How to start AutoCAD products with different profiles

2025-01-15

Technical Support

Issue:

How to create a shortcut icon that will start AutoCAD products with a specific profile.

Solution:

One or more shortcut icons can be set up on the Windows Desktop that will start AutoCAD and uses a specified profile (ARG file). To start AutoCAD with a specific profile, use the following processes as suitable:

When the profile does not yet exist in AutoCAD:

On the Windows Desktop, right-click the AutoCAD icon, and select Properties.
On the Properties dialog box, the Shortcut tab, change the text value inside the Target text box, adding a p-flag (/p) followed by path and the name of the profile-file (filename.arg) that you want AutoCAD to use when it starts.
Example:
```
"C:\Program Files\AutoCAD 20XX\acad.exe" /p "C:\Program Files\ AutoCAD 20XX\FILENAME.arg"
```
Note: Quotation marks (" ") must be used when file name or directory path names contain space characters.
Click OK to accept the changes and exit to the Windows desktop.
When AutoCAD is launched using this custom icon, the ARG file will be imported and will appear on the Profiles tab in OPTIONS, displaying the same profile name as defined in the first line of the .ARG file, e.g. [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R25.0\ACAD-8101:409\Profiles\ProfileName]

When the profile exists in AutoCAD:

On the Windows desktop, right-click the AutoCAD icon, and click Properties.
In the Properties dialog box, click the Shortcut tab and in the Target text box, at the end, enter /p followed by the name of the profile that you want AutoCAD to use when it starts.
Example:
```
"C:\Program Files\AutoCAD 20XX\acad.exe" /p "MyProfile"
```
Note: You must use quotation marks (" ") when the directory path names contain spaces.
Click OK to accept the changes and exit to the Windows desktop.

Notes:

AutoCAD will use the profile set in the shortcut icon each time the program is started. If the shortcut icon specifies the same profile as one that is already defined in AutoCAD, the settings in the ARG file will not be imported.
AutoCAD recreates the default desktop shortcut whenever a new user runs the application. It is therefore recommended you make your customizations to a copy of the shortcut rather than the default.
To choose between multiple profiles when starting AutoCAD, make sure to create a specific icon for each of the profiles. Each icon must have a distinctive name.

Other AutoCAD Toolsets have different run commands, but the /p flag works for them in the same way it works for Vanilla AutoCAD. Examples:

AutoCAD Electrical:

"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 20xx\acad.exe"  /language "en-US" /product "ACADE" /p "<<ACADE>>"

AutoCAD MEP:

"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 20xx\acad.exe" /ld "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 20xx\AecBase.dbx" /p "AutoCAD MEP (Global)" /product "MEP" /language "en-US"

Products:

AutoCAD Products;