Installation for administrators

Create deployments of AutoCAD for Mac (2021 and later)

You can create custom deployments of 2021 and later releases of AutoCAD for Mac and AutoCAD LT for Mac. (Deployment support isn't provided for 2020 and earlier releases of those products.) Follow these steps and examples to install and activate AutoCAD, install updates and hotfixes, and deploy standard configuration files.

 

Install AutoCAD

  1. Copy the AutoCAD for Mac or AutoCAD LT for Mac .dmg installer file to client machines.
  2. Run Terminal scripts to mount the .dmg disk and install AutoCAD. Here's a sample script for installing AutoCAD 2023:
// Mount dmg disk
hdiutil attach -nobrowse ~/Downloads/Autodesk_AutoCAD_2023_macOS.dmg
 
// Install AutoCAD 2023
sudo /Volumes/Installer/Install\ Autodesk\ AutoCAD\ 2023\ for\ Mac.app/Contents/Helper/Setup.app/Contents/MacOS/Setup --silent

 

Activate AutoCAD

Use the AdskLicensingInstHelper, which is installed with AutoCAD, to activate AutoCAD. To learn more about AdskLicensingInstHelper, see the Autodesk Licensing Installer Helper tool guide. Here are some examples:

// Activate AutoCAD 2023 with single type network license server
/Library/Application\ Support/Autodesk/AdskLicensing/Current/helper/AdskLicensingInstHelper change --prod_key 777O1 --prod_ver 2023.0.0.F --lic_method NETWORK --lic_server_type SINGLE --lic_servers <server_name>

// Activate AutoCAD 2023 with USER license(requires sign-in to activate)
/Library/Application\ Support/Autodesk/AdskLicensing/Current/helper/AdskLicensingInstHelper change --prod_key 777O1 --prod_ver 2023.0.0.F --lic_method USER

// Check AdskLicensingInstHelper help 
/Library/Application\ Support/Autodesk/AdskLicensing/Current/helper/AdskLicensingInstHelper --help

Note: You can look up the product keys for different releases of AutoCAD for Mac and AutoCAD LT for Mac.

 

Install an update or hotfix (2022 and later AutoCAD releases)

You can use a script to install an AutoCAD update or hotfix. Here's an example:

// Mount dmg disk 
hdiutil attach -nobrowse ~/Downloads/AutoCAD_Mac_2023.0.1_Hotfix_Combo.dmg

// Install AutoCAD 2023.0.1 hotfix 
sudo installer -pkg /Volumes/T054.M.013.acad.mac.x64.comboupdate/AutoCAD_Mac_2023.0.1_Hotfix_Combo.pkg -target /

 

Deploy standard configuration files (2023 and later AutoCAD releases)

You can deploy standard configuration files with the AdMigrator tool.

// First, set up the standard configurations on an installed AutoCAD. Then export the configurations with this script:
/Applications/Autodesk/AutoCAD\ 2023/AutoCAD\ 2023.app/Contents/Helpers/AdMigrator.app/Contents/MacOS/AdMigrator -e -d ~/Documents/config.tar

//Copy the config.tar to client machines. Then import .dwt templates, plot styles, shx fonts and hkcu.plist from the config.tar to AutoCAD on the client machines:
/Applications/Autodesk/AutoCAD\ 2023/AutoCAD\ 2023.app/Contents/Helpers/AdMigrator.app/Contents/MacOS/AdMigrator -i template plot shx profile -s ~/Downloads/config.tar

// Check AdskLicensingInstHelper help for more usages:
/Applications/Autodesk/AutoCAD\ 2023/AutoCAD\ 2023.app/Contents/Helpers/AdMigrator.app/Contents/MacOS/AdMigrator -h

Note: To deploy the shx fonts, you must first copy the .shx font files to the folder below before exporting the configurations. If the .shx fonts are added inside the AutoCAD app, they won't be exported.

~/Library/Application\ Support/Autodesk/AutoCAD\ 2023/R24.2/roaming/@en@/Support/SHXFont/