Installing on Windows

This guide will walk you through installing Axure RP on Windows systems. If you run into any trouble attempting to install or launch the application, please see the troubleshooting guide below or email us at support@axure.com.

Note

If you need to install Axure RP on a Mac, please refer to our macOS installation guide.

System Requirements

  • Windows 7, 8, or 10
  • 2 GB memory (RAM) minimum, 4 GB recommended
  • 1 GHz processor
  • 5 GB disk space
  • For prototype HTML: Edge, Firefox, or Chrome
  • For Word specifications: Microsoft Office Word 2000, XP, 2003, 2007, 2010. 2013, or 2016, or any other application capable of opening .docx files

General Installation

Most customers will be able to install Axure RP with the general installer, which is available for download at www.axure.com/download. After downloading the installer, launch it and follow the onscreen prompts.

Note

You may need to run the installer as an administrator.

Manual Installation

If you are unable to use the general installer, or if you would prefer to install Axure RP manually, please follow the steps below.

  1. The computer needs to have the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 installed. You can see if it’s already installed by typing "Programs and Features" into your Windows Start Search bar and then browsing in the resulting list for "Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0" (or sometimes the "Client Profile" version). If it is not present, please install it from the Microsoft download page.

  2. Download and unzip the "no install" version of Axure RP from:

    http://cdn1.axure.com/AxureRP-Setup.zip

  3. In a new Windows Explorer window (a.k.a. the "My Computer" window), navigate to C:\Program Files (x86). Create a new folder called "Axure" inside this directory.

  4. Locate the unzipped "Axure RP 9" folder and drag it into your newly created "Axure" directory.

  5. Open your relocated "Axure RP 9" directory, find the "AxureRP9.exe" executable file, and double-click to launch the application.

  6. (Optional) You may also click and drag the "AxureRP9.exe" file over your Start Menu or Taskbar to pin a shortcut to it in either of these locations.

Silent Installation

If you need to deploy Axure RP to one or more workstations silently, download the installer and then run:
AxureRP-Setup.exe /passive

To specify a target directory, run:
AxureRP-Setup.exe /passive InstallLocation="C:\folder1\folder2"

To generate an installation log to a designated location, run:
AxureRP-Setup.exe /passive /log "C:\folder1\folder2\log.txt"

Note

If you are performing the installation through SCCM, you will need to use a local admin account instead of a system account.

You may also activate Axure RP silently. To do so, follow the steps below after installation but before launching the application.

  1. Create a new plain text file and name it lic.key.

  2. On a single line in the file, enter your licensee name and license key separated by a tilde character ~. For example:

    Jane Smith~AjQcO8w5PE+o1fqQ1234aUHoILBDnRRO/abcdefg2eFCa1KSMiw2Bmo0UOXb0TZ

  3. Place the lic.key file into the root folder of the Axure RP install directory. By default this directory is located at C:\Program Files (x86)\Axure\Axure RP 9.

Note

For users with an annual subscription, the manager of their subscription can send the assigned user an offline license key, which can be used in the lic.key file.

Troubleshooting Installation and Launch

Installing and running Axure RP on Windows is usually a trouble-free experience. When problems do come up, there doesn’t seem to be any single common theme. Consequently, this guide has been organized as a loose list of things you can try which have helped other customers in the past.

If you’d rather work directly with an Axure employee to find a solution, please feel free to email us at support@axure.com.

Note

If you’re having trouble installing or running Axure RP on a Mac, please see the macOS troubleshooting guide.

Update to the Latest Build

You can always download an installer for the current build of Axure RP from our website at www.axure.com/update.

Run as Administrator

To run a Windows application with administrator access:

  1. Search for the application in the Start search bar.
  2. Right-click it in the results list.
  3. Choose the "Run as administrator" option from the resulting context menu.

If you can run Axure RP as an admin but not otherwise, there’s probably a user account permissions problem on your computer. Running as an admin is a good workaround if you have an urgent need to launch RP, but we recommend seeking assistance from your IT team to work out a better long-term solution.

Delete Local Application Settings

Axure RP’s local settings files can sometimes get into a bad state. RP’s local settings include data about last opened files and UI window size and position info. The local settings are stored at this location in Windows:

C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Axure

Tip

Windows will convert the %USERNAME% string to your user account name if you paste it into the File Explorer address bar, so you can just copy/paste the above path and should get to the specified folder.

The data in this folder isn’t vital, so you can feel free to delete the entire folder as a troubleshooting step. Then try to launch Axure RP again. The folder will be recreated by RP the next time it starts.

Rename the Backups Folder

Another folder containing Axure RP data is located in this location:

C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Axure\Axure-9-0

This folder contains important items—autosaved backup versions of .rp project files, among other things. Because the contents are valuable, we recommend renaming (instead of deleting) this folder as a troubleshooting step. A new folder in this location will be created the next time RP launches, and your renamed, old folder will still be there if you need to retrieve an older autosaved project file.

Microsoft .NET Framework

Axure RP relies on the Microsoft-built software framework .NET, and it won’t run if .NET isn’t installed or isn’t working correctly.

Reinstall the Microsoft .NET Framework

Newer versions of Windows (8 and later) have the necessary version of .NET (4.0) integrated right into the OS, so it isn’t reinstallable. If you’re on Windows 7 or XP, however, you can try reinstalling .NET 4.0 as a troubleshooting step. You can download the installer at this location:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17851

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