Thread: Autocad R14 on Win7 machine

Forget autocad and try downloading draftsight, it's basically free autocad 2014. You need to register with an email address.

Originally Posted by Sam

Forget autocad and try downloading draftsight, it's basically free autocad 2014. You need to register with an email address.

Thats what I use, its nowhere as resource hungry as autocad and the commands are almost identical and I run it on W7 laptop

Ken,

First of all, Autocad R14 is getting pretty old now (The R14 version was originally released in February 1997, so it's 18 years old now), and getting R14 working on a modern operating system can be a real challenge, but not impossible. The biggest challenge is that most of the workarounds designed R14 working on Windows 7 are now so old that the additional software required to make it work isn't available anymore. I had to work out how to do this when a previous employer upgraded the work computers from Windows XP to Windows 7. My IT Support staff did eventually got Autocad R14 working directly under Windows 7, but Autocad R14 wasn't reliable in that environment, and frequently needed problem solving and re-installation. In the end, my employer bit the bullet and upgraded the software licenses at a huge cost.

However, in recent years other more advanced solutions have become available that will allow you to reliably run any software designed for older versions of Windows, regardless of what Operating System you are presently running on your computer.

The solution involves using a product called "Oracle Virtual Box". Virtual Box is an free open source software package, originally written by Sun Microsystems, and now owned by Oracle. The software is available for free download for Unix, Linux, Windows and Mac. There are no charges to use the software, even in a commercial business.

Virtual Box is installed on your Windows Computer as just another application to be run in Windows 7. When you start Virtual Box, the application creates a virtual computer environment in which you can install another operating system, such as older versions of Windows (right back to Win98). Once you have Virtual Box running, you can use your WinXP disks to install WinXP inside Virtual Box. Once installed, You can boot WinXP from the Virtual Box management console. You then install Autocad R14 in your WinXP virtual machine.

You are then in a situation where AutoCad R14 is running inside a WinXP window on your Windows 7 desktop, and you can switch seamlessly between the two operating systems by clicking in the appropriate window. It sounds complex, and it is very technical under the bonnet, but you don't need to understand how Virtual Box works in order to install and use it successfully.

You can configure the Windows Virtual Machine to use your Windows 7 printers. All of your USB ports will be available in WinXP, although there is some additional configuration required there. And your CD or DVD Drive is also available in both Virtual Box and in WinXP. Additionally, you can set up Virtual Box so that you can concurrently share your My Documents folder between Win7 and WinXP.

Virtual Box for Windows is available as a free download from this link; https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

There are two (2) download files that you'll need from the above site;

1. VirtualBox 5.0.8 for Windows hosts
2. VirtualBox 5.0.8 Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack - All Supported Platforms

That same web page also has links to a lot of the official support documentation, which you probably won't need. You'll often find simplified answers to any VirtualBox issues that you may encounter, by searching Google, and also by searching Youtube.

The next link is to a Youtube video that demonstrates how to install Virtualbox on Windows 7.

The next link is to a Youtube Video where someone demonstrates AutoCad R14v running in a Virtual Box environment on Windows 7.

The main limiting factor with using Virtual Box is that you are essentially asking your computer run to both Windows 7 and Windows XP at the same time. As a result, you may find that your computer will run slowly when it's trying to run Windows 7, plus Virtual Box, plus Windows XP, plus Autocad, if your computer doesn't have enough memory installed.

When starting Virtualbox and Autocad, try to not have any other applications running under Windows 7 (email, web browsers, etc).

The usual solution is to add a fair bit of memory to your computer. As your computer is from the Windows 7 era, it is probably limited to a maximum memory of 4 or 8 GByte. Before you buy new memory, install the software, and do a test run with your current memory configuration. If the machine is too slow for you, then boost the installed memory. My expectation is that 6 GByte will probably be enough for your situation. You probably won't benefit from installing more than 8 GByte of memory.

I hope that information helps. If you run into technical issues with VirtualBox, don't hesitate to PM me and I'll see if I can help out.

