Recently purchased new laptop with windows 7 professional (64 bit). I was told that i'd be able to run all my existing windows xp software but when I tried to install autocad a message popped up saying cannot run on this operating system. I tried installing in the compatability mode but same message popped up. The autocad disk is a copy (i.e. not legitimate), but worked on my xp. Can't afford to buy a genuine copy to use on my personal laptop. Does anyone know if copied software will run on windows 7? Thanks

It shouldn't matter if the software is legal or not.

Which version of Autocad are you trying to use? If it's reasonably old, you may find that it's just not compatible with Windows 7

it's 2009 version but not sure if it's 32 bit or 64 bit (not sure if that would make a difference to installing it anyway)

Chances are that it's an old version and W7 compatibilty was released in a patch. But with a hooky copy your patching options are probably limited. Could be that you need the x64 version instead, of course.

Do you -need- Autocad? Anything here fit the bill legitimately?

http://www.rorise.com/design/2d-3d-cad-software/

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?linkID=9240617&id=14056350&siteID=123112

"Autodesk does not officially support 2009 and older versions of AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT on Windows 7."

thanks Cougar, that would make sense as to why I cant run 2009 on my windows 7. Looks like i'll have to splash out £4 on another dodgy copy. I have to have autocad as that what they use in work and all my existing work is produced in autocad. cheers for your help

Surely if you need it for work, they should be providing you with a copy?

i've got a legal copy on my work computer but it's handy to have it on my laptop and I use it for some private jobs

Can you use windows XP mode? http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx

Might help, not sure how well it works as I don't have the required hardware to use it.

haven't tried that yet but was intending to give it a go tonight

Have you got an XP install disc? You could always install VirtualPC or similar, then install XP as a VM to run AutoCAD on.

yeah i've got copy of xp, and I was going to try that tonight

Install XP as a virtual machine and run it in that. You wont get the benefits of 64bit stuff but will be a load faster than on your XP laptop.

Why wont i get the benefits of 64 bit if my xp and software is 64 bit?

I've got Autocad 2006 running on windows7 32bit using compatibility mode (xp I think).

It told me its not compatible and some components might not function correctly but I've not found any problems yet.

Are you sure the problem isn't with it being 64bit?

i think it is 64 bit copy ot autocad but could be wrong. will check tonight but thought it was possible to tun 32 bit stuff on 64 bit but not vice versa, albeit with loss of performance associated with 64 bit

As above, XP Mode is your solution

I had a similar problem with Win7 x64 using a certain brand of VPN software

will try tonight. is it easy to install?