We are just migrating to 2017 - only a year late!
It seems that a 150MB SP (SP3 to be precise) still takes as long as the entire 3dsmax software to install, if not longer.
Gotta love Autodesk!
You can use a wrapper around the service pack which speeds up the actual install. If you extract the .msp file or want to install a service pack for a previous release you can use:
msiexec /update 3dsMax20XX_SPX.msp /quiet /l* 3dsmax_20XX_spX.log
That should drastically reduce the time it takes to install the service pack.
(found a while ago on the Area AFAIR)
AhyesIvaguelyremembersomethinglikethatbutwasn’tsureifitworkedstill.Thanks.
Ah this spaces problem in answers with quote again !
this should be on the first page of every autodesk update…
takes a bloody hour to install an sp? what is this 1995?
For what it’s worth 
If you update through the Autodesk App, it’s actually a pretty fast install. Assuming you are using the app. I don’t use the app, so I’ve setup a batch file to install SP on all the workstations and renderfarm.
And yes, when someone in the office jumps the gun on the SP and does it on their own…they are greeted with a nice lengthy wait time.
yeah I deploy installs and sp through deadline. I also want to be in control of which version is deployed, not let anyone else take matters in their own hands 
I have since removed their ability to do updates on their own! I hope to move to Deadline this year. It’s a little on the expensive side for us and the size of our farm…but I think it will be a good move going forward.
yeah I agree. However you get what you pay for
I completely agree! I use in my home office with my small renderfarm. It’s fantastic!
“msiexec /update 3dsMax20XX_SPX.msp /quiet /l* 3dsmax_20XX_spX.log”
Any other tips to get this working. It doesn’t seem to do anything on our machines.
just a side note, after sp3 they released update 1. Autodesk have decided to change the naming, so no more service packs or extensions, they are just called updates now.
Here is a readme for update 1, quite a lot of fixes. http://up.autodesk.com/2017/3DSMAX/3dsMax2017_Update_1_Readme_enu.htm
The “/quiet” bit of that, is just that. There’s no visual feedback. You have to check the 3dsmax_20XX_spX.log to see if any more entries are being added (have to open and close the file)
The whole thing shouldnt take longer than a minute or 3 at most
How do you do that? I need to update 12 machines to Max 2017 and Vray 3.5 in the next month or so. I’ve been doing it manually. The joys of not having an IT guy eh?
its quite easy. If you have deadline, or any other render manager (its easier in deadline though) you can execute a command line script, basically I have the max installer create a max image (create deployment) its called). The pass the installation link line into the .cmd file for example deployMax2017.cmd After that in deadline you can submit a command line script, so lets say you have 12 machines - you set 12 frames (1 for each machine) with the script in the path as submit it. It will execute an installer on each machine, do the install then complete the frame.
Same goes for service packs, you just create a cmd with above mentioned command line and repeat that step, so I have a whole bunch of cmd scripts sitting in deadline as suspended, and enable them when either get a new machine or have to do an upadte.
Vray also has a silent option, its a bit different you can look it up in docs.
You can also setup installation of plug-ins as well with your 3DS Max deployment. I use that on my renderfarm. The deadline route is definitely a little more automated, which is VERY nice.
The hardest part is just getting the deployment setup with the correct plug-ins and settings. I have a test machine I use to test out the deployments before mass distributing it across the workstations / render farm.
If they change it, you know they will break it and take another hour long service pack to fix it.
The wrapper around the service pack does the trick, I say we leave it alone.
Could you possibly show me how the cmd is written? I have a small understanding of cmd (from when I played DOS games back in the day) but I’ve never written a script for it.
Yeah its just this line:
msiexec /update 3dsMax2017_SP3.msp /quiet /l* 3dsMax2017_SP3.log
pause
so you create the cmd in the same folder where 3ds max service pack msp lives. This forlder should be on a mapped drive not unc, since cmd can’t be run on unc path. The mapped folder should be accessible by all network machines.
For the actual max install, when you install 3ds max though UI, you have an option to create deployment. I usually create that image in the same location where the service packs live. Then the cmd just points to the installation link:
“Z:\bunker\deploy\3dsmax2017\image\deploy.lnk”
pause
I use pause command so that machines which complete install do not grab new frames, so once they all complete a frame (one install per machine) then I just suspend the job.