Student Edition serial numbers are version-specific. This error can occur if a previous version serial number was used for installing a new version. (i.e., the serial number used for the installation is not entitled to the version you are trying to install).

It might be possible that the previous version serial number was automatically taken from the registry (as it was available in the registries) on the serial number page and the user continued without modifying it.

Hence, on the Serial Number page of the Installation Manager, please ensure that the correct serial number is entered. If any serial number is automatically displayed, remove it and enter the correct serial number. Proceed with the installation.

No. If you upgrade or replace your computer, you can transfer your license to the new or upgraded machine at your convenience. Simply deactivate your license through the Transfer License option in the Help menu; then, after upgrading or replacing your computer, reinstall the product and reactivate it.

When the installation files are downloaded and extracted it is possible that Windows will block the HTML files and scripting that creates the user interface for the Installation Manager. This results in the Installation Manager not displaying any options and showing a white screen.

To correct this issue, the files for the Installation Manager will need to be unblocked.

1. Navigate to the <SOLIDWORKS Download>\sldim\lang\english\HTML folder that was extracted from the download
2. Right click on a file found in the folder and select Properties
3. On the General tab select the ‘Unblock’ option
4. Do this for every file in this folder. The list of files should include the following:
   • frameset.html
   • framesetstartup.html
   • header.html
   • imfunc.js
   • navpanestartup.html
   • sldim.css
   • sldim_navepane.css

Although most customers activate their software as soon as they install it, you have a 30-day grace period after your first launch to activate the product (evaluation and other products will have different timing requirements). The software, which is fully functional during this period, will automatically remind you to activate at regular intervals. After 30 days, the product will stop working until you activate it.

Starting with SOLIDWORKS 2019-2020, add-on products like CAM, Composer, Electrical, Simulation, Flow Simulation, etc. are included under the CAD serial number itself.  You are not required to input serial numbers separately to install these products.  Just enter the serial number for CAD; all other fields should be empty and deselected.

Note that SOLIDWORKS PCB, SOLIDWORKS PDM, and other server products are not part of the list of products included with SOLIDWORKS CAD. You will need a separate serial number if installing these products. SDK licenses are entitled to only SOLIDWORKS Standard products. You can find the list of features for SOLIDWORKS Standard through the product matrix at this link - www.solidworks.com/solidworks-3d-cad 

This error is related to the network license of SOLIDWORKS. It is possible that an Education Edition network license (serial number starting with '9710…') got auto-populated during the installation. Note that this is an incorrect serial number for installing a Student Edition version. If you wish to install a SOLIDWORKS Student Edition, contact your school/university and request that they provide a Student Edition serial number which begins with '9020…’.

Once you have the correct serial number, you can follow the steps below to modify the serial number:

1. Go to Control Panel > Programs and Features and select SOLIDWORKS. Select “Change”.
2. Select the option for "Modify installation” and then change the serial number.
3. Select “Next” for the other prompts and finish the installation.

This problem can occur if users have insufficient permission/access to write to "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SOLIDWORKS" (registry key). Please ensure the user has write access to the above registry key. In conjunction, ensure the user has at a minimum read access to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\SOLIDWORKS" as it populates the former registry key from this information. (you can run registry editor from Start > Run > type "regedit" (without quotes) and select OK. This will launch registry editor).

Caution: Incorrectly editing the registry can severely damage your operating system. The SOLIDWORKS Technical Support team strongly suggests that you back up the registry data before making any changes to the registry.  In addition to the above cause, this problem can also occur if there is problem with the installation of a Microsoft component (Microsoft Visual Basic 7.1) required for SOLIDWORKS.

If the above solution does not work, please try the following to troubleshoot the issue:

1. Uninstall Microsoft Visual Basic 7.1.  This program is not visible in Programs and Features, so open a command prompt and type:    msiexec.exe /x{90120064-0070-0000-0000-4000000FF1CE}
2. Restart the computer
3. Browse to <DVD or SOLIDWORKS Download location>\prereqs\VBA
4. Double click vba71.msi
5. Double-click vba71-kb2783832-x64.msp
6. Double-click vba71_1033.msi* Please make sure to follow this order.  Also, install the language-specific VBA* by double-clicking the respective MSI file
7. Once done with the reinstall/repair of VBA, perform a repair of the SOLIDWORKS installation

*Install the following package for the desired language:

• vba71_1028.msi Chinese
• vba71_1031.msi German
• vba71_1033.msi English
• vba71_1036.msi French
• vba71_1040.msi Italian
• vba71_1041.msi Japanese
• vba71_1042.msi Korean
• vba71_1046.msi Portuguese-Brazilian
• vba71_2052.msi Chinese-Simplified
• vba71_3082.msi Spanish

Please note that the default download location is C:\users\<username>\Documents\SOLIDWORKS Download\ <SOLIDWORKS _Version>.

