This article walks you through the steps necessary to install the 2017 version of SOLIDWORKS Composer.

This guide is written for version 2017. If you are using an earlier version of SOLIDWORKS Composer, please download our earlier installation documents.

This document has detailed instructions on how to download, install, license and administer SOLIDWORKS Composer 2017.

Before loading any software, you should always login with full administrative permissions and disable your anti-virus and anti-spyware programs.

This is not a troubleshooting guide. If you have any technical issues with SOLIDWORKS Composer, please contact a support technician through our website at Hawk Ridge Systems Support or call us at 1-877-266-4469 (U.S.A.) or 1-866-587-6803 (Canada).

This document is only to be distributed and used by Hawk Ridge Systems customers. Any other use is prohibited.

©2016 Hawk Ridge Systems

Contents

SOLIDWORKS Composer: 2017 Installation Guide

Before Installation

Basic Installation

Standalone Activation

Before Installation

It is highly recommended to take a moment before installing SOLIDWORKS Composer to check that you are ready to load your new software. Follow these steps before installing SOLIDWORKS Composer:

1. Check the hardware and operating system’s compatibility. At the time of this writing, SOLIDWORKS Composer 2017 is Compatible with the 64 bit versions of Windows 7 8.1 and 10.
2. Check the hard drive for space. In Windows Explorer, check your drive (by default the C drive, right-click the drive and choose Properties) to see it has the 3 GB free required for the full program (with SOLIDWORKS Importer). Also, be sure the drive has at least 10% free space following this installation. A full disk may cause instability or crashing.
3. Login to your computer with full administrative rights.
4. Turn down the User Account Control setting (found in the Control Panel). To do this, press your Windows button, either on the screen or on the keyboard. Then type “UAC” followed by the Enter key. The window that follows shows a vertical scroll bar. Make the setting “Never Notify” for the installation (requires restarting the computer to take effect) and change it back after installing, if you prefer.
5. Disable all anti-virus and anti-spyware tools.

Basic Installation

SOLIDWORKS Composer is now installed from the SOLIDWORKS installation disc. It uses the same Installation Manager as SOLIDWORKS. If you did not receive the SOLIDWORKS disc in the mail, you will need to download the SOLIDWORKS Installation Manager to download and install SOLIDWORKS Composer.

1. Put in the SOLIDWORKS installation disc and start the Setup.exe. If you do not have the disc, go tohttps://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/subscription/downloads.htm and choose the SOLIDWORKS version that corresponds to the version of Composer that you would like to install. (Please note that you will need to login before you can get to that address.) Follow the instructions to download and start the executable.
2. Exit all other programs and click the Next button to continue.
3. You will next have to put in your SOLIDWORKS Composer serial number.
• Many users do not know that there is a serial number associated with SOLIDWORKS Composer; so if you are unable to find your serial number, please call us so we can send it to a previously-established email address.
4. Press Next to continue.
• If you are not online, it will warn that you cannot automatically select products to install. Pressing Cancel will continue with the load, but you must manually select all your add-ins during the installation instead of being given a list based on your serial number.
5. If you do not have SOLIDWORKS on your machine, you will want to install the SOLIDWORKS Translator. If you do not select SOLIDWORKS in the product list, you will have an option to put a check mark next to the SOLIDWORKS Translator. This feature eliminates the ability to install the Translator and SOLIDWORKS onto the same computer.
6. ****NOTE: IF you do not see Composer as an option to check mark, UN-Check Composer Player first, then Composer should appear in the List of options to install.
7. Verify all the information on the screen and continue with the installation.
8. Click the Install (or Download and Install) button to continue.
9. If you have a network license for Composer, you will be asked to specify the SNL location. This is where your SolidNetWork License Manager is loaded and running. The default port number for this is 25734. Type “25734@<server name>” and press OK to continue. To setup the license manager, please see our Network Server Install guide.
10. SOLIDWORKS Composer will install at this time.

Standalone Activation

SOLIDWORKS Composer has activation-based licensing like SOLIDWORKS. The first time Composer is launched it will launch the activation wizard.

Follow the instructions to activate SOLIDWORKS Composer over the internet.

1. If prompted select ‘Activate/Reactivate a software license’ at the first prompt.
2. Highlight the composer license in the activation wizard by click ‘select all’ then enter your email address and choose ‘Next’ – this will launch the activation process.
3. Once the activation process completes Composer will be fully licensed      and installed. If the activation does not succeed Composer will launch with a temporary 30-day activation.

To manually run activation you may launch the activation wizard from with the help menu and follow the same steps as above. Go to Help -> Activate Licenses. Once SOLIDWORKS Composer is activated, you will be able to use the product. 

Please note that if you need to install SOLIDWORKS Composer onto a new machine, please transfer the license off the machine that is no longer going to be used.

Your standalone installation of SOLIDWORKS Composer is now properly installed and licensed.

Thank You for choosing Hawk Ridge Systems!