A simple walk-through on how to transfer a Standalone SOLIDWORKS license from one machine to another.
If you're looking to upgrade your PC, move a license between your desktop and laptop, change hardware, reformat a machine, or transfer a Standalone SOLIDWORKS license from one computer to another for any other reason, you'll need to transfer your license. Thankfully, the process is quite straightforward.
This article pertains specifically to SOLIDWORKS Standalone licenses. If you're looking to transfer your Network license, try this article instead. If you are unsure what sort of license you have, this article can help you figure it out.
The process, at its core, is very simple:
- Deactivate the license from your old machine
- Make whatever changes are necessary
- Activate the license on your new machine.
But the use-case is a bit different depending on precisely why you are transferring your license. If you're making hardware or major software changes to one device, your "Old Machine" will just be the computer before your upgrades, and the "New Machine" will be the same computer after your upgrades. If you're looking to move the license from one machine to another, then there probably won't be much to do during the "Make whatever changes are necessary" step, except to walk from the Old Machine to the New One. Your mileage may vary, but the process remains relatively constant. If you have any concerns or questions, please don't hesitate to put in a tech support ticket from our website. We'd be happy to help.
1. Deactivate your license of SOLIDWORKS.
- Take note of your Serial Number. It will be a 24-digit code starting in 0000 or 9000, and the last eight digits might contain letters as well as numbers. This is the key to getting SOLIDWORKS working on your new machine, so make sure not to lose it.
- If possible, open SOLIDWORKS and navigate to the Help > About > Licenses > Deactivate.
If it is not possible to open SOLIDWORKS, then you will need to install the Activation Manager from the downloads page here.
If SOLIDWORKS cannot open and you cannot access the downloads page, you may be able to find the activation manager at the following file location:
C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\setup\i386
From there, launch swactwiz.exe and the Activation Wizard should come up.
- Once the Activation Wizard is open, select Move your product license(s) to a new/upgraded computer and hit Next.
- Press the Select All button, ensure that Automatically over the Internet (recommended) is selected, ensure that your email is entered into the Contact Information field, and press Next.
- The Activation Wizard should come up with a new screen saying, Deactivation succeeded. Press Finish to close the window.
2. Make whatever changes necessary.
This is the part that varies the most depending on your reason to transfer the license.
If you're making hardware or major software changes to one device, including upgrading your version of SOLIDWORKS, now is the time to implement those changes.
If you're looking to move the license from one machine to another, you may have to install SOLIDWORKS on the new machine and add the serial number of the license you're transferring.
3. Activate your license of SOLIDWORKS.
- This step is essentially the reverse of Step 1. First, launch the Activation Wizard as before.
- Once the Activation Wizard is open, select Activate/Reactivate your product license(s). and hit Next.
- Press the Select All button, ensure that Automatically over the Internet (recommended) is selected, ensure that your email is entered into the Contact Information field, and press Next.
- The Activation Wizard should come up with a new screen saying, Activation/Reactivation succeeded. Press Finish to close the window.
Congrats! Your license has been successfully transferred. As always, if you need assistance walking through this process, or you have some other technical issue you need resolved, we at CADimensions are always happy to help, you need only put in a support ticket.