We have completed some internal testing for running AutoCAD 2007 and AutoCAD 2008 on Apple Boot Camp running Microsoft Windows XP on an Intel based iMac and MacPro machine and found no problems. Essentially you boot to Microsoft Windows XP which will run like a native Windows XP machine after setting up the Apple Boot Camp. While this environment is not officially supported by Autodesk, we did test it and it is one way to use your Mac to run AutoCAD. We did not test the application Parallels Desktop to run AutoCAD.
If you run into issues please send me specific details of the issue.
Update: there is an issue that can cause the software license to fail. We are working with the vendor for a solution.
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Dear Shaan,
If Autodesk can fix the licensing issue you don’t have to port all your software to a Mac version. Just support it running on Bootcamp, and the license problem is all that’s stopping it.
I need 3DS really badly but not badly enough to buy another £3000 pc computor that’s going to crash all the time when I have a great Mac.
Please try and get Autodesk to expedite the license issue on ALL their software!
Their sales will go up as it is all that is standing between them and millions of customers!
best wishes,
RHD
I’m planning on buying a new computer in September, it needs to be a laptop for portability, and right now the only thing I feel comfortable trusting is a MacBook Pro. I’ve never used a PC laptop that feels stable under the pressure.
Will the licence issue be resolved by September?
Hey Shaan, After following the advice of the ADesk document I mentioned previously the serial number stuck so it helped my situation somewhat. But the license continued to break.
Curiously the license on my MP Pro has never been an issue, only on my desktop. Both are running bootcamp (Vista). I compared the settings on both and found differences, so I set the desktop setting to match the MB. So far the license has stayed intact for the past week, a record so far.
Here are the settings that differed and the actions that seem to have helped:
Defender – Tools – Options – Realtime Protection Options – Application Registration (Turned it on)
User Accounts – Turn on User Account Control (Turned it off)
Firewall – Exceptions: Core Networking, File Printer Sharing, Network Discovery. (Allow)
I’m not sure whether any or all of these setting have any relevance, but they seem to have worked.
Maybe someone more familiar with Windows/Vista can fill us in.
Cheers
………….and then I pulled a file from a USB hard drive and the license broke again. This is the last straw for us, our brief return to ADesk/Windoze has cost us dearly in terms of productivity/investment and left a very, very bad taste. We should have known better, it’s why we switched to Mac in the first place. It’s such a shame. Vectorworks just picked up a new client.
Help!! I just purchased a MacbookPro in the hopes of running AutoCAD LT. From all that I have read here, it looks like I’m in for some trouble. I just switched to Mac after many frustrating PC-years. I assumed my new Mac could run AutoCAD. What to do now? I am NOT returning my Mac, but could still return my unopened AutoCAD software (though I would rather not) Please advise.
Thomas,
I am sorry about your situation. You can call in and request a single seat network license which will prevent the Apple machine from breaking the license. While I have not had much PC platform issues even with abusive use I also understand some just want a Mac when I cant get one or most of the applications I use are not on the Mac platform and I like to tinker and build my own.
We are aware there are some requests to support a Apple Mac platform but do not currently officially support running our PC based AutoCAD in the free Apple Bootcamp.
Regards,
Shaan
“Do you have any performance comparison figures of these tests between similar specked Intel Mac and PC’s?”
Let’s see… both mac and pc use the same cpu, memory, hdd, mainboard chipset, etc … they are BOTH made in china by the same OEMs.
NOW… which is faster than the other.
ps. i’ll give you a hint: they a both the same except the “mac” and “pc” buzzwords.
My PC just crashed recently…hard drives totally unrecoverable. I would loveto buy an IMAC and would easily make the switch if it were not for one thing…I am an architect and need to use Autocad. So, I will roll the dice, buya PC and hope that 3 or 4 years from now I don’t lose all my valuable data (photos of the first two years of my daughter’s life, tax records, invoices, drawings, all of my emails, etc.).
Apple and Autocad can take that for what is worth and maybe understand that if they could get together and work things out, Apple’s market share would actaully grow. Architects want to switch to MACs…but they are handcuffed by this ridiculous situation.
