Problem

If you ever open a part or an assembly and receive this message, your version of SOLIDWORKS is pointing to an outdated toolbox, and it needs to be updated.

Solution Step 1: Updating the Toolbox Location via System Options

First, find out the location of your current Toolbox to check if it needs to be pointed at a different location. Sometimes SOLIDWORKS is pointed at the wrong Toolbox data folder from an older version of SOLIDWORKS, or it needs to be changed to a toolbox folder hosted on PDM or elsewhere. 

To check the Toolbox Location:

1. Open up SOLIDWORKS and go to 
   Tools > Options > System Options > Hole Wizard/Toolbox. 

2. In this location, you will find the path SOLIDWORKS is using for your Toolbox. If you typically use the default Toolbox, there is a chance that when you installed, there is duplicate naming and Windows created a new folder "SOLIDWORKS Data (#)." Check the location shown, and you may be able to point your SOLIDWORKS Settings to the correct toolbox. For this reason, we recommend naming your toolbox based on the year. 

3. If you need to change the Toolbox location, click the "..." button to browse to the location of the correct Toolbox Data folder, then hit "OK".

Solution Step 2: Upgrading a Custom Toolbox

If you utilize a custom toolbox, you will want to preserve your part numbers and custom settings, so you will need to upgrade your toolbox. 

1. Back up your toolbox. Make a copy of it in case you ever need to access older files. You can archive it or move it to a different location, but we always recommend creating a backup

2. Make sure you and all users who may be accessing the toolbox have exited SOLIDWORKS
   **If you are using PDM, check out the entire SOLIDWORKS Data folder as the Admin

3. Locate the UpdateBrowserDatabase.exe. This will be located in the data utilities folder of your Installation files. By default, this should be 
   C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\Toolbox\data utilities

4. Right-click on this and select "Run as Administrator"
    

   

   
    

5. In Database To Update, this location should be pointing to the "swbrowser.sldedb" located in the lang\english folder of your previous Toolbox. 
   If it is not, hit the "..." button next to the location and navigate there. By default, this is located here: 
   C:\SOLIDWORKS Data (previous ver.)\lang\english
    

   

    

6. The Updating Database should be pointed at updatedb.sldedb in the same folder as the UpdateBrowserDatabase.exe was located in. This should already be filled in, but if it is not, select the "..." button and navigate to the SOLIDWORKS Corp folder of the newer version of the software. 
   C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp (newer ver.)\SOLIDWORKS\Toolbox\data utilities\lang\English
    

   

   
    

7. The window should also show the database version and the update version. The versions are not in line with the year, but are as follows:

   • 2024 = 27

   • 2025 = 28

   • 2026 = 29

   The decimal value represents the service pack (28.10 = SOLIDWORKS 2025 SP 1)

8. If everything looks correct, hit Update.
    

9. This should run through and show a progress bar.
    

   

Solution Step 3: Updating the Toolbox Data Files

The database is now upgraded, and you should no longer receive the error message. The next step is to update the toolbox data files. 

You will need the source installation files or the downloaded file set for the version that the toolbox is being updated to. (The toolbox will work without this step, but you will be referencing older version files)

1. Run the sldtoolboxupdater.exe as an administrator, which can be found at 
   C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS
    
2. Click "SOLIDWORKS/Toolbox installation media location"
3. Navigate to your installation file set > select that folder.  Click Process
   
    
4. Assuming no errors, you are now complete. 
   An alternative method to this would be to run a repair on your SOLIDWORKS installation. The files will be updated with a repair as well. Here is our Repair Article: How to Repair SOLIDWORKS – Hawk Ridge Systems
5. The update is now complete. Open SOLIDWORKS and test functionality.
   **If you are using PDM, you can now check in the SOLIDWORKS Data folder. Have end users perform a get latest on the swbrowser.sldedb file.

For further technical support, please contact Hawk Ridge Systems at 877.266.4469 for the U.S. or 866.587.6803 for Canada and support@hawkridgesys.com.