AutoCAD 2008 Slow Startup Fix

[Update: See Disable AutoCAD InfoCenter]

I’ve noticed more frequent posts in the Autodesk discussion groups about slow startup problems since AutoCAD 2008 was released, and I have the same problem on my development system. Part of the problem is .NET loading, due to the new .NET gadgets like the dashboard palette. Another long running startup hassle is the communication center (WSCommCntr1.exe if you check running processes in task manager) that Autodesk products use to call home.

In addition to the time the communication center process takes to start up, it can also get “stuck” (either due to network or connection problems, or because of AutoCAD crashing) and cause interminable startup delays. If AutoCAD is trying to start while the communication center is “stuck”, it will wait in a completely frozen state for about 2 minutes before it times out and loading continues.

In addition, AutoCAD 2008 service pack 1 introduced a new “pure virtual function call” C runtime error that shows up when the communication center closes after an AutoCAD crash.

All these problems can be easily fixed by disabling the AutoCAD InfoCenter, which is the culprit that loads the communication center background process. I disabled it by changing the demand load registry key for the InfoCenter. That key can be found in the registry at:

HKLMSoftwareAutodeskAutoCADR17.1[ACAD-XXXX:XXX]ApplicationsInfoCenterAcConn

Change the LOADCTRLS value to 0 (zero) to disable it from demand loading.

If you disable your InfoCenter from demand loading, you can still load it manually by using the NETLOAD command to load AcInfoCenterConn.dll from the AutoCAD 2008 folder.

12 thoughts on “AutoCAD 2008 Slow Startup Fix”

  1. try "XLOADCTL"

    Type: Integer
    Saved in: Registry
    Initial value: 2

    Turns xref demand-loading on and off, and controls whether it opens the referenced drawing or a copy.

    0
    Turns off demand-loading; the entire drawing is loaded.

    1
    Turns on demand-loading. Referenced drawings are kept open and locked.

    2
    Turns on demand-loading. Copies of referenced drawings are opened and locked; referenced drawings are not locked

  2. Registry key for my version (AutoCAD LT 2004) is:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREAutodeskAutoCAD LTR9ACLT-201:409ApplicationsWSCommCntrAcCon

    Disabled it by setting value to 0 as suggested, worked well, thanks.

  3. Seek all "InfoCenter" keys with regedit, and disable with "0". Works in Autocad Arquitecture 2010. Thanks.

  4. I have 2008LT on Windows7, searched registry for InfoCenterAcConn and set LOADCTRLS value to “0” as you suggested. Wow, CAD just pops open with no delay, it’s amazing. Great tip!

  5. Yesterday i found the solution. I noticed that after installing Office, Autocad become very slow at starting up.
    I tested 3 computer with Windows 7 32 and 64 bit and Windows 10 64bit.
    When you Install Office you are installing a lot of new Fonts in the folder C:\Windows\Fonts.
    My solution is: go to folder C:\Windows\Fonts and delete all the Fonts (some fonts cannot be deleted because system fonts).
    I had 1000 Fonts and AutoCad started in 65 seconds.
    Now i have 75 Fonts and Autocad starts in 20 seconds.
    I noticed that in Windows 7 32 bit, deleting fonts, Autocad LT 2005 starts in 13 seconds.

    1. Hi Marco, thanks for the valuable information! I wonder if this is a problem in later versions of AutoCAD as well.

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