Activation Stands Alone
/SolidWorks Product Activation, introduced in SolidWorks 2007, has received a few updates in the 2011 release. This minor adjustment can save those of you who manage installations and provide an easier way to activate, transfer and view licenses on a particular machine.
Typically activation would be prompted upon the first launch of SolidWorks, prompting the user for some registration information, connecting to the SolidWorks activation server via the Internet and finally displaying a successful/unsuccessful activation attempt. This process would then be repeated if the system also had Simulation products like Sim Pro/Premium and Flow.
One of the nice additions to SolidWorks Activation in 2011 is there is a downloadable application (Customer Portal) called the SolidWorks Activation Wizard. SWAW is a simple standalone application to activate/transfer/view your SolidWorks products. Along with the ability to activate multiple products at once, activation can happen even if SolidWorks has been uninstalled from the system.
Although you are given a warning message to transfer the activated licenses back to SolidWorks server before performing the uninstall, many dismiss the message and find out their licenses is now stranded. This typically is followed by a call to the VAR to as to why the newly installed SolidWorks install (now on a new machine) cannot activate. In the past the advice was to reinstall and transfer which is a lot of work. Now this has been remedied with this handy little download.
The other little update many will appreciate is the registration screen has been removed and now only requires you to enter your email address! ~Lou