Tag Archives: Browse AutoCAD

Making the Calcomp Digitizer work in old versions of AutoCAD

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Some users have experienced issues where their Calcomp Digitizer works just fine in new versions of AutoCAD (like AutoCAD 2009, but doesn’t work on older versions of AutoCAD (like AutoCAD 2000) even though both versions are installed on the same computer.

We have reports that simply disabling the Windows User Access Control  (UAC) seems to fix this issue!

Before you disable UAC – read all about UAC here

Click here to Disable UAC

Copyright 2017 (c) Longbow Software

 

Interactions with the AutoCAD Ribbon crashes AutoCAD on Windows 10 (Solved)

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Users complain of “autocad crashes when clicking anything” and “autocad crashing when using ribbon”

It seems that a new Computers with the latest version of Windows 10 or computers that recently ran Windows Update for Windows 10 has caused Ribbon crashing issues with AutoCAD versions…

  • AutoCAD 2012
  • AutoCAD 2013
  • AutoCAD 2014
  • AutoCAD 2015

AutoCAD starts up, but any interactions with AutoCAD’s Ribbon, Status bar, or Right clicking the Command line causes AutoCAD to crash out instantly with:

Error: Unhandled Exception

We found that this issue is caused by the new .NET 4.7 update.

This update came down as part of KB3186568 and comes as standard in Windows 10 Creators Update (version 1703). Uninstalling all of the affected Windows Updates is not a solution because they are eventually forced down by Microsoft; besides Windows updates usually have security updates which stop hackers from gaining access to your computer so they should always be installed.

Fix AutoCAD Ribbon Crash

We have just released an update to fully fix this issue so you can once again rely on Windows Updates. We have solved this problem via our Longbow Converter App, you will need V11.18 or newer. Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Obtain your copy of the Longbow Converter App here
  2. Start the Converter App
    1. In the Converter App pick the 3rd tab named “Old AutoCAD Program Reviver“
    2. Using the “. . .” button select the path to your problem AutoCAD
    3. Now click the “Fix Old Program“.
    4. Close the Converter App
  3. Now run AutoCAD as normal, Ribbon crash is solved.

Troubleshooting

To see which Windows Updates you have installed

  1. Right Click the Windows Start Menu in the bottom right and pick “Programs and Features”

    Select Programs and Features by Right-clicking the Windows 10 Start Menu

    Select Programs and Features by Right-clicking the Windows 10 Start Menu

  2. Click on “View Installed Updates” in the top left…

    Go to View installed Updates

    Go to View installed Updates

Detecting your installed version of Windows 10

  1. Right Click the Windows Start Menu in the bottom right and pick “Run“
  2. Type “Winver” then Enter
Copyright 2019 (c) Longbow Software

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

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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

Installing Autodesk Land Desktop 2005 on Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10

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Installing AutoCAD LDT 2005 on Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 32bit or 64bit can be very easily defined in these short steps…

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

IMPORTANT NOTE: Autodesk no longer supply License Activation codes for this version of AutoCAD. The best way is to transfer your existing license to the new PC but there are other options, we document them here

  1. Obtain your copy of the Longbow Converter here
  2. Copy your LDT 2005 installation CD media to your hard drive, to a folder path c:\Autodesk\ldt2005 
    1. NOTE: If you have more LDT specific CD’s (not Survey or Civil as these are installed separately), simply copy the contents of each CD directly over the top of Disk 1, basically, overwrite all files in your previously copied c:\Autodesk\ldt2005 folder with the files from each of the CDs
  3. Next, start the Longbow Converter tool
    1. select the 2nd tab named “Old AutoCAD Installer Reviver“
    2. pick the c:\Autodesk\ldt2005 folder (where you copied your LDT CDs to on your hard drive)
    3. click the Run Old Installer button.
      1. Read and understand all the prompts before pressing OK.
      2. Once the setup starts, stop and read the next step…
  4. In the setup program, navigate through each setup dialog as normal, with these exceptions… (if you cannot move past the first screen in the setup, see Trouble Shooting below)…
    1. When you click the Install link from your setup you may see a dialog box appear saying – “This program has compatibility issues” – simply check the “Don’t show this message again” and then click the “Run the program without getting help”.
    2. When you arrive at the installation folder path setup dialog, **it’s vitally important to make sure you install to c:\ldt2005 (not C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk Land Desktop 2005 that is defaulted)**.
    3. If asked to reboot after the install, say NO
  5. Once installed
    1. do not reboot
    2. make sure you fully close the AutoCAD setup program (because the Converter is waiting for the setup program to fully close) then
    3. go back to the Converter tool
    4. select the 3rd tab named “Old AutoCAD Program Reviver“
    5. pick the newly installed c:\ldt2005 folder
    6. click the Fix Old Program button.
  6. Now you can run your Autodesk LDT 2005 on Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10, both 32bit and 64bit.
    1. NOTE: When starting AutoCAD, if you see a warning dialog when you run saying “This program has known compatibility issues“, simply click “Don’t show this message again” and then click “Run the Program…“