Regards,

RoyG

As above, Virtual Box, or VMWare Player, or even microsoft Hyper-V. Plenty of tools around to run on an existing machine to virtualise it. Pretty much all of them allow hooking up with physical hardware, dual displays, etc, so go nuts.

Thanks gents for your advice.

Does anyone know which version of Autocad will run on Windows7, the further back the better?

I think I have a copy of 2007. Would this run?

I have tried Draftsight, and it's similar but not the same. I want to stick to Autocad as I have customised it extensively with short cuts for commands.

Ken

I'm curious, why are you so keen on autocad other than the obvious is that you are familiar with it and all your existing files are autocad. It is dwg file format which many other programs can read plus your have the extra burden of using more software to be able to use it.
Draftsight reads it and is the most accurate cad program that reads autocad files. Just asking out of curiosity.

I have a copy of AutoCAD 2000i. I run it on my xp machine and win8.1 works fine, no Issues

rwbuild,

I've been using Autocad from way back when it was a dos file on old floppy disks, so you could say I'm pretty well familiar with it, but not an expert.

As mentioned earlier, my version has been customised heavily so that commands are are just one of two keys to evoke. Acad.pgp is the file in question.

I doubt I could do this with Draftsight.

Kuffy,

I have sent you an email.

Ken

Originally Posted by neksmerj

Thanks gents for your advice.

Does anyone know which version of Autocad will run on Windows7, the further back the better?

I think I have a copy of 2007. Would this run?

Ken

Ken,

Have a look at the following link to the Autodesk Autocad Support Website ..... http://knowledge.autodesk.com/suppor...utoCAD-LT.html

In the above post that I've linked to, the question is asked - "What versions of Autocad will run on Windows 7".

In summary, the answer to that question is as follows:

All 2011 and later releases of AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT are fully compatible with Windows 7. For earlier releases, refer to the information that follows on compatibility and limitations.

Windows 7 was released in October of 2009—seven months after the release of AutoCAD 2010. As such, Windows 7 was still in beta when AutoCAD 2010 products were being released and could not be fully tested for compatibility. Some minor limitations have been found when working with Windows 7 and AutoCAD 2010 products. For a description of these limitations, please refer to the technical solution...

Autodesk then go on to provide a lot more detail and some caveats.

From what I can see, the answer to your question re "is Autocad 2007 compatible with Windows 7" seems to be a "maybe, possibly..who knows". I suggest that you install Autocad 2007 on your Win7 machine and do some testing. If you run into any problems, you may be able to glean some workaround solutions from the Autodesk web site that I've linked to above.

Regards,

RoyG

All the best,

RoyG

A kind member lent me a copy of Autocad 2000i to see if it will install on my Win 7 computer.

It installed without a hitch, however, when I try to run it, a dialogue box pops up to say

"Sorry, this pre-release product has expired".

I got the same message when I tried to install Autocad 2002 last night.

Anyone know why, and is there a work around?

Ken

Ken,

Those two copies that you have were issued by Autodesk as free product preview disks when those versions of Autocad were new, and are designed to only work for a limited period of time. Hence the error message that you're getting now. You'd need actual production disks, along with a product activation key, or a software license dongle, to get any of those versions working. Autodesk are very strong on copy protection, and ensuring that people only use appropriately licensed copies of their products.

Regards,

RoyG

Thanks RoyG,

I don't believe Autocad 2000i is a limited disk only. I say this because the member that lent me the disk has it running successfully on his computer.

To reiterate, I have a dual boot system that runs Win7 or XP, and I have AcadR14 installed on the XP side of things.

I wonder whether that's throwing up the error message?

Ken

The copy of 2000i is a copied disc from an original full version cdrom. Its not a trial, preview or beta.

Have you tried running it on win7 in compatibility mode? The disc has worked on xp sp2, xp sp3, and win8.1bing.

Hi Kuffy,

How do I install 2000i in compatibility mode. Is there something in the install log that gives me a choice?

I'm hopeless with the workings of computers.

Ken