Installing Autodesk Mechanical Desktop 4 on Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10

A quick word of advice: best to follow the instructions below precisely and to the letter, including folder names and paths, that way you will reduce the risk of having any problems…

1. Obtain your copy of the Longbow Converter here
2. Using Windows Explorer, copy your entire MDT 4 CD to your hard drive, to a folder path c:\Autodesk\InstallCDs\mdt2000
3. Start the Longbow Converter tool
   1. Select the 2nd tab named “Old AutoCAD Installer Reviver“
   2. Pick the c:\Autodesk\InstallCDs\mdt2000 folder
   3. Click “Run Old Installer“.
   4. Read and understand all the prompts before pressing OK.
      1. Now, I know it’s unheard of these days, but at this point expect to wait up to 45 minutes for your Mechanical 4 setup.exe program to appear.
      2. Once the setup starts, stop and read the next step…
4. In the setup program, navigate through each setup dialog as normal, except when you get to the installation folder, **it’s vitally important to make sure you install to c:\mdt2000 (not .\MDT as usually prompted)**

   MDT 4 select the Browse button

   MDT 4 Select Install path to c:\mdt2000

5. Now carry on with the install, please read all of the following tips while your installation is running so that you are prepared…
   1. Do not reboot once the install is complete.
   2. Ignore any errors related to not being able to create the shortcut folder “Mechanical Desktop 4”, you will have to create a shortcut on your computer Desktop pointing to your c:\mdt2000\acad.exe by hand.
   3. If you see errors stating errors with objectdbx.z or dao2535.tlb – please reboot your machine and re-do all of the steps above.
   4. Once you click “OK” to setup not being able to create your shortcut folder “Mechanical Desktop 4” – setup may now try to install Acrobat Reader 3.01. If this happens, you will see a blue Mechanical Desktop 4 screen with nothing on it, it will sit there for maybe 60 minutes, just let it do its thing and be patient. Eventually, you will see the Acrobat setup appear, install accepting all defaults.
   5. When the MDT 4 setup asks if you want to “Install the Mechanical Desktop Migration Assistant” say No.
6. Once the installation has finished and you have closed the blue setup program, go back to the Converter tool…
   1. Select the 3rd tab named “Old AutoCAD Program Reviver“
   2. Pick the newly installed c:\mdt2000 folder
   3. Click the “Fix” button.
7. Now you are ready to run your AutoCAD, simply run c:\mdt2000\acad.exe using Windows Explorer.
8. If you find that you are running in raw AutoCAD mode, to enable your Mechanical Desktop features, carry out these next steps, either…
   1. Add a shortcut (recommended) to c:\mdt2000\acad.exe making sure that the Target Property of the shortcut is set to (including quotes) “C:\mdt2000\acad.exe”  /p “C:\mdt2000\desktop\desktop.arg” and the Start In Property is set to the same path as the .arg file e.g.

      Creating a shortcut to Mechanical R4 making sure the Startin property points to where the .arg file resides

      1. For the Power Packs use a new shortcut with the Target set to either
         1. “C:\mdt2000\acad.exe”  /p “C:\mdt2000\acadm\mdtpp.arg”
            
         2. “C:\mdt2000\acad.exe”  /p “C:\mdt2000\acadm\acadmpp.arg”
            …with both Shortcut Start In: properties set to and the C:\mdt2000\acadm
   2. or update your AutoCAD support path by hand…
      1. At the AutoCAD Command line, type the command ‘Preferences’, add new Support path folders c:\mdt2000\acadm and then also c:\mdt2000\acadm\support, now click ‘Apply’ and then ‘OK’ out of the dialog.
      2. Next, restart AutoCAD.
      3. When you are back in AutoCAD, type ‘Menuload’ at the command line, click browse, then navigate to C:\mdt2000\acadm\support, change the file filter at the bottom to *.mnu, then open acadm.mnu, finally click Load, then pick Close.
      4. Now restart AutoCAD
9. Now you can happily run your Autodesk Mechanical Desktop 4 on Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 32bit or 64bit – but we do recommend you install the following Service Packs…

Installing AutoCAD 2000 Service Pack 1

1. Obtain AutoCAD 2000 sp1
2. Unzip your newly downloaded sp to folder path c:\Autodesk\sp
3. Start the Converter, select the 2nd tab named “Old AutoCAD Installer Reviver“,
   1. pick the c:\Autodesk\sp\AutoCAD 2000 sp1 folder and click ‘Run Old Installer’
4. Wait for the setup to appear, it could take up to 45 minutes, then install as normal

Installing AutoCAD 2000 Service Pack 2

1. Obtain AutoCAD 2000 sp2
2. Unzip your newly downloaded sp to folder path c:\Autodesk\sp
3. Start the Converter, select the 2nd tab named “Old AutoCAD Installer Reviver“,
   1. pick the c:\Autodesk\sp\AutoCAD 2000 sp2 folder and click ‘Run Old Installer’
4. Wait for the setup to appear, it could take up to 45 minutes, then install as normal.

Installing AutoCAD 2000 Service Pack 3

1. Obtain the AutoCAD MDT R4 sp 3
2. Unzip your newly downloaded sp to folder path c:\Autodesk\sp
3. Start the Converter, select the 2nd tab named “Old AutoCAD Installer Reviver“,
   1. pick the c:\Autodesk\sp\AutoCAD 2000 sp3 folder and click ‘Run Old Installer’
4. Wait for the setup to appear, it could take up to 45 minutes, then install as normal.