Troubleshooting:

– If you are seeing this error when running either the “Import LandXML” or “Export LandXML” commands

LandXML Export - Run-time error '429' ActiveX component can't create object

LandXML Export – Run-time error ‘429’ ActiveX component can’t create object

then LDT 2005 Fixed VBA Modules into the same folder as your acad.exe (using the instructions above, it should be c:\ldt2005)

– If you are unable to activate your product, or the activation process crashes immediately on startup:

– 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

Copyright 2023 (c) Longbow Software

Downloading full 32bit AutoCAD installation media from Autodesk

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Here are download links to Autodesk’s full 32bit AutoCAD versions (from Autodesk so totally safe)

AutoCAD 32bit

Autodesk Viewers

Copyright 2019 (c) Longbow Software

Install 32bit AutoCAD 2016 on Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10

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These instructions solve issues around installing/running your old AutoCAD 2016 on newer versions of 64bit Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10. Some common issues are error messages like these…

  • “This operating system is not supported by AutoCAD® 2016”
  • “You cannot install this product on the current operating system”
  • “You are attempting to use a 32-bit installer on a 64-bit operating system”
  • “This is a 32-bit AutoCAD® 2016. It cannot be installed on 64-bit Windows”

How to install AutoCAD 2016

  1. Obtain your purchased copy of the Longbow Converter here
  2. Start the Converter App and note the user interface
  3. Select the 1st tab named “AutoCAD 32bit Installer Converter“
    1. Using the “. . .” button, selection your AutoCAD installation CD
    2. Next, click the “Convert“ button and follow instructions
  4. Once the conversion process is complete
    1. click Install/Run Setup to start setup
    2. Simply install as normal, remembering to…
      1. Close the setup program when the installation is complete.
      2. Now back in the Converter app and make sure it’s completed the final stage of processing using the “Old AutoCAD Program Reviver” tab
  5. Now run your AutoCAD as normal

    Once installed, we recommend you disable the AutoCAD Communication Center/InfoCenter toolbar as it uses a lot of computer memory and causes slow startup and most people don’t use it anyway!

Troubleshooting

– If your AutoCAD starts with a blank white screen…

  • Try turning down your screen resolution, if this doesn’t help…
    • from the Converter tool, pick the Tools->Clean Compatibility settings

– If you are unable to activate your product, or the activation process crashes:

– 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

Copyright 2019 (c) Longbow Software

Solving the AutoCAD Failed Installation, Aborted 1603 error

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What is the 1603 Install Error

The 1603 MSI installer error is a generic error code “A fatal error occurred during installation” on Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 10. Basically,  it’s not specific; anything could have gone wrong.

Microsoft document this error and lots of possible ways to solve it here…

You receive an “error 1603: A fatal error occurred during installation” error message when you try to install a Windows Installer package

Fix AutoCAD specific 1603 Errors

Aside from the Microsoft documented 1603 errors above, AutoCAD itself has numerous issues with their installer mechanism which when failures occur can also generate the generic 1603 MSI error code.

AutoCAD 2020 Licensing Error 1603

It seems that AutoCAD 2020 has some issues installing mainly due to their Licensing system component.

Installation incomplete. Some products failed to install.

