Complete uninstall of Autocad prior to reinstallation

[david195]

I have a stand alone installation of Autocad 2018 which became unstable.  I followed the Clean Uninstall procedure:

https://www.autodesk.com/support/technical/article/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Clean-uninstall.ht...

When I then tried to reinstall the program, I accepted the terms, the program then checks for installation requirements and tells me that Autocad 2018 is still installed.  The install button is greyed out.  I then used IObit uninstaller, followed by deleting every file and folder related to Autocad that I could find with the Everything software and finally used the Microsoft install/uninstall troubleshooter.  After each of these, I checked but the install button remained greyed out.  Any thoughts on how I can get the program up and running again?

[TheCADnoob]

What kind of hard drive do you have? Do you have an HDD or an SSD?

[david195]

The drive is an HDD and the machine is running Windows 7

[paullimapa]

Have you tried signing into Windows with a different user that also has local admin privileges to install software?  I’m also surprised the installation would not allow you to proceed regardless if you have another previous AutoCAD versions installed. I’ve installed different versions of AutoCAD side by side without any problems. Do you have another computer to try the installation on?

[david195]

I have not tried setting up another user on the computer. I am the only
one using this computer. I could set up a second account but it would
be a bit of a pain having to switch between the two multiple times
during the day. Or, if the install worked, I guess I could switch
everything over to the new account and delete the old. Just as a note,
this was the only version of Autocad on the computer. On other
computers, I have had multiple versions of ACAD (2010 then 2014 I think)
with no issues.

[paullimapa]

Could be corruption with the windows os

You could also just enable the default Administrator account that all Windows OS come installed with and sign on using that.
https://www.microcenter.com/tech_center/article/6969/how-to-enable-or-disable-the-administrator-acco...
The key is to get a successful install then you can sign back on using your original account to run AutoCAD 

[david195]

Thanks Guys. I will try installing to a new windows user and see if
that solves the issue. I will let you know. It does still bother me
that, even after quite a bit of detailed effort on my part in fixing
registries etc, there is still something residual that is keeping ACAD
from allowing itself to be installed.

[TheCADnoob]

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@david195 wrote:

The drive is an HDD and the machine is running Windows 7

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Run Scandisk and Check disc and see if you are having problems with the drive. 

[paullimapa]

You may not want to hear this but windows 7 OS is really old you should at least upgrade to 10. Also since you’re still using HDD that should be upgraded to SDD which will speed things up as well 

[david195]

Again thanks for helping.  I have run scan and check disk and HDD is fine so that is not the issue.  My guess is some really deeply hidden Registry item of bit of a file  that doesn't have autocad/desk in its name.  And to Paul, yes this machine is pretty old and I do have a Win 11 machine for a different use.  On the other hand, this machine still runs well at 10 years old AND my feeling is that current malware doesn't bother with older OS so that might even be a plus. The other bright side of the old machine is that the money saved has gone directly into my twin habits of sail boat racing and drinking good bourbon.

[david195]

Well, I made another administrative account and tried to install Acad 2018 from there.  Same issues.  I seem to have a partial installation in the windows PROGRAMS folder under Autodesk.  If I try to start the program from the ACAD.exe file in that folder, it gave me an error message that acadres.dll could not be found.  I then copied that file from the original ACAD setup files to the main acad folder in the PROGRAMS folders.  Started up acad.exe again and the error message says that many files are missing and that I should reinstall.  Note that the ACAD program itself is not shown in the list of programs in the windows control panel but the auxiliary programs like RECAP are shown.  Also if I use the ACAD uninstaller it only shows the auxiliary programs. 

[paullimapa]

I think it’s time to call it quits on this old computer 

[david195]

HI All,

This string of questions and answers has just been moved to this forum from the general Acad forum.  I am still looking for any help you might provide.

[david195]

One more question.  Is there something in the setup.ini file that I could modify that would bypass the check on whether the ACAD core is already installed???

[TheCADnoob]

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@david195 wrote:

... On the other hand, this machine still runs well at 10 years old AND my feeling is that current malware doesn't bother with older OS so that might even be a plus. ...

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Id press that the existence of this thread indicates that its not running well in regards to doing what you need. 

I'd also caution against your reliance on aging out of malware. There are several valuable systems running on old OSs and they spend a lot of time and money figuring out how to keep those systems safe. 

Have you looked into the possibility of a restore point? Is there any chance you have a restore point that was set prior to the original AutoCAD install?

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/how-to-restore-a-windows-7-based-computer-to-a-previous-wi...

[david195]

Unfortunately I do not have a restore point to go back to and the backup I
have is also not old enough

[Simon_Weel]

Most likely registry items. Search the registry for things like acad and autocad and delete those keys. Another thing to look for are msi files containing acad or autodesk - delete them as well. That is - if you don't have any other Autodesk software installed.

[david195]

Thanks Simon.  I just tried your suggestions.  There were no .msi
files.  I carefully went through all parts of the registry and there
were a ton of ACAD/Autodesk items that I deleted but ACAD install still
thinks the program is already there.  Is there some way I could alter
the setup exe or ini files to bypass the step where the installer checks
to see what is already installed???

[TheCADnoob]

did you have any object enablers installed? or any other autodesk software installed?

[Simon_Weel]

What if you hunt the registry for c:\Program Files\Autodesk - does that turn up anything?