Derek,
We are still looking into solution for those wanting to use AutoCAD on the Mac.
One thing to note is that the grass is not always greener on the other side. I was talking to a friend this week that switched to Mac recently only to hear him complain about all the freeze ups on his new Mac. I believe a lot of the issues with operating systems stability and security is ourselves. In many cases the problems are due to the hardware, drivers, or software we use in conjunction with the OS. A machine on name brand components with limited software runs fast and stable in most cases. I am an equal opportunity OS user and no real loyalty to any and will jump ship in a heartbeat when it makes sense for me but I still have more personally on the PC that I cannot afford to lose or give up.
Regards,
Shaan
FYI: I have a 2.33 GHz C2D 15″ MacBook Pro, with 2 GB 667 MHz RAM and 256 MB ATI Radeon X1600 video card. I run Autodesk AutoCAD LT 2006 on Parallels v1.0 through current v2.5 Build 3214 with WinXP. I have had it running flawlessly since November of 2006. I am currently running OS 10.5.3, and have had no problems making the switch to Leopard.
Prior to my MBP I ran ACAD LT 2006 on my custom built AMD Athlon 64, 2 GHz computer with a 128 MB ATI FireGL graphics card, and 1 GB of RAM. I have noticed no major performance difference between the two computers running ACAD LT.
This weekend I was installing on my brand new iMac follows the software through Boot Camp: 32-bit Windows Vista Business, Visual Studio 2005 Student and Inventor Professional 2009, all ruled superbly.
Well: I want to work with modeling parts and inventor
assemblies with Boot Camp, to take Inventor
throughout the match of my Mac (Graphic and RAM) and when to execute Inventor
make small applications Add-in will do it as a virtual machine under the system
Operating Mac (Leopard 10.5.3), using VMWare Fusion, since in this case not need much equipment.
The thing is that I have installed Inventor and I have run from boot camp and has
registered automatically via the Internet.
After I have run in virtual mode from the Mac with VMWare, and has been re-register, I have finally returned to run from Windows and again seh registered. The thing is not that I do for registration is
permanent and the program is not registered every time I enter or change of mode
access.
I am a new Mac fans, and now I’m very happy with my new machine. When I used Inventor with Boot Camp I thought it was going fantastic and I can not say the same with Fusion, with which the theme is late enough.
Of course I use a USB hard drive for backup jobs.
Thank you very much and I hope that will soon solve the problems of registration.
iMac 20 “: 2.66GHz, Intel Core 2 Duo at 2.66 GHz; Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256 MB AT
Any idea on how much longer I’ll have to wait to get Architecture and Revit on Mac. Someone stole my computer and I am at a point at which it is very easy and possible to make the beautiful switch.
Any response would be welcome, thank you
lost activation key for autocad 2007 due to virus now i can’t use it what can i do can anyone help me.
We are running AutoCAD on five MacPros using Parallels. We have had a few hickups but the big one is the lack of file locking. It appears that any one of our users can open a file that another user has open and they get no warnings and they are both able to save over each others work.
Hi
I just bought a intel based macbookpro 2.4 dual. 200 harddrive…. etc
the thing is that It never crashes.. My work friend has a powerbook g4 and has never crashes udisng CS3 Suite nd hundreds of aplications…… MAcs are really better than windows based pcs….
1- most programs are “folder” like… not like windows.. that when you install a program it scatters all over.. .DLL, win system 32 etc…. on mac you just ricght click and send to trashcan if you want to uninstall. (or use the app zapper and it cleans it 100%)…..
I would love to NOT have to use vmware fusion, paralells or bootcamp…. WHY?
well I changed to MAC because windows SUCKS!!! and why the heck do I have to install something I HATE!!!!????
PLEASEEEE autodesk! PLEASE make 3DStudio Max and Autocad for MAC!!!
Bootcamp??? NAHH… I am a product designer and Im not going to be restarting my mac if im in 3d max and I need to make a texture on Photoshop(using it on MAC)….. and back and forth…
Vmware fusion?… NAHHH… 3dmax runs poooorly, its awfull to work on vmware fuson with 3dmax!!!
