BootCamp and AutoCad for students

Hello,

You can indeed run Autocad on your Mac,I do and here's what you need.You will first need to install Windows XP via Bootcamp.I stress XP because unless you are going to run Autocad 2008 earlier versions aren't supported in Vista ( If your daughters school is providing 2008,then go with Vista).
It's not at all difficult to do and you will have the advantage of running Windows for other apps that OS X doesn't support.

You can run AutoCAD on your mac with Boot Camp. But, in my experience (since the beta version of Boot Camp), the AutoCAD license breaks. I don't know why. I tried Googling the problem and there is a fix or patch for this kind of thing. But it was ineffective for me. So I am not able to run AutoCAD at all on my mac, using Boot Camp or Parallels.

For experienced users:
I want to try the Portable License Utility but am afraid that the source computer might lose its license. For example, if the original computer (Comp 1) has the license I want to transfer to Comp 2... if the license breaks on Comp 2, then the license will be invalid for Comp 1 forever. I might have to call Autodesk to activate it again.

In the end, I would not buy a mac for use of AutoCAD. I basically, myself, do not use AutoCAD at all because I only have macs in my household. I wish autodesk could make a mac version!

Yup,you have to purchase Leopard.I still have the DMG file for Bootcamp 1.3(with 1.4 being the final version prior to the Leopard version) but whenever i try to mount it, a message stating "This version has expired" will appear.

However, there is an ingenious way to circumvent the expired license by adjusting the date and time to some day before the expiry date. In this manner, you are able to fool Mac OS X.

I have yet to try it because my Windows partition is currently running well under Bootcamp 1.3 and there is a lot of data in iCal which i do not want to meddle with.

If you are interested in it for trial purposes regarding the usage of AutoCad,give me a reply.

I assume the Macbook Pro you have is pre-Leopard?......Not to state the obvious but if you purchased it recently or late last year it will have a Leopard Disk included.I myself bought a Pro in December and it had Tiger installed with a Leopard disk included and yes it has Bootcamp.

Hello,

Yes absolutely,Leopard will be pre-installed or it will include the disc.First find out from your daughter which AutoCad version will be used.
Only AutoCad 2008 is supported under Vista,so any earlier editions require XP to run,which incidentally has angered a great many persons including myself who use AutoCad for work.
So anyway even if you bought a new PC you would still have to get one that still offers XP or hunt for XP drivers and such to run XP and AutoCad.In this respect it is easier to use Bootcamp to install XP as it includes the drivers required for your Intel based MacBook Pro.
So first find out which AutoCad and if the Pro comes with Leopard pre-installed,it should actually as I can't imagine that brand new issues don't have it already.
I can run you through step by step getting the install done,it really is easy to do.Also regarding the Windows partition,if your daughter is computer savy and wants to read/write Windows files from the Mac side than use the default 32GB partition size as this is the largest that can be formatted as FAT 32 required for the read/write facility.NTFS partitions can only be read on the Mac side and if you don't need to 'write' to Windows files I would recommend NTFS as it's more secure,faster and you can choose a larger Windows Partition.I would recommend 40GB to make sure there's room for AutoCad files ect.

That is true, but one can read and write under Windows NTFS using MacDrive 7, which is available at www.mediafour.com.

Hello,

The directions in that link are outdated a bit.You no longer need to burn a disc for drivers as they are included in the leopard disk.
When you first open bootcamp (Click Finder then applications on the left pane.Under applications double click Utilities then under utilities double click Bootcamp Assistant)It advises to print the directions ( if she doesn't have a printer set-up set, ask a bud to print it for her)The directions are very straight forward and the Assistant guides you through each step from first choosing a partition size,choosing the correct partition to install Windows on,formatting the partition and finally installing the drivers from the leopard disk.
To keep things simple i would choose a 40GB partition and format it as NTFS (Again the Assistant shows how this is done)What I was trying to explain regarding Fat 32 vs NTFS is simply with both you can access your Windows files when your using Leopard, but you can only write to these files if the Windows partition is Fat 32.
Just think of the two operating systems as completely separate ( and indeed they are ) so that when using Windows and AutoCad, all of the associated files and data are stored and managed by Windows.
Did you find out which AutoCad version ?

Personally, I would go NTFS, and I would add MacDrive 7. This will enable you to read and write to your Mac OS. To write from your Mac OS onto your Windows, consider the following software.

http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/

You cannot load Vista onto a Fat 32. Keeping it as NTFS will make it easier to upgrade later.


For MacDrive 7:
http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive/bootcamp/

Follow these Boot Camp instructions:

http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/

Message was edited by: LukeD

Nobody's listening to me!
Just wait...
The AutoCAD license will break. I tried it again on another mac today and when I rebooted, the license broke.

I'm running Autocad 2007 on Windows XP via Bootcamp without problems.You must be trying to use it with Vista for which it is not compatible.