Problem

A SOLIDWORKS Installation Error 1304 indicates that the Installer is having an issue writing to a file location. The most common reasons are:

• No write permission for the file location specified in the error
• The installation file location’s total path exceeds 260 characters
• Installation files were unable to be cached correctly in RAM, so Windows cannot use them to write to the file location

Solution 1: Local Installation Files

1. Log into the computer with a Windows Administrator account
2. Confirm both the installation directory and installation media are not multiple folders deep. 
   Here is an example of a bad path that is too long: C:\Users\<username>\Documents\SOLIDWORKS Documents\SOLIDWORKS Downloads\SOLIDWORKS 20##\SOLIDWORKS 20## SP0# 
3. If the file path is long, move the installation files to a different folder to shorten it
4. Confirm that neither the installation directory nor the installation media folder is set to sync to any sort of Cloud Drive, such as OneDrive or Google Drive.
5. Attempt the installation again

Solution 2: Network or Admin Image Installation files

1. Confirm the Windows User has full permission to the network folder where the files or admin image are located. For an Admin Image, adding the Share permission "Full" for all users is the best way to confirm all users can access the Admin Image.
2. Confirm the network location for the install file or Admin Image is a UNC path rather than a simple drive letter. For more information, check out the Microsoft website: Windows file paths
3. Confirm the network location for the install files or Admin Image is set as close to the root folder as possible. For example: \\servername\rootfolder\Documents\Install media
4. Confirm the account being used for installing has full administrative permissions to the installation directory. In a case where you are using an Admin Image that installs as another user (not the logged-in Windows User), confirm that user has logged into the computer at least once and has full write access to the installation directory.

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