Primavera P6 Professional is regarded as the standard for high-performance, project management software. P6 is designed to handle all types of schedules and projects, regardless of their size, type, or sophistication. The program can be used to organize portfolios and projects with up to 100,000 activities, unlimited resources, and unlimited target plans.

If you are thinking about implementing Primavera P6 Professional as your project management solution, you may want to get a chance to use the program before purchasing a license. Oracle allows you to download Primavera P6 for free as a trial version that can be used for up to 30 days. This can be especially helpful if you sign up for a P6 training course as you may need to already have the program installed on your computer. A free trial can be a great option to utilize during your class.

With a free trial version of P6, you can choose to setup the program with either an SQL Server or a SQLite database. In a previous article, I went over these two types of databases in depth, but in short:

• SQL Server databases allow you to use Primavera P6 database to collaborate with other users. Different users can use the same projects and data simultaneously. SQL Servers allow for the creation of users and security profiles within the program. For instructions on how to set up a SQL Server database for P6, please refer to this article here.

• SQLite databases only allow one user to utilize the projects and data within it. This database type comes prepackaged with P6 – meaning it will be set up for you when you download Primavera P6 as a standalone installation.

In this article, we will cover how to download Primavera P6 for free as a trial version, how to install the application, and how to setup the program with a standalone SQLite database.

Step 1: Downloading Primavera P6

In order to download P6 for free, you will need to first create or log in to an Oracle account. This can be done from Oracle’s e-delivery cloud website here.

If you already have an Oracle account, you can select Sign In on the home page and enter your credentials. Select Sign In again to log in.

If you do not have an Oracle account, you can quickly create one for free by selecting Create Account. Simply enter in your credentials and select Create Account to create a free account.

Once logged in, you’ll be taken to the Oracle Software Delivery Cloud home. In the search bar, type in Primavera P6 Professional and select Search.

Several items will appear in the list. Select the latest version of Primavera P6 Professional Project Management – this will generally appear at the top of the list. At the time this article was written, the newest version was Primavera P6 Professional Project Management 20.12.0.0.0.

The program that you select will be added to your delivery queue. Near the top of the screen, you can select View Items to make sure you selected the correct program. Then, select Continue.

The next screen will display the Download Queue. Here, you can view the items that you’ll be downloading along with their sizes. You can check/deselect items to customize the installation, but I recommend keeping everything here as it is. Once again, select Continue.

The Oracle Standard Terms and Restrictions will open. You will want to read the full license agreement, and then check the box acknowledging that you have reviewed and accepted the Oracle License Agreement.

Then, select Continue.

The next screen will open the Oracle Software Delivery Cloud Survey. You can choose to fill this out if you wish, but this is not mandatory. To exit out of the survey, press the Feedback button.

You’ll be able to see all of the files that will be included in the Primavera P6 Professional application download. This includes the application itself, the database setup tool, the integration API tool, and the documentation for the program.

Keep all of these folders selected. Select Download, and the files will automatically download to your computer.

At the bottom of your browser, a .exe file will have been downloaded to your computer. You can also find this file in your Downloads folder. Again, this file name will vary depending on the version of P6 downloaded, but for me this file was called Oracle_SSN_DLM_11042111.exe. Open this file by either double clicking on it in the Downloads section of your browser or your Downloads folder.

The Oracle Download Manager will open. First, you’ll choose a location to save the application files to. By default, your downloads folder will be listed, but you can change this location by selecting Browse. Once you have a location selected, press Next.

All of the downloaded folders will appear in the Download Manager, along with their progress. Leave this window open until all of the folders are completely downloaded.

Once complete, select the folder button at the bottom of the Download Manager. This will automatically open the folder that you had saved the files to.

Step 2: Extracting the Application Folders

The next step is to extract the application folders. Four folders will have been downloaded during the installation process, you will then export two of them: the application folder and the database setup folder. To find these folders, you will need to double click each zipped folder — this will let you view their contents.

First, I’ll look for the database setup folder. This folder will contain another folder within it named P6_R2012_Database (the numbers may vary depending on the version you downloaded). Once you identify the zipped folder that contains that folder, right click on it and select Extract All.

In the Extract Compressed (Zipped) Folders window, choose a destination to extract the folder to. By default, it will be the location that the zipped folders were originally saved to. Then, press Extract.

Next, we will do the same thing for the zipped application folder. The application folder will contain a folder within it called P6_Pro_RD2012 (again, these numbers may vary). Once that folder is located, right click on it and select Extract All.

This time, when choosing a destination to save the files, check the box to Show extracted files when complete. Then, select Extract.

The extracted folder will automatically open.

Step 3: Installing Primavera P6

With the extracted folder open, double click on the P6_Pro folder within it. Within that folder, there will be another named P6ProfessionalSetup. Double click on that folder as well.

Lastly, double click on the P6ProfessionalSetup.exe file.

The P6 Professional Setup window will open to help walk you through the installation process. 

First, you can choose how to install the program. To use the default installation settings, keep Typical selected and press OK.

Then, in the next window, select Install.

After the installation is complete, you’ll be prompted to choose what to do next. You will now need to set up the SQLite database, so keep Run Database Configuration selected and press OK.

Step 4: Setting Up the P6 Database

The Database Configuration window will open. A default database named PMDB will be created. Here, you can choose what database type you’ll be setting up.

Select the Driver Type dropdown and select P6 Pro Standalone (SQLite).

In the next screen, select Add a new standalone database and connection. 

Then, press Next.

The next screen will allow you to adjust the login credentials for your database. By default, the Login Name will be set to admin and your Personal Name will be set to your PC’s user name. Both of these can be adjusted as desired.

You’ll also need to set a password – it is important to remember this password, because if you forget it, you could lose all the data you created and will need to create a new SQLite database.  

Lastly, choose a Name, Symbol, and Abbreviation for the Base currency that you’ll be using in the database. If this ever needs to be changed, it can be done inside the program later on. 

With all of this information entered, select Next.

The last screen will allow you to adjust the Database Location, which is the location on your computer that the database will be saved. If you need to adjust this, select the ellipses to browse for a new location. 

There is also the option to Load sample data. With this option checked, P6 will be preloaded with sample projects, resources, calendars, and other global and project-specific data. I find this data to be very useful, especially for new users of P6, so I recommend keeping this option checked.

Select Save to save your database settings.

A popup will appear to let you know that the database alias was saved successfully.

You can now close the Database Configuration window.

You can now open up Primavera P6 Professional. The program should be available from your Windows toolbar. If you have trouble finding the program, you can use the Search in the Windows toolbar to search for P6.

The P6 Professional login screen will open. Enter in your login information and select Connect.

Congratulations! You have successfully downloaded a free trial version of Primavera P6 and installed the program with a standalone SQLite database.

Remember that the free trial version of P6 can only be used for up to 30 days. Once the 30 days are over, you will no longer be able to use the program without a license. If you are interested in purchasing a license of P6, you can do that right from this website! As an Oracle Gold Partner, Taradigm sells licenses of Primavera P6 Professional, and you can purchase one from our store here. Although you’re purchasing from Taradigm, you will be purchasing the same Oracle program with the same Oracle Support, if you choose to include it in your purchase.

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, please use the comment section on the bottom of this page, and don’t forget to subscribe to our blog to get more Primavera P6 tips & tricks directly in your inbox!

Lauren Hecker is a Primavera P6 Professional Instructor and teaches onsite and virtual Primavera P6 Fundamentals courses. To see her next open enrollment course, please visit our calendar. To schedule an onsite or custom course, please contact us!