Installing 64bit AutoCAD 2010 on Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10 64bit


If your installed AutoCAD is hanging on startup then read this post first AutoCAD Freezes on startup (AutoCAD visible but the menus don’t appear)


Your 64bit AutoCAD 2010 was never designed to run in Windows 10, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 64bit (these versions of Windows are newer than AutoCAD 2010) – you may see random crashing, hanging on startup and/or slow performance…

NOTE: If you are running VBA macros in AutoCAD and they are running extremely slowly, you can gain up to 1000x better performance by installing the 32bit version of AutoCAD 2010 on 64bit Windows 

NOTE: These steps do not bypass normal Autodesk licensing/authorization, you should expect to use your own serial numbers in the normal way.

  1. Obtain the Longbow Converter App (V11.15 or higher), download here
  2. Start the Converter tool
    1. Pick the 1st tab named “AutoCAD 32bit Installer Converter
    2. Using your mouse, right click the tab text “AutoCAD 32bit Installer Converter” so that it changes to “AutoCAD 64bit Installer Converter
    3. Next, using the “…” button, select your AutoCAD installation CD and follow the instructions presented by the Converter tool user interface.
  3. Once you have completed the AutoCAD installation process…
    1. close the setup program then start the Converter software
    2. Select the 3rd tab “Old AutoCAD Program Reviver
      1. Using the “…” button, pick the newly installed C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2010 folder
      2. then click “Fix Old Program
  4. Now you can happily run your AutoCAD 2010 64bit on Windows 8 and Windows 10

Troubleshooting:

  1. If your installed AutoCAD is hanging on startup then read this post first AutoCAD Freezes on startup (AutoCAD visible but the menus don’t appear)
  2. if your AutoCAD hangs on startup (stuck at the “Checking License…” message, try installing the 32bit version of AutoCAD 2010 on 64bit Windows – we’ve actually found the 32bit AutoCAD 2010 running on 64bit Windows is much more stable and actually faster than the 64bit version of AutoCAD 2010.
  3. If your AutoCAD crashes while interacting with the Ribbon click here
  4. If you are unable to activate your product, or the activation process crashes:
    1. Try uninstalling the July 2014 Microsoft security update
    2. Try downgrading your Internet Explorer (IE) from version 11 to version 10 by following the instructions detailed here
  5. If you have crashing problems using the File->Open or File->Save dialogs inside of AutoCAD please read this blog entry on the File->Open or File->Save Crash in AutoCAD
  6. If your Windows hangs on startup after installing please refer to this help blog
Copyright 2017 (c) Longbow Software

Opening AutoCAD DWG file gives “Drawing File was created by an incompatible version” message

If you are trying to open a DWG file with AutoCAD and you get the message “Drawing File was created by an incompatible version” it’s because somewhere along the line your AutoCAD DWG files were saved with a newer version of AutoCAD.

All is not lost, you can make them open again in your version of AutoCAD, you just need to download the free DWGTrueView App from Autodesk – http://www.autodesk.com/products/dwg/viewers

Once installed, start DWGTrueview and open the DWG file in question, then save as making sure to select the lowest DWG file version that matches your version of AutoCAD.

Copyright 2017 (c) Longbow Software