virtualbox.org

FWIW, I did a little searching regarding this issue and it seems AutoCAD 2004 will only run in XP mode in Windows 7 Pro or Ultimate.

From a Microsoft post in 2009…

Officially, AutoCAD 2004 and 2005 is not compatible with Windows Vista or Windows 7.

If you do get it running it may be unstable. You can try to run in Compatibility mode of Windows XP operating system.

The Post

I have also tried setting it to the various available XP compatibility modes and it still won't execute sadly.

As mentioned in my original post, the only thing that I have found that might work is here:

http://www.longbowsoftware.com/Tips_and ... and_64_bit

But the software it says you need costs a minimum of $80 and I have no guarantee it will work. But it might be my only solution.

I don't have a copy of XP any more, else I would have set up a VM with that (although the PC that is now failing me had Windows 7 Home anyways).

This link might be my only solution.

I can't vouch for Acad v2004 but I do run AutoCAD 2007 - present (yes, all of them) in 2x Windows 7 Pro VMs, one x86 & the other x64. They all run fine in vBox 5.0.12. They were fine in older versions too. Why? .NET code testing. How did I get the licensing? I have an Autodesk Developer Network account (like MSDN for AutoCAD).

If you (as in anyone who sees this) are going to do this, install them in release order. Ditto for Visual Studio if you add that to the mix - I didn't, I use remote debugging.

For the time and money you're wasting trying to make v2004 work, you may be better off leasing LT or the full version - it is monthly these days, similar to Adobe's model. You may even be better off buying an old computer to run it on.

Lisp add-ons should work in later versions. ObjectARX add-ons definitely won't. .NET add-ons didn't exist then.

There was specific reason I wanted to use v2004. Because of another application that worked in the 2004 environment. I can't afford to upgrade both packages to the latest versions you see. If push comes to shove, I will purchase an old computer.

But thanks for your comments.