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AutoCAD 2008 loses license in BootCamp
- Thread starter kevbec
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On a brighter note..
AutoCAD are going to start developing for Mac OS's again
I haven't heard that one yet! It would be nice, but it's not like I'm going to be able to afford to buy a copy of AutoCAD or Revit. I would love not to have to boot into Windows. Since I bought a Mac to get away that program to start with.
I am having this problem with 3dsmax and im in huge trouble.. because im a 3d video game modeller...(doing it at uni) and I gave up my quad core pc to get this macbook pro I have now. I thought id be fine because of bootcamp and windows running at native speed with full 3d graphics support... but now my license keeps getting broke wtf... im so annoyed by this.
A solution... not elegant, but it works.
Kevbec...
Not sure if you are still having issues, but I have come up with a solution that works. This might be a bit wordy, but I wanted to collect this information in one place for others who need help.
Running Autodesk products on a Mac can be done several ways. You can use them in Bootcamp, and run Windows natively (without going through Mac OS). Then everything just works as Windows does (or doesn't as the case may be. You can also use Parallels or VMWare Fusion, and run Windows "inside" your Mac.
I like to have the option of running the programs in both Bootcamp, and Parallels, depending on my work flow, and the work needing to be done. If someone just wants a print from CAD, I don't want to have to boot into XP, print it, or export it, boot back into OSX and email it, only to find out that it was wrong, and have to do that again. Parallels lets me do that quickly... but isn't strong enough to draw in all day.
Problem is, Autodesk products lose their licensing when you open them in Bootcamp to work, and then open them in Parallels (haven't checked VMWare personally), or vise-versa. The issue might stem from the system clock, and the confusion that happens when the licensing program thinks you've messed with the internal clock on your computer by running Parallels. Who knows if that's really the issue or not... but my solution works regardless.
The basic solution is to create two deployments of XP on your Mac. Sounds like a waste, and it is a little, but its the only solution I have found that works well enough, and has one cool advantage.
1. Boot camp: Setup your Bootcamp like normal, install XP. Install your programs. You need to set your partition to less than 32gb, and make sure you format it in FAT or FAT32. If you set it up as NTFS, you won't be able to write to this partition from your Mac (unless you use NTFS-3G) and you need to be able to write to this partition for this to work. (There is a work around if you must have NTFS, and NTFS-3G isn't working for you. See step 3 about partitioning drive to share data).
2. Install Parallels: Setup Parallels, and link it to your Bootcamp. DO NOT RUN ANY AUTODESK PRODUCT. This will let you get into your Windows machine and is necessary for one crucial step. Name this version of XP something clever... like BOOTCAMP XP, and maybe take it off the desktop so you don't accidentally run it. If you ever start an Autodesk product from here, you will be re-installing your Windows again (I have done it so many times I know my product key by heart).
3. Partition your drive for Data: To work more efficiently, I wanted to have 3 partitions, Mac/SharedData/Bootcamp. If your XP partition is FAT or FAT32, then you can partition your drive right now. Using Mac DiskUtilities, create a partition from your Mac drive. This is where you're going to share data from one version of XP to the other, and with your Mac. Leopard won't let your format as anything but HTFS or HTFS+... no worries, make it 32gb or smaller. Wait till its done, then select the partition you just made and use diskutilities to erase it, and format it as FAT. Tada, now you have a shared FAT drive for use in both XP and OSX no matter what you're booted in.
Here's the issue though, XP relies on knowing what partition number it is supposed to be booting from... if your XP partition is FAT, you can go and change your boot.ini file, to make it point at the next number higher partition. I had to change mine from partition(3) to partition(4), in two locations. Its pretty obvious when you open that ini file. This will let XP boot.
3a. NTFS option: Before you partition your drive in OSX, boot XP, and change your boot.ini file there. Again, bump it up by one number. The problem with this solution is if you change your partitions ever, or you can't get the partition created, then you can't boot XP to change that number back... which is why I suggest using FAT32, or the NTFS-3G program for Mac. Sometimes NTFS-3G won't mount your NTFS drive though, and the solution is to do a chkdsk on that drive from Windows, which is difficult if you can't get Windows to boot.
4. Create second XP as a Virtual Machine (I am sorry, but I didn't document this as I was doing it, so going from memory): Open Parallels and create a "New Virtual Machine". This is where you will create another instance of XP. It will ask where the OS is to be located, tell it to make a "New Image File" and NOT to use your Bootcamp Partition. There are some options it will want to know, and eventually will need your XP disk in order to create the new disk image. You can tell it how large to make the virtual disk image, and have the option of making it "expandable" meaning it will stay a small file, and will grow to the size you selected as needed. It will guide you through everything to install Windows again. Now install your Autodesk products.
Now you have a Bootcamp version of XP, and a Parallels version of XP. You can access your Bootcamp version in Parallels too, but if you run any autodesk program, you are going to need to redo all of this. One cool thing, the image you made of your parallels version of XP can be backed up with Time Machine, so that you can restore it if needed (although I haven't tried this). Whats cool about this is, if Windows ever dies (like that ever happens), then you have a backed up method of getting to your programs, and your data is protected because its on a separate partition.
