Performance recommendations for AutoCAD in a Virtual Environment

Issue:

What are the recommended configurations to improve performance for AutoCAD products in a virtual environment.

Solution:

Items to change to help performance in Virtual Environments:

Hardware Acceleration - Graphic Settings

In some instances, graphic hardware acceleration can cause the display to worsen, particularly when working in 2D rather than 3D.

• Disable graphical hardware acceleration in Autocad.
• Disable graphical hardware acceleration for the virtual display connection. 

Create an extra Desktop Icon specific to no hardware acceleration. Use this code for the icon:

• • "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 20xx\acad.exe" /product ACAD /language "en-US" /nohardware

If the hardware acceleration is used,  the following might help to increase the performance:

• Use the "High Performance" setting of the graphics card instead of the "High Quality" setting.
• Latency is lower under H.264 codec.
• Create a profile for the product with the following settings:
  Anti-aliasing: Application Controlled
  This setting is turned off in the program when the Line Smoothing option is cleared. And this is  recommended to keep it cleared.
  Low latency mode: On
  Power management mode: prefer Performance.

Mouse Cursor

Use the Windows mouse cursor instead of AutoCAD:
Set CURSORTYPE to 1.

ToolTips

It is recommended that you disable ToolTips and rollover ToolTips. ToolTips and rollover ToolTips significantly impact performance when running AutoCAD in a virtual environment.

• To disable ToolTips and rollover ToolTips:

1. Click Application menu button > Options.
2. On the Display tab of the Options dialog box, clear the check marks for Show ToolTips and Show rollover ToolTips.

Also, consider resetting the TOOLTIPS and ROLLOVERTIPS system variable to 0 in the command line.

Dynamic Input

It is recommended that you disable Dynamic Input. Dynamic Input will significantly impact performance when running AutoCAD in a virtual environment. 

To disable Dynamic Input:

1. Right-click the Dynamic Input icon on the Map Status Bar or enter DSETTINGS at the Command prompt.
2. On the Dynamic Input tab of the Drafting Settings dialog box, clear the check marks for: Enable Pointer Input, Enable Dimension Input where possible, and Show command prompting and command input near the crosshairs.

Consider also hiding the Dynamic Input icon by right-clicking it and clearing the check next to Display > Dynamic Input.

Note from Autodesk: Autodesk makes no representations, warranties, or other promises related to use of any product in any virtualization environment or with any virtualization technology. If you are authorized to virtualize and elect to do so, you assume all risks associated with such use, including, but not limited to incompatibility between the product and third-party virtualization technology and/or your virtualization environment. 

About the Author

Installation Technical Support Specialist<br><br>Ken Williams has over 20 years of experience as a systems administrator helping organizations with installation, configuration, and maintenance. At IMAGINiT, Ken puts his knowledge of Microsoft, SQL, servers, and Autodesk to work ensuring clients are able to stay up-and-running, install their software easily, and maintain their solutions.

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