If you did not receive serial numbers via email, check your spam/junk folder as the email might have been filtered. You may also contact the online store/reseller from whom you purchased the Student Edition and provide them with your order number to get more information.

It indicates that the SDK-ID has already expired. An SDK-ID is sent to a school/college/university from the reseller. Please contact your school/college/university to get the newest SDK-ID.  If the SDK-ID has expired, the school needs to contact their reseller to request for a new ID.

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.

This error can occur if the Installation Manager is not able to connect to the SOLIDWORKS download servers. Try the following to resolve the issue:

Procedure A:

1. Set Internet Explorer as your default browser and reset Internet explorer to default settings. In the IE browser > Tools > Internet Options > Advanced and click “Restore advanced settings” and click “Reset” at bottom.
2. Close browser and restart it
3. Change IE compatibility mode: In IE menu >Tools > Compatibility View (select the option) and/or Compatibility View Settings, check the box "Display all websites in Compatibility View"
4. Try to download and install SOLIDWORKS

Procedure B:

If the issue is still not resolved, add the following domains to the firewall’s/proxy server exceptions list:

1. solidworks.com
2. im-ak.solidworks.com
3. dl-ak.solidworks.com
   use port 80 for adding all the above exceptions. Then try to download and install again

Procedure C:

There might be an issue with your Internet connection. Please check with your Internet service provider and see if they can help.

This error is related to the installation of SQL Server, which is required for the SOLIDWORKS Electrical software included in your package.

Do you use SOLIDWORKS Electrical? If not, you can deselect it for installation. To do that, run the installation again and on the summary page, click change for ‘Product Selection,’ deselect SOLIDWORKS Electrical from the list, and proceed with the installation.

If you use SOLIDWORKS Electrical, please try the following to troubleshot the issue:

Under Electrical Options, on the Summary page of the Installation Manager, make sure the correct SQL server instance is selected in the Electrical options of the Installation Manager and try the installation.

You can try the following:

• Try renaming the current instance TEW_SQLEXPRESS to TEW_SQLEXPRESS_1
• Try to install with “Install with a new instance of SQL Server”

Generally, this issue can be seen if prerequisites are not installed correctly.

To verify this: Try running SLDWORKS.exe from the install directory (Default location is “C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS”) and see what happens.  Do you see "Side by Side" error message window showing: "The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect…."

If yes, it points to an issue with the installation Microsoft Prerequisites “Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable" required for SOLIDWORKS. Please try the following steps to troubleshoot the issue:

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

1. downloaded files\prereqs\VCRedist9\vcredist_x86.exe and vcredist_x64.exe
2. downloaded files\prereqs\VCRedist10\vcredist_x86.exe and vcredist_x64.exe
3. downloaded files\prereqs\VCRedist11\vcredist_x86.exe and vcredist_x64.exe
4. downloaded files\prereqs\VCRedist12\vcredist_x86.exe and vcredist_x64.exe
5. downloaded files\prereqs\VCRedist14\vcredist_x86.exe and vcredist_x64.exe

7. Restart computer
8. Login as administrator
9. Install SOLIDWORKS

If the problem still occurs, repair the installation of SOLIDWORKS:

1. Go to Start > User Account > User Account Control Settings. Set it to “Never Notify”. Restart the system
2. Login as administrator
3. Turn off all anti-virus, popup blocker, ad-ware and spy-ware applications along with Windows Firewall
4. Go to Start > Control Panel > SOLIDWORKS and click ‘Change’ to repair the installation
5. Select ‘Repair the individual installation (on this computer)’
6. Click ‘Next’
7. Follow the instruction to complete the modification

To help assure a successful installation of the SOLIDWORKS® software, the Installation Manager checks to see if there are any pending reboot requests on your system. A pending reboot request occurs when a program or installation makes a change to files, registry keys, services, or operating system settings. This leaves the system in a transient state.

For example, a SQL Express installation automatically terminates if a pending reboot request exists. In other cases, the transient state of a SOLIDWORKS installation can lead to installation errors.

As a best practice, restart your system before beginning a SOLIDWORKS installation. If it is not possible to restart the computer at the time of install, then you can ignore the warning. In such cases, restarting the system becomes the first troubleshooting step following an unsuccessful installation

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
   1. a. downloaded files\prereqs\VCRedist9\vcredist_x86.exe and vcredist_x64.exe
   2. b. downloaded files\prereqs\VCRedist10\vcredist_x86.exe and vcredist_x64.exe
   3. c. downloaded files\prereqs\VCRedist11\vcredist_x86.exe and vcredist_x64.exe
   4. d. downloaded files\prereqs\VCRedist12\vcredist_x86.exe and vcredist_x64.exe
   5. e. downloaded files\prereqs\VCRedist14\vcredist_x86.exe and vcredist_x64.exe  
7.  Restart your computer
8.  Login as administrator
9.  Install SOLIDWORKS