TECH NOTE: How to Change AutoCAD 2012 from a Standalone to Network License
Just a quick post on another tip that I figured out while solving a client’s problem.
If you have AutoCAD 2012 configured for standalone licensing, but then later set up a license server, you don’t need to uninstall AutoCAD to then reinstall it with network licensing.
All you need to do is change one registry key and you’re set. In recent versions (maybe 2010 and up), AutoDesk has changed the registry values, so similar guides for AutoCAD 2009 and older are now outdated.
Run regedit and find the following key
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\AutoCADR18.x\ACAD-x:x\AdLM
"Type"=dword:00000019
Change the value of key called “Type” from 2 to 1. It doesn’t matter if you have decimal or hex selected, as in this range, 1 in hex is the same as 1 in decimal. This key tells AutoCAD which licensing type to use.
Close out of regedit and run AutoCAD 2012. It will ask you where your license server is, so just enter the hostname of your license server and you should be good to go. It asked me twice for the license server, so it could ask you twice as well. I didn’t have to specify the license server on subsequent program launches.
This also works in reverse. If you’ve left the office but forgot to check out a license to your laptop copy, you can set it to standalone (change from 1 to 2) and it will run for 30 days in the trial mode.
Couldn’t be easier, right?
