Installing Softdesk 8 for AutoCAD R14 on Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1

1. First, obtain your copy of the Longbow Converter here
2. Install your AutoCAD R14 by carefully following the steps detailed here
3. Using Windows Explorer, copy your entire Softdesk CD to your hard drive, to a folder path c:\Autodesk\softdesk
4. Start the Longbow Converter tool, select the 2nd tab, pick the c:\Autodesk\softdesk folder, and click Run. Read and understand all the prompts before pressing OK. Now, I know it’s unheard of these days, but at this point expect to wait at least 45 minutes for your Softdesk setup.exe program to appear. Once the setup starts, install as normal (simply accept all defaults).
5. Next we need to initialize Softdesk on startup, so depending on what works best for you – either
   1. Start your AutoCAD R14 by running c:\acadR14\acad.exe. Once AutoCAD starts up fully, simply type preferences at the command line, select the Profiles tab, double click the Softdesk profile and make it the Current Profile. Finally, OK out of the preferences dialog.
   2. Another way to intialize Softdesk on startup is to create a Desktop shortcut to c:\acadR14\acad.exe – make sure the shortcut
      1. Target: is set to C:\acadR14\acad.exe /c c:\sdsk\programs /p “softdesk 8”
      2. Working Directory: is set to C:\acadR14
6. Now you can happily run your Softdesk tools inside of AutoCAD R14 on Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 32bit or 64bit

Troubleshooting

If your setup is not starting after 45 minutes, try rebooting, then restart the steps above.

• If it is still failing, most likely it’s because of another application on your system which is preventing our setup routine from starting (perhaps anti-virus, or similar) – try installing from Windows Safe Mode