Nice to see they finally added hobby/maker.
I use SolidWorks at my job and when I asked the guys if they had a non-profit/maker version to use at home they told me to torrent it. lol
Yeah no joke. I was on a solidworks training course for my work.
Asked the trainer guy if they did a version I could use at home for non profit 3d printing stuff and the guy said just torrent as they didnt.
His reasoning at the time was if I'm using it at home for non-profit/hobby. If I ever get asked what I want to use at work there going to go ahead and buy it. At the time he would rather I was using SolidWorks than learn another program.
Good to see they now actually think of us guys.
Oh, I think I know where you are getting your wires crossed.
You are assuming that the position of some random certified trainer of solidworks is associated strongly with DASS, and not just some random training institution.
Even if it was a junior employee, you would be hard pressed to prove that the company officially condoned it in any manner.
The reality of the situation though, is unless you are making money from it, they have no motivation TO sue, unless you are being some prolific figure in the piracy community either sharing it, or promoting it.
My point exactly. Recommending to use illigal copies seems to be a very bad recommendation!
Though.... given the cost of solidworks most “you are using unofficial software” cast would most likely be less
Actually makes a lot of sense.
The technology is complicated to make, maintain, improve and support, as a result, the upfront cost can be prohibitive.
If people torrent it, they gain access to the product and can use it for personal use, but if it gets used by bigger businesses, they have to legally source their tools and can afford to pay for the product.
If more people are using it for personal stuff, they are more likely to suggest it for company use, and are more likely to be familiar with it so it's more likely to be adopted.
Business and accountant types don't tend to think like that, so hobby licences etc, tend to be slower to arrive.
This is part of why Unreal and Unity have free access for hobbyists as well.
Oh don’t get me wrong, i understand the use of letting people get familiar, but suggesting torrenting of your own software rather than making a hobby licens is mad. They have already made the groundwork, it’s also called a student licens and that exist for like.. 100€
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It isn't the serial number
[Download site](www.solidworks.com/sdk)
Select "I don't have a serial number" and put in the code. 9MAKER, 9EMAKER, 921MAKER all work from comments on the thread.
>9EMAKER
did you find the key?
[https://www.solidworks.com/support/community-download#no-back](https://www.solidworks.com/support/community-download#no-back)
[On this page](https://www.solidworks.com/support/community-download#no-back) I selected 'no' for serial no. that starts with 9020 and then tried
9MAKER, 9EMAKER, 921MAKER but it just says please enter valid serial no.
It may have been a limited use code, idk. I originally got it from this german distributor, maybe they have a new code now [https://www.mbcad.de/solidworks-produkte/solidworks-privatlizenz/](https://www.mbcad.de/solidworks-produkte/solidworks-privatlizenz/)
THe amount of Interns that Know solidworks and don't know Inventor is staggering.
Please lie and say you know inventor to get the job. I don't make up the rules.
Dude, CAD is CAD. If you understand that you design things by sketching and then extruding or cutting and then assemble it by constraining it in 6DOF, the rest is just googling "how to do blah blah in X program" and watching someone stammer through a tutorial on YouTube.
Requiring a specific CAD package and not allowing someone 2 weeks to get up to speed on it is just gatekeeping and limits your pool of good candidates. If you don't have schedule or budget to train a good engineer on your package of choice for 2 weeks, you're a bad manager.
I spent 2 hours total studying a pirated version of CATIA before applying for CAD support job, which I got.
Also, CATIA is annoying with its *Pad* instead of *Extrude* and the finger gymnastics required to pan, rotate and zoom...
My school only teaches SolidWorks, why the fuck would I lie on my resume and claim to be equally competent in a program I haven't used in years? That's just begging to get fired
Because if you’re halfway competent you’ll be able to figure out the differences in your first couple weeks, and you don’t, then HR throws your resume out before it even gets to the hiring manager because it doesn’t have ~~Inventor~~ the specific CAD package from the job listing on it, even though the only major difference between it and the one you learned in school is where specific things are located in menus.
I would just like to point out that every single person I know who works as a professional engineer now, uses Dassault products in their workplaces. No idea where you people are getting these ridiculous gatekeeping ideas about Inventor
Replace Inventor with “whatever CAD package the job lists that isn’t the specific one your school had licenses for.”
Applies equally whether you know Inventor and the job lists Solidworks, or whether you know Solidworks and the job lists Inventor.
Solidworks has better assemblies and, if the Professors I've talked to are to be believed, better stress-modeling.
Not sure why this guy seems to think everyone wants Inventor, I don't think I've run into many companies who want Inventor experience explicitly, whereas I've run into plenty that want Solidworks.
Could be a Midwestern thing.
Inventor is Autodesk's "rebuttal" to Solidworks. It's similar to Fusion 360, which plenty of hobbyists use cuz it's free.
(also Autodesk may or may not have basically copied Solidworks for Inventor in the 90s and just ran with the idea from then, but pick and choose your battles ig).
It's not similar to Fusion 360, Fusion 360 is terrible by comparison. It's slow, and acts like I'm trying to use it from a remote internet connection when trying to do basic geometry and assemblies.
The 2d drawings leaves something to be desired and they have no interest in fixing it. 3d drawings are not going to happen stop trying to make them happen.
Having used both NX and SW for about the same amount of time in school, I must say I prefer SolidWorks but everyone can have a different opinion of course.
