How to enable DWG import in SketchUp 8 Free

As an architect living in Indonesia I (and many others) faced one same dreaded problem in my workflow: DWG dependency.
I've post list of applications that I use before, though I must share this info too (a bit too late actually).

So how to enable DWG Import in your Free SketchUp 8?

We all know Google stop supporting DWG Import feature starting from SketchUp 8 (free). The last one (7.1) have additional add-on http://dl.google.com/sketchup/gsu7/AllowDWGImportInSketchUp7.msi to enable it.

Then another way is: You can install SketchUp 8 Pro trial for 8 hours of usage if you want a temporary solution.

Or.. you can just stick with SketchUp 7.1 and ask your partners to downgrade save as sketchup 7 format for file exchange. Which is what I choose, after all there are not much important features in version 8.

Now.. do you know that actually there is no difference between both version?
Yes this page http://sketchup.google.com/product/gsup.html say many.

But when we exclude Layout and StyleBuilder, both are identical! huh really?

Let's prove it

- Download the trial version http://sketchup.google.com/intl/en/download/gsup.html and don't install ( I assume you never install it before not to mention got expired)
- I'll assume you already have SketchUp 8 free installed
- Download "the always amazing" 7-zip http://www.7-zip.org/ and install
- Now open GoogleSketchUpProWEN.exe with 7-zip so you get this shot

- Right click on GoogleSketchUp8.msi and Open Inside, look for SketchUp8.lf file and extract it to [somewhere]
- Copy your SketchUp8.lf into C:\Documents And Settings\ All Users\Application Data\Google\Google SketchUp 8\ in Windows Vista/7 this probably (I don't know) goes to C:\ProgramData\Google\Google SketchUp 8\
- Now start your SketchUp

- There you go! your 8 hours SketchUp 8 Pro Trial, now you can import and export DWG
- You can delete SketchUp8.lf to revert Free version (cause 8 hours is so precious time to spend!)

OK now assuming that you're running out of those hours but you want more? Yes you can... you can reinstall your Windows and SketchUp or let's go deeper...

I found out that beside the timebomb SketchUp8.lf, there still another three as follow:
C:\windows\system32\ALLFSAF8a.ocx
and two registry entries:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{9M510529-49b21b1e-c648-4022-a68e-78f4bb2c0251}
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{M95ea31583d-4e5c-4c16-bbdf-57e4e96d5644}

You need to be admin to defuse all timebombs:
- delete those two file (including SketchUp8.lf)
- and delete those two registrty entries (use regedit to search the Id and delete the matched folder)

Confused? no problem

Here is inf file to automate above tasks

[Version]
Signature=$Windows NT$
Class=Base

[DefaultInstall.NT]
DelReg=skp8timeout
DelFiles=evallicense1,evallicense2

[skp8timeout]
HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{9M510529-49b21b1e-c648-4022-a68e-78f4bb2c0251}"
HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{M95ea31583d-4e5c-4c16-bbdf-57e4e96d5644}"

[evallicense1]
SketchUp8.lf

[evallicense2]
ALLFSAF8a.ocx

[DestinationDirs]
evallicense1=16419,"Google\Google SketchUp 8"
evallicense2=11


- Paste above lines in notepad and save as "skpreset.inf" in the same place you keep the original SketchUp8.lf before ( notice the quotes when typing on file save dialog )


[Version]
Signature=$Windows NT$
Class=Base

[DefaultInstall.NT]
CopyFiles=evallicense

[evallicense]
SketchUp8.lf

[DestinationDirs]
evallicense=16419,"Google\Google SketchUp 8"


- Paste above lines in notepad and save as "skpeval.inf" in the same place you keep the original SketchUp8.lf before (notice the quotes when typing on file save dialog)

Now to defuse timebombs right click on skpreset.inf and install. To install new 8 hours trial do the same to skpeval.inf

Enjoy

Notes:
SketchUp as well as DraftSight and DoubleCAD XT use the same technology to provide DWG compatibility called DirectDWG later renamed as Teigha by ODA (Open Design Alliance). Use of those combined freeware for DWG exchange is OK.