Since a lot of people are switching from PC to MAC, it would be a great idea to have autocad on a mac platform, instead of having to use such softwares, like vmfusion, parallels, and bootcamp.
Wadeson,
Thank you for your feedback. While some have switched the PC market has grown as well. Our difficult challenge is to make sure the Mac is really a platform that would be used by those that use AutoCAD. In the past we had a Mac version of AutoCAD. This is also involves sustainability of investment as developing on another platform impacts the main product features and future as a whole and can double the development and testing teams and like most business that want to be around in the future, there has to be a market to sustain the huge effort and resources.
We are continuing to research this request and appreciate your feedback.
Best Regards,
Shaan Hurley
Shaan Hurley doesn’t know what she is talking about, period. She doesn’t know the drafting sector at all. She has never drafted anything in her life to fully understand this field.
I have been in engineering for over 30 years. Architects, a great percentage of them would rather run a Mac with AutoCad.Dave Watson
Mr. Watson,
With all due respect you have made many assumptions in your post and some that were plain rude and edited out. First I am a man, secondly I served plenty of time in a design seat before coming to Autodesk. As for a Mac version of AutoCAD, I am in agreement but the numbers need to add up to a market to support the effort. Just like your business I am sure you make sure you can at least break even on investment before leaping into the chasm.
We have a little bit of experience since we have developed AutoCAD in a Mac version before and are still a large Mac developer with other products for the Mac as well as Linux.
Porting to the Mac platform is not trivial but we are also not ignorant of the market and watching and researching all the time as we are a business. Not listening to a market segment of customers would be a big mistake, one we would not or I hope we would not ever make.
We are listening.
I hope you have a better day since you vented me. 🙂
Best Regards,
Shaan
hi guys i have a real big question
was using windows
i just bought a macbook,my specs are
processor 2.1 Ghz intel core 2 duo
4GB 677 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
hard 250Gb
so tell me i have to use Autocad,3dmax,photoshop cs3 for my works at uni…so is ther going to be a problem i sure hope not,pls advice asp…and also should i use bootcamp or parellels.
hope im not in trouble ..?
rebel,
AutoCAD, 3dsmax are not designed or supported on the Mac platform. They can run in bootcamp, but there is a known issue with the license being lost and having to re-activate when using an external drive on the system.
Shaan
I do appreciate the feedback and please know we are listening.
Autodesk has products for most platforms including Mac and Linux but not all products. AutoCAD has been a Windows only program for the last several years after years as a multi-platform product including Mac and UNIX, and DOS. Autodesk has experience and the knowledge of what it takes to port. It is no easy or inexpensive matter to just port to another platform such as Mac
What I do not appreciate is some of the comments that I had to edit or delete due to offensive, mean, and immature comments to this blog post. It is surprising the attitude of some of the Mac users. Bullying or insults is not a method to win friends and influence people and is about as effective as throwing a rock. I know these brain cell challenged zealots are not representative of the Mac community as a whole.
Shaan
I really hope that Autodesk is getting closer to porting AutoCAD to OS X. Mac users could really use it. Maybe you could port an LT version (even an older one) as a trial to test the waters for the market. You could even cobble together a viewer with markup, dimensioning and printing for a nice test drive. That would get their feet wet.
Maybe you could take a cue from the Google devs and let some of your coders take a shot at developing a new product during some set aside “creative” time. I would think that a functional Beta would provide some useful feedback.
Just my $0.02
Hope it helps.
Hi Folks.
We are a Mac outfit and we recently needed to use AutoCAD. We bought a Lenova laptop with Vista for this purpose.
Vista has to be the biggest rort of all time! We now have the very best drawing platform on the absolute worst software platform. Its a real shame.
hi. i am a heavy user of AutoCad and 3DS Max but I don’t run them on windows based desktop because it is just satisfactory. I own a macbookpro and i run these softwares on windows bootcamp and was amazed that it runs faster than an original windows desktop! now, the problem is, everytime i have to edit something, i have to restart my macbookpro to switch to mac and then restart again to go back to bootcamp and is really annoying. and another thing is, windows gets virused all the time! imagine how it would be when there will be AutoCad and 3ds max for mac?? very efficient operations without even being virused! now, i’m starting to wonder why mac never gets virused and windows..? really crappy. What’s even more crappy is having to run windows in a mac. really a shame. just my two cents. not really a techy person hehe.
