• You will need to make an account with Autodesk.com
• You will need a student letter to download the software, please use this form to request a student letter.
• Check your computer has the correct specs needed. We recommend consulting with a competent computer technician who can advise you. We have been advised that an i9 processor minimum is needed as well as a graphics card but feel free to ask advice on this. For more specific specs check here.
• Do not download the 30-day trial as you will have to uninstall the trial once your 30 days expire and reinstall the student version as per these instructions.
• MAC users:
• Use Chrome to download AutoCad NOT Safari.
• While AutoCad is available in both PC and Mac platforms, since the instructor teaches on a PC, Mac users should be aware that the interface on a Mac is different and the program icons are located in different places. We do give cheat sheets to help you with the differences but it will require extra time until you are familiar with the differences especially at the beginning of the course. Some students install the PC version (on a virtual PC environment) or try to learn from a PC until they have become familiar with the software. Once you are more familiar with AutoCad, you’ll be able to use your MAC more easily.
• Revit is not available in MAC version so if you are a MAC user, you can try to install a virtual PC environment and see if you can install Revit there. Your computer technician may have to help you with this.

Instructions to download:

• AutoCad can be downloaded via this link. The product looks like this. Please do not download AutoCad Architecture. Just Autocad on its own like this icon.
• 
• Please choose 2026 from the versions available to download under the AutoCad drop down options
• Revit can be downloaded via this link.  Please download version Revit 2025 for self paced and Revit 2025 for live or cohort
• The school location is in the UK and the website address is https://designalive.com/
• The name of the school is Design Alive (Salford UK) (or Design Alive) is listed under University/ Post Secondary school (institution type)
• You MUST choose the correct institution type or you won’t find Design Alive on the list and we do not know how you can correct it if you choose the wrong institution type 
• Please use UK for school address (as opposed to USA) UK address 97 Singleton Road Salford M7 4LX UK, (if UK address doesn’t work) US address for Design Alive: 18 Village in the Woods Southern Pines, North Carolina 28387
• Course expiry is 1 year from the date you download.
• The area of expertise is architecture if they ask for it.
• Only select the current month of start date and NOT a future month or you will get an error message We’re experiencing some problems accessing your Autodesk account. Please try again later.

Common Autodesk software download Issues

• Autocad shuts down and a tab pops up saying that the product license is no longer available. This is likely due to a filter such as Techloq, especially if installed after Autocad was installed). Please contact Techloq to allow all Autodesk software fully.
• If you are experiencing general problems with Autodesk, please go to Autodesk support for more help. They don”t know about any potential filter issues
• For help to renew your subscription, please view this.
• A known error caused by Techloq filter is that when Autodesk ask you to select a school from a dropdown list, no schools show up, please contact your filter if this is the case.
• If you do not have a filter and Design Alive does not appear, you can try selecting any school and on a subsequent page it may allow you to add design alive and upload proof.
• If once you have downloaded AutoCad and it’s asking you for a serial number it is likely your filter is blocking the program recognising you have a student version. You will need to be in touch with your filter company to add Autodesk to the approved lists. Techloq and NativUSA have known issues and removing the filter whilst installing the program is advisable.
• If you are experiencing other error messages then you may want to try to download through the virtual agent https://ava.autodesk.com/ who will give you an alternative link to download the software.
• Autodesk does not have any phone support at all and their chat support is not always very helpful. If you experience issues with your download, we suggest you first contact Design Alive as we are VERY familiar with alot of known errors and should be able to assist you, please complete the form below and include a screenshot of your error and we will do our best to help you.
• Some AutoCad error messages and solutions are provided here.
  • Autocad error message and solution
  • AutoCad error message and solution

Design Alive do not assist with helping you buy a computer suitable for the course, but below are suggested computer specs and details of a computer technician/salesperson who can help you.

Students that are doing video editing need a top end computer.

• An i7 or i9 CPU
• At least 16GB of RAM & 256GB of storage
• A 64-bit operating system
• A dedicated (internal) graphics card (ex. NVIDIA) – not integrated!
• Besides being more expensive, we do not recommend a Mac for AutoCad users (interior design program) especially because our instructors use a PC (and Revit is not supported on Macs.)
• While a 17 inch laptop is easier to see what you are designing, it would be too heavy to carry when visiting clients.  Instead; we suggest a standard 15.6 inch screen and when working from home, you can opt for a secondary & larger 27” monitor (about $200).
• An (external) SSD drive to safely hold your projects and ensure that your computer does not get overloaded.

Design Alive has partnered with B&H Photo in NYC to handle all of these technical requirements and queries. They are a well-known and established company and are up-to-date with the most current specs and performance.

Here is a link to the current computers currently suggested which are priced from low to high. Bear in mind that spending more money does not necessarily mean you are getting anything better.  Please feel free to do your own research for comparisons. (If this link becomes invalid then please let us know)

Disclaimer: You are under no obligation to purchase a computer from him and would advise doing your own research before buying, We are not recommending you buy a computer from BH and Design Alive does not profit in any way by sending students to him.
Design Alive does not take any responsibility for any links posted here and we recommend you consult a computer technician before you purchase.

Here is the link to the AutoCad and Revit specs from the Autodesk website.

Design Alive does not offer assistance with buying a computer suitable for the course, but below are suggested computer specs and details of a computer technician who can help you. Please be aware that you will need a high-end computer for (Revit) rendering.

Please refer to these computer specs that are appropriate for all of our courses ranging from Interior to the very robust 3D modeling applications (Autocad & Revit)

• An i7 or i9 CPU
• At least 16GB of RAM & 256GB of storage
• A 64-bit operating system
• A dedicated (internal) graphics card (ex. NVIDIA) – not integrated!
• Besides being more expensive, we do not recommend Apple especially because our instructors use a PC (and Revit is not supported on Macs.)
• While a 17 inch laptop is easier to see what you are designing, it would be too heavy to carry when visiting clients.  Instead; we suggest a standard 15.6 inch screen and when working from home, you can opt for a secondary & larger 27” monitor (about $200).
• An (external) SSD drive to safely hold your projects and ensure that your computer does not get overloaded

Design Alive has partnered with B&H for all computer and technical requirements and queries. They are a well-known and established company and are up-to-date with current specs and performance.

Here is a link to the type of computers currently recommended although feel free to do your own research for comparison. (If this link becomes invalid then please let us know.) It’s also worth checking the Dell outlet for deals.

Disclaimer: You are under no obligation to purchase a computer from B&H and we would advise doing your own research before buying. We are not recommending you buy a computer from BH and Design Alive does not profit in any way by sending students there.