Revit 2020 in Viewer Mode ?

[DeurlooBM]

I was asked by the Twitter support team to post it here, so here goes.

I downloaded and installed Revit 2020 today and as every year I am excited to see the new stuff. But the first ting I noticed is that I can not save a project or a family and Revit pops up with a message telling me I'm in Viewer Mode (see attached image). I already tried logging out and back in again and of course rebooted my workstation as well.

Any idea what going on?

[karldraw]

Good Morning All,

I just started Revit LT 2020 ( I have 11 days left on a monthly sub ) and it saved files like a champ. I wanted to make sure I was not dreaming, it was late or early depending on how you look at 2am.  Revit 2020 not so good this morning. I run my machine in High Performance energy mode, never sleep and monitor off after 3 hours. I have not tried the hotfix as I just did a clean install and do not want to bung things up with hopeful fixes, at least at this time. I am confident Autodesk Revit Devs are having one of those days ( did they even sleep? ) and will produce the fix as soon as they can, sooner if possible, just like my clients want.  Good luck and good hunting.

[Tony_Michniewicz]

We are actively investigating this issue but have not been able to reproduce it yet.  If those impacted by this issue can provide answers to the following questions, it should help our troubleshooting efforts:

• How was Revit (or Revit LT) installed? Did you run the installation from the Autodesk Desktop App, the Autodesk Accounts Portal, or from the trial download? If you used the Autodesk Accounts Portal or the trial download, did you elect the Install Now, Download Now, or Browser Download option.
• Are other Autodesk product installed? If so, which products and which versions?
• When you launched Revit 2020 for the first time, did you see the Let's Get Started dialog and select the Single User option? After this, can we confirm that the Sign In dialog was displayed as expected.

Karl
Is it accurate that you are using the same Autodesk account to sign into both Revit and Revit LT?

[jimJB8UC]

I installed it through the Autodesk Desktop App.  The first time I opened Revit 2020, I also had AutoCAD 2020 opened concurrently and it signed me out of AutoCAD.  I had to sign back in or risk losing work.

But even  after closing all other programs and restarting and opening only Revit 2020, I was only able to open in viewer mode.  I say viewer mode, but you don't know you're in it until you go to save.  There is no "V' in the icon, and "view mode" is not displayed at the top of the Revit window as it usually is when in Viewer Mode.

EDIT ADD:

Installed programs:

• Recap 2020
• AutoCAD MEP 2020
• Revit 2018,19,20

I don't remember seeing the dialogue box to sign in after installation.

[dean]

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@Tony_Michniewicz wrote:

We are actively investigating this issue but have not been able to reproduce it yet.  If those impacted by this issue can provide answers to the following questions, it should help our troubleshooting efforts:

• How was Revit (or Revit LT) installed? Did you run the installation from the Autodesk Desktop App, the Autodesk Accounts Portal, or from the trial download? If you used the Autodesk Accounts Portal or the trial download, did you elect the Install Now, Download Now, or Browser Download option.
• Are other Autodesk product installed? If so, which products and which versions?
• When you launched Revit 2020 for the first time, did you see the Let's Get Started dialog and select the Single User option? After this, can we confirm that the Sign In dialog was displayed as expected.

Karl
Is it accurate that you are using the same Autodesk account to sign into both Revit and Revit LT?

---

Tony,

Answers to your questions below:

• I installed it using the Autodesk Download Manager
• I used the Download Now (obviously since I used the Download Manager)
• I have Revit 2018, 2019, 2020 installed. I also have AutoCad LT 2019 installed 
• Yes, when I launched Revit 2020 for the first time I selected the 'Single User' option.

Hope that helps

[karldraw]

Yes same account.

I have installed Revit 2020 from the website and the app on my desktop and laptop, both having the same result.

Revit LT I installed only from the app and have launched from the app and the desktop on both machines and it seems to be working fine.

I use the install now, then choose "save" and then run, using Chrome and I think I tried Edge, but no browser download.

other versions, Laptop yes, Revit 2019, AutoCAD LT 2020 and AutoCAD LT 2019

Desktop was the same, then uninstalled 2019 versions using the AutoDesk tool, then wiped SSD, reinstalled OS and Revit 2020 with viewer mode result.

Installed Revit LT 2020 from the App and LT is working.

after launching no lets get started screen, just the sign in and activation screens, code was sent to my phone, entered and activated.

I did try signing out from within Revit and was told I would need to sign back in when Revit was launched, which it did and I did, but with viewer mode result.

[dean]

Okay, just for the heck of it I tried uninstalling just the Autodesk Revit Model Review 2020 using the Autodesk uninstall app. It said I uninstalled it and when I checked in my Windows 10 uninstall program menu it was gone (the uninstall app did say something to the effect that this might cause Revit to not function properly but since Revit 2020 doesn't function I don't have anything to lose).

But when I go to my 'Start' and then 'Autodesk'  Revit Viewer 2020 is still there and starts up the Revit in viewer mode. Isn't the Autodesk Revit Model Review 2020 program in the uninstall app the same as the 'Revit Viewer 2020' program I see in my start menu? And if so, why can't it be uninstalled?

