Autodesk, makers of AutoCAD, Civil3D, Inventor, Fusion 360, 3ds Max, Revit, Maya, and more, makes these and dozens more software tools available to students and faculty members for personal use at no cost. The license terms stipulate that these programs can be installed on personal computers (PC or Mac) for educational purposes only. Any commercial use of drawings created or edited with these tools is strictly prohibited.

Sections in This Article

I. Create an Autodesk Account

II. Download the Software

III. Installation

IV. Managing Autodesk Software

V. Uninstalling Autodesk Software

Create an Autodesk Account

1. To download educational versions of Autodesk software, visit this link: https://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/featured. Scroll down the page to see the complete list of software available to students and faculty.

2. Click on the name of the product you wish to download.

a. If you already have an Autodesk account, click the “Sign in” button and skip to step 9.

b. If you have not yet created an Autodesk account, click on the “Create account” button.

3. Enter your personal information on the resulting screen. Choose United States as the Country, even if you are not from the U.S. Select the appropriate educational role from the next drop-down menu. The Institution Type is University/Post-Secondary. Enter your birth date in the last series of drop-down menus.

4. You will be presented with a screen asking for your full name, e-mail address, and your desired password. You must use your valpo.edu e-mail address in this step to be eligible to download the software! Make sure your password meets the requirements shown below. Check the box indicating that you agree to the Autodesk Terms of Use and click the “Create Account” button.

5. Once you have entered your e-mail address, you will see the screen below prompting you to check your Valpo e-mail. Click the link in the e-mail you received from Autodesk to verify that you are the owner of the e-mail account you entered.

6. Once you have verified your e-mail address, you will have the option to opt out of Autodesk marketing e-mails. If you do not want to receive messages from the company, uncheck the box and click “Done”.

7. In the final step, start typing the name “Valparaiso University” in the box labeled “Name of educational institution”. Click on the school name as it appears below the drop-down box. Check the appropriate box for your academic discipline and select your start and end dates of enrollment from the drop-down menus.

8. Click the “Continue” button as shown below. Your account is now active, but there is one additional step you must complete before you are allowed to download software.

9. Before you are able to download software from http://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/, you must first complete your profile. Click on the “Complete Profile” link and sign in with your new Autodesk credentials.

10. You will be prompted to enable 2-step verification for greater account security. You have the option to skip this step by clicking the text “Remind me later”. If you do not wish to set up 2-step authentication, skip to Step 11. Otherwise, follow parts a-d below to secure your account from unauthorized access by requiring a code sent via text message every time you sign in to the Autodesk website.

a. You will need an authentication app on your smartphone in order to use the QR code method as shown below. Google Authenticator is a free app in both Apple App Store and Google’s Play Store. LastPass also makes a free authenticator app that enjoys cross-platform support.

b. If you do not have a smartphone, you can click “Use SMS Instead” at the bottom of the screen. You will be prompted to enter your mobile phone number, and will receive a text message with a code rather than generating a secure token through an authenticator app. Skip to part d of this step if you choose to use SMS to get your code.

c. The secure six-digit token in the an authenticator app refreshes every 20 seconds, so you have a limited time to enter it before it changes. An indicator shows you how much longer the code will still be alive. In the LastPass authenticator app, the code will turn red when it is about to expire.

d. Enter the code and click “Next”. If you enter it correctly, you will see the message below. 2-step verification is now set up with your phone, and you will be required to enter a code either from a text message or the authenticator app every time you sign in to your Autodesk account.