Activating Older Versions of Autodesk Products
Autodesk is changing its policy for older product versions. After August 31, 2019, Autodesk products from 2010 and earlier can no longer be activated. This concerns perpetual licenses…
Autodesk is changing its policy for older software versions.
After August 31, 2019, Autodesk products from 2010 and earlier will no longer be eligible for activation. This applies to perpetual licenses (maintenance plan), not subscription licenses.
In other words, if you still have a boxed copy of AutoCAD 2010 and decide to install it, do so before August 31. On September 1, it will effectively become a museum piece, fit only for the shelf where you found it.
But that is not all. After March 2021, versions from 2016 and earlier will also be ineligible for activation. One detail matters: Autodesk has announced that perpetual licenses can only be activated for supported versions (three versions behind the current one—at the time, 2020, 2019, 2018, and 2017). The three-version rule does not apply to every product.
See Eligible Previous Versions - Subscriptions for the full subscription list and Eligible Previous Versions - Maintenance Plans for perpetual licenses. The actual outcome would become clearer closer to March 2021.
According to Autodesk, the change is necessary because many activation code generators rely on outdated technologies, some no longer supported by their developers. Moving to a single activation method will allow Autodesk to retire unsupported generators and reduce associated risks.
For more information and a detailed FAQ, read Previous version support change (in English).
- Update
- A dedicated forum section, Previous Version Support, discusses questions about ending activation for older versions. Autodesk Senior Program Manager Felice Soorenko actively answers questions there.