Fix: AutoCAD Installation “Error 1308. Source File Not Found”?

You may experience this error while installing AutoCAD software, according to our research, the error appears on the screen when Autodesk is unable to find the source file during the installation of AutoCAD, however, if you check the file it is present.

There are multiple causes for this error to occur, we have listed some of them below:-

• Corrupted files- The AutoCAD files might get corrupted during the installation process and it might be the cause for this error to occur.
• Third-party software- If you are trying to crack AutoCAD software and you have downloaded it from a third-party source then, that could be the reason for the 1308 error to appear on the screen.
• Antivirus- Antivirus can prevent the downloading process of AutoCAD, make sure to disable the Windows defender or the antivirus.
• Permission denied- There is a chance that you have no longer access to C:\Autodesk for that reason Autodesk is unable to read the source file and it throws a 1308 error.

Disable Antivirus

Antivirus and firewalls protect our data and information from online resources such as applications, and webservers. and it also protects us from hackers and malware bytes.

Sometimes the antivirus prevents the downloading process of the launchers and also it is advised by the Autodesk developers is to disable the antivirus from your computer when you attempt to download AutoCAD.

Note- If you are using third-party Antivirus software then disable it manually.

Follow the steps to disable antivirus:-

1. Go to settings by pressing the Windows + I keys together to open the settings.
2. Click on Update & Security.
3. Click on Windows Security on the left sidebar then click on Open Windows Security on the right pane.

   

4. Go to Virus & threat protection then Click on Manage settings under the Virus & threat protection settings.

   

5. Here, turn off real-time protection by clicking on it.

   

6. Once done check if the error persists.

Modify the Permissions of the Autodesk folder

If you don’t have full control permission on the Autodesk folder which is located in C:\ drive then you may get a 1308 error, however, you can fix this by just doing some changes to the permission settings.

Here is how you can modify the permissions of Autodesk:-

1. In case you have other Autodesk products then It is recommended to delete the Autodesk folder from the C:\ drive and then download the software again by the browser method.
2. Exit the installation and open the explorer, go to C:\ drive.
3. Right-click on the Autodesk folder and select the properties option.
4. Go to the security tab on the top, and click on the Edit button to make changes to the permissions.

   

5. Check the Full Control option and click on Apply to save changes and then press OK.

   

6. Once done, check if the error persists.

Download Autodesk via AVA ( Autodesk Virtual Agent )

Autodesk provides us an alternative option to install their products via Autodesk virtual agent basically it is a bot that helps us to download Autodesk products that we can install on our system we use this method when we get errors while installing Autodesk products with the browser methods.

Autodesk Virtual Agent is developed as an alternative option to download Autodesk products, recently users have reported that they are getting errors while installing Autodesk products. for that reason they introduced us to AVA ( Autodesk Virtual Agent ).

Here is how you can download AutoCAD via virtual agent:-

1. First, uninstall Autocad and all the Autodesk products from the control panel then follow the installation instruction of AutoCAD via a virtual agent. 

   

2. Open your favourite browser and search Autodesk virtual agent and press enter.
3. Once all the search results are loaded, then open the first link, and make sure the link belongs to Autodesk.
4. Here you will describe what product you want but before you start describing you have to sign in/signup to download Autodesk products.
5. if you have an existing account then sign in to your account and skip to the 8th step.
6. Click on the Sign-in button on the top right,  then click on create an account.
   

   

7. Fill out the details that are required to create your account, once done, they will send you a verification link on your Gmail account that you provided, go to the Gmail and open the Autodesk mail, click on Verify Email then sign in to the Autodesk account. 

   

8. Once you sign in, go back to the Autodesk virtual agent.
9. Type AutoCAD download and press enter.

   

10. Click on the Start button to proceed to the next step.

    

11. Now It will ask what you want, carefully choose the one option according to your situation, if you have an existing key you can go for it and on the next step it should ask for the product key, if you don’t have a product key then you can proceed with the trial version like us.

    

12. Once you selected the option, then it will ask, if you want to run AutoCAD on multiple computers or only on this computer.
13. You can choose multiple but we will go for This Computer option. 

    

14. Click on Continue with AVA to get the link from Autodesk Virtual Agent.
15. Select the version of AutoCAD you want to download, In my case, I have selected the trial version for that reason it shows the latest AutoCAD versions, but if you have a product key then you can download older versions of AutoCAD but if you haven’t and you want old versions of Autocad such as 2014, 2016 then you can buy a product key to download older versions.

    

16. After selecting the AutoCAD version, it will give you the Download button, click on it to download the AutoCAD installer.

    

17. Once the AutoCAD installer is downloaded, double click on it to run it.
18. It should start the downloading process, once done, the Autodesk download manager will come up on the screen that is used to download Autodesk products.
19. Click on I Agree to accept the agreement then click on Next to download the Autodesk download manager.

    

20. Once the installation is done it will ask about the installation directory of Autodesk to save it on the computer, you can also change the directory by clicking on the Change button.

    

21. After selecting the directory, the downloading process of AutoCAD software will start and hopefully, it will not get you into the errors.

    

If you followed the steps carefully one by one you will not face the 1308 error again.

Clean Reinstall Autocad

If none of these methods worked for you then you can apply this method to clean uninstall AutoCAD from your computer and then install it again with the browser methods.

First, you have to uninstall AutoCAD software and other Autodesk products including its components.

1. Press Windows + R keys to open Run Window, type appwiz.cpl in the search box, and press enter.
2. Here you should see all the programs that are installed on your computer. Uninstall AutoCAD and other Autodesk products one by one including its components by selecting the product and clicking on Uninstall button on the top.
3. After uninstalling the AutoCAD, you have to delete the Autodesk folder from the C driver for that, go to file explorer then Local disk C, and navigate to Program Files.
4. Find the Autodesk folder here, Right-click on it, and click the delete button.

   

5. After, Navigate to Common Files, Right-click on Autodesk shared and delete it.

   

6. Now you have to delete the Autodesk folder from AppData that stores the settings and program information that the computer system application requires to execute the task.
7. Press Windows + R keys to open the Run Window and type AppData then press enter.
8. Navigate to Local, find the Autodesk folder, right-click on it and delete it.

   

9. Go back to the previous directory, then navigate to the Roaming folder.
10. Right-click on Autodesk and delete it from here.
11. Once done, click on the Local Disk (C:) on the left sidebar, and navigate to Users>Public>Public Documents.
    

    

12. Right-click on the Autodesk folder and delete it. 
13. Press Windows + R keys to open Run Window then type %programdata% and press enter.
14. Locate for Autodesk folder, Right-click on the folder and delete it.

    

15. Press the Windows key then type Regedit in the search bar.
16. Open the Registry Editor which is a database of a computer system that stores the configurations, settings, and information about the system.
17. Navigate to the following path below.
    Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Autodesk
    
18. Right-click on the Autodesk folder and delete it.

    

19. Again navigate to the following path
    Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk
20. Right-click on the Autodesk folder and delete it.

    

21. Once done, restart your computer.
22. Press Windows + R keys to open the Run Window and type %temp% and press enter. 
23. Then, press Ctrl + A to select all the temporary files, right-click and click on delete to delete all the temp files.
    Note- All files will not be deleted because other applications are running in the background. just press Skip to leave it.

    

24. After deleting all the Autodesk files from the system, make sure to disable the antivirus or Windows defender by following the above step.
25. Now download Autodesk and its products from the official website.

If you are stuck somewhere while applying methods, tell us in the comments we would like to help you.