Help · Getting started

Installing the Companion and signing in for the first time

Two programs make up DSP: the Companion, a small Windows application, and the plugin it installs into AutoCAD Plant 3D. This page takes a single workstation from nothing to a signed-in seat with the plugin loaded.

The two pieces

The Companion is where your firm's account lives: it signs you in, holds your seat, keeps the plugin current. It needs no administrator rights and installs for your own Windows account only.

The plugin is what you use inside Plant 3D: the Nutechna tab on the ribbon, the drafting panel, the commands. You never download it yourself; the Companion fetches the right build for your Plant 3D version and puts it where Plant 3D looks.

DSP requires Plant 3D 2026.2 or newer. If your Plant 3D is older, the Companion tells you so on the plugin page and fetches nothing — an older host would download the plugin and then silently never load it, which is worse than a clear message.

Step 1 — Install the Companion

Sign in to the customer portal and use Download for Windows. Run the file: it installs in under a minute, needs no administrator prompt, and opens the Companion when it finishes. Windows may show its SmartScreen notice the first time — the installer is signed by NUTECHNA, INC.; choose More info and run it.

If your IT department manages workstations centrally, they may have installed the Companion for everyone already (the Windows Installer package described in the IT deployment guide). In that case skip this step: the Companion is on the Start menu.

Step 2 — Sign in

Sign in with the email address your firm's administrator added you under and the password you set from the invitation. Signing in confirms who you are; it never uses a seat. A seat — what licenses the plugin on this machine — is taken when you choose Check out a seat on the ACCOUNT page, and DSP asks for one when you start drafting. (How seats work, and what happens offline or after a crash, is on How licensing and seats work.)

You are never refused for being on an older Companion. If a newer version exists, the sign-in completes, the update is fetched quietly in the background, and it is applied the next time the Companion starts.

Step 3 — Put the plugin into Plant 3D

Close Plant 3D if it is open — the plugin's files are locked while it runs. Then open UPDATE PLUGIN. The Companion finds your Plant 3D installation and shows the plugin build available for it. Download fetches it, and every file is verified against Nutechna's signature before it is used. Install then places the plugin where Plant 3D loads add-ins for your Windows account and records NUTECHNA, INC. as a trusted publisher for that account — exactly what clicking Always Load in Plant 3D's own prompt would have done — so Plant 3D loads the plugin without asking. The page says whether the next start will be silent or whether Plant 3D will still ask once.

On the ACCOUNT page, choose Check out a seat, then start Plant 3D. The Nutechna tab appears on the ribbon.

Step 4 — Check the seat from inside Plant 3D

At the Plant 3D command line, type DSP_SELFCHECK. It prints what the plugin knows about itself, one line per fact: the plugin version and where it loaded from, the license state and your firm's name, the date your firm's license period ends, and the number of seats. If any line ever needs attention, the message includes a short support code; send the code to support@nutechna.com and it tells us precisely what to look at. Each line is explained on Reading DSP_SELFCHECK.

Questions we hear

Plant 3D asked "Signed File Not in Trusted Folder" when it started.: Choose Always Load. This appears only when the plugin was placed by something other than the Companion's Install, or on a Windows account the Companion has not signed in from. Installing once from the Companion on that account records the trust and the prompt does not return.
I use Plant 3D on two computers. Do I install twice?: Yes — the Companion and the plugin are per machine. A seat is held by one machine at a time, so check the seat in on the first machine when you move (or it returns itself about two hours after its last renewal), then check one out on the second machine.
The plugin page says my Plant 3D is not supported.: DSP runs on Plant 3D 2026.2 and newer. Install Autodesk's 2026.2 update (or a newer release) and open the plugin page again; the Companion re-reads the installation each time.
Does the Companion need to stay open while I draft?: Yes — keep it running and signed in. The plugin reads its license from a ticket the Companion renews every few minutes, and a ticket stays good for an hour after its last renewal; if it cannot be renewed (the Companion closed, or no connection) drafting commands pause once that hour is up and resume the moment it is renewed. The Companion is small and sits quietly; you never need to look at it while you draft.