Archicad 17 Install and Startup Troubleshooting Guide

ac17-box

Before Installation

Strongly recommended to check before installation:

1. Return all borrowed licenses before installing Archicad 17

  • Archicad 17 installer removes the previous CodeMeter driver along with information on the borrowed licenses.
  • Not doing so will cause these licenses to be lost for the borrowing period.

2. Disable your Antivirus solution for the period of the installation

  • The current Antivirus software are really effective, in many cases they even block files that are not infected - this may cause problems during the installation (for extra safety you can scan the GRAPHISOFT installer before the installation; all GRAPHISOFT provided packages go through virus checking during the Quality Control process).
  • Disconnect all of your network connections (both connection via cable and wifi) - to avoid accidental infection, disable your Antivirus solution then install Archicad and turn back your Antivirus protection before going online again.
  • Affected Antivirus solutions that have been reported by Archicad users:

3. Disconnect your locally inserted protection key for the period of the installation

  • The protection key driver may be updated during the installation.
  • To avoid any driver related error, disconnect your protection key before running the installer.

Also suggested:

4. Check the official System Requirements to make sure your computer is capable of running Archicad 17

5. Install all operating system updates prior installing Archicad

  • On Mac: Apple button on menu bar, Software update
  • On Windows: Start menu, Windows update

6. Make sure the current user has administrative rights

  • The installation requires administrative rights, privileges.
  • Use an administrator account for the installation of Archicad and its components.

Before Running Archicad 17

1. Make sure that you load the newly purchased or updated license to your license key before running Archicad 17

2. Do not forget to update the protection key driver on your license server

  • If your CodeMeter or Wibu server is a computer that does not run Archicad make sure you update the driver on that computer as well. To check it, please visit the https://upgrade.graphisoft.com/ site. Before installing the latest driver make sure that all licenses have been returned.
  • You can find the installer on the Archicad 17 install disk or it is available for download on GRAPHISOFT's website.

Troubleshooting, known issues

Archicad 17 shows warning message on startup: „Cannot create temporary documents.”

  • Issue: Starting Archicad 17 on Windows Operating System gives a warning message: Cannot create temporary documents.” – Previous Archicad versions are also affected with this issue.

warning

  • Cause: archicad.temp can’t be created because:
    a) The AutoSave folder is full (it can contain maximum 50 folders);
    b) The user doesn’t have the rights to write and read the AutoSave folder.
  • Solution:
    a) Delete the contents of the AutoSave folder;
    b) Check and change the permissions of the current user.

Installing Archicad 17 after Archicad 19 on a new computer requires Java downgrade

  • Issue: With the Java 8 the installer of Archicad 17 will not start if an Archicad 19 has been installed earlier on a new computer
  • Solution: The Java 8 have to be removed from the computer (Java for Archicad). With the Java 8 uninstalled, the Archicad 17 installer will automatically install the required Java version (7u21 on Mac OS X or the 7u13 on Windows) prior the installation.

The CodeMeter driver bundled with Archicad 16-18 cannot be installed on OS X 10.10.3

  • Issue: The CodeMeter driver included in Archicad installers can't be installed. The installer recognizes 10.3 string from 10.10.3 as and older version of OS X, which is not compatible with the driver. The error message below is displayed when trying to install the driver:

CM driver install error

  • Solution: As a solution install the newest CodeMeter driver, which can be downloaded and installed manually from our Protection Key Driver Downloads page

JPG display incompatibility with OSx Mavericks

  • Issue: Opening JPG-s in Archicad 17 after a freshly installed OSX Mavericks, all JPG images show as black squares. Tiff-s and PNG-s are correct.
  •  This issue is planned to be fixed in the regular hotfix following hotfix 6004.

"MSVCP100.dll not found" error message, Windows only

  • Issue: During the install process, an error message pops up, saying: "MSVCP100.dll not found".  The install appears to continue, but upon opening a "0xc000007b" error appears and the program is forced to close.
  • Solution: Go to Computer/C:/Windows/System32 and delete the msvcp100.dll and msvcr100.dll files, then uninstall Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 x64 Redistributable program (downloadable from this link) and reinstall it.