I have changed the backgrounds on my 2 versions of XP so as to not accidentally run any Autodesk product in the Bootcamp XP through Parallels.
I hope that this made sense, and I will edit it when I find updated information. Hope it helps too.
-Russ
http://www.BokehDesignGroup.com
Kevbec...
Not sure if you are still having issues, but I have come up with a solution that works. This might be a bit wordy, but I wanted to collect this information in one place for others who need help.
Running Autodesk products on a Mac can be done several ways. You can use them in Bootcamp, and run Windows natively (without going through Mac OS). Then everything just works as Windows does (or doesn't as the case may be
. You can also use Parallels or VMWare Fusion, and run Windows "inside" your Mac.I like to have the option of running the programs in both Bootcamp, and Parallels, depending on my work flow, and the work needing to be done. If someone just wants a print from CAD, I don't want to have to boot into XP, print it, or export it, boot back into OSX and email it, only to find out that it was wrong, and have to do that again. Parallels lets me do that quickly... but isn't strong enough to draw in all day.
Problem is, Autodesk products lose their licensing when you open them in Bootcamp to work, and then open them in Parallels (haven't checked VMWare personally), or vise-versa. The issue might stem from the system clock, and the confusion that happens when the licensing program thinks you've messed with the internal clock on your computer by running Parallels. Who knows if that's really the issue or not... but my solution works regardless.
The basic solution is to create two deployments of XP on your Mac. Sounds like a waste, and it is a little, but its the only solution I have found that works well enough, and has one cool advantage.
1. Boot camp: Setup your Bootcamp like normal, install XP. Install your programs. You need to set your partition to less than 32gb, and make sure you format it in FAT or FAT32. If you set it up as NTFS, you won't be able to write to this partition from your Mac (unless you use NTFS-3G) and you need to be able to write to this partition for this to work. (There is a work around if you must have NTFS, and NTFS-3G isn't working for you. See step 3 about partitioning drive to share data).
2. Install Parallels: Setup Parallels, and link it to your Bootcamp. DO NOT RUN ANY AUTODESK PRODUCT. This will let you get into your Windows machine and is necessary for one crucial step. Name this version of XP something clever... like BOOTCAMP XP, and maybe take it off the desktop so you don't accidentally run it. If you ever start an Autodesk product from here, you will be re-installing your Windows again (I have done it so many times I know my product key by heart).
3. Partition your drive for Data: To work more efficiently, I wanted to have 3 partitions, Mac/SharedData/Bootcamp. If your XP partition is FAT or FAT32, then you can partition your drive right now. Using Mac DiskUtilities, create a partition from your Mac drive. This is where you're going to share data from one version of XP to the other, and with your Mac. Leopard won't let your format as anything but HTFS or HTFS+... no worries, make it 32gb or smaller. Wait till its done, then select the partition you just made and use diskutilities to erase it, and format it as FAT. Tada, now you have a shared FAT drive for use in both XP and OSX no matter what you're booted in.
Here's the issue though, XP relies on knowing what partition number it is supposed to be booting from... if your XP partition is FAT, you can go and change your boot.ini file, to make it point at the next number higher partition. I had to change mine from partition(3) to partition(4), in two locations. Its pretty obvious when you open that ini file. This will let XP boot.
3a. NTFS option: Before you partition your drive in OSX, boot XP, and change your boot.ini file there. Again, bump it up by one number. The problem with this solution is if you change your partitions ever, or you can't get the partition created, then you can't boot XP to change that number back... which is why I suggest using FAT32, or the NTFS-3G program for Mac. Sometimes NTFS-3G won't mount your NTFS drive though, and the solution is to do a chkdsk on that drive from Windows, which is difficult if you can't get Windows to boot.
4. Create second XP as a Virtual Machine (I am sorry, but I didn't document this as I was doing it, so going from memory): Open Parallels and create a "New Virtual Machine". This is where you will create another instance of XP. It will ask where the OS is to be located, tell it to make a "New Image File" and NOT to use your Bootcamp Partition. There are some options it will want to know, and eventually will need your XP disk in order to create the new disk image. You can tell it how large to make the virtual disk image, and have the option of making it "expandable" meaning it will stay a small file, and will grow to the size you selected as needed. It will guide you through everything to install Windows again. Now install your Autodesk products.
Now you have a Bootcamp version of XP, and a Parallels version of XP. You can access your Bootcamp version in Parallels too, but if you run any autodesk program, you are going to need to redo all of this. One cool thing, the image you made of your parallels version of XP can be backed up with Time Machine, so that you can restore it if needed (although I haven't tried this). Whats cool about this is, if Windows ever dies (like that ever happens), then you have a backed up method of getting to your programs, and your data is protected because its on a separate partition.
I have changed the backgrounds on my 2 versions of XP so as to not accidentally run any Autodesk product in the Bootcamp XP through Parallels.
I hope that this made sense, and I will edit it when I find updated information. Hope it helps too.
-Russ
http://www.BokehDesignGroup.com