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FireCAD Installation Issues and Fixes

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Anthony Conte
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Using the beta? This page changes in the next FireCAD release, planned for December 1. See FireCAD Installation Issues and Fixes (Preview).

Find your symptom below. Most fixes use one of the signed FireCAD Support Tools or a Microsoft download. Current installers are listed in FireCAD Install Instructions and Download Links.

Important: Do not uninstall FireCAD from Apps & Features (Add / Remove Programs). Neither FireCAD entry there removes FireCAD Standalone correctly. One leaves almost everything in place; the other removes part of FireCAD and makes the next install fail with error 1603. Use the FireCAD Uninstaller instead.

Clean Reinstall

Use this whenever a fix below says "clean reinstall", or when FireCAD is damaged and you want to start over.

  1. Close FireCAD (and AutoCAD, for the Add-in).
  2. Download the FireCAD Uninstaller, right-click it and choose Run as administrator.
  3. It lists every FireCAD product it finds, with exactly what will be removed. Pick the one to remove and confirm.
  4. Restart the computer.
  5. Install again from FireCAD Install Instructions and Download Links. For Standalone, the single installer (firecad2027sfx.exe or firecad2026sfx.exe) installs everything; you do not need a separate .msi.

The Uninstaller never touches your projects (.atpx, .atp) or databases (.mdf, .ldf). Settings folders are renamed with an .uninstall-backup suffix, not deleted.

Install Fails With Error 1603

This usually means the FireCAD 20NN entry was removed from Apps & Features earlier. That removes FireCAD's main program but leaves the rest registered, so the next install skips a step it needs and fails.

The FireCAD 2026 and 2027 installers published since September 2026 detect and repair this on their own. If yours still fails:

  1. Do a clean reinstall (see Clean Reinstall above): Uninstaller, restart, then the single installer.
  2. If it fails again, send these logs to support@cadgen.com:
    • C:\ProgramData\Inspect Point\FireCAD_20NN_OEM_Install_*.log (the install log; read this one first)
    • %LOCALAPPDATA%\Autodesk\ODIS\DDA.log
    • %TEMP%\Setup.log

The Installer Says "Already Installed", or FireCAD Is Still There After Uninstalling

FireCAD was removed from Apps & Features, which leaves most of it in place. Do a clean reinstall (see Clean Reinstall above).

FireCAD Stays on "Initializing..." or Reports Missing Files After an Update

Do a clean reinstall (see Clean Reinstall above). If your company uses an application allowlisting tool, also check the section on allowlisting below: a blocked file can look like a frozen splash screen.

The FireCAD Tab Is Missing From the Ribbon

FireCAD Standalone:

  1. Close FireCAD.
  2. Download FireCadSettingsReset.exe and double-click it. Do not run it as administrator.
  3. Choose option 1. Repair the FireCAD menu only. It keeps all your other settings.
  4. Launch FireCAD.

Full instructions: FireCAD Settings Reset and Menu Repair Utility. You do not need to reinstall FireCAD for a missing tab.

In the release from December 1: FireCAD Standalone repairs this itself. At startup it checks that the FireCAD menu is loaded and that the FireCAD tab is showing. If the menu is missing, it loads it; if the wrong copy is loaded, it unloads it and loads the right one. After an upgrade, the installer and the first start also replace an out-of-date copy of the FireCAD menu in your user profile, so the ribbon matches the new version. Your workspaces, your custom menu file (custom.cuix) and any other menus are left alone.

FireCAD Add-in for AutoCAD: make sure you are on AutoCAD 2025, 2026 or 2027 and that you installed the current add-in. If the tab is still missing, do a clean reinstall of the add-in (see Clean Reinstall above).

If the ribbon is there but the palette is not, type ATSHOW at the command line.

The Ribbon Loads but FireCAD Commands Do Nothing

If the FireCAD tab appears but no command works, and loading FireCAD by hand with NETLOAD reports "Access is denied" for amts.dll, your company's application allowlisting or endpoint security tool (ThreatLocker, AppLocker, WDAC or similar) is blocking FireCAD from loading. Reinstalling will not fix it. Your IT team needs to make two changes; either one alone still fails:

  1. Trust the publisher certificate Cadgen Software LLC. FireCAD has been signed with this certificate since September 2026. A rule written for the older certificate stops matching after an update, which shows up as "it worked until I updated".
  2. Allow the third-party files FireCAD ships with. FireCAD includes components from other vendors that are not signed by Cadgen, so a publisher rule alone does not cover them. The simplest rule is a folder allow for C:\Program Files\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\FireCAD .NET Add-in.bundle\.

Ask IT to approve the four FireCAD Support Tools under the same rule, so they run when you need them.

"SQL Server LocalDB Is Not Installed"

FireCAD stores its database in Microsoft SQL Server LocalDB, and cannot open projects without it. Install it from Microsoft, then restart FireCAD:

Do not install full SQL Server or SQL Server Express instead. If only "Microsoft SQL Server 2016 LocalDB" is installed, install the 2019 version above alongside it; do not uninstall 2016.

"SQL Server Process Failed to Start" or "Error Occurred During LocalDB Instance Startup"

LocalDB is installed but cannot start. On new Windows 11 PCs this is almost always the NVMe drive sector size. Installing LocalDB again will not help. Run the NVMe Sector Size Fix as administrator, then restart the PC. See Database Error During FireCAD Startup on New Machines Pre-Installed With Windows 11.

Both errors can start with "Failed to validate working database after 3 attempts". Read the rest of the message to tell them apart.

An Older .atp Project Will Not Open

Older projects saved as .atp need the Microsoft SQL Server Compact 4.0 runtime. Errors mention "SQL Server Compact", SqlServerCe, sqlceqp40 or sqlceme40. Install it, then restart FireCAD:

Current .atpx projects do not need it.

Reports Fail With "Could Not Load File or Assembly"

If a report fails with "Could not load file or assembly 'System.IO.Compression.Brotli'" or "'Microsoft.CSharp, Version=8.0.0.0'", the file belongs to Microsoft .NET 8, not to FireCAD, and some .NET 8 updates are missing it. Install the current .NET 8 Desktop Runtime (x64) and restart FireCAD. Reinstalling FireCAD does not fix this.

Check For Updates Does Nothing

On some computers the Check For Updates button could not find the FireCAD updater and silently did nothing, so FireCAD never showed an update notice.

In the release from December 1: FireCAD looks for the updater in more places. If it still cannot find it, it now says so: "The FireCAD update checker could not be found on this computer, so the update check did not run."

Until then, or if you see that message, download and run the current installer from FireCAD Install Instructions and Download Links.

License Key Not Accepted

FireCAD 2026 and 2027 use the same key. A FireCAD 2024 key does not activate 2026 or 2027; email support@cadgen.com for a 2026 or later key. See Licensing.

Still Stuck?

Email support@cadgen.com with the exact error text or a screenshot, the FireCAD version (2026, 2027 or Add-in), and the FireCAD log from %LOCALAPPDATA%\FireCAD\Logs\.

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