Authentication Error

[Anonymous]

I've used Fusion 360 for a while now, but I'm not entirely certain that I have tried it on Windows 10 until a few nights ago.  This is the error that presented itself as I tried to open the:  This application has encountered an unexpected authentication error and must be quit.  I am using a Surface Pro 3, and the last time I modeled anything was a few months back.  I have not made any adjustments to the default settings after I installed Windows 10.  I'm not sure what would be different now than before, but any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[James.Youmatz]

Hi @Anonymous,

This may be due to when Fusion 360 updated, it did not update the target path of your start-up icon. I have seen this in the past before so here is something we can try! If you right-click your start-up icon for Fusion 360 and select Properties, it will bring up a dialog box that looks like the image below:

The target path is referring to where the launcher is stored in your files. For a Windows operating system the executable can be found by navigating to the following directory:

C:\Users\%USERPROFILE%\Appdata\Local\Autodesk\webdeploy\production

In this production folder (depending on how many updates you have with Fusion) there should be multiple folders all with different ID's for names. If you sort this column by date, the newest folder should contain the latest Fusion360.exe file. Make sure that the target path in the dialog box from the start-up launcher is the same as the path for the NEWEST Fusion360.exe file. (Realistically the only difference should be the ID folder, which is the one with a bunch of letters and numbers).

Try that and see if it works, if not I will send you the instructions for a clean uninstall which should remedy the problem, or at least give us a good basis to start from.

Thanks,

[Anonymous]

So I've navigated to the folder.  It appears to me that it is referencing the correct directory.  That said, how do I know which is correct?

Additionally, running the program from that directory, not using the shortcut, should resolve the issue if that is the case -- right?  I have 2 directories and I tried the Fusion360 application and both displayed the same authentication error as the shortcut.

[James.Youmatz · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous,

The one with the latest date would be correct so if you tried that and it didn't work then this issue may be rooted in a corrupted update, which may have occurred due to a number of things. The easiest workaround in my opinion right now is to perform a clean uninstall of Fusion 360. A clean uninstall manually deletes all of the folders created by Fusion 360, that way upon reinstall you will have the newest version of Fusion 360. The steps to perform a clean uninstall can be found on the following link:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/fusion-360/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/How-to-do-a-clean-uninstall-of-Autodesk-Fusion-360.html

Please make sure to follow all of the steps. There might be some folders that do not exist that it tells you to delete, that is okay just delete the ones you can. Also, please note that any local files you have saved from Fusion 360 will be deleted to so make sure to backup any files that you still want! Then once those steps are done, restart your computer. This will kill any remaining Fusion 360 processes still running. Upon restart, please visit the link below to download Fusion 360. 

http://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/try-buy

Once you install Fusion 360 you will be prompted to log into your account which will change the entitlement from Trial to whatever your account actually is. This hopefully will take care of the issue and if not we can troubleshoot further. This luckily gives us a clean slate to start from to diagnose the issue further!

Thanks,

[Anonymous]

Not sure if that was the cause, but the clean install worked just as you said.  Thanks for the help!

R

[James.Youmatz]

Hi @Anonymous,

Not a problem! Enjoy Fusion!