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?

[DeurlooBM]

Not sure if it is a coincidence or not, but after applying the work around to the Viewer Mode problem yesterday evening. This morning (so after I shut down and restarted the workstation) everything was messed up. I could not run various programs (Revit was still OK) and had to do a clean install of the entire workstation. So not sure what going on there, but I am waiting for a fix from Autodesk before I reinstall 2020.

[Anonymous]

I am also on AEC and my problems started after installing Fabrication 2020. And of course, it's affecting 2019.2 as well

[ed.palisoc]

I too am running into this, at a most unfortunate time.   It’s affecting all usage of revit regardless of version, and now it looks like I have to explain to a client why I’ll miss a deadline.   I did not anticipate that installing 2020 along side 2019 would result in both becoming unusable.  

[Anonymous]

Same here. I uninstall all of the 2020 stuff then reinstalled it and now 2020 works but 2019.2 still doesn't. Ans that still not good because I need the Fabrication extension to export MAJ files    

[Viveka_CD]

Hi Community!

Please proceed to contact support if the recommendations in this thread did not help resolve your issue.

A dedicated specialist will be in touch with you once you log a issue through the above link.

Also see:  see Manage Technical Support Options

Regards,

[dean]

Viveka, I appreciate your suggestion but do realize that the recommendations in this thread haven't "resolved" anything for anyone. At best it has kicked the can down the road since the only work around that "succeeds" just puts Revit into trial mode where the clock is ticking! Does Autodesk not realize that their 'solution' has simply put a ton of its paying users into Trial mode and not really fixed anything? Is there not a hot-fix coming out that will fix this issue?

[ed.palisoc]

There is a tone with the last official support response that feels like “try this, otherwise the issue is closed”    Given the absolute severity of an upgrade that not only doesn’t work but takes down established and stable instances of the previous installation, I find the official response far short of appropriate.   Every second is lost productivity and missed deadlines for someone that’s invested quite a bit of faith that a release is vetted enough to at least start up properly, if not at least to not torpedo an entire production environment.  

[Viveka_CD]

@dean 

A dedicated team is working on this fix and we should have an update soon.

Regards,

[huotger]

Dean,

At this point we have provided a temporary solution to allow you to use Revit 2020 while we finalize an update to Revit 2020 which will correct the unexpected Viewer Mode.  We know the temporary solution is not ideal, but it does allow Revit 2020 to run and we expect that the Update will be available soon via Autodesk Desktop Application and Autodesk Accounts portal. 

[huotger]

Ed,

Can you expand upon what has occurred to your Revit 2019?  Is there an error during startup? In what ways is it not functioning?

[huotger]

kjstrum,

Can you expand upon what has occurred to your Revit 2019?  Is there an error during startup? In what ways is it not functioning?

Report

[huotger]

kjstrum,

Can you expand upon what has occurred to your Revit 2019?  Is there an error during startup? In what ways is it not functioning?

[Viveka_CD]

@ed.palisoc 

Please bookmark this public URL for updates : https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/revit-products/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles...

Regards,

[RobDraw]

---

@ed.palisoc wrote:

someone that’s invested quite a bit of faith that a release is vetted enough to at least start up properly, if not at least to not torpedo an entire production environment.  

---

This is exactly why most people wait until any major issues of a new release have been addressed before installing. While this issue is more severe than most, it could have been avoided in a production environment. They also vet the software themselves before implementing it on a live project thus avoiding any lapse in production on live projects. 

[Anonymous]

It's stuck in Viewer mode. my problems started after installing Fabrication CAD MEP. Then both 2020and 2019.2 were in viewer mode. I deleted everything that said 2020 from Revit then reinstalled it. Now Revit 2020 works but 2019.2 is still in viewer mode. 

I wouldn't mind but I need the use of Fabrication Extention to export MAJ files for CAM Duct and also to make reports.

I'm not sure if that extension will work in Revit 2020. 

[ed.palisoc]

---

@RobDraw wrote:

---

@ed.palisoc wrote:

someone that’s invested quite a bit of faith that a release is vetted enough to at least start up properly, if not at least to not torpedo an entire production environment.  

---

This is exactly why most people wait until any major issues of a new release have been addressed before installing. While this issue is more severe than most, it could have been avoided in a production environment. They also vet the software themselves before implementing it on a live project thus avoiding any lapse in production on live projects. 

---

This was not a scenario where I replaced the stable production environment with the upgrade, nor used it on a project in production.  In all the years (decades actually) of using autodesk products, There was never an issue with installing a new version alongside the older one, so that it can indeed be evaluated while using the stable and mature older version.  In this case, the installation took out both, and that's not something that should find it's way past QA.   When I was at LARGE firms, there were resources to install it on a new and unused computer.  Now my own practice, that's more a luxury, but it's not unreasonable to allow the installations to co-exist.  I'm not sure why you assumed I threw a "live project" at it, as that wasn't even part of my original post.  I simply installed 2020 along side 2019, and that action killed 2019, throwing it also into view mode.

[RobDraw]

The part that confused me was that it took down production. I assumed that you would have had a contingency plan in case of a catastrophic event of daily production software and or hardware.

[ed.palisoc]

I have co-existing revit versions that coincide with projects that begin and must end in those versions for the sake of interoperability with S/MEP consultants. This is normal practice.   Every version up until now has installed and operated in a proper, sandboxed manner.  When I had to use 2017 because of a client request, and it too had issues, it didn't take out other things.  It is not unreasonable to expect 2020 to behave the same, as it is fully necessary for it to behave independently for the scenario I described up top.  I should not have to have a fully isolated and mirrored computer just because I want to install a program (though that's what backups are for).  Revit 2020 should not affect the licensing of another instance, and I took proper precautions.

[RobDraw]

---

@ed.palisoc wrote:

I have co-existing revit versions that coincide with projects that begin and must end in those versions for the sake of interoperability with S/MEP consultants. This is normal practice.   Every version up until now has installed and operated in a proper, sandboxed manner.  When I had to use 2017 because of a client request, and it too had issues, it didn't take out other things.  It is not unreasonable to expect 2020 to behave the same, as it is fully necessary for it to behave independently for the scenario I described up top.  I should not have to have a fully isolated and mirrored computer just because I want to install a program (though taht's what backups are for).  Revit 2020 should not affect the licensing of another instance, and I took proper precautions.

---

If you don't have a way to keep production going in case of any type of disaster, you're running a risk. That is what I'm saying is the reason for assuming you had a live project in 2020. That is all. I  incorrectly assumed that you had a means of keeping 2019 projects up and running. I'm not saying it's okay for such severe issues but these things happen, not usually from installing a program, but they do happen. There are many possible causes of catastrophes. I've seen Windows updates cause production issues with Autodesk products with no easy way way of rolling back said updates.

[huotger · Accepted solution]

Hello everyone,

We have released Revit and Revit LT 2020.0.1 Viewer Mode Hotfix via Autodesk Desktop Application and Autodesk Accounts.  At this time, please install the hotfix instead of the prior posted workaround.  The Revit and Revit LT 2020.0.1 Viewer Mode Hotfix will only resolve the issue where Revit and Revit LT 2020 sessions run in Viewer Mode unexpectedly, without displaying the Viewer Mode dialog to warn you that Revit functionality is restricted in this mode.

[otr.drafting.design]

Works like a champ now! I'm using Revit LT. Thanks everyone!