Turning off the AutoCAD splash screen for faster loading
*Applies to: AutoCAD R13, 14, 2000, 2000i, 2002, 2004 and 2005*

With most applications there are some hidden secrets that are rarely discovered.  Autodesk is very open with some of their once kept secrets in the AutoCAD documentation, but there are still some yet unknown to some of us out there.  This tip is about one of the mysterious things that can be done with the AutoCAD shortcut icon and a common term in Windows called command-line switch.  There are a lot of applications that use these switches besides AutoCAD to trigger certain behavior on start up.

  The switch to suppress the AutoCAD splash screen to force AutoCAD to load a little bit faster is /nologo.  We all know how precious time is these days and every little bit helps.  To use the switch follow directions below.

Step 1 -	Right-click the AutoCAD Productivity icon on the Desktop. Then choose Properties.
Step 2 -	In the AutoCAD R2000i Properties dialog box, select the Shortcut tab.
Step 3 -	On the Shortcut tab, edit the parameters for the switch in the Target box.
Step 4 -	When making changes to the Target box, make sure you don't accidentally remove any section of the application path or filename itself. You will also want to make sure there is a single space after the path and file name and before your switch. Also, make sure there is a space between each argument of your switch statements.
Step 5 -	Click the OK button to apply changes and exit the dialog box.  Now run AutoCAD and you should see that the splash screen has gone away.

See Also:
Click here to launch a listing of the command line switches.