Recently, we have been getting a lot of calls from customers doing upgrades to their SolidWorks and Workgroup installations. This is a simple project, unless someone else completed the previous upgrade. If that’s the case, it is still fairly simple but there are a couple of things that can be missed or forgotten. Like the vault Admin tool on the client end, this is not selected for install by default. You will need to make sure it is selected in the products to install. It is a little hard to find if you don’t know where to look.

This screen shot shows what to select so this gets installed with the rest of the SolidWorks on the client. Workgroup is base on the SolidWorks Explorer  platform so it needs these components installed for it to work.

Now the main issue we have been seeing for the server portion is where is the location of the Vault. By default SolidWorks will place this on the root of C but most IT people I have spoke with do not like putting programs there. That is not a problem. If you need, it can be placed on the root of whatever drive you want to use. But ideally, it shouldn’t be buried in any folder, it needs to be on the root. This being said, if you are upgrading the vault and you are not sure where it is, find that out first. Then, when you start the  install you can make sure it points to the correct location. Otherwise the Installer cannot find it and it will use the default location, which is C. Then you will have it installed, but it will be an empty vault.

The screen shot above shows where it will install the vault. It should find the correct location but if it does not, look at the area I have highlighted. This will tell you where it is going to upgrade the vault to. If this is showing C:\VaultData\ and you know it is not there, select “Change”. This opens the area that will allow you to browse to the correct location.

Hopefully this will assist you in a smooth Workgroup Vault upgrade. The screen shots above are from the 2011 SP3 installation manager, so if you are using an older version it may look a little different. The 2011 vault installation uses the SolidWorks IM, while previous versions used the older Windows IM.

I hope this clears up some of the upgrade issues you may encounter. As always, if you run into any issues during an upgrade, our Technical Support team members are happy to assist you.

1. First, you will need to set up a customer portal account at www.solidworks.com select log in at the top. From here, select “SolidWorks Customer Portal” and then select “Click here” to create an account. Then enter the serial number and click next. Make sure the company information is correct and hit the “Yes” button. Finish creating the account with your email and a password.

2. Log into the customer portal and under “Downloads” select the link “Downloads and Updates”. This will bring you to the download page. Select the SolidWorks version and OS that you need. You will then be shown a download license agreement that needs to be accepted. The next page has a couple of steps. The first is just information about accepting any prompts from Internet Explorer. In step 2 you have the download link for the Installation Manager (IM). Step 3 talks about the full download options and recommendations that will come into play after you download the IM. Select the download in step 2. This will download an executable zip file that is the IM. You will need to run this and make sure to select all products you want to download for an individual install. If you are needing to download for multiple installs, there is a “Download Only” option. This will do a complete download of all available software just like what is on the install disk. This download will be about 5 gig. The individual download will be smaller as it will only download what is needed to install on that specific computer. When the download is complete for the individual, it will start automatically if that option was selected during the download process. The “Download Only” option does not start automatically and gives you a message at the end that you will need to run the IM from the download location. This location is My Documents/SolidWorks Downloads folder.

3. If you have the download from the “Download Only” option, go to the folder mentioned before or if you are directed elsewhere go there. Inside SolidWorks 2011 SPX.X open the sldim folder and double click the sldim.exe. This will launch the IM and make sure to check each of the options in here for what to install and where to install it.

If you run into any errors or the install does not complete successfully, please contact Symmetry Support at 763 560-8600 option 4 or email support@symsolutions.com  You may also send in error message screen shots or failed install log files. We will be happy to provide assistance and get you up and running with SolidWorks 2011.

Starting with 2010 SP3.0, SolidWorks is checking whether you are on subscription before you install the service pack.  With SP3.0 you will just get a warning if you are not on subscription but starting with SP4.0 you will not be able to install. 

For network licenses, the expiration date is saved on the license server and that is the date that is checked during installation.  Depending on the date the SNL Manager was activated and the subscription expiration date, you may get the message that your subscription has expired even though it has been renewed.

There is a problem in 2010 for automatic updates for administrative images. SW 2010 SP0 installation does not update automatically after upgrading Admin Image. This issue only affects Installation Manager-based administrative images; no other images are affected by this. The problem is due to the swspamanger.exe installed with SolidWorks on client machines failing to check and install the latest Installation Manger/Administrative Image.

The workaround for updating client machines is to deploy the service pack similar to deploying a new administrative image (i.e. ask users to browse to the \StartSWInstall.hta). NOTE: The person responsible for deploying SolidWorks, often a system administrator, should not send the .HTA file via email as the paths will not be recognized; instead the system administrator should send a shortcut/link to the .HTA file so it runs directly from the administrative image folder.

The issue will be resolved in SolidWorks 2010 SP2. Please note the fix will not be implemented until SP2 is installed (i.e. the automatic update won’t work until going from SP2 to SP3). To upgrade to SolidWorks 2010 SP2, the same method described above must be used.

There is also an issue when trying to update an install as per the work around when there is an admin image install of 2009. The only way to get this to work is to remove the 2009 install.

These two issues are covered under SPR 530079 for the auto update and SPR 530818 for the 2009 image install. They are both slated to be fixed in 2010 SP2.

SolidWorks continues to update the list of mobile workstations certified for SolidWorks 2010.  The last two generations of mobile workstations from Dell and HP using nVidia Quadro FX graphics are certified for both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of XP and Vista.    The Lenovo ThinkPad W700 has been certified with Quadro FX3700M graphics only, but the FX2700M graphics should work fine.   All of these models are expected to be certified for Windows 7, as well.

The older Dell Precision M90 and M65 notebooks have been certfied for 32-bit XP/Vista only.  These notebooks can address a maximum of 3.2GB RAM, so 64-bit operation doesn’t make much sense anyway.  The Vista driver should work for Windows 7, but probably will not be certfied.  These are the last drivers that will be available for these computers.    Kudos to Dell for supporting these systems with updated drivers.  The same generation notebooks from HP (nw8440/9440) and Lenovo (T60p) will not be getting updated drivers.

The only notebook with ATI FireGL or FirePro graphics certified so far is the Dell M6400 with FirePro M7740 graphics.  The Lenovo ThinkPad W500 and models of the HP 8530w/8730w with ATI graphics will probably be certified eventually, but it’s not certain.    We recommend sticking with Quadro FX graphics, at least for the time being.

For the most up to date certification information, see http://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/videocardtesting.html.  Look up notebooks by computer manufacturer, not by the graphics manufacturer.