Software restrictions

• ME faculty and research staff need to contact mech-it@austin.utexas.edu and ask about purchasing research licenses or other CAD products that may be available.
  • If you are not ME, please contact your department IT group for research licenses.

How can I access this software

Solidworks is only available to participating departments for select courses in ME, CAEE, ASE and BME in the UT Cockrell School of Engineering for installation on personally owned computers for academic purposes.

1. ****To receive your product activation key, fill out the request form here - https://forms.office.com/r/mtg69Z1Wmg and please see the important notes below.
   
   1. NOTE: This form is restricted to UT Austin Microsoft 365 accounts only. You will need to sign in by inputting your UT Microsoft 365 email address (@my.utexas.edu, @austin.utexas.edu). Your UTmail (Gmail) account will not work.
   2. NOTE: We suggest copying the instructions and your serial number at the end of the request form to a text editor. You will need the serial number later during setup.
2. Open the link below and follow the directions starting in #3.
   1. http://www.solidworks.com/sw/education/SDL_form.html
3. Fill out the SOLIDWORKS Community Download form with your information.
   1. For Product Information, select Yes to having a serial number that starts with 9020 (serial number provided in the Microsoft Form).
   2. For SOLIDWORKS Version, select 2025 (latest service pack)
      
   3. Select Request Download, then click Accept and Continue to the terms, and then click Download to download SolidWorksSetup.exe
4. Run the SolidWorksSetup.exe (WinZip self-extracting EXE file) and upzip the contents to a desired folder/destination on your computer.
   1. If it doesn't launch the SOLIDWORKS Installation Manager automatically, double-click on the sldIM.exe file that was extracted.
5. Select "Install of this computer" for the type of installation and click Next.
6. Make sure SOLIDWORKS under 3D Design is checked and paste in the serial number from your Microsoft Form request submission.
7. Review default installation options and revise as desired. We recommend that if you don't need Solidworks Electrical, deselect it from installing.
8. Accept the terms at the bottom and click "Downloand and Install".
9. This process may take 30+ minutes even on fast computers on high-speed internet.
10. Restart the computer if requested.
11. Open Solidworks, select activate and click Next.
12. Select Automatically over the internet and click Next after putting in your email address.
13. Click Finish.

Common Problems

1. Solidworks won't install onto my Apple computer - Using from a Mac with appropriate Windows accommodations
   
   

2. "The source folder is not versioned properly" is a common error when installing or modifying an existing installation of SolidWorks. 

   • https://kb.wisc.edu/cae/page.php?id=126752

   • Text in notepad file should be SOLIDWORKS 2025 SP3.0 for the current version (or substitute year and version numbers for the version you are installing/modifying/activating)
     
     

3. Blank installation Window
   1. Caused by "blocked" download
      • Delete the extracted installation folder.
      • Right-click the downloaded zip file, choose properties, and make sure the file doesn't have a block attached (https://thirtysix.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/202921675-How-to-Unblock-a-File-Downloaded-from-an-Email-or-the-Internet)
      • Unzip and try installing again
        
        
4. "Unsupported SQL Server Version" when installing an updated version
   1. The electrical component of Solidworks uses SQL Server. If you are needing to install a newer version of Solidworks, you have a couple options.
      • Don't install the electrical component. It won't need SQL Server and will skip that check and install the remaining components.
        • Or
      • Fully uninstall the older version of Solidworks and then uninstall all SQL Server versions from your machine first. It will probably be listed as SQL Server Express, Microsoft SQL Server, etc, then install Solidworks as above
        • Or
      • Best option, do both. Uninstall everything first, and then on the new install, don't install electrical unless you need it because it does install a SQL server on your machine.
        
        
5. Intel Arc GPU issue for people with UT for ME laptops. Freezing/stuttering in Solidworks.
   • • This page explains in some detail - https://community.intel.com/t5/Intel-ARC-Graphics/Solidworks-on-an-ARC-A770/m-p/1425976#M287
     • Essentially, you just need to add the GPU model names to the registry.

     • Here is a link to a zipped batch (.bat) file that users can download, extract and open to add these entries to your registry automatically for the Intel Arc A370M GPU. The specific discrete GPU in the UT for ME laptop that was reported as having this issue was the Intel Arc A370M along with the integrated Iris Xe GPU, so this .bat file is specific to those versions. If there is an Intel Arc-equipped computer with a different GPU model experiencing this issue, this .bat file will need to be modified with the official GPU model name(s) present in Device Manager (open file with Notepad, edit and re-save as a .bat file). That forum link above shows how other people were having the same issues with the A770 model.

6. Force Windows to use discrete GPU with Solidworks if it's not doing so automatically.
   • • Windows should automatically do this, but sometimes with consumer-line GPUs, you may need to force Windows to use the discrete GPU with Solidworks.
     • https://www.mlc-cad.com/solidworks-help-center/how-to-force-solidworks-to-use-your-graphics-card/
7. Solidworks Crashing:
   1. Possible disk corruption or install errors
      • Completely uninstall Solidworks (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4028054/windows-repair-or-remove-programs-in-windows-10)
      • Reinstall using the same steps from above.
   2. GPU settings configuration issue
      • Open the Solidworks Diagnostic tool (Start > Solidworks Tools year > Solidworks Rx year
      • Click the Diagnostics tab, and click Reload Results
      • There is an Error listing "There is no information on your configuration in our database. If you are experiencing issues with your system, you may want to visit the website to find recommended cards and drivers."
      • Open Solidworks and go to Tools > Options > Performance and check the box marked "Use software OpenGL
      • Close Solidworks and reopen it

8. "Sorry, unable to lookup your session" error filling out request form

   • Try filling out the form in a different browser
   • Try clearing your browser cache and cookies and starting the form over.
     
     
9. Further troubleshooting - Solidworks Troubleshooting