Why Autodesk don’t make a version of autocad for mac? What are you waiting for?
Thanks,
Thiago
Shaan,
I have been planning to buy a mac since some time but only delay factor is support for AutoCAD. One thing I never read in your response is commitment from Autodesk side. Do you have any timeline for this. Do you have any number of users in mind?
What scares me is we don’t even have a time line when our concerns will be addressed. The least I could have expected from Auto desk to streamline the license issue or work with Apple to resolve (if something needs to be done from their side) it.
I understand porting to mac may require lot of investment and would need market analysis , but I don’t think there would be significant investment require for addressing the existing issues and documenting the same and posting it here. That would make things good for all Mac users if not easy.
Hope I see some additional comment on Mac support soon.
Avadh
The skinny is that Autodesk built AutoCAD from the ground up to use Microsoft Foundation Classes for the GUI of AutoCAD. This gives it the Microsoft Windows look and feel. To change that and provide two different development paths is a HUGE undertaking. Not only does the guts of AutoCAD have to be yanked out, but they then have to hire tons of Mac developers to basically build the entire GUI from scratch.
Bootcamp isn’t the solution, it just isn’t practical and doesn’t allow sharing across windows and apple applications.
But, you can have your cake and get fat on it too. The secret is to do the virtualization thing and with the recent strides in making OpenGL and DirectX available you can run AutoCAD under windows on the Mac without any lags, or “stuttering”. File locking is also not an issue. It really does great. Want to try it out? come to our website, autocadformac.com and download all the free trials of the pieces you will need to make the solution work.
I am an engineer, have used A/cad since R13. My problem is; every three or four years my pc’s crash. Sometime with unrecoverable hd’s. I recently purchased a MacPro (over $6,000.00). I run Parallels with A/cad 2006. Runs faster with little trouble. What is wrong here is; I depend on Mac OS, Parallels, and Windows to run. So far so good. It would be so much easier if A/cad would furnish application for Mac OS. I know many peers have switched to Mac and are waiting for Autodesk to provide software for the their new (very expensive) systems. Tap Tap Tap.
come on mac Autocad for mac …
Currently we have tested AutoCAD 2007, 2008, and 2009 on the Mac in a virtualized environment like Bootcamp, VMWare, and Parallels. AutoCAD is not officially supported on the Mac, but works just fine. We have found an activation issue but in all cases we have found it is related to an external hard drive cause a conflict with the the licensing in a virtualized environment. “IF” you are having issues locking your activations, and are running an external hard drive, try booting up with the drive off or unplugged. Then add it back later and see if that resolves the issue.
We showed AutoCAD running on VMWare last week at Autodesk University AU2008. Bootcamp due to not having the OSX loaded runs AutoCAD much faster but you have to boot instead of like Parallels and VMWare which can run AutoCAD on the OSX desktop. As for a native Mac application for AutoCAD, only time will tell and there has been a great deal of research and discussions, but it is no simple change or effort.
Best Regards,
Shaan
Shann,
I am a University Student, and I have been running a Macbook with Vista, Via Bootcamp with Autodesk Products. My liscences have gotten lost time after time, and I only recently even discovered that this was being caused by the autodesk bootcamp combo. I realize several parties are involved, but this is a very agravating problem which autodesk should promptly look into. Ive had no choice but to talk poorly of autodesks involvement with this when compared to how simple and quick sketchup is on multiple Operating systems.
That being said, I have had success running AD products via paralells.
Furterhmore, I do use an external drive, and simply unplugging it before bootup did not solve the problem HOWEVER, AD will no longer issue my serial number activation codes since I requested too many for my serial automatically before I understood the nature of this problem.
Please take my advice though and pass on, Multiplatform coding needs to happen to stay competative. Your products are good but competition will become better quickly
To elaborate on the last post. CAD has been working ok recently under VISTA with BOOTCAMP. However, If an external drive is attached when the program opens, the license will break. Note if the License had already been broken, unhooking the drive upon launching the program will not re connect the License. Also, this probem may not be apparent in versions before 2008.
