Throughout the year, the SOLIDWORKS development team conducts rigorous manual and automated QA testing to ensure stability and performance as each service pack and new release goes through its product development cycle. Despite this focused effort on their part, creating a custom test plan that is specific to your environment is a good idea. As organizations and IT policies evolve and become more secure, they often introduce more variables to their computing environment. Each of these variables makes their environment unique.

This guide defines the common reasons for environment testing. A template test plan is also attached at the bottom of the article. This is just a template, which means it does not cover all potential workflows, just the most common. Each organization will have its own unique workflows that should be considered and added to their own testing regimen. 

Reasons for Compatibility Testing

Hardware

SOLIDWORKS does participate in ISV testing with major hardware companies and releases hardware requirements and video card testing results. Despite this testing, things like hardware-level encryption, BIOS, and firmware differences can potentially contribute to unknown variables. Before upgrading a large group of users to a new hardware platform, testing on a single device is recommended.

New SOLIDWORKS Releases

SOLIDWORKS makes the most significant changes to the code with each major release in October. For example, version 2026 will differ significantly from 2027, including new products, new features, modified existing features and options, and bug fixes. This means that upgrading from an even older version will introduce even more change to your users. Upgrading from 2024 to 2027, for example, is 3 years worth of changes and would be a great example to conduct additional testing.

Service Packs

SOLIDWORKS is generally safe to update service packs within the same year. For example, going from 2026 SP0 to 2026 SP5 would be generally recommended and typically only involves bug fixes. However, there are times when new products and features are added between service packs, which means that service pack testing is still prudent.

Windows Feature Updates

Starting with Windows 10, a new type of update beyond the weekly hotfix and Windows updates called Windows Feature Updates was introduced. These are semi-annual and are a collection of feature changes and bug fixes.  SOLIDWORKS offers support for all versions of Windows per the System Requirements and does not certify specific Feature Updates. However, these Feature Updates should be considered significant changes to the Operating System (OS) and would be a great reason for testing.

Anti-virus/Policy Updates

SOLIDWORKS does not test for specific anti-virus applications and recommends using a trusted AV product. They also recommend keeping the application updated and refer to the Knowledge Base for known potential compatibility issues. Testing between definition updates is not required since those are typically daily and typically do not introduce that much change. However, introducing an entirely new security or anti-virus application to a network would be a great example for testing. 

General Testing Guidelines

The following are just best practices when building and conducting a test plan. Each organization's changes and requirements will be unique, so feel free to pick and choose from the following list:

• Introduce one variable at a time if possible. This makes troubleshooting issues easier if problems arise in the testing phase. For example, testing on a new model laptop, a newer Windows Feature Update, and a new service pack of SOLIDWORKS would be three major changes and would be difficult to identify which of the changes introduced an issue.
• Work closely with IT to identify current and potential future changes to the network.
• Upgrade to the latest version of SOLIDWORKS if possible. SOLIDWORKS is a Microsoft Gold Partner, which means they introduce Microsoft best practices with newer versions. This means better performance and better stability, in addition to the typical new productivity improvements added each year. 
• Build a sandbox environment. Make a copy of your SOLIDWORKS computing environment to conduct testing. This means a copy of the computer hardware specifications, Windows version, and test files that would be used in production. Work with Hawk Ridge Systems Support for sandbox licensing if required.

Sample Test Procedure 

The purpose of these tests is to perform common operations in SOLIDWORKS and PDM that users complete 
in a typical workday and identify if the changes made to your computing environment introduced any new 
problems that were not present before the change. Users who perform these tests shall report the details 
of their test results by describing whether the test procedure resulted in any error messages or unexpected 
software behavior in a shared document.  Sample files can also be found here on any computer with SOLIDWORKS installed at the following location.

• C:\Users\Public\Documents\SOLIDWORKS\SOLIDWORKS 20XX\samples\tutorial\assemblymates

Go through the following tests in order:

Create a New SOLIDWORKS Part:

1. Launch SOLIDWORKS. 
2. Go to Tools > Add-Ins and make sure SOLIDWORKS PDM is enabled as an Active Add-In. 
3. Go to File > New
4. Make a new part. 
5. Create a simple extruded block or other simple shape. 
6. Save the part file in the test folder in the PDM Vault. 

Create a New SOLIDWORKS Part Drawing:

1. Go to File > Make Drawing from Part. 
2. Add drawing views. 
3. Add dimensions. 
4. Add notes. 
5. Save the drawing file in the test folder in the PDM Vault 
6. Go to File > Save As and save the drawing as a PDF file. 
7. In SOLIDWORKS, go to File > Print and save a PDF file of the drawing. 

Create a New SOLIDWORKS Assembly:

1. Go back to the simple part that you created in SOLIDWORKS. 
2. Go to File > Make Assembly from Part. 
3. Save the assembly file in the test folder in the PDM Vault. 
4. Insert components into the assembly. 
5. Mate the components together. 

Create a New SOLIDWORKS Assembly Drawing:

1. Go to File > Make Drawing from Assembly. 
2. Add drawing views. 
3. Add dimensions. 
4. Add notes. 
5. Add a Bill of Materials. 
6. Save the drawing file in the test folder in the PDM Vault. 
7. Go to File > Save As and save the drawing as a PDF file. 
8. In SOLIDWORKS, go to File > Print and save a PDF file of the drawing. 

PDM Check-In of New SOLIDWORKS Files:

1. Check-in the newly created part, assembly, and drawing files into the PDM vault. 

Work with Existing SOLIDWORKS Files:

1. In SOLIDWORKS, go to File > Open. 
2. Open any existing assembly. 
3. When prompted, select to check out the assembly and referenced files. 
4. Make a change to the assembly or a part file in SOLIDWORKS. 
5. Create a drawing of the assembly or part in SOLIDWORKS. 
6. Go to File > Save As and save the drawing as a PDF file. 
7. In SOLIDWORKS, go to File > Print and save a PDF file of the drawing. 
8. In SOLIDWORKS, save all files. 

PDM Check-In of Existing SOLIDWORKS Files:

1. Check in all the files to PDM. 
2. Close all files in SOLIDWORKS, leaving the SOLIDWORKS application open. 

PDM Operations in Windows File Explorer: 

1. Open Windows File Explorer. 
2. Navigate to the test folder in the PDM Vault. 
3. Select any assembly in the folder. 
4. Check out the assembly and referenced files. 
5. Make a change in the data card for the assembly or a part file. 
6. Save the data card. 
7. View the tabs Version, Bill of Materials, Contains, and Where Used for an assembly or a part file. 
8. Check in the assembly and referenced files that were checked out in step 4. 

Performance Benchmark Test:

1. Reboot the computer. This benchmark test can take up to 30 minutes. Do not use your computer for 
   other applications during the test. 
2. Go to Windows Start menu > SOLIDWORKS Tools 20XX > SOLIDWORKS Rx 20XX
3. In SOLIDWORKS Rx, go to the Benchmark tab. 
4. Click the “Start Benchmark” button. 

Reference Material

• SOLIDWORKS System Requirements
• SOLIDWORKS Video Card Hardware certification
• SOLIDWORKS Release Life Cycle
• SOLIDWORKS Anti-virus recommendations
• Microsoft Windows Feature Update Release information

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