When you shut down AutoCAD 2011 after you install and configure a Wintab driver, you may be presented with a Customer Error Report dialog box. This may lead you to believe that AutoCAD has crashed, but it’s merely a false alarm. Autodesk says that you can safely ignore it and that no work in progress will be lost. Expect a fix in a future release.

Ok, so maybe that’s not much of a bug. Who uses a digitizer any more, anyway? You may be surprised at how many are in use. A digitizer, also known as a graphics tablet, may relieve symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome and repetitive strain injuries because the whole arm is involved in moving the puck or stylus, not just the wrist. An added advantage is that you can trace in freehand drawings and sketches.

From AutoCAD 2000 onward, digitizer support is provided via a Wintab driver available from your digitizer manufacturer. If you don’t have such a driver, visit the manufacturer web site and download one. Connect your digitizer to your serial port and turn it on. Run Setup for your driver and follow the instructions for installation. You will likely have to restart your computer to complete installation.

Depending on your driver, you can set digitizer parameters when you install the driver or afterward through either the Windows Control Panel or a folder created during Wintab setup. Adjustable settings may include number of buttons, motion speed, and so forth.

Next, start AutoCAD and select Options from the Tools menu. On the System tab, select Wintab Compatible digitizer ADI 4.2 – by Autodesk from the Current Pointing Device drop-down list. Under Accept Input from, choose either digitizer only (mouse input will be ignored) or digitizer and mouse.
The table below lists the Web sites for several manufacturers.

Many, many companies have sold digitizers over the years. If you own an orphan product, you may not be able to find a driver for more current versions of Windows. Digitizer Technology offers the Virtual Tablet Interface ($75), a Wintab driver that it says works with around 500 digitizers, including models from Hitachi and Kurta.

This one is not unique to AutoCAD 2011—it’s appeared in releases back to AutoCAD 2008. When you try to start AutoCAD, it shuts down and (sometimes) displays the following message:

This version of AutoCAD was not installed properly and some features may not run correctly. You should reinstall AutoCAD immediately to make sure all features are working properly. Do you wish to continue anyway?

In the past, Autodesk has attributed this problem to some corruption in the Microsoft .NET Framework. However, a new culprit has recently emerged: a stray space in a Registry entry. The renegade space is found in the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.png key. To view the Registry entries, select Run from the Start menu and type Regedit.

Caption: Start the Windows Registry Editor.

Navigate to the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.png key. Click on the .png key in the left window, then right-click on Content Type in the right window. Select Modify from the shortcut menu that appears. The Edit String dialog box will display. Look for a leading space at the start of the value in the Value data window.

Caption: Make sure there’s no space at the start of the value in the Value data window.

Removing the leading space may solve the crash problem. Note, however, that Autodesk does not know where the space is coming from or whether removing it will cause problems with other programs. So far, users who have deleted the space haven’t reported any subsequent problems.

If you don’t find a space in this Registry key, or if deleting the space does no good, it’s back to the old Microsoft .NET Framework corruption cure. Select Settings, then Control Panel, from the Windows Start menu. Double-click on Add or Remove Programs, or Programs and Features (depending on your version of Windows).

Caption: Use Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel to shed outdated versions of Microsoft .NET Framework.

Uninstall all versions of .NET Framework, beginning with the most recent. Then reinstall only the version that is required by your version of AutoCAD, per the table below. If you are using an AutoCAD-based product, consult your product documentation for the correct version.

Last time we looked at DesignCenter’s Search feature. Here’s an example of how you can use its capabilities to figure out which drawings include a certain drawing as an xref (or a block). Start DesignCenter by pressing <Ctrl>+2, typing ADCENTER at the command line, or selecting DesignCenter from the Tools/Palettes menu. Select the little magnifying class at the top to bring up the Search dialog box. Recall that the Look for offers a number of different choices, including Xref. Select Xref in the Look for pull-down list. Specify where you want to search. Enter the name of the xref in Search for the name. When you click on Search Now, you’ll see a list of all drawings in which your xref appears.

Caption: Use DesignCenter to find instances of xrefs.

This bug affects AutoCAD and LT releases back to 2008, but is more likely to affect AutoCAD 2011 users because it crops up when you run the Adobe Flash player in Help or a New Features video. AutoCAD may crash when you try to view a video with the Flash player, or when Flash is starting up in the background while you are doing something else. The solution is to update to the current version of the Adobe Flash Player, which you can download from the Adobe Web site. While you are there, download the Adobe Flash Player uninstaller and run that first.