where is AutoCAD architecture 2016 exe file

[bill]

I cannot fid the AutoCAD architecture 2016 exe file.   I have Buildking Design Suites Premium and have installed both ACAD 2016 and AutoCAD architecture 2016 

[lynn_zhang]

Hi @bill Welcome to Autodesk Community!

If you have downloaded Building Design Suite, you will only have the .exe file for the suite, not each individual component included in suite. You will need to run the .exe file for design suite first and select the component software you wish to install from the suite.

[David_W_Koch]

Both run off of the same acad.exe, most likely located in C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2016.  The AutoCAD Architecture features are added by various ARX files, many (if not all) of which should be in the ACA subfolder.

[homidvar]

that is not correct. You will get individual shortcuts for individual programs. The question was if the shortcut is not created for AutoCAD Architecture, where is the exe file located. acad.exe is for standard AutoCAD.

[David_W_Koch]

Welcome to the community!

AutoCAD Architecture is built on top of AutoCAD, and both use the same acad.exe file as the main program file.  AutoCAD Architecture's features are contained in multiple runtime extension files (ARX).

Here are the target strings from two AutoCAD Architecture [ACA] shortcuts.  The first runs ACA "as AutoCAD".  Note that the profile referenced (after the /p switch), is the AutoCAD profile, and that there is no /ld switch.  The second is from the ACA US Imperial profile.  This sets the AutoCAD Architecture (US Imperial) profile current, and, more importantly, calls for the AecBase.dbx file to be loaded.  This will cause AutoCAD to recognize the session as an ACA session, and things like the additional AEC tabs in the Options dialog will appear.  The profiles also have an effect; the AutoCAD profile will use acad.cuix as the main customization file whereas the AutoCAD Architecture (US Imperial) profile will use the aca.cuix file as the main customization file.  The example strings below are for the 2016 release.

"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2016\acad.exe"  /p "AutoCAD" /product "ACA" /language "en-US"
"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2016\acad.exe" /ld "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2016\AecBase.dbx" /p "AutoCAD Architecture (US Imperial)" /product "ACA" /language "en-US"