An error has occurred while drawing the contents of this window

Issue

You received the following error message when launching Revit® or when opening an RVT file or specific view:

Solution

This error may occur if your graphics card is not able to be used for hardware acceleration within Revit-based products. Check to see if your card is on the Graphics Hardware List, and that you have the recommended driver installed.

To prevent this error from occurring, disable hardware acceleration. Follow these steps:

For Revit 2010-2012 Products:

1. Click Application menu > Options.
2. In the Options dialog box, click the Graphics tab.
3. Clear the Use Hardware Acceleration (Direct3D) check box.
4. Click OK to close the dialog box.
5. Exit Revit.
6. Restart Revit for the settings to take effect.

For Revit 2009 Products:

1. Click Settings menu > Options.
2. Click the Graphics tab in the Options dialog box.
3. Clear the Use OpenGL Hardware Acceleration check box.
4. Click OK to close the dialog box.
5. Exit Revit.
6. Restart Revit for the settings to take effect.

If you are unable to start Revit as a result of this error message, you can disable hardware acceleration by following these steps:

1. Exit Revit.
2. Locate the Revit.ini file:
   
   Revit 2012 Products:
   C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\Revit\<Autodesk Revit Product>
   Prior Releases:
   C:\Program Files\Autodesk\<Autodesk Revit Product>\Program
   
3. Using Notepad, open the Revit.ini file.
4. Locate the following line:
    
   UseGraphicsHardware="
    
5. Change the value to 2
6. Save the Revit.ini file and close it.
7. Restart Revit.

If disabling Hardware Acceleration does not fix the issue, the Microsoft DirectX® End-User Runtime may be corrupt. This page has steps for reinstalling the Microsoft DirectX® End-User Runtime.