Design Review Fails to Open DWG Files

By: Heath White | SR. MFG Support Specialist

Issue:
When attempting to open a DWG file in Autodesk Design Review nothing happens and there is no error shown. The image below is what you would see, and the Open command remains available. Other file types open without issue.

Causes:
Design Review by itself cannot process DWG files. It requires an installation of DWG TrueView to process DWG files. The other piece of the puzzle is the fact that for this to work, you not only have to install DWG TrueView, but it must be the same version as your Design Review installation.

Autodesk has not released a new version of Design Review since 2018, which many users are not aware of. That means that to have the capability to open DWG files inside of Design Review, you will need to install DWG TrueView 2018.

Solution:
Autodesk has several KB articles regarding this issue, however, several of the articles involve extensive troubleshooting steps that in many cases are not necessary to resolve this issue. We encourage you to try this simple fix prior to attempting the more complex solutions.

Download the version of DWG TrueView that is the same version as your installation of Design Review. In most cases this will be DWG TrueView 2018. If you have an older version of Design Review, you can download previous versions of DWG TrueView from the following link:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/dwg-trueview/learn-explore/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Where-to-download-previous-versions-of-DWG-TrueView.html

System Requirements for DWG TrueView 2018:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/dwg-trueview/learn-explore/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/System-requirements-for-Autodesk-DWG-TrueView-2018.html

If you have downloaded and installed the compatible version of DWG TrueView and this did not resolve the issue or if your issue involves crashing, please see the following articles for advanced troubleshooting steps:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/dwg-trueview/learn-explore/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/How-to-open-a-DWG-file-in-Design-Review-with-DWG-TrueView-2015.html

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/search-result/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Design-Review-does-nothing-when-a-DWG-file-is-selected-to-open.html

If you are using a much older version of Design Review (i.e. DR 2013), please see the following article for additional resources:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/dwg-trueview/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Cannot-open-a-DWG-file-in-Design-Review.html

Warning! Problems caused by improperly editing the Windows registry could render your computer/operating system unusable. Microsoft provides a wealth of critical information that you need to know about the registry in the Microsoft Knowledge Base. Use the Microsoft® Registry Editor only at your own risk and only after backing up the registry as well as the system.dat and user.dat files as outlined for your operating system in the Microsoft Knowledge Base. Additional information about the registry is also contained in the Help topics in the Microsoft Registry Editor.