Launching Revit Architecture 2016 Results in License Error 0.0.0 After Upgrading License File

If you have recently updated or are planning to update your licenses of Revit Architecture, Revit Structure, or Revit MEP there’s something you will want to be aware of. As of the 2017 release, the individual versions of Autodesk Revit (Revit Architecture, Revit Structure, and Revit MEP) will no longer be available. As such, users who previously owned these versions of Revit will automatically have been upgraded to Revit 2017 if they maintained an active maintenance subscription plan.

Because of this automatic upgrade, network license users who previously had a license file for an eligible version of either Revit Architecture, Revit Structure, or Revit MEP who decide to obtain a new license for Revit 2017 will run into some difficulties.

The video above shows the error message you could receive if your license file only contains the updated Revit 2017 license. This problem arises because of the way that cascade licensing works for Autodesk Products. When you obtain a network license file for Revit 2017, you receive all eligible versions of the software, which in layman’s terms means the current version, as well as the three prior versions. As an example, for an individual or company acquiring a Revit 2017 license, that license would also include access to Revit 2016, 2015, and 2014.

Which brings us to the crux of the issue. As you may have noticed in the example above, that a Revit 2017 license includes Revit 2016 but does not include Revit Architecture 2016. This is further supported by the fact that the cascading sequence for Autodesk 2016 products only lists Building Design Suite Premium and Ultimate as possible cascading alternatives for Revit Architecture 2016. Again, simply put, you can access a network license of Revit Architecture 2016 using either a Revit Architecture 2016, Building Design Suite Premium 2016, or Building Design Suite Ultimate 2016 license, but not a Revit 2016 or Revit 2017 license.

2016: Cascading sequences for Autodesk products
2017: Cascading sequences for Autodesk products

At the present time, the only available workarounds are to either:

• Obtain a license exception that includes an increment for the earlier version of Revit that you owned. This can be done by opening up a case with Autodesk by phone (866-681-4359) or through manage.autodesk.com or by contacting your local reseller like Microsol Resources.
• Uninstall the version of Revit Architecture/Structure/MEP 2016, 2015, or 2014 from your workstations and install the appropriate release of Revit. I’ll provide the links to the downloads below which are acquired from the Autodesk Virtual Agent.

Revit 2016 Download – Part 1
Revit 2016 Download – Part 2
Revit 2015 Download
Revit 2014 Download