Introducing Autodesk Access

This post has been updated from the original posted on March 14, 2023

In our work with users and admins, we heard clearly that faster installs, better deployment processes, an improved download experience, and more control over updates are needed. We have also heard from admins that they do not like the lack of control over updates that appear in Autodesk Desktop Application (ADA). To address these concerns, Autodesk has focused on developing new and improved capabilities with Autodesk Account. Autodesk Account provides a personalized product experience for users, access to usage data and product control that admins have been asking for.

With these updates in Account and the services that power it, ADA could no longer serve the needs of product installations or the needs of admins. This need is served by Autodesk Access, Autodesk Account, and installation services. Today, Access is a lightweight, nimble UI, built on the core installation services that provides a way for users and admins to get the latest updates they need.

Access also plays a crucial role in enabling Autodesk to automatically update components that are critical to providing a stable and secure service to customers such as authentication, authorization, installation, license compliance and fixing security vulnerabilities.

As we look to the future, we are committed to continuously delivering new capabilities that will make Autodesk Access and Account easier, faster, more reliable, with more management capabilities.

Whether you’re an admin of a large enterprise, small & medium business with less than 100 users to manage, or an individual user managing your own access, our goal is to find the right solutions to make your tasks easier and more secure than they were before.

We are committed to having an open dialog with you to understand your needs and listen to your feedback, so we can adjust our roadmap to deliver the solutions you need.

FAQs

How do I get Autodesk Access? 

1. With any new 2022 or later product installation  
2. As an automatic update for any 2022 product or later 
3. As an automatic update for existing instances of ADA   
4. Direct download of the installer from the Access landing page  

Do you need to uninstall ADA before installing Access? 

No, when Autodesk Access installs, it will uninstall ADA.  

Does Autodesk Access work for Enterprise or other large customers? 

Yes! All customers will benefit from Autodesk Access. We have many plans for new features this year to make getting updates easier. For those admins who manage users’ updates, they can disable the Access UI for applying updates.  

What is the current benefit of Autodesk Access?   

Autodesk Access will evolve on a continuous basis with new enhancements and improvements. The current version of Access provides the following capabilities: 

• An ability to easily update components that are critical to providing a stable, secure service to customers including, but not limited to, authentication, authorization, licensing, installation, license compliance and fixing security vulnerabilities. 
• Access to software updates, new features, and hot defect fixes to stay productive without interfering with your workflows. 
• The ability for admins to allow end users to manually install updates for products installed on their machine. 
• A simple registry key allows admins to disable a user’s ability to install updates with the Access UI.  
• Enhanced security and better reliability and performance, reducing risk of downtime. 

What will Access and Autodesk Account do for you in the future?  

With parallel development on both Access and Autodesk Account, we will deliver solutions for the following capabilities soon: 

• Automatically install approved opt-in updates on a regular, predictable basis on a time schedule that is set by the admin. 
• Understand what product versions and updates have been applied to each of your user’s machines. 
• Be notified about new updates when they become available. 
• Stay on a particular product version until you are ready to update. 
• Automatically provide users with specific deployment packages with their company settings and extensions included, instead of any product version with no settings. 

Do the Autodesk Access services consume resources on my device? 

All services consume some resources. Autodesk Access, and specifically the Autodesk Access Core, is estimated to consume approximately 34 MB of RAM and 0% CPU while idle. The only time it is not idle is during startup, and when it is installing an update, where it would consume some resources related to installations as expected. 

Can I remove or uninstall Access? 

Access is core to the Autodesk platform and can’t be removed. Admin controls previously mentioned provide the ability for you disable the Access update UI so that you can control your user’s ability to update products. 

Is there a way to allow users to install updates even if they don’t have admin rights on their devices? 

We don’t currently allow users to install updates without admin permissions, bypassing any Windows user restrictions. We may allow that in the future as it is something we hear a lot of feedback about.