AutoCAD Electrical Keeps Updating...

[jeff.suttonKB7JM]

On my Autocad Electrical i keep getting Updating... dialog box come up when i click on icons like edit component etc. and it can take a minute or so to finish updating till I can use it.

I was using 2025., so i installed 2024 and its doing it on that as well.

Its only done it in the last week or so, not sure if a windows 11 update has interfered with it.

It slowing me right down as its keeps updating when i do cross reference etc.

Any help will be gratefully appreciated

[pendean]

ACADE never self updates: why not share a screenshot of what you see please.

[rhesusminus]

I guess he's taking about "updating" as in reading the dwg's to update the project database. 

There's currently, AGAIN, an Office update that has killed AcadE again.

Try to reinstall the Microsoft access 2016 database engine.

[eradford87]

I was having the same updating issue, and your solution fixed it, so thank you so much for that @rhesusminus . 

[jaya_priya_ramasamy]

Hi @jeff.suttonKB7JM ,

Please follow the below article.

Performance Issues with AutoCAD Electrical after installing Microsoft Office Version 2410 or Later

Regards,
Jaya Priya Ramasamy
Senior QA Analyst
www.autodesk.com

[JReese-NC]

I just came here today to research this issue a bit because it was absolutely killing me yesterday and this morning.

Reinstalling the Access database engine did in fact take performance back to normal.

[hbohm]

Someone on my team was experiencing this issue, and it just started in the last week. I can also confirm that reinstalling Microsoft Database Engine solved the slow "Updating..." dialog for us.

[jklem35E2E]

I have this same issue where no matter what I do, ACADE gets stuck with a green "Updating" progress bar. Would you be able to assist me further in finding the 2016 Access database Engine so I can reinstall it and remedy my issue?

[rhesusminus]

This is the direct link to the access database engine: 

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=54920

[oleh_m]

A month has passed since the problem occurred.
Solution 4 - Install 64-bit Microsoft Access Database Engine 2016 - did not help me.
Is it planned to release a patch for normal operation of AutoCAD Electrical right out of the box?

[rhesusminus]

There will be no patch for this from Autodesk. This is a Microsoft problem. 

Well, maybe Autodesk should consider switching to a different database format but that is never going to happen. 

Are you sure you're experiencing the exact same problem? Could it be that there's a different solution for your issues with the software? Did you try one of the demo projects that comes with AcadE? Will they work?

[eoliversec]

Thanks, @rhesusminus!

Installing Microsoft Access Database Engine 2016 solved the issue for me.

It’s worth noting that I didn’t have it installed initially.

For others, setting the system variable AEEMXDATAUPDATEMODE to 1 can be a short-term workaround for those without admin privileges. However, I found it caused issues with cross-references, so I reverted it back to 0.

[sergys]

I just reinstalled my 2010 Data Engine. Works awesome now. If you still have your 2020 files its found here:

C:\Autodesk\WI\Autodesk AutoCAD Electrical 2020\3rdParty\x64\AceDataEngine

[jaya_priya_ramasamy]

Hi @eoliversec ,

May I know what is the exact problem you faced with respect to cross-reference when AEEMXDATAUPDATEMODE is set to 1 ? More information will be helpful for us to research the issue.

Regards,
Jaya Priya Ramasamy
Senior QA Analyst
www.autodesk.com

[sergys]

The issue was the constant updating that took an enormous amount to time.

[jaya_priya_ramasamy]

Hi @sergys 

Thank you for the reply. Have you also tried setting the system variable AEEMXDATAUPDATEMODE to 1? Did you face problem with that? 

Regards,
Jaya Priya Ramasamy
Senior QA Analyst
www.autodesk.com

[eoliversec]

Hello @jaya_priya_ramasamy.

After setting AEEMXDATAUPDATEMODE to 1, I noticed that the cross-references seemed slower to update than before or were not updating consistently. Moreover, I did observe some updates, which caused delays in my progress.

Apologies for the vague explanation. This issue occurred during a particularly busy period, and since resolving it by installing the Access Database Engine, I haven’t revisited the matter.

[jaya_priya_ramasamy]

Hi @eoliversec 

Thankyou for the details. This is very helpful for us to research.

Regards,
Jaya Priya Ramasamy
Senior QA Analyst
www.autodesk.com

[clowe]

hi, I had this issue months ago and had to actually deal with Autodesk support to fix the issue. I can update access database myself. I am going to run through this again, but is this going to happen all the time? After running updates from AutoCAD? There was some other Microsoft issue internally aside from the access when the problem first started for me. Just frustrating that this is happening again. The update loop is killing me lol.

[rhesusminus]

If you search this forums, you'll see that this happens every now and then. AcadE really should've done as everyone else, and changed the database engine away from Microsoft Access. But, that is just wishful thinking for all future versions of AcadE.

So, 1-2 times a year, Microsoft will update an issues that kills AcadE. It's just the way it is.