Brian,
Thank you for your comment. Please see my other post http://autodesk.blogs.com/between_the_lines/2008/12/run-autocad-on-a-mac.html as well.
One big thing has changed in recent weeks as I now have a Macbook Pro. Now I am a multi-OS user of Autodesk products some native Mac like Maya, some in Bootcamp, and some virtualized which is a good fall back solution for current Mac and Autodesk users.
We have been chasing the licensing issue for some time and it is quite a complex issue but to best avoid how the Mac confuses the primary drives make sure to not boot up with an external drive attached if you intend to use Autodesk windows products in that session of a virtualized or Bootcamp environment.
Best Regards,
Shaan
OK, Autodesk released AutoCAD for the Mac for 1 release only. I think it was around Release 13. We had it in our office – my friend who ran it said that Autodesk did only a fair job in porting over to the Mac environment. But, he was happy to have it and it worked fine – he later went to work for Autodesk as a programmer.
There are a lot of things that Autodesk has done over the years that don’t make sense and not porting to Mac OS is one of them in my opinion.
The 3d interface in both AutoCAD and 3dStudio Viz is really clumsy just to mention one thing. Regarding 3dStudio Viz – Think about an auto mechanic having to put his tools down in order to move his head… Then he can pick up his wrench again. That is what it is like to work in 3d Studio Viz. Not exactly a flowing going on there…
good software runs on good computers
Mac is the best so …… join it AD
Paulo,
Thank you. I am a dual Mac and PC user now. I run AutoCAD on my PC as well as on my Mac. On my Mac the only distinction is that AutoCAD is not currently a native Mac application but runs just fine in Bootcamp or Parallels and VMWare Fusion.
Best Regards,
Shaan
Shaan, at the top of this blog you asked for details of any problems running autocad on bootcamp. We have been running ACA and revit architecture on intel based imacs for about 2 years without any problems, until we had to replace the hard drive on one of them. Now daily we get the “activation required” on this one. We are not alone in this issue, but there don’t seem to be any answers to be found, including autodesk support. Thank you.
Stephen,
The reason for the re-activation is due to the license file being tied to the prior hard drive hardware. You should be able to get one code and keep it running on the new machine if they provide you with a reset. But understand that running these 2 products on a Mac is not officially supported.
Best regards,
Shaan
Shaan, have never heard of a “reset”? Now I am curious why autodesk support has not mentioned this as a possible solution after having gone over and over this issue with them? Correct me if I am wrong, but if we had to replace the hard drive on a Dell, it sounds like we might have the same issue?
Stephen,
The “reset” is just a method of sending a new code while cleaning up any old links in a system or restored system to the software licensing and not a common thing.
What would be best on any PC before changing out a drive is to export the license first or re-install applications on a new drive and reactivate once. I do know drive replacements can be an unplanned event.
You are provided multiple activations per serial but you have somehow exceeded the limit but support should provide you with a valid code provided you have a legitimate serial.
Best Regards,
Shaan
Shaan, thanks for the advice. It turns out the hard drive replacement was probably coincidental to the real culprit, which was an external drive attached thru a USB port. Or it may have been a combination of both. Since removing the device and gaining another authorization, the license seems to have locked this time. I wanted to share in case others are having this issue.
It has been months since I installed Windows xp, bootcamp and autocad 2007 with service packs on my Mac. Autocad still freezes every time I try to open a file from the autocad application. However, when I click directly on the file to open it from windows explorer, it seems to work fine. Then, when I try to print to PDF it freezes again. I have no clue what to do. I have reinstalled autocad, drivers, servicepacks etc and it still doesn’t work. Please please help…
Any updates on the licensing issue? At some point I’m guessing Autodesk is gonna get tired of doling out authorization codes. Not to mention it is really annoying.
I personally preffer VMWare Fusion
I was looking at system requirements for AutoCAD on a Mac, and it said 40GB minimum (100GB recommended)… does that really mean 40GB of my hard drive space? Of course have Parallels installed or using Boot Camp.