AutoCAD liscense not valid fix

Autodesk is preventing cracked AutoCAD from running with a 'license not valid' screen as shown below. 

 

Given auto cad license costs more than US$1000 per year buying AudoCAD license is out of question people in developing country like Nepal. 

Here I have detailed out the working fix [at least for now]. What this fix does is prevent the activation program from connecting to the Autodesk server. For this we change the host file in windows. The hosts file in Windows is a simple text file which can be used to disable a webpage or domain in windows.

1. Locating the Host file

The location of host file is here

 C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

 2. Changing the permission of Host File

Since the host file is system file it cannot be edited directly. First change the permission of Host file so that it can be edited. Right click the host file and go to its properties. Click [Edit]

 


  Select [Users] in the Security dialog box

Tick all the boxes under Allow and then OK. Now the host file can be edited

 3. Opening the Host File

 Open the Host file using Notepad. You will need to use right click and use [open with] dialog.

4. Adding Autodesk activation servers  to the host file

Copy paste following at the end of the host file.

127.0.0.1 api.genuine-software.autodesk.com
127.0.0.1 ase.autodesk.com
127.0.0.1 genuine-software.autodesk.com
127.0.0.1 genuine-software1.autodesk.com
127.0.0.1 genuine-software2.autodesk.com

The host file should look like this

 

 

Save the file. If saving is not possible then redo step 2. 

5. Restart the computer

You may need to restart the computer or for changes to take effect

 This should prevent the AutoCAD activation service from connecting to its activation server and it should work 

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