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Windows Cannot Find acad.exe

When I run the Design Master Electrical installer, or when I try to open an AutoCAD drawing, I get an error that it can't find acad.exe.

The error may be similar to this:

Error

Windows cannot find 'C:\Program Files. . .\acad.exe'. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again.

Cause

During installation, there is a ☐ Load menus in AutoCAD box that is checked by default.

If that box is checked, when the installer completes, it will try to open install.dwg using your Windows default program for opening DWG files.

If you get the error message above, it means your Windows default program for opening DWG files no longer exists on your machine. This can happen when users update their AutoCAD version and uninstall older versions.

Solution

To stop getting this error, change your Windows default program for opening DWG files.

Visit the Change default programs in Windows article in the Microsoft Support knowledge base for more information.