Express Tools (Acad 2009)

[jholley7390]

I have searched many forums and see this topic has been beat to death but have yet to find a solution.

 

Recently switched to Acad 2009 Via autodesk inventor suite 2009..... This comes with ACADM and vanilla. Post installation my express tools did not load (vanilla acad) I checked support path and found the cui there. Manually loaded the express menu and the menu loads but the commands are not recognized. For every express menu command I tried I got unknown command in return. DEMANDLOAD is set to 3. Have re-installed twice with no success.

 

What am I missing?

[Murph_map]

When you installed did you check the box to install the Express tools? IIRC that was an option in 2009 and the default was not to install them.

[jholley7390]

The installer told me he checked all options...... While searching other forums I have learned that in 2009 it is possible the express tools don't show as an option but they are there and you have to copy them out.....However as I stated above after the install the cui file was located in my support directory. So the file is there it is just not working properly

[SLW210]

2009 had a few bugs, are all service packs and updates installed?

[jholley7390]

I have NOT gone to autodesk for any recent updates or service packs, this time, however I did install one update on my previous install with no success.

[RobDraw]

If ACAD is not recognizing the commands, they weren't installed. Loading them does not fix that. I believe they can still be installed separately.

[ReMark]

What OS are you running? Is it 32-bit or 64-bit?

[jholley7390]

64-bit OS, went back and got the disk myself. No install option for express tools however I did find the acetmain.cui file and copied it directly to support directory. Again no success. Menu loads, commands are there but not recognized....Extremely frustrating Acad is getting almost as bad as windows when they upgrade, ugh

[RobDraw]

The blame goes to whoever did the install because they missed the express tools.

[ReMark]

I am assuming that 2009 is 32-bit however. Is that not the case?

 

I believe it is the support path that is not correct.

[RobDraw]

I may have to retract my comment. I think ReMark is on to something.

[ReMark]

You cannot just copy the necessary files to what you think is the Support folder. On 64-bit systems the path to the correct Support folder is buried pretty far down (something like 9 folders). Similar to this for AutoCAD 2007 (32-bit) installed on a Win7 64-bit system:

 

"C:\\Users\\ReMark\\AppData\\Roaming\\Autodesk\\AutoCAD 2007\\R17.0\\enu\\support\\ACETMAIN.CUI"

Edited May 23, 2013 by ReMark

[Murph_map]

Go to the control panel> Programs and features, click on you AutoCAD ACADM, click on the change button, add or remove features. Look for express tools in the feature section. Make sure it's checked.

 

[RobDraw]

Good one Murph. Adding that one to my bag of tricks.

[jholley7390]

@ Remark, yes I am aware of this as stated previously I am on a 64 bit system and I stated support directory to simplify. I have been a cad guy for over 18 years, so not my first rodeo. I am however very frustrated with this version of 2009. @ Murph_map, I had tried this after install and no express tool s options were available ALL options were checked during install. As mentioned there was not an express tools option, however the cui file is on the cd

[ReMark]

Then what you need to do is INSTALL Express Tools off of your original installation disk via the Add/Remove Programs feature of Windows. Do this after shutting down AutoCAD.

[jholley7390]

@ ReMark, yes tried this as well and no express tools option.....Have tried contacting autodesk about this as well without much success....Have been waiting on a call from the support team we bought our product thru for awhile. As stated this is very frustrating went back thru the installation CD yesterday and NO express tools option, tried the add/remove feature from windows for modify/repair and no express tools option..... But when I search the CD I find the acetmain.cui file. I did go to Autodesk today and downloaded all service packs for my version, is just a shot in the dark but am going to try the add/remove windows feature again since these downloads.

[ReMark]

The service packs aren't going to have what you are looking for.

 

Just for the sake of clarity what CD or DVD are you using? Is it for generic AutoCAD 2009?

[ReMark]

When you do a "Custom" not "Typical" install Express Tools is on the list of options. Screenshot is from plain old AutoCAD 2009 installation.

 

Here is what you see if you choose a "Typical" install.

 

 

Either way the option to install Express Tools is available to you.

[jholley7390]

Problem FIXED...... To help the next guy. Install option was NEVER available. As stated by ReMark you cannot just copy the CUI file, I did however locate the EXPRESS folder on the DVD. This was then copied to C:\Program Files\Autodesk\ACADM 2009. For me this was the solution everything is working now. Thanks to everyone for there input.

 

Jeff