"Open with": telling AutoCAD versions apart in Windows

You have several versions of AutoCAD installed: last year's for a customer who hasn't upgraded yet, the new one for everything else. You right-click a DWG file, choose Open with… and this is what Windows offers:

Four AutoCAD versions installed, four "AutoCAD Application" entries. Which one is AutoCAD 2026?

The four entries have the same name and the same icon. There is no way to know which version will start without trying. In this article, we'll see why Windows shows that name, then how to get this:

The same menu, once each entry is named after its version.

(The screenshots come from a French Windows: "Ouvrir avec" is "Open with", "Choisir une autre application" is "Choose another app".)

The fix does not require administrator rights: it only touches your user profile, and a single command undoes it.

Double-clicking a DWG goes through a small Autodesk program, AutoCAD Launcher, which opens the last AutoCAD you used. We explain it in What is AutoCAD Launcher?. This article deals with the Open with menu, which is precisely there to pick another version.

Where does "AutoCAD Application" come from?

Each AutoCAD version registers a ProgID (programmatic identifier) in the Windows registry, for example acad.9101.40C. It tells Windows which executable to start to open a DWG (C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2026\acad.exe, for instance).

To decide which name to show in the menu, File Explorer first looks for a FriendlyAppName value on that ProgID. AutoCAD doesn't set one. File Explorer then falls back on the executable's file description, the one you see in the Details tab of the properties of acad.exe. And from version 2024 to version 2027 at least, that description is the same for all of them: "AutoCAD Application".

Windows then caches that name in the key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\MuiCache

There's no need to edit that cache: a FriendlyAppName value set on the ProgID takes precedence over it.

The fix: a FriendlyAppName value

All you need is to add, for each AutoCAD ProgID, a FriendlyAppName string value in the key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\<ProgID>\shell\open

containing the name to display: AutoCAD 2026.

Nothing else changes: the open command, the default DWG association and double-clicking stay as they are. The only effect is the name displayed in Open with.

You can do it by hand in the Registry Editor, or with the script we provide below, which finds the right ProgIDs on its own.

By hand, with the Registry Editor

This method is fine if you only have two or three versions to rename.

1. Press Windows + R, type regedit and confirm. If Windows asks for confirmation, accept: you will stay within your own profile.
2. In the address bar at the top of the Registry Editor, paste HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.dwg\OpenWithProgids and press Enter.
3. The right pane lists names such as acad.8101.40C or acad.9101.40C: these are the ProgIDs registered for DWG files. Write down those starting with acad..
4. For each one, paste HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\acad.9101.40C\shell\open\command in the address bar (replacing acad.9101.40C with the ProgID you noted). The (Default) value gives the executable's path: the AutoCAD 2026 folder tells you the version.
5. Go up one level, to the shell\open key. Right-click in the right pane, New > String Value, name it FriendlyAppName, then double-click it and type AutoCAD 2026.
6. Close the Open with menu if it was open, then open it again: the new name shows up.

If there is no shell\open key under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\<ProgID>, that ProgID was registered for the whole machine: renaming it would require administrator rights. Leave it alone.

To undo, simply delete the FriendlyAppName value.

With the PowerShell script

The RenameDwgOpenWith.ps1 script does the same thing for every installed version at once:

• it reads the list of ProgIDs associated with DWG files;
• it keeps those whose executable is an acad.exe installed in an AutoCAD YYYY folder;
• it derives the name AutoCAD YYYY and writes it as FriendlyAppName.

By default, it changes nothing: it shows what it would do. It only writes with the -Apply switch, after backing up every key it is about to touch. The -Undo switch removes the names it set.

Disclaimer. This script is provided free of charge, as is, without any warranty. We tested it on a Windows 11 computer with AutoCAD 2024, 2025, 2026 and 2027 installed, but we cannot guarantee how it will behave on your configuration. It modifies the Windows registry, only in your user profile (HKEY_CURRENT_USER). Always run the simulation first, read what it reports, and keep the backups it creates. You use it at your own risk.

Step 1: download the script

1. Download RenameDwgOpenWith.ps1. If your browser shows the text instead of downloading the file, right-click the link and choose Save link as.
2. Create a dedicated folder, for example Documents\Scripts, and put the file there. The registry backups will be created next to it, in a Backups subfolder.

It's a plain text file: you can open it in Notepad and read it before running it. We encourage you to.

Step 2: open a terminal in that folder

1. Open the Documents\Scripts folder in File Explorer.
2. Right-click an empty area of the folder and choose Open in Terminal. A window opens, with a prompt ending in Scripts>.

Don't open the terminal as administrator. The script writes to your profile: run as administrator, it would write to the administrator account's profile, and you would see no change.

Step 3: simulate

Copy this command, paste it in the terminal (right-click or Ctrl+V) and press Enter:

powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\RenameDwgOpenWith.ps1

By default, Windows refuses to run downloaded PowerShell scripts. -ExecutionPolicy Bypass lifts that restriction for this single command, without changing your computer's settings.

The script displays three things:

• Before: the current entries of the Open with menu, each followed by the program it starts. You'll see the AutoCAD Application lines there, with their paths.
• ProgIDs to rename: a table giving, for each ProgID, its current name (empty), the name it will get (AutoCAD 2026) and the matching executable. Check that each name matches the executable's folder.
• The line Simulation: nothing has been changed.

If the table is empty, there's nothing to rename: either it's already done, or your AutoCAD versions are registered machine-wide (the script then says so in a yellow warning).

Step 4: apply

If the table looks right, run the same command again with -Apply:

powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\RenameDwgOpenWith.ps1 -Apply

The script:

1. exports each key it is about to change to a .reg file in the Backups subfolder (one Backup: line per file). If a backup fails, it stops without writing anything;
2. writes the names;
3. tells File Explorer that file associations have changed;
4. lists the menu again, in the After section: you should read AutoCAD 2024, AutoCAD 2025…

Close the Open with menu if it was open and open it again. There's no need to restart File Explorer or log off.

If DWG TrueView is installed too, add -IncludeTrueView (in simulation, then with -Apply) so it shows as "DWG TrueView 2024" instead of "DWG TrueView Application".

Undoing

From the same folder:

powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\RenameDwgOpenWith.ps1 -Undo

The script only removes the names it set itself: a FriendlyAppName you typed by hand, different from its own, stays in place. Add -IncludeTrueView if you used it.

The .reg files in the Backups folder are a second safety net: double-clicking one of them restores the corresponding key to the state it was in before -Apply.

After an AutoCAD update

A repair, an update or the installation of a new version may rewrite the ProgIDs. If "AutoCAD Application" entries come back, simply run the script again with -Apply: it only writes the missing names.

Summary

Symptom	Several identical "AutoCAD Application" entries in Open with
Cause	AutoCAD's ProgID provides no name; File Explorer uses the description of acad.exe, the same for every version
Fix	A FriendlyAppName string value under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\<ProgID>\shell\open
Rights required	None: user profile only
Undo	Delete the value, or RenameDwgOpenWith.ps1 -Undo