[DeurlooBM]

• Used my Autodesk account portal and selected the Browser Download option and installed from the 7 downloaded files (as I always do).
• Have Revit 2018 and 2019 and AutoCAD LT 2020 also installed .
• No sure to be honest, but I think I saw the Let's Get Started dialog and had the Sign On dialog appear, but not a 100% sure as that is something I usually go trough pretty quick 🙂
• And I also use the same account for Revit and AutoCAD LT

And as a side note, I did a clean Windows 10 install just this weekend, so about 4 days before I installed Revit 2020

[DeurlooBM]

No Dean, those are different programs.

[dean]

Oh, and I should also add that on two occasions (and only two occasions, (I've tried opening the program many time)) a message flashes across the top of my revit screen saying "it appears you have no internet connection". Since I am writing this to you using the internet and my other Revit versions work just fine I definitely have internet access and the message must be some type of error. And the message only popped up twice in all the times I've started up Revit 2020......... 

[KKProssick]

Having the same issue.

• How was Revit (or Revit LT) installed? Did you run the installation from the Autodesk Desktop App, the Autodesk Accounts Portal, or from the trial download? If you used the Autodesk Accounts Portal or the trial download, did you elect the Install Now, Download Now, or Browser Download option.
  • Just installed REVIT 2020 first from the Desktop APP and then uninstalled and then downloaded and installed from Portal. 
• Are other Autodesk product installed? If so, which products and which versions?
  • YES, Revit 2019 (still works), AutoCAD MEP 2020, AutoCAD 2019, 3DSTUDIO 2019. (all those work)
  • I have an AEC Collection Subscription
• When you launched Revit 2020 for the first time, did you see the Let's Get Started dialog and select the Single User option? After this, can we confirm that the Sign In dialog was displayed as expected.
  • NO, it just started right on up, logged into my account, and in the manage license it shows my valid license. Also, it DOES NOT show ' VIEWER MODE ' in the top bar.

When I select SAVE AS, I get this:

[spencerGW9SJ]

I have the exact same issue. KKProssick description is almost identical to what I am experiencing.  Hopefully, there is a quick fix.

[Anonymous]

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@Tony_Michniewicz wrote:

For those of you that have encountered this issue, do you have a subscription to Revit, AEC Collection, or a design suite?

Also, if others can share their journals from sessions that end up in viewer mode, it will help determine if the underlying problem is the same for everyone.

---

Both of my subscriptions don't show 2020 yet.  One is a standard Revit and the other is a BDS Premium and both are standalone licensing. 😕  

Guess all I get to do is sit back with the popcorn and watch everyone have issues.

[design]

I have the exact same problem. I can't save due to Viewer Mode. I have Autocad Architecture 2013, Revit 2019,  and now 2020. I have a subscription for Revit. I installed through the web portal and downloaded the installer first. I never got the L:et's get Started dialog box or had to log in either, possibly because I had Revit 2019 opened at the same time as well. Hopefully they get this fixed soon.

[Tony_Michniewicz · Accepted solution]

Thanks to everyone that has provided feedback and I apologize for this inconvenience.  The good news is that we have identified the underlying cause of this problem and are taking steps to release a fix.  The timeline for this fix is currently unknown so I wanted to post a workaround that should allow you to use Revit or Revit LT in the mean time.

1. Open a Command Prompt and navigate to the following directory: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Autodesk Shared\AdskLicensing\Current\helper
2. For Revit, run the following command: AdskLicensingInstHelper.exe change -pk 829L1 -pv 2020.0.0.F -lm ""
   For Revit LT, run the following command: AdskLicensingInstHelper.exe change -pk 828L1 -pv 2020.0.0.F -lm ""
3. Launch Revit and in the Let's Get Started dialog, click the "enter a serial number" link located below the Single-user and Multi-user buttons.
4. When the Autodesk Privacy Statement dialog is displayed, click I Agree.
5. When the Product License Activation dialog is displayed, click Run.

Steps 1 and 2 reset the Revit licensing method to none, which results in the Let's Get Started dialog being displayed the next time Revit is launched. Steps 3 through 5 put the user into a 30 day trial and Revit will no longer run in viewer mode.

[dean]

Thanks Tony, that seems to have gotten rid of the Viewer Mode. Quick question: If I go to manage license it gives me an option to Activate License  (see attached), which is kind of odd on a subscription based revit license. Should I hit 'Activate' or just wait for the hotfix?

[Tony_Michniewicz · Accepted solution]

I recommend waiting for the official fix.  The workaround I provided uses the old serial number licensing option and this is why the activate option is exposed.  If you go down the activate path, you would be prompted for a serial number and even if you have a valid serial number that can be activated, you would still be prompted to sign-in and probably end up in viewer mode again.

[KKProssick]

This works for now, I can log in, but it stays as UNREGISTERED.

When I close and re-open, I have to select run again. 

Please keep us updated as to when the fix will come. 

Thank you

[DeurlooBM]

Thanx Tony, that seems to work !

[BURTTAGGART1793]

Thanks Tony but this isn't working for me. I'm guessing it has something to do with the fact I'm running Revit via Parallels. Any idea what the workaround would be with that equation?

[raumpunktmp]

hotfix does not work.