SOLIDWORKS Frequently Asked Questions

You can report the suspected non-compliant reseller here. 

During your browser-based session, any files created or modifications made to sample files are not saved on disk after the session is closed. The exception to this is files saved under the Home Folder location during your session.

You can also download or upload individual files through the virtualization platform.

You can move your software from your current computer to a new computer, open SOLIDWORKS then use the Help > Transfer License feature.

This feature deactivates the product on your current machine so it can be reactivated on the new machine. You then go to the new computer, install SOLIDWORKS then start it and select Help > Activate to proceed with the activation process.

This issue can occur if the SOLIDWORKS® License Service is not installed properly on the machine. In most of the cases, this issue is resolved by performing a repair installation of SOLIDWORKS. Follow the below steps for a repair installation:

1. Login as an administrator
2. Go to Start > Control Panel > Program and Features > SOLIDWORKS and click ‘Change’ to repair the installation
3. Select ‘Repair the individual installation (on this computer)’
4. Click ‘Next’
5. Follow the instructions to complete the modification

After the repair is successful, try following the steps to perform the activation:

1. Rename the FLEXnet folder and try activation again:
   Go to C:\ProgramData\FLEXnet and rename the folder FLEXnet (maybe to FLEXnet_old) (The ProgramData folder is a hidden folder. Either you can enable to show hidden folders from Folder options or you can directly type c:\Programdata into the address bar and press enter to access this folder. You will be able to find the Flexnet folder)
2. Try the activation again

The activation process uses minimal information about the product and system to create a request for a product license. The license request is composed of the product's serial number, name, version and language along with the operating system name, version and language. In addition, a Hardware ID and Activation ID are created.

The Hardware ID is a mathematically computed one-way hash based on your computer's hard drive geometry and CPU family, and cannot be used to identify the make or model of your computer or its components. The Hardware ID is only used as an identifier for the machine, and never sent to SOLIDWORKS.

The Activation ID is a 64-bit random number which is then down sampled to reduce the size of the activation request code. The Activation ID is only used to identify an individual activation request and contains no information about the product or hardware.

The license request is sent to SOLIDWORKS either through a secure (SSL) Internet connection or by email. If the request is valid, a valid license is returned that enables the product immediately. The activation process is completely anonymous and never requests, collects, or transmits personal information. It does not scan your hard drive, and none of the information collected can be used to identify your individual hardware components.

We use the industry-standard Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to transmit data to product activation servers that are both physically secure and have limited employee access.

As a worldwide 3DEXPERIENCE Company, we discover companies inadvertently use unlicensed software due to a lack of proper software asset management and software procurement policies. This in turn puts them at risk of liability from improper software license usage.

We recommend companies to carry out a regular review of your organization’s software usage to ensure that you remain protected and compliant.

The SolidNetWork License Server contains a License File that has information regarding the version of SOLIDWORKS and the number of purchased licenses. The number of concurrent users is based on the number of purchased licenses.

SOLIDWORKS is leveraging the latest technology to deliver you incredible 3D software over the internet. With that in mind, we do suggest using this with a broadband connection of at least 3000/300 Kbps (Download/Upload). For best experience, we have found 5000/500 Kbps to be ideal for 1920x1080 resolution. For an acceptable experience, a minimum of 1000/100 is as low as a user should go.

Product activation is a one-time process that is typically completed immediately after installation of the software. Internet activation typically takes 10 to 30 seconds to complete. Email activation takes about 10 minutes to complete.

There is a single activation allowed.  If you need to use your software on another computer, you must transfer your activation from the activation server.

SNL customers should activate immediately through the License Manager to distribute the licenses across their network.

You must activate your product within 30 days after you first installed and launched your SOLIDWORKS product. (Users working with an evaluation license equipped with product activation will have different timing requirements for the activation step).

You can contact SOLIDWORKS Student Edition Support and provide the Installation Manager logs.

To go to the Installation log folder, you can type %appdata% at Start > RUN and press Enter, and it will open the "Roaming" folder. In the "Roaming" folder, go to the "SOLIDWORKS" folder. Under the "SOLIDWORKS" folder, you will find a folder named “Installation log.”  Zip this complete folder and provide it for investigation.

However, before contacting the support team, you can follow this procedure to troubleshoot the issue:

Try a complete uninstallation of SOLIDWORKS using the Microsoft fixit tool:

1. Download the Microsoft fixit tool from this link:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17588/fix-problems-that-block-programs-from-being-installed-or-removed

2. Run the downloaded tool and click Next
3. Click Uninstalling
4. In product selection select ' SOLIDWORKS (version) ' and click Next to follow uninstallation process
5. Repeat the process until all the versions of SOLIDWORKS and all the SOLIDWORKS products are uninstalled
6. Try installation of SOLIDWORKS

Yes, students with Student Edition and SEK serial numbers have access to the MySolidWorks.com portal, through which they can access the SOLIDWORKS Knowledge Base. Please note that Student Design Kit (SDK) users do not have access to the MySolidWorks web portal, except for limited “Guest” access.  More information is available here: https://my.solidworks.com/account/student-access