AutoCAD 2020 did not install (error code: 1603)

Autodesk documents how to fix it here

All other AutoCAD 1603 Errors

There is an App built which specifically scans AutoCAD’s setup so that either the 1603 error is gone (fixed) or it does not affect the install… Check  out the blogs on how to fix your AutoCAD’s 1603 error (if your version is not listed below use the search box at the top right of this page)

32bit versions of 
AutoCAD 2012   AutoCAD 2013   AutoCAD 2014   AutoCAD 2015
64bit versions of 
AutoCAD 2012   AutoCAD 2013   AutoCAD 2014   AutoCAD 2015
If you still have problems, why not contact Longbow Software Support? 
Copyright 2019 (c) Longbow Software

AutoCAD “There was a problem sending the command to the program”

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If you are seeing the message “There was a problem sending the command to the program” when you double click a DWG file from Windows Explorer, then the solution is to follow the instructions listed for your AutoCAD version below:

If you do not see your version of AutoCAD listed, or you are not an AutoCAD user, leave me a comment below and I’ll check it out for you.

Copyright Longbow Software 2015

AutoCAD running slowly on Windows 10, Windows 7 and Windows 8

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If your are running on Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 and your AutoCAD has suddenly started running slowly, or perhaps you are seeing “AutoCAD is not responding” message more than usual, then read on…

Check your installed programs… See if you have “Microsoft WSE 3.0 Runtime” installed, if so, simply uninstall it – it’s been replaced in Windows 7 and Windows 8 with WCF, which is built in.

Copyright 2015 (c) Longbow Software

AutoCAD File->Save or File->Open Crash…

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If are experiencing crashing problems using the File->Open or File->Save dialog inside of AutoCAD (or any other Autodesk product), there are a few items that can cause this:

  1. New HP Machine If you have recently purchased a new HP computer or you have an HP computer for which you have recently carried out an HP update on Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1…Check if you have any of these applications installed:
    • HP Trust Center
    • HP Client Security Manager

      If so, uninstall them and reboot. We recommend you find an alternative as they cause this issue.

  2. For AutoCAD versions >= 2008, you can try disabling the InfoCenter toolbar at the top right of AutoCAD.
    1. If you know LISP, this code will work for all versions of AutoCAD 2008 or higher
      1. add this code to the end of your acad.lsp (vl-registry-write (strcat “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\” (vlax-product-key)”\\Applications\\InfoCenterAcConn”) “LOADCTRLS” 0)
    2. If you do not know LISP
      1. Start Regedit.exe
      2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\AutoCAD\<Release.Number>\ACAD-<VerticalCode>:<LanguageCode>\Applications\InfoCenterAcConn 
      3. Set the LoadCtrls value to 0
      4. To turn it back on, simply set LoadCtrls value to 76
  3. Remove all USB devices – older versions of AutoCAD don’t understand what a Samsung Phone is, and this can cause crashes.
  4. If you have been opening DWG files from an external drive (e.g. USB drive) try re-connecting the drive…
  5. The latest Windows Operating systems (Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10) correctly enforce permission settings for your personal files (Documents folder etc). The problem is that your older version of AutoCAD does not understand these new permission settings, and this can stop you being about to open your DWG files and even cause AutoCAD crash. As a quick test, copy the DWG files that always crash when you save to a USB drive, then create a new folder called c:\MyDwgs, now copy the files from your USB to the c:\MyDwgs folder. Finally, try AutoCAD with the DWG files in c:\MyDwgs – is AutoCAD working now? If so, you can either leave your DWG files in that folder, or you’ll need to relax the permissions on your DWG folder to allow access to AutoCAD.
  6. MSN Plugin – if you see MSN as an entry in your Windows Explorer, uninstall MSN – AutoCAD doesn’t like this.
  7. For versions of AutoCAD >= 2000i here’s a quick fix to bypass the problem (although hard to remember each time) – on starting AutoCAD, type “Options” at the command line, select the ‘Files’ tab, click ‘Browse’, then simply click cancel. Now cancel out of the Options dialog altogether. Try your File->Open… Does it work? If so, you should now be good until the next time you start AutoCAD.
  8. If you have a non-HP machine that is giving you this issue or (2) didn’t work for you, please record below in the comments section:
    1. What computer make you are running
    2. What specific Windows version you are running
    3. What exact version of AutoCAD you are running (e.g. AutoCAD Architecture 2008 32bit)
    4. What AutoCAD service packs (if any) you have applied
    5. What anti-virus software you are running. We’ll see if we can solve this for you…
  9. Check out this page Interactions with the AutoCAD Ribbon crashes AutoCAD on Windows 10
  10. If all this fails, you can of course set FILEDIA = 0 at the command line to turn off the File Dialog User Interface
Copyright 2017 (c) Longbow Software

