mthd97 Posted November 6 Share Posted November 6 Hi all, I was wondering if anyone here was able to use Home Designer Pro 7 on a newer Windows PC like windows 10 or 11 ? I have installed the program from the disks and have downloaded the program updates but I am having difficulties in installing the program updates. I get a red triangle on the download with an exclamation ⚠️ mark on it, asking if I trust the download before opening it. Of course I trust it becuase it is an official download from CAHD site. I have dragged and dropped the files onto HDP7 but they do not install. How do I get these updates to install on a newer windows PC with either windows 10 or 11 ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y-g-m-n Posted November 6 Share Posted November 6 Pro 7? never heard of that version Latest is subscription based titled HD 2026 one before that was HD 2025 etc based on year it. OR do you mean Chief Architect X17? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mthd97 Posted November 6 Author Share Posted November 6 On 11/6/2025 at 7:03 PM, y-g-m-n said: Pro 7? never heard of that version Latest is subscription based titled HD 2026 one before that was HD 2025 etc based on year it. OR do you mean Chief Architect X17? No this is ancient because it goes back to CAV10. (Better Homes & Gardens) BH&G HDP7 is based on CAV10. About 20 years ago lol. . I do have HDP 2025 though, the last perpetual version. I can get CAV10.08b working on these newer machines as of today with help from other users and with the old red HASP dongle key. I was trying to find out if I can do the same with BH&G HDP7 that also has an old red HASP dongle included with it ? X17 in reality is version 27 of Chief Architect as you may know ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob_Medvetz Posted Thursday at 06:36 PM Share Posted Thursday at 06:36 PM Can you post a screen shot of the error message? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mthd97 Posted yesterday at 02:09 AM Author Share Posted yesterday at 02:09 AM On 11/7/2025 at 4:36 AM, Bob_Medvetz said: Can you post a screen shot of the error message? Hi Bob ! Thanks once again for your help. Here is a pic of the download message I get after downloading the BH&G HDP7 update. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y-g-m-n Posted yesterday at 09:26 AM Share Posted yesterday at 09:26 AM it is a WIN safety thing. might need to lower your security settings to allow you to download but it looks like it downloaded and is just giving you warning about opening it. what comes up when you click SEE MORE? If it downloaded click the download arrow button and OPEN FOLDER for downloads. then you can RUN/open file by right clicking on it and hit RUN AS ADMIN.. BUT make sure you trust it else an EXE file is an executable which if written by BAD guys can kill your computer or give you virus etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solution mthd97 Posted yesterday at 11:02 AM Author Solution Share Posted yesterday at 11:02 AM 19 hours ago, y-g-m-n said: it is a WIN safety thing. might need to lower your security settings to allow you to download but it looks like it downloaded and is just giving you warning about opening it. what comes up when you click SEE MORE? If it downloaded click the download arrow button and OPEN FOLDER for downloads. then you can RUN/open file by right clicking on it and hit RUN AS ADMIN.. BUT make sure you trust it else an EXE file is an executable which if written by BAD guys can kill your computer or give you virus etc. Hi, the download is safe becuase it is from an official Chief Architect website so I trust it. When I try to run it as an administrator it looks for another program to open it and provides a program list to choose from. I have tried dragging and dropping the update file right onto BH&G HP7 icon but all to no avail. I will put up another screenshot to show what is happening and what the update file type is. Maybe someone could help ? I have this software BH&G HDP7 running on new computer with XP pro on it. So if it doesn’t work on the newer machines, I am not that worried about it. But I like to try and see if it will run on windows 10 & 11 machines as well with a little help from other users. Edited: Problem solved now and it is indeed working on my newer windows machines. Thanks for the support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y-g-m-n Posted 8 hours ago Share Posted 8 hours ago well what fixed it? Curious peeps wanna know Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mthd97 Posted 7 hours ago Author Share Posted 7 hours ago 26 minutes ago, y-g-m-n said: well what fixed it? Curious peeps wanna know I tried again by dragging and dropping the file onto HDP7 and it asked me to download the file again, and I did. I downloaded the windows vista file 7.08b from the CAHD official website and this time the browser didn't give me the question or warning for some strange reason ? The file installed fine and everything worked ok after entering the CD Key and having the dongle in place. The important thing is to install the update otherwise the dark red HASP dongle key will return errors when you try to run the program. The other thing to do when installing the program on a newer machine, is that you have to manually double click the .exe file so that the program will install. In this case there are two program CD’s. One more trick that @Bob_Medvetzhas shown me, is to edit the registry so that the drivers for the HASP dongle install correctly. You can see his posts on the ChiefTalk website. Please search Chief Architect version 10 on newer windows machines. The newer versions of Chief Architect are the best to use and I have CA X10. But much of my work like others was done in much older versions. So if you have a client from say twenty years ago and they want to add or remodel their home, you don’t have to start from scratch. Beware you need save older CA files via X8 to get older files to display more correctly in plan and in layouts. You will still have some editing to do but most of the model will be correct. Hope that helps others who are in a similar situation as us older users are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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