wide PATH is evaluated first, and only then the user’s PATH is applied.

As a result, each user can configure their own environment variables via the Software Manager. Each user can use the Software Manager to set a preferred product version as an “Active Installation”, which then updates the environment variables automatically. Admin rights are not required. Ensure you use the latest Software Manager.

How can I be sure that no other instance is running in the background?🔗

With the current SOM version, you will see a separate tray icon for each running instance.