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AutoCAD for MAC and Adobe software.

In AutoCAD for Mac Autodesk Discussion Group quite often there are reports that it is impossible to run AutoCAD on MAC, even if their MACs meets the System requirements, even the language of the operating system defaults to English, and software installation was successful.
What is the reason?
After analyzing the issues, I noticed that some users who can not run AutoCAD on their MAC, write that they have Adobe software installed on MAC (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign …).
The fact that the software from Adobe, use similar with AutoCAD licensing mechanism (FLEXnet), prompted me to think that the problem may be just that. My guess, which already have been confirmed by some users in the Autodesk Discussion Groups (eg Paul), – if you have Adobe software on your MAC, then AutoCAD during first start can not write license information in the folder “/Library/Preferences/FLEXnet Publisher”.

So, workaround is:

  1. Make sure that no programs are running.
  2. Move the folder “FLEXnet Publisher” from “/Library/Preferences/” to another location (for example, to a temporary folder in your home directory), uninstall AutoCAD (if it was already installed).
  3. Install AutoCAD. It must work for now.
  4. Copy back to the folder “/Library/Preferences/FLEXnet Publisher/FLEXnet” all files that looks like “adobe_XXXXXXXXX_tsf.data” from the folder that you have moved in step 1.
  5. Now you can work in Adobe Apps and in AutoCAD for MAC!

Please test it and give me feedback.

This entry was posted on November 25, 2010 at 7:43 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

11 Responses to “AutoCAD for MAC and Adobe software.”

  1. JP Says:
    December 9, 2010 at 6:40 pm

    Thanks so much, you’re a genius! This was the only thing that worked for me.

  2. jacek Says:
    December 19, 2010 at 10:26 am

    It dosn’t work for me… I move FLEXnet publisher folder, unisntall autocad, and install, and still AutoCAD does’t work… :/

    • maximka2010 Says:
      December 19, 2010 at 12:23 pm

      Hi jacek,
      Maybe your problem with the launch of AutoCAD is not related to Adobe Software? For the diagnosis I need more information, at least, for example, fragment of System.log at the moment of AutoCAD launch.
      Are you from Poland? If so, have you set English as the default language in System Preferences?

  3. Fabio Candido Says:
    December 21, 2010 at 1:56 pm

    Do you think that this solution will work also for update? I noticed a lot of crashes, so I had to uninstall the update.

    • maximka2010 Says:
      December 21, 2010 at 3:52 pm

      Hi Fabio,
      I think you can safely uninstall AutoCAD, since your current setup works. When you reinstall, I also think you could do everything without tricks described in this post.

  4. Bibhu Says:
    February 4, 2011 at 7:40 pm

    Thanks a ton !!! your solution is the only one that worked for me 🙂 after having tried a zillion useless others and emailing autodesk too!
    just want to add : if you have re-requested the activation code a couple of times like me! you may get a message “you have exceeded the number of times you can receive an activation code to reactivate this product on this computer” just enter it manually and if that doesn’t work then try all the other ones that you have received.

  5. martin Says:
    February 8, 2011 at 4:22 pm

    I find no ‘FLEXnet Publisher’ folder in ‘/Library/Preferences/’.

    Any suggestions?

  6. Shasti O'Leary Soudant Says:
    February 11, 2011 at 11:40 am

    Still had installation failure. Thanks anyway!

  7. hector Says:
    February 12, 2011 at 1:42 pm

    Worked perfectly! Why doesn’t AutoDesk have this published all over the place? I hope this is not AutoCAD v12 for Mac all over again! YIKES!

    Thanks for the great post.

  8. maximka2010 Says:
    February 13, 2011 at 1:05 am

    @ martin
    @ Shasti O’Leary Soudant
    Hi guys,
    Looks like this is not your case.
    Have you tried to change language settings in System Preferences (drag English language to the top)? I want to advise you also to check the File System solution (http://macacad.com/2011/01/07/if-autocad-for-mac-doesnt-start-at-all/).

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