Rolling back to IE 10 from IE 11 in Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1

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If you are encountering licensing issues, blank screens or even crashing when launching AutoCAD it could be because you are using a version of Microsoft Internet Explorer which is not compatible with your version of AutoCAD… (If you are primarily seeing script errors, then first check out how to enable scripting support in IE 11)

Here is a list of AutoCAD versions that most likely will be affected…

  • AutoCAD 2005
  • AutoCAD 2006
  • AutoCAD 2007
  • AutoCAD 2008
  • AutoCAD 2009
  • AutoCAD 2010
  • AutoCAD 2011
  • AutoCAD 2012
  • AutoCAD 2013

It could be because you have Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 installed on your system. The solution is to rollback to Microsoft Internet Explorer 10, or maybe back as far as Internet Explorer 8. Here’s how:

 

Windows 7 users

  1. Click Start then Control Panel
  2. Once in Control Panel select Programs
  3. From Programs click Turn Windows Features on or off
  4. Once in the Windows Features dialog, simply un-check Internet Explorer 11 and click OK. You will be asked to reboot, which you should do. Once you reboot, IE 11 will have been rolled back to IE 10
  5. NOTE: If you are still having problems, you can repeat the process from (1) to (4) again in order to downgrade from IE 10 to IE 9 to IE 8. Autodesk products usually do not need further downgrading than IE 8, so if you are still having issues even with IE 8 then it’s most likely something else wrong on your system.
  6. NOTE: If you cannot downgrade far enough, your only option is to upgrade to 7.24  (or newer) of the Longbow Converter tool which now supports Internet Explorer 7 emulation mode

Windows 8 users

  1. Move your mouse to the bottom left corner of the screen, then right click your mouse and select Control Panel
  2. Once in Control Panel select Programs
  3. From Programs click Turn Windows Features on or off
  4. Once in the Windows Features dialog, simply un-check Internet Explorer 11 and click OK. You will be asked to reboot, which you should do. Once you reboot, IE 11 will have been rolled back to IE 10
  5. NOTE: If you are still having problems, you can repeat the process from (1) to (4) again in order to downgrade from IE 10 to IE 9 to IE 8. Autodesk products usually do not need further downgrading than IE 8, so if you are still having issues even with IE8 then it’s most likely something else wrong on your system.
  6. NOTE: If you cannot downgrade far enough, your only option is to upgrade to 7.24  (or newer) of the Longbow Converter tool which now supports Internet Explorer 7 emulation mode.

Windows 8.1 users

Window 8.1 comes with Internet Explorer 11 pre-installed and cannot be rolled back. Your only option is to upgrade to 7.24 (or newer) of the Longbow Converter tool which now supports Internet Explorer 7 emulation mode.

AutoCAD 32bit/64bit side-by-side installation compatibility chart

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This blog has been written to help advise those who require 32bit versions of AutoCAD to reside on the same computer system as 64bit versions of AutoCAD.

Before we start, when installing 32bit AutoCAD on 64bit Windows, you should take care not to mix the same version/series of AutoCAD 32bit with the same version/series of the corresponding 64bit version of AutoCAD, on the same computer. The reason is that they were not designed to run in a side-by-side configuration and therefore may conflict. The same rule can generally be made for all Autodesk products.

NOTES:

  • When installing 32bit AutoCAD, we advise that you uninstall all previous versions of 64bit AutoCAD before installing your 32bit version of AutoCAD.
  • If you are installing multiple versions of AutoCAD, you should always install in chronological order, in other words, oldest to newest.
    • e.g AutoCAD 2004, Architecture 2004, Map 2005, AutoCAD 2007, Civil3d 2015
    • Failure to follow this simple rule can render you with missing entry point errors, un-explained crashing, un-installable Autodesk software and more.
  • For best results, we recommend that you install only 32bit versions of AutoCAD on your computer system, however, mixing is possible with care – refer to the chart below if you must have the 64bit version installed on the same computer.

This chart shows which 32bit AutoCAD versions can be installed on the same system as 64bit AutoCAD versions…

  • Green means Should be OK
  • Red/Dark Red means Problems will occur, you should not do this
AutoCAD 32bit 64bit side by side configurations

Shows which versions of 32bit AutoCAD can be installed side by side to 64bit versions of AutoCAD

Copyright 2015 (c) Longbow Software