SOLIDWORKS Frequently Asked Questions

No, to transfer an SNL license, use the transfer option in the SNL License Manager.

Many organizations find the long-term value comes from the cumulative effect of ongoing performance improvements, interoperability enhancements, usability refinements, technical support access, and workflow optimizations that help engineering environments remain efficient and supportable over time.

No. Many teams find the long-term value comes from the cumulative effect of ongoing improvements to everyday software performance, usability, workflow efficiency, interoperability, and technical support access. These smaller refinements can help reduce engineering friction across everyday work.

The benefits of SOLIDWORKS certification included with the SOLIDWORKS Subscription service are also advantageous. As a Subscription Services member, you have access to 15 of the 17 SOLIDWORKS Exams, including the CSWA (Certified SOLIDWORKS Associate), CSWP (Certified SOLIDWORKS Professional), and Specialty exams, all to validate user proficiency of the SOLIDWORKS essentials. Build your team’s skills by selecting one exam from three main categories—twice a year—for every seat of SOLIDWORKS on Subscription.

Not necessarily. Many organizations find long-term value in the ongoing performance improvements, workflow optimizations, interoperability enhancements (such as save to previous release), technical support access, and supported upgrade paths that help engineering environments remain maintainable and predictable over time.

There are many other crucial perks included within SOLIDWORKS Subscription Services – spanning areas such as certification exam access, to accompanying software aiding other aspects of the product development process (such as SOLIDWORKS CAM for machining).

Yes. Get started with SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD free trial!

Yes. Get started with SOLIDWORKS Design free trial!

Yes. The SOLIDWORKS for Startups Program is a robust program that offers hardware startup founders free SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD software and other world-class products. In addition to the software, the program offers free training and co-marketing resources to help hardware startups succeed. Find out if your startup is eligible and sign up for SOLIDWORKS for Startups.

Yes. SOLIDWORKS Design for Makers offers SOLIDWORKS design and manufacturing solutions at a low cost for any maker. Learn more about SOLIDWORKS Design for Makers and start making today.

SOLIDWORKS for Makers includes 25 GB of 3DEXPERIENCE cloud platform storage through 3DDrive and 3DSpace, providing ample capacity for your designs. Features such as file versioning, history tracking, and recovery help keep your personal workspace organized. This is usually more than enough for personal and hobby projects.

Currently, storage cannot be expanded, and the 25 GB limit applies only to SOLIDWORKS for Makers licenses.

Since your school already gives you access to our flagship product for students, use this version instead of signing up for the free SOLIDWORKS Design Standard for Students. SOLIDWORKS Design Premium for Students includes advanced features like linear static simulations, 3D routing (pipes/tubes/cables), advanced surface flattening, as well as our dull desktop suite of products like SOLIDWORKS Simulation, CAM, Electrical, Visualize, Composer and more. 

This can happen if you are kicked out of your session. Refresh ( F5) your browser and wait 30-60 seconds for the previous session to close.

The software will successfully reactivate in most cases. If your attempt to reactivate fails, please contact your Reseller Support for help.

Student Edition products allow for 2 activations.  If both activations have already been consumed, then you can contact our support team for further assistance by filling in the Student support form.  If you only installed and activated SOLIDWORKS once, then you can install and activate the license one more time without contacting SOLIDWORKS for assistance.

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.

Many engineering environments remain stable for periods of time. The challenge is that surrounding technologies (e.g. add-ins, PDM, dependent software), customer expectations, operating systems, hardware, and collaboration environments continue evolving independently. Over time, maintaining compatibility, supportability, and flexibility often becomes increasingly difficult without access to ongoing updates and supported upgrade paths.