This guide is written for version 2022. If you are using an earlier version of SOLIDWORKS, please download our earlier activation documents to correctly manage the activation of your version of SOLIDWORKS.

A standalone SOLIDWORKS license can be used to activate one machine. If you wish to use your license on another system, you must first deactivate the computer that is currently active. Please see the SOLIDWORKS End User License Agreement if you have any questions regarding this policy.

All standalone licenses are activation-based so products such as Simulation Professional, Simulation Premium, and Flow Simulation licenses will follow the same activation processes outlined in this guide.

The activation ID’s are based on the computer hard drive and motherboard. When upgrading your hardware, changing your SOLIDWORKS software, reformatting your hard drive, or moving to a new computer, you will need to deactivate the license on your computer first. Afterwards, reactivate the license on the new computer configuration. Failing to deactivate before making these changes will result in your software being unable to be reactivated and therefore will be unusable. If your activation is lost due to hardware or software issues, contact Hawk Ridge Systems Technical Support immediately to rectify the problem.

This is not a troubleshooting guide. If you have any technical issues with SOLIDWORKS, please contact Hawk Ridge Systems Technical Support. This document is only to be distributed and used by Hawk Ridge Systems customers. Any other use is prohibited.

 

Contents

Internet Activation

Email Activation

License Deactivation by Internet

License Deactivation by Email

Xpress Product Activation Codes

 

Internet Activation

If you do not have internet access, see the email activation section of this document.

1. Go to Start > All Programs > SOLIDWORKS 2022 > SOLIDWORKS 2022.
2. When SOLIDWORKS starts, the activation page will appear. Choose the I want to activate my SOLIDWORKS product now radio button. If the activation page does not appear when SOLIDWORKS starts, go to Help > Activate License to start activation.

3. Click the Next button to continue.

4. You will have a list of products that can be activated from this machine according to your installation. If you would like to activate all items at once, press the Select All

5. Make sure Automatically over the internet (recommended) is selected and select Next to continue. If you are offline, see the next section on email activation.

6. You will now connect to SOLIDWORKS over the internet and the product will be activated.

7. Press the Finish button to complete the activation process.

SOLIDWORKS is now properly activated.

8. If you have any other products that still need to be activated, then open a working session of SOLIDWORKS in the menu bar and select Tools > Add-ins…

You will be asked to activate the selected product Add-Ins again, if not already activated.

 

Email Activation

This method is used so that a user can activate SOLIDWORKS products on a system that does not have internet access.

1. Go to Start > All Programs > SOLIDWORKS 2022 > SOLIDWORKS 2022.
2. When SOLIDWORKS starts, the activation page will appear. Choose I want to activate my SOLIDWORKS product now radio button. If the activation page does not appear when SOLIDWORKS starts, go to Help > Activate License… to start the activation.

3. Click the Next button to continue.

4. You will have a list of products that can be activated from this machine according to your installation. If you would like to activate all items at once, press the Select All
   

5. If you do not have internet access at this computer, choose to activate Manually via e-mail and select Next to continue.

6. On the next page, press the Save button to create an activation request file.
7. Browse to a location on your computer to store this .txt file and press the Save Copy this text file onto a removable storage device and move it to a machine with internet access.

8. From the machine with internet access, send this file as an attachment to an email to activation@SOLIDWORKS.com.

9. SOLIDWORKS will send a return email with a different text file attached. Save this text file to a removable storage device and move it back to the machine awaiting activation.

10. In the activation wizard, press the Open button on the email activation page. This will bring up a browser to read in the .txt file you have been sent.

11. Now you will be shown what products are activated.

12. Press the Finish button to complete the activation process.

SOLIDWORKS is now properly activated.

 

License Deactivation by Internet

If you do not have internet access, see the License Deactivation by Email section of this document.

1. Go to Start > All Programs > SOLIDWORKS 2022 > SOLIDWORKS 2022.
2. After SOLIDWORKS starts, go to the Help pull down menu and choose Licenses> Deactivate.

3. You will have a list of products that can be deactivated from this machine according to your installation. If you would like to deactivate all items at once, you can press the Select All
4. If you have internet access at this computer, choose to activate Automatically over the Internet and select Next to continue.

5. You will now connect to the SOLIDWORKS Activation site to return the license.

6. You will be informed that the license has been transferred back to SOLIDWORKS.

7. Press the Finish button to complete the deactivation process.

SOLIDWORKS will not run on this machine until it is reactivated.

 

License Deactivation by Email

1. Go to Start > All Programs > SOLIDWORKS 2022 > SOLIDWORKS 2022.
2. After SOLIDWORKS starts, go to the Help pull-down menu and choose Licenses> Deactivate.

3. You will have a list of products that can be deactivated from this machine according to your installation. If you would like to deactivate all items at once, you can press the Select All

4. If you do not have internet access at this computer, choose to activate Manually via e-mail and click Next to continue.

5. On the next page, press the Save button to create an activation request file.

Warning! Once you’ve saved this file, your activation is no longer valid. Do not exit out of the activation window until you have completed the process and read in the response email from SOLIDWORKS or you will not be able to run SOLIDWORKS.

6. Browse to a location on your computer to store this .txt file and press the Save Copy this text file on to a removable storage device and move it to a machine with internet access.

7. From the machine with internet access, send this file as an attachment to an email to activation@SOLIDWORKS.com.

8. SOLIDWORKS will send a return email with a different text file attached. Save this text file to a removable storage space and move it back to the machine awaiting activation.

9. In the activation wizard, press the Open button on the email activation page.

10. Browse for the response file and press the Open
11. The next page will show you that your transfer is complete.

12. Press the Finish button to complete the deactivation process.

SOLIDWORKS will not run on this machine until it is reactivated.

 

Xpress Product Activation Codes

1. Go to Start > All Programs > SOLIDWORKS 2022 > SOLIDWORKS 2022.
2. At the top of the SOLIDWORKS interface, go to Tools > Xpress Products. There will be specific product codes for SimulationXpress, FloXpress, DFMXpress, SustainabilityXpress and DriveWorksXpress as is expressed in the image below.

3. Click the solidworks.com/xpress link shown in the image above.
4. Log into the MySolidWorks site using your SOLIDWORKS ID. If you don’t have an account, you can create one by following the on-screen direction.

5. Input your SOLIDWORKS serial number, version, and Xpress Product. After this is done, select Get My Code as noted in the image below. Input the provided product code into Product Code field shown in step 2 of this section.

The Xpress Product is now properly activated.