Screen Shot 2014-06-17 at 14.10.30

Screen Shot 2014-06-17 at 14.10.43

The installer appears "non responsive"

  • Issue1: Upgrading to Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks the installer may appear non-responding in Activity Monitor.
  • Solution: Please be patient, the installation will proceed correctly. GRAPHISOFT will update the installer of upcoming versions to avoid this delay.
  • Issue2: Upgrading to Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite the installer may appear non-responding in Activity Monitor.
  • Solution: Archicad 17 can only be installed using Java 7 on Yosemite. If there is no Java 7 installed on your computer, Java8 has to be downgraded to Java 7 and then the installation will proceed without an error!

"jack.dll is missing" error message

  •  Issue: Norton 360 (Antivirus software) prompts the user stating that the jack.dll is not safe. When Archicad 17 is launched, Archicad.exe prompts the following error message "The program can't start because JACK.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem."

Screen Shot 2014-06-17 at 13.22.11

  • Solution: As mentioned in the general troubleshooting, please disconnect all of the network connections, disable the anti-virus software, then reinstall Archicad and fix it with the latest hotfix. Subsequently enable the anti-virus software again.

The install process is halted

Screen Shot 2014-06-18 at 11.27.55

  • Issue:  After extracting the install file, the process stops. The Java version is probably incompatible.
  • Solution: Remove Java from the Start Menu -> Control Panel -> Programs and features. If the uninstall is unsuccessful, Java might be corrupted, and a Cleanup Utility might have to be used. Following the uninstall, let the Archicad installer Install the proper version of Java 7.  You can also install Java manually before installing AC17, from here, but it is recommended to let the AC installer do the work.

More about Java compatibility: Install/Java

Archicad 17 cannot be installed on this platform

Screen Shot 2014-06-18 at 11.27.55

  • Issue:  The same phenomenon comes as in the previous issue: After starting the installer from the DVD multimedia panel with clicking on the Install GRAPHISOFT Archicad 17 an error comes:
    "AC17 cannot be installed on this platform"
    Although the platform suits the requirements.
  • Solution: Starting the Setup.exe from the Archicad 17 folder from the file menu will work the problem around.

"The specified directory is an AchiCAD directory. Please select a different directory, which is not an AchiCAD directory" error message

Screen Shot 2014-06-18 at 10.55.33

  • Issue: The above message usually appears after upgrading an OS X version. The Disk permissions might need repair in such a case.
  • Solution: Proceed to Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility -» select the System Drive and click on "Repair Disk Permissions".  Most probably there is an Archicad folder at one of the related directories under the Applications folder which doesn't allow the installer to create a new directory with the same name. (The installer searches not only in the specified folder but in all of its parents. Check if any of these locations contain An Archicad folder already: -/Applications/Graphisoft/Archicad -/Applications/Graphisoft -/Applications.  To work around the issue try searching the Archicad that is interfering with the install, delete it and attempt the install again.

Errors occurred during installation

Screen Shot 2014-06-18 at 11.06.44

  • Issue: the installer can't certain files necessary for the installation.
  • Solution:
    • Run the installer again in repair mode. Give full permission for the installed AC folder and subsequently run the Hotfix again.
    • Move the current installed folder to another location (for example to a data Drive). Install Archicad again from the DVD to Applications/GRAPHISOFT (the installer will say that it couldn't find the installed Archicad instance but it will be possible to proceed with the new install). Run the Hotfix on the newly installed AC instance. If this process is successful, the original instance is obsolete and can be erased.

How to Report Installation Problems

In case this guide does not offer solution for the problem you experienced you may contact your local GRAPHISOFT partner for technical support. Prepare the following diagnostic information to speed up the troubleshooting process:

  • The version of the operating system you have
  • The Archicad installation log from the installation target folder: log.txt (if it exists)
  • Detailed description about the state where the installation stopped or the problem appeared