© 2011 Autodesk

AC5409: What the #!@%™ is AutoCAD® Doing?

Deni Cox – CAD-1 Technical Specialist

Jennifer Hoskens – CAD-1 Technical Specialist

© 2011 Autodesk

Deni & Jennifer

We are Technical Specialists for CAD-1, an Authorized Reseller and Authorized Training Center located in Denver, Colorado

We have over 30 years collective experience in technical support and industry knowledge.

We have Professional Certification in AutoCAD 2010, AutoCAD 2011 & AutoCAD 2012

We enjoy the diversity and challenge of the questions

and problems presented by the varied levels of AutoCAD users

We are willing to tackle any technical support problem that you have

© 2011 Autodesk

Learning Objectives

Discover how to fix toolbar or ribbon buttons displaying as question marks

Figure out the cause of and repair missing toolbar and ribbon content

See how to get back to "vanilla" AutoCAD to get things working again

Learn how to get AutoCAD to start the way you want it to, every time

Discuss some trouble shooting tactics for when AutoCAD won’t start

© 2011 Autodesk

Bizarre Ribbon or Toolbar Behavior

Ribbon or Toolbar Buttons Displaying as

Question Marks instead of Icons

instead of

Reason 1 – Referenced icon is not available. Reason 2 – Custom icon can’t be located.

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Open the Customize User Interface (CUI) to determine cause of question marks

Expand toolbar and select command see what image is assigned

RCDATA_##_XXXX (RCDATA_16_Line) indicates AutoCAD icon was used

FILENAME.BMP (FILEDIA ON.BMP) indicates user defined con was used

To fix AutoCAD icons:

Expand Button section of CUI and pick Edit… button

If icon is displayed – choose Export … button and name icon

If icon is not displayed –create new icon or remove current

command in toolbar and drag desired command from Command List to

toolbar

To Fix Question Marks

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To Fix Question Marks

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To fix custom icons:

Note path listed in Images category of Properties section of CUI dialog

If path is included – add it to the Support File Search Path in OPTIONS

If path is not included – you need to locate custom icons

With icon location known, either add that path to Support File Search Path or move icons to an existing folder in Support File Search Path location

To Fix Question Marks (cont.)

© 2011 Autodesk

Bizarre Ribbon or Toolbar Behavior

Blank Toolbar Buttons

Reason 1 – ACAD.CUI (interface items) is out of sync with the ACAD.MNR (button pictures).

Reason 2 – There is no workspace set current

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Close AutoCAD; Remove the ACAD.MNR file, Start AutoCAD.

Missing MNR is rebuilt form CUI reestablishing sync

MNR file is located in: C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2012 - English\R18.2\enu\Support

Choose Worskpace Switching icon and seta a Workspace current.

To Fix Blank Toolbars Buttons

© 2011 Autodesk

Bizarre Ribbon or Toolbar Behavior

Missing Ribbon Tab or Ribbon Panels

Reason 1 – All necessary steps were not completed 1. Create Tab 2. Create Panels 3. Populate Panels 4. Drag panels to tab

Reason 2 – Tab is not turned on in workspace

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Open the Customize User Interface (CUI) to determine if tabs and panels exist

Expand Tabs collection – Does tab exist?

Yes – Expand Panels

No – Create tab

Do Panels Exist?

Yes – Are they populated?

No – Create and populate panels.

To Fix Missing Ribbon Tab or Panels

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Do Panels Exist (yes)- Are Panels Populated?

Yes – Need to turn tab/panels on in workspace

No – Need to populate panels

Do Panels Exist (no) – Create and populate panels

Can create & populate from toolbar

Can create & populate manually

Turn Panels on in workspace

To Fix Missing Ribbon Tab or Panels (cont.)

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To Fix Missing Ribbon Tab or Panels (cont.)

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Getting AutoCAD to Start the Way you want – Every Time

Personalize AutoCAD’s “look” by modifying the workspace & profile

Workspace – Set of menus, toolbars, palettes, ribbon panels, and ribbon

tabs that are organized so you can work in a custom, task-oriented .

drawing environment.

Profiles contain configuration settings for just about anything that is not

a drawing based system variable, such as support paths, grip settings,

and plot settings.

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Getting AutoCAD to Start the Way you want – Every Time (cont)

Get profile and workspace set as desired

Use profile and workspace in desktop icon

Add /p (profile) and /w (workspace) switch to Target line in desktop icon

/p “user profile” /w “user workspace”

© 2011 Autodesk

Setting AutoCAD Back To “Vanilla”

When? When only one user is having trouble

How?

Delete User’s Autodesk Folder (C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk \AutoCAD 2012 – English)

Delete Registry Key (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R18.2\ACAD-A001:40)

Then?

Restart AutoCAD

© 2011 Autodesk

When AutoCAD Won’t Start

Log on as a different user (administrator is preferable) Determines if problem is user and /or rights based

Remove potentially corrupt files

Delete Cascadeinfo.cas C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ADLM

Delete adskflex_*_tsf.data C:\ProgramData\FLEXnet

Eliminate potential application conflicts Communication Center – Change registry key: (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R18.2\ACA

D-A001:409\InfoCenter – change InfoCenterOn from 1 to 0)

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When AutoCAD Won’t Start (cont.)

Stop any Terminate and Stay Resident (TSR) programs running (including virus protection)

Remove drives mapped to non-existent network locations

Remove system printers that don’t exist on the network any longer.

Make sure that existing system printers have the latest drivers.

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Questions

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Bonus Information

Starting AutoCAD with a borrowed network license Get License Borrowed Message Every Time AutoCAD Starts

AutoCAD won’t load until dialog is dismissed by user

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Bonus Information (cont.)

Dismiss Borrowed License Message

Download AutoHotkey from www.autohotkey.com Write script file in Notepad

Loop { IfWinExist License Borrowed { WinActivate Send Keys {Enter} } Sleep 1000 }

Save file with name LicenseBorrowed.ahk Double-click on script file on desktop, then start AutoCAD

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Bonus Information (cont.)

Network license manager is working, but AutoCAD won’t start AutoCAD is starting from remote location

Add system environment variable FLEXLM_TIMEOUT

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Bonus Information (cont.)

Network license manager is working, but AutoCAD won’t start (cont.)

License Manager and AutoCAD on same computer Add local workstation to HOSTS file

# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself. 127.0.0.1 localhost tlaptopdc # ::1 localhost

(remove # {comment} from line and add local host {tlaptopdcc} name)

Update License Manger to support IPv6 autodesk.com/support > AutoCAD > Data & Downloads > Updates

& Service Packs > Autodesk IPv6 Network License Manager for

Windows

© 2011 Autodesk

Bonus Information (cont.) Change the F1 key to CANCEL instead of HELP

Open the Customize User Interface – CUI at the command line

Expand the Keyboard Shortcuts collection in the top left window

Expand the Shortcut Keys collection in the top left window

Find the CANCEL command in the Command List Window Drag the CANCEL command from the Command List window (lower left) to the Customization in All Files window (upper left)

Select the CANCEL command in the top left window

Select the CANCEL command in the top left window.

Pick the ellipses button and in the Shortcut Keys box press the F1 key

Pick the ellipses button and in the Shortcut Keys box press the F1 key

© 2011 Autodesk

For Course Handout & PowerPoint - www.cad-1.com/au/autocad.aspx

Questions About The Course Content –

au@cad-1.com

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