Error 1325 - AutoCAD 2016

[Anonymous]

Issue:

Network users are not able to properly launch AutoCAD for the first time.  MSI starts configuring and 3 prompts of invalid short name appears, followed by AutoCAD 2016 crashing.  This is the exact same behaviour as 2014.  We have a workaround, though it is not one we can use permanently.

Steps to Replicate:

• Install as Administrator
• Run for first time as admin
• Export HKCU Autodesk key/subkeys and import with user
• Copy over the local/roaming Autodesk folders to user profile/appdata
• Launch as local (non-admin) user

Troubleshooting Steps:

I have followed the steps in article http://www.cadforum.cz/cadforum_en/msi-error-1325-username-is-not-a-valid-short-file-name-tip6686 which worked for the initial installation and allows the software to be run if the user is a local administrator on that machine.  This is not good.

I also followed this article http://usa.autodesk.com/getdoc/id=TS1055299 about permissions for "expected AutoCAD startup behavior" and those didn't seem to make a difference.

I was also told that the following needs to be accessible by all user accounts:

• C:\Users\All Users\Autodesk
• C:\Users\<the current user>\AppData\Local\Autodesk
• C:\Users\<the current user>\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk
• C:\Program Files\Common Files\Autodesk Shared
• C:\Program Files\Autodesk
• C:\ProgramData\Autodesk

After doing all of this I am still given the same short name error when a user tries to run AutoCAD 2016 for the first time.

Next Step:

Is anyone familiar with log files that are generated when AutoCAD loads and could possibly post their locations?  I'd like to see exactly what is triggering the MSI from activating on a regular user account and not an administrator account.

Thanks in advance to anyone that can help, and in turn hopefully help countless others facing a similar (if not, the same) issue.

[CraigP_]

We have the same problem and use the same workaround.

Just curious, do your users have a period in their username ie: "first.last"?

[Anonymous]

Yes the affected user accounts are "first.last".  I meant to put that in but looks like I forgot!

[Anonymous]

Troubleshooting:

Thanks to enabled MSI logging, we've tracked it down to a network redirected folder using UNC paths, as suspected.  We located [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders] and changed any instance of a
UNC path to the correct drive letter that was mapped to it.  We use a batch/reg file to do this when the user is logged in and looking to run AutoCAD for the first time to simplify things:

Batch:

@Anonymous off

regedit.exe /s autocad-fix.reg

rundll32.exe user32.dll, UpdatePerUserSystemParameters

Reg file: (autocad-fix.reg)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders]
"My Music"="Z:\\My Music"
"My Pictures"="Z:\\My Pictures"
"My Video"="Z:\\My Videos"
"Personal"="Z:\\"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders]
"My Music"="Z:\\My Music"
"My Pictures"="Z:\\My Pictures"
"My Video"="Z:\\My Videos"
"Personal"="Z:\\"

I don't believe this is a "solution", but the workaround definitely removes the need for our users to have local admin rights when the machine has an AutoCAD 2014/2016 install.

[Anonymous]

Our workaround:

Everytime, the problem appears, we are using a script to delete the following path in the Registry of the user: HKCU\Software\Autodesk

The profile of Autocad is rebuild similar to the first start.

Markus Strobl