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Technical Bulletin: Immediate crash on startup of SOLIDWORKS Design "SOLIDWORKS Has closed unexpectedly!"

Please hold off on updating to Hotfix 1.7. Read below for more details if you have already updated and need some workarounds.

This is a combination of issues regarding SOLIDWORKS Design and Microsoft WebView2 client's update that pushed over the weekend of 3/15/2026, and possibly as early as 3/13.

You may be experiencing an issue with the software that displays "An error has occurred" or "SOLIDWORKS has closed unexpectedly" and immediately crashes to desktop. Unfortunately there is no official fix at the moment, but several workarounds have been discovered over the past few days.

Unfortunately at the current moment - if you are working with files on the platform, you will not be able to directly edit them with the connector. You need to take them off the platform first, then work with them locally. This may interrupt any versions of the files, so keep that in mind.

Run in Offline Mode

Our simplest fix is the easiest to perform. If you have a desktop icon of SOLIDWORKS Design (if not, create one from the drop down next to "SOLIDWORKS Design" inside of the compass.

  1. Disconnect from the Internet

  2. Launch SOLIDWORKS Design from the desktop icon
  3. Reconnect to the internet but do not attempt to reconnect to the platform

This will allow you to run in Offline mode for the time being. You can utilize local files.

Rename DLLs 

More complex, but seems to work for some users that cannot initially run in offline mode:

  1. Open File Explorer and navigate to the following folder:

    C:\Program Files\Dassault Systemes\SOLIDWORKS 3DEXPERIENCE R2026x\win_b64\code\bin\SWXDesktopAddins

  2. In this folder, locate the file:

    SWK3DCompassAddin.dll

  3. Rename this file to:

    SWK3DCompassAddin.dll.bak

     

    1. (simply add .bak to the end of the file name).

  4. Restart SolidWorks.

    1. In some cases, it may be best to restart the computer as well. 

This will allow some users to continue utilizing offline mode. As mentioned above, you can pull the files out of the platform to work locally.

We will update this post as we receive updates on the fix.

It is planned to be a manual release - so keep an eye on your platform. Update your client by expanding the Compass > SOLIDWORKS Design drop down > and check for the "Colored circle of arrows", which is the manual update button.

When you are prompted, update to SOLIDWORKS Design HF 1.8.