Basically, it is possible to operate RFEM 5 and RSTAB 8 in a virtual machine. You should consider two things:
- OpenGL
- Licensing
OpenGL
RFEM 5 and RSTAB 8 uses OpenGL for the graphical display. If available, the hardware acceleration of the graphics card is used. If this does not support hardware acceleration, RFEM 5 and RSTAB 8 uses the software implementation of Windows OpenGL.
If no hardware acceleration can be used, the graphical display is considerably slower. The extent to which this has a negative effect on the usability of RFEM or RSTAB depends on the size of the processed models.
If the hypervisor used allows it, the hardware acceleration should be used in the virtual machines.
Under certain circumstances, RFEM 5 or RSTAB 8 may crash immediately after startup due to a lack of OpenGL support. In this case, you can disable hardware acceleration using the command line option -disableopengl. It is recommended to enter this command line option in the desktop shortcut.
Licensing
Unfortunately, it is not possible to run any single-user licenses on virtual machines. Licensing is not possible with the USB dongle nor with a softlock license (a student license).
The test or trial version and the student version of RFEM 5 or RSTAB 8 is a time-limited version that is controlled by a softlock. Therefore, the trial version of RFEM 5 or RSTAB 8 cannot be tested on a virtual machine.
In general, it is possible to operate a licensed version of RFEM 5 or RSTAB 8 on a virtual machine. However, a network license is required for this.
The same applies to the test versions of the stand-alone programs SHAPE‑THIN, RX‑TIMBER, PLATE‑BUCKLING, CRANEWAY, and COMPOSITE‑BEAM.
Please note that our support team can only help you to a limited extent when using virtual machines.
