What is Happening to Online Licensing?

Citing a very low adoption rate, in addition to the complexities of maintaining and offering an online licensing experience, SOLIDWORKS has chosen to discontinue the service. As of February 5, 2022, SOLIDWORKS Online Licensing for standalone licenses will no longer be available for versions 2018-2021. When version 2022 is released, it will not have Online Licensing capabilities. 

How will this affect you?

Starting 2/5/22, online licensing will be disabled and all standalone licenses will be switched to Machine Activation. There will be no downtime for users. After 2/5/22 when launching SOLIDWORKS, users will be presented with the following prompts which will automatically switch their installation to Machine Activation.

1. Launch SOLIDWORKS
2. Input your email, password, and click on Log In
   
3. Click Yes to the following message
   
4. You'll see the following message. Click OK
   
5. Launch SOLIDWORKS
6. Activate your SOLIDWORKS license by clicking on Select All, enabling Automatically over the internet (recommended), inputting an email address, and selecting Next
   
   
7. SOLIDWORKS will successfully open

FAQ

• How does a user switch a license from Online Licensing to Machine Activation?
  1. Close SOLIDWORKS
  2. Log in to the SOLIDWORKS Admin Portal 
  3. Once logged into the MySolidWorks site, use the navigation drop down from the upper right corner to locate Admin Portal. Note: This is only available for the Admin. If you do not have access, contact your Admin and have them go through the steps.
  4. To activate Machine Activation, select the user, and then select the serial number that has been assigned to that user, and then select Change to Machine Activation.
     
  5. Follow the steps in the section How will this affect you?
  6. If the above steps do not work, then the switch from Online Licensing to Machine Activation must be made through the registry editor. Instructions are in this link. 
• Can the user continue to manually activate/deactivate their license in order to use SOLIDWORKS on a different machine?
  Yes. However, there is a maximum number of 999 transfers allowed. If you reach this limit, please reach out to technical support, and we can have the number of transfers allowed reset. 
• Is there any action needed by the user or administrator?
  While not required to switch before February 2022, it is recommended to switch licenses back to Machine Activation prior to 2/5/2022.
• What happens if the license is taken offline prior to the phase out date?
  When using online licensing, the user can take the license offline up to 30 days. After 30 days, the license is automatically released, and the next time the user starts SOLIDWORKS, it will automatically switch back to Machine Activation.