SOLIDWORKS Frequently Asked Questions

Please contact the online store/reseller from whom you have purchased the Student Edition license. They can provide you with information regarding your serial numbers and/or any questions related to your order process.

If your original device is no longer working and you're unable to deactivate the license, you can install the Student Edition on a second machine. This second activation is provided as a courtesy, allowing you to get back up and running without needing to contact Support. Please note, however, that this second activation is not intended for concurrent use on both machines – which would be considered a violation of the Terms of Service.

Note that the system requirements for commercial versions and Student Edition versions are not different. For details, please check this link: www.solidworks.com/SystemRequirements

This link provides the minimum system requirements for running SOLIDWORKS.

It is possible to purchase the SOLIDWORKS Student Edition from the SOLIDWORKS student store website. Use this link:www.solidworks.com/studentstore

Please note that Student Edition license for Military Veterans can be purchased through this link: www.solidworks.com/mvp

SOLIDWORKS is not officially supported in the Mac environment.  We are aware of many users who run SOLIDWORKS successfully in a dual-boot Windows environment on Macs.  We are not aware of many users running successfully in an emulated Windows environment on Macs.  If you choose to run SOLIDWORKS on a Mac, your best chance for success will be choosing a dual-boot "Boot Camp" setup (booting in Windows) on your Mac.

SOLIDWORKS eDrawings and the free 2D CAD product DraftSight are supported in native Mac OS.

Please refer to this link providing system requirement information for installing SOLIDWORKS:

www.solidworks.com/SystemRequirements

Generally, in this case, installation logs show an error with the installation of VSTA (vsta_aide.msi).

When trying to manually install the VSTA component by running vsta_aide.msi, installation of VSAT fails with error code 1305 "Error reading from file' during installation."

Generally, this occurs when the installation is running from OneDrive and the Installation Manager is unable to read some files from OneDrive leading to installation failure.

To resolve the issue, copy the all the downloaded files to a folder that’s local to the system, then run the installation from the local folder.

In most of the cases this problem is caused by unsupported graphics cards and drivers. To verify this, try to start SOLIDWORKS with Software OpenGL (if this option is not disabled due to unsupported graphics card). You can either follow the steps in the above question, or follow the steps below:

1. Launch SOLIDWORKS and without opening any document go to Tools > Options > Performance
2. Enable “Use Software OpenGL”
3. Select OK and now try to open a new part, assembly, or drawing

If SOLIDWORKS does not crash in Software OpenGL mode, this confirms that the problem is due to the graphics card or its drivers. To see the list of SOLIDWORKS supported graphics cards and drivers for your system (if your system is not listed please select Any System Vendor) follow the link: https://www.solidworks.com/support/hardware-certification

Note that the system requirements for commercial versions and Student Edition versions are not different. For details, please check this link: www.solidworks.com/SystemRequirements

This link provides the minimum system requirements for running SOLIDWORKS.

You can download the Student Edition from www.solidworks.com/SEK

If you have a serial number (9020…), you can follow these steps to download:

1. Go to the link www.solidworks.com/SEK
2. Select “Yes” for the Option "I already have a serial number that starts with 9020"
3. Choose the appropriate SOLIDWORKS version from the drop/down list
4. Select ‘Request Download’ and accept terms and conditions
5. Click ‘Download’ > exe will be downloaded

If you have an SDK-ID:

1. Go to the link www.solidworks.com/SEK
2. Select “No” for the Option "I already have a serial number that starts with 9020"
   (Note:  Your serial numbers will be displayed on screen later, as well as provided via email, once you proceed for downloading)
3. Enter your SDK-ID (This ID can be obtained from your teacher/professor at school/college/university)
4. Choose the appropriate SOLIDWORKS version from the drop/down list
5. Select ‘Request Download’ and accept terms and conditions
6. Click ‘Download’ > exe will be downloaded

Note that SDKs (Student Design Kits, or Student Standard) are a limited version based on the SOLIDWORKS Standard package. Add-in products like Toolbox, Simulation, Routing, etc. are not included in the SOLIDWORKS Standard package. You can check the products that are included in Standard and other packages by using the link below:

www.solidworks.com/solidworks-3d-cad

If you want to use add-in products, please purchase the SOLIDWORKS Student Edition license through this link: www.solidworks.com/studentstore

This error is related to the installation of prerequisite VC++ components. To troubleshoot the issue, try reinstallation of VC++ components manually:

1.  Go to Start > User Account > User Account Control Settings. Set it to “Never Notify”. Restart the system
2.  Login as administrator
3.  Uninstall VC++ redistributable components (2008 and 2010 and 2012, 2013, 2015) from Programs and Features
4.  Restart the computer
5.  Login as administrator
6.  Reinstall: VC++ 2008 and 2010 and 2012, 2013, 2015
   
   [a] downloaded files\prereqs\VCRedist9\vcredist_x86.exe and vcredist_x64.exe
   [b] downloaded files\prereqs\VCRedist10\vcredist_x86.exe and vcredist_x64.exe
   [c] downloaded files\prereqs\VCRedist11\vcredist_x86.exe and vcredist_x64.exe
   [d] downloaded files\prereqs\VCRedist12\vcredist_x86.exe and vcredist_x64.exe
   [e] downloaded files\prereqs\VCRedist14\vcredist_x86.exe and vcredist_x64.exe
    
7.  Restart your computer
8.  Login as administrator
9.  Install SOLIDWORKS

You might be receiving this error during installation because you may not be using a supported virtual machine for SOLIDWORKS.

Note that SOLIDWORKS is not supported on all virtual machine environments. You can find the list of supported environments with this link: www.solidworks.com/SystemRequirements