AutoCAD and Revit After .NET 8 End of Support: What to Install

Published 14 November 2026 · Rathish Kumar, Invitty

Microsoft ended support for .NET 8 and .NET 9 on 10 November 2026, so those runtimes get no more security fixes. Autodesk's 2025 and 2026 products ran on .NET 8 and have been moved to .NET 10 through in-place updates such as AutoCAD 2025.1.4, AutoCAD 2026.1.2, Revit 2025.5 and Revit 2026.5. If your CAD PCs are behind those builds, update every Autodesk product of that year together, plus its add-ins.

Why a Microsoft date matters to AutoCAD users

Since the 2025 release, AutoCAD, Revit, Inventor and their siblings have been built on Microsoft's modern .NET rather than the old .NET Framework. The 2025 and 2026 versions shipped on .NET 8. Microsoft's support policy page now lists 10 November 2026 as the end of support for both .NET 8 and .NET 9, with the final patches being 8.0.34 and 9.0.23, released that same day. From here on, no security fixes and no technical help.

Autodesk saw this coming. In July its developer blog announced updates to move the 2025 and 2026 product lines onto .NET 10, which Microsoft supports until 14 November 2028. Autodesk says there are no API changes, so for users it is an update like any other. The 2027 products already run on .NET 10 and are unaffected.

The catch is that these updates have been out since August and September, and in the design offices we visit, CAD updates are the ones that get skipped. People are mid-project, a plug-in vendor has not confirmed compatibility, or the PC is on a perpetual licence nobody touches. With .NET 8 now out of support, "we'll update after this submission" stops being a harmless habit.

Which updates count as the minimum?

Autodesk partner IMAGINiT published the full list of minimum .NET 10 updates on 14 October. The common ones are below; specialised toolsets and object enablers have their own entries in that list.

Check the full list before you deploy if you use Map 3D, Electrical, Mechanical, MEP, Raster Design, InfraWorks or Fabrication products. Each has its own minimum build.

The mistake that causes crashes: updating one product at a time

Autodesk's guidance is blunt on this. Install all products from the same release year together, so every 2025 product moves to .NET 10 at once. Mixing runtimes inside one year is where the trouble starts.

A real example from IMAGINiT's support notes: a PC with the Vault 2025.5 client installed but AutoCAD still below 2025.1.4 throws an exception and then a fatal error in AutoCAD. The Vault update expects AutoCAD to be on .NET 10 already. We see the same pattern with add-ons. IMAGINiT warns that any add-on or object enabler left on the old build will keep crashing until it is updated too.

So the order on each PC is simple: close the apps, update every Autodesk product of that year, then update the add-ins and object enablers, then test the drawings your team opens most.

What if we rely on third-party plug-ins?

Many offices we work with in Chennai and Bengaluru run at least one add-in: a structural detailing tool, a BOQ extractor, a title-block manager written in-house. Autodesk's developer notes say existing plug-ins should keep working unless they hit a .NET 10 breaking change, in which case the developer must recompile and retarget them. Object enablers built with C++/CLI need their managed code rebuilt for .NET 10, and any leftover runtimeconfig.json that still points to .NET 8 has to go.

Practical advice: email each plug-in vendor this week and ask for their .NET 10 build, in writing. If an in-house tool was written by someone who has left, find out now, not on the day a client sends a DWG that will not open.

Steps for this week

1. List versions. For each CAD PC, note the Autodesk products, their exact update level and the add-ins installed. Autodesk Access, or your account at manage.autodesk.com, lists the available updates.
2. Pick a pilot machine per discipline and install the full set of same-year updates there first.
3. Test real work: open, edit, plot and check in to Vault with live project files and every add-in loaded.
4. Roll out by team, outside submission weeks, and update Vault server and file server in the same window as the clients.
5. Decide about 2025. If a team is on 2025 only out of habit, moving to 2027 may be less work than chasing every 2025 add-in update, and it starts you on the newest runtime.

What this means for renewals and budgets

None of these updates cost extra if your subscription is active. They are part of what you pay for. The cost shows up in two other places. First, plug-ins: some vendors charge for a major update, so ask before you assume. Second, hardware: a few of the oldest workstations we see in small firms struggle with current releases anyway, and this is a sensible point to review them.

If your Autodesk renewal falls in the next quarter, use it as the moment to tidy up versions across the office. Our AutoCAD and Autodesk team can line up renewal dates, issue a GST invoice for the subscription and help schedule the update rollout. Brand details and the products we supply are on the Autodesk brand page.

Questions CAD managers are asking about .NET 8 end of support

Next step

Tell us how many Autodesk seats you have, which product years, and which add-ins you depend on. We will map each PC to its minimum update, flag add-ins that need vendor confirmation and line the work up with your next renewal. Questions on subscription dates go to our renewals desk.

Sources

Facts in this post come from these pages, checked on 14 November 2026. Vendor notes and update lists change, so check the source before you schedule work.

• Autodesk Platform Services blog: Autodesk desktop products 2025 and 2026 .NET 10 updates
• Microsoft: .NET and .NET Core official support policy
• IMAGINiT support blog: .NET 10 and product version updates (14 October 2026)
• IMAGINiT support blog: AutoCAD and AutoCAD verticals 2025 exception and fatal error