Problem

Users running SOLIDWORKS on a Mac Computer using the third-party application called Parallels to emulate Windows may experience poor performance with Review Graphics disabled. This article goes over how to work around this to utilize their video card's physical hardware and graphical/3D acceleration rather than using software acceleration in SOLIDWORKS, which is supported by OpenGL.

Solution

It is important to note that this fix was not developed or tested by Dassault Systèmes SOLIDWORKS. We highly recommend creating a backup of your Windows registry before implementing this fix. If you encounter any errors or issues after applying the 'Enable' key for your year version of SOLIDWORKS, we'd recommend immediately implementing the 'Disable' key to revert changes. If that fails, then we recommend importing your registry backup.

The developers at Parallels have created a few registry keys that tweak the Windows registry in Parallels, allowing Windows to recognize the video card and utilize its hardware acceleration. Each year's version of SOLIDWORKS has a unique registry key to use for this fix.

1. Go through the Parallels Knowledge Base website article 122790 for details and instructions on this fix. Link: Hardware acceleration is grayed out in SolidWorks

2. After going through that, restart the computer

3. Launch SOLIDWORKS and go to Tools > Options > System Options > Performance

4. Uncheck "Software OpenGL", check "Enhanced Graphics", and possibly check 
   "Hardware accelerated silhouette edges"

   

5. Click "OK" to accept the changes and restart SOLIDWORKS

6. Launch SOLIDWORKS to test the performance

For additional support, existing customers can submit a ticket or new customers can contact Hawk Ridge Systems.