Wrong version Launch issues

[rclark]

Ok, where to start...

Recently upgraded to PDSP2015 from PDSS2013, and VW2015 from VW2013 (upgrade performed by reseller).

ACADM 2013 was left on machine incase of compatibility issues (I used to run MDT2006), but now I am experiencing issues when opening a drawing from the Vault client.

If ACADM 2015 is not running, it will boot and everything seems fine. If it is running however, upon attempting to open drawing from Vault client the system will boot ACADM 2013 instead, completely ignoring the fact 2015 is running already.

Autodesk's response is, and I quote "...we do recommend working with only one CAD release and – if necessary – save the files in previous AutoCAD format. And I must admit we do not have a good solution to this customer’s requirement, except opening files from the desired application instead of double click in Vault Explorer."

This is an interesting response since their solution for the MDT vs Mechanical compatibility issue involves having multiple versions installed at the same time. I also don't buy the workaround of having to open from ACADM rather than the Vault client. It's a clumsy and limited interface compared to the Vault, and the 'fix' is contrary to Vault's own help file about how to check out drawings.

I used to get a similar issue when using ACADM2013 - legacy drgs would open in vanilla ACAD, but I could get around this by booting from ACADM2013 and re-saving. Subsquent times would then open in the correct version. This method does not work between 2013 and 2015 however.

Would appreciate any suggestions on this as it seems that Autodesk don't really care. They have suggested I post here rather than actually fixing the issue themselves. The reward for being loyal to their product and upgrading seems to be a host of compatibility and launch problems.

Solution seems simple to me - ditch the DWG Launcher application that causes all these issues, but obviously this is not something I can implement myself. 

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

In fact your solution lies exactly where you are suggesting: ditch the DWG Launcher.

Since release 2015, AutoCAD wants to be associated with the file type directly (without the launcher), else you also have an annoying feature where it will open new instances of AutoCAD per drawing you double click.

So: right click on DWG, select Open with, select Choose default program, select AutoCAD 2015

Because all of this is managed by Windows, not AutoCAD, it should mean that you will have 2015 starting up whenever, wherever, you click on a dwg.

[rclark]

Hi acwtzwegers,

Many thanks for your reply.

This method appears to have worked, although strangely I had previously tried this without success.

On a previous attempt, AutoCAD 2015 was not listed anywhere amongst the programs on the 'open with' dialogue, nor was it present when browsing for other programs, so I was unable to select it as a default program. I just assumed it wasn't there because the DWG launcher was supposed to handle all dwg program launches, so didn't think anything was necessarily wrong.

The only thing I can think of was I had performed a reinstall of ACADM2015, and then SP1, so perhaps it didn't go in properly the first time around.

Thanks again for your help.

Richard Clark