Solving the AutoCAD Failed Installation, Aborted 1603 error

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

Install 32bit AutoCAD 2009 on Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10

These instructions solve issues around installing/running your old AutoCAD 2009 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 2008”

You can automatically solve these problems using our Longbow Converter App, it fixes and manages the AutoCAD 2009 installation so that you can be up and running again. Simply follow the instructions below 🙂

NOTE: Autodesk no longer supply License Activation codes. Once you have installed your AutoCAD (following the instructions below) you will need to authorize/activate your AutoCAD yourself, find out how by clicking here

How to install AutoCAD 2009

  1. Purchased a copy of the Longbow Converter here
  2. Start the Converter App
  3. Insert your AutoCAD 2009 CD into your CDRom drive…
    1. Select the 1st tab named “AutoCAD 32bit Installer Converter
    2. Using the “. . .” button, select your AutoCAD 2009 installation CD
    3. 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. Fully close the AutoCAD setup application once complete
      2. Close the Converter App.
  5. Now run your AutoCAD as normal

Troubleshooting

– If you have a single self extracting exe downloaded from Autodesk

  1. Run the exe, it will ask to unzip to a folder inside of c:\Autodesk, make a note of the folder name for later use (we’ll refer to it from here as c:\Autodesk\AutoCAD2009), now click OK.
  2. Wait until all of the files have extracted, when they do, the AutoCAD 2009 setup will automatically launch – simply close and move to step 3.2 above, making sure to select c:\Autodesk\AutoCAD2009.

– 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 2020 (c) Longbow Software

Installing 64bit AutoCAD 2009 on Windows 8 and Windows 10 64bit

AutoCAD 2009 was not designed to run in Windows 10 (Windows 10 was released after AutoCAD 2009) and inevitably you will run into issues such as random crashing out, slow startup problems, text scaling issues, etc.

You can automatically solve these problems using our Longbow Converter App, it fixes and manages the AutoCAD 2009 installation so that you can be up and running again… Just follow these easy instructions:

How to install 64bit AutoCAD 2009

  1. First, uninstall any existing AutoCAD 2009 installations on your computer
  2. Next, obtain the Longbow Converter App (V11.15 or higher), download here
  3. 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.
  4. Once the conversion process is complete
    1. click Install/Run Setup to start setup
    2. Once you have completed the AutoCAD installation process…
      1. Completely close the setup program
      2. Go back to the Converter App and make sure it states “Success!
  5. Now you can run your AutoCAD as normal

Troubleshooting:

– 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 2018 (c) Longbow Software