SOLIDWORKS 2021 SP2 VBA 7.1 Change Prevents Older Version Installation

With older version installations, the following error can occur:

A newer version of this application is already installed. Installation stopped.

This error appears because of a change in the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) version 7.1, introduced in the SOLIDWORKS 2021 SP2 software. Earlier versions of the SOLIDWORKS Installation Manager installer do not recognize the new installation of the VBA 7.1 components. Therefore, the installer starts a new installation of the older version of the program. The new VBA 7.1 installation then blocks the software installation.

To replicate the issue:

1. Run the SOLIDWORKS Installer for versions older than 2021 SP2
2. SOLIDWORKS will run into the following error (2020 SP install example below)
   
   

   When this error occurs, the SOLIDWORKS Installation Manager log file typically shows the following entries:

   ‘{Time} Info Step 90 0 "{0: Installing} MSI: {1: {Location of installation files}\SOLIDWORKS 2020 SP05\PreReqs\VBA\vba71.msi}; command-line: {2: }
   (ID {3: Microsoft_VBA}, lang {4: }, pcode {5: {90120064-0070-0000-0000-4000000FF1CE}}, mode {6: 7}, upg = {7: }, f{8: 0}, costKB {9: 0})"’

   ‘{Time} Error Status 149 0 "Product:CAM ErrorCode:0 Message:A newer version of this application is already installed. Installation stopped."’

Solution: Remove the new VBA7.1

You cannot correct this issue by using earlier versions of the installation manager. If you encounter this issue, perform the following solutions to reinstall the older version of VBA.

Solution 1: Use the attached bat file to uninstall

1. Download the attached file ‘QA00000125323_uninstall_vba-SOLIDWORKS_2022_codes.txt’.
2. In Windows File Explorer, go to the view tab & turn on “File name extensions”.
3. Rename the file to ‘QA00000125323_uninstall_vba-SOLIDWORKS_2022_codes.bat’.
4. Right-click the ‘QA00000125323_uninstall_vba-SOLIDWORKS_2022_codes.bat’ file and then click ‘Run as administrator’.
5. Now install your older version of SOLIDWORKS.
6. Perform a repair of the recent SOLIDWORKS installation (SOLIDWORKS 2021 SP2 or later) to reinstall the updated VBA 7.1 components.

Solution 2: Manual uninstall

To uninstall and then re-install those files, follow the steps below:

For further technical support please contact Hawk Ridge Systems at 877.266.4469 for the U.S. or 866.587.6803 for Canada.