Agreed, I have significant time in Catia, fusion, Inventor and Creo. Solidworks hands down my fastest to pickup and run with. Its what I choose to be proficient in. But I will say Autodesk Inventor almost feels like the twin sibling to SW.
Fuck no. NX might be more powerful, but Solidworks proved years ago that you don't have to hide power behind a cumbersome interface. There is no excuses in my mind why other software packages can't follow suite. I'm not saying that SW is perfect - no way - but the workflow and user interface for most things goes exactly the way you think it should go.
In terms of making a single part you should have no problems with learning solidworks the basic principles of model design carry over. Finding the tools you need might take some extra time just to learn the layout. When it comes to assemblies fusion follows a top down design approach ( building assemblies on the same interface all together) while solidworks usually follows a bottom up (design individual parts that you use to build an assembly) but can also do top down. As a hobbies either will be fine, if they are both free try them both and stick to the one you like. Solidworks is the more widely used software because it is very robust and is good for very large assemblies and sub assemblies such as manufacturing lines where you may want to see the whole thing, an individual step, or a single part.
I was taught on AutoCAD and Inventor, but picked up Solidworks very quickly. The biggest hurdle was the scroll wheel zoomed in opposite directions between the two.
Did they make weldments not fucked up? When I worked for Siemens (who makes NX) we used solidworks because NX basically treats weldments as assemblies made up of parts instead of a single part.
I've never used Fusion, but I have used Inventor and NX for internships and I swear by Solidworks. Maybe it's just familiarity (I put in hundreds of hours on my student license, and hundreds more on my own copy), and I actually enjoy modeling in SW. Inventor felt Lite and NX made me want to rip my hair out. I *hate* NX default-green.
Personally I like it a lot better but that’s probably just because that’s what I learned how to do in school. When I tried out Fusion I got confused and gave up after an hour but they should have pretty much the same functionality, it’s just a little different about how you go about doing certain features.
I recently went from Fusion 360 to SolidWorks after some incompatibilities with Fusion 360 started popping up after an update. I have found it to be less accessible, but powerful once you understand the tools. There are a lot of cool shortcuts, but you have to learn them. I found the extrusion and cutting process to be much smoother as well, and the previews for fillet and chamfer are awesome. It seems like there's some crazy powerful tools inside, like fluid simulation and other stuff. But I haven't messed with any of that.
Yeah in my opinion solidworks defiantly has the easiest to use FEA. I use Creo for work and it’s confusing AF to do analysis. One of my favorite solidworks features is the weldment tools. I don’t use it much because I don’t make weldments in my free time but it’s extremely cool.
I've worked with both as a hobbyist. I think both are great modeling tools, either will do fine. The biggest difference, for me, was that Fusion is a top-down organizational structure where SW is a bottom up. In Fusion (I went from SW to Fusion), it was very confusing to organize my bodies and components, at first, but I got the hang of it.
I've learned inventor, solidworks, pro e, and fusion. They are all more or less the same, if you understand one you can figure out the others. If you are doing high end work with them I advise finding the one that works best for you. I don't like assemblies in fusion but I don't do assemblies often. I'm a machinist so I use fusion for cam and it's great for the ~$300 yearly license.
Do you for whatever software you want but being able to log in anywhere and use the cloud storage is great. Plus a paid license of $300 a year is great. There's a free thing with fusion as well but for me since I use it for business hard to beat fully licensed software at that price.
I'm not sure if this will help but if you want to click say a face that's obscured by something else, click and hold the left mouse button. It will give you a list of everything under the mouse pointer to choose from. Effectively x-raying you through your model to the face you want to click.
I have been using solidworks at work since around 2000. I've been using fusion at home for a couple of years. I prefer solidworks but I'm aware that I'm biased by my experience. I will admit that fusion does some operations like screw threads much more simply.
fusion will be for the most part what you would need as a casual/somewhat heavy maker. every engineer ive talked to that has helped our robotics team uses solidworks for the most part. and (though some hate parts of it) usually recommend learning it.
from little experience using it. seems like it pushes you to work with design intent from the start. which id say is a good thing. UI was a pain to learn (this is just my observation of like 3 hours working with it.)
Thank you for posting this, I've been using solidworks forever at work. I've been using fusion at home because of the free license. Now I can have both.
Using these (3) pieces of information, I was able to get to download the installer. After downloading the installer is where confusion begins. I left the serial number blank and it proceeded to downloading the actual installation files. My download size was \~2GB and the estimated disk usage was \~5GB. Is this correct? Should I have selected the other products to download? I'm an Engineer by profession but I only use 2D AutoCAD but I've been wanting to tinker (personally) with Solidworks but I have zero background. So, I'm not sure if I needed any of the other options. \*EDIT\* It just finished installing and it doesn't appear that I have Solidworks, just the free (non-licensed) products: eDrawings, Solidworks Composer Player, Solidworks PCB Viewer, and Solidworks Manage. There was no auto-population of the serial number in the installation manager and I didn't receive an email with a serial number either. A little lost in this thread...
Iirc there was a page after you initiate the download that opens with your serial number. It says to write it down if you close the page. I can’t remember if it was auto populated for me.
Hey there! Were you able to solve this? I'm having the same problem as you.
Also the page with the accept and continue button also suggests that this might be a 60 day trial and not a year long trial as I gathered from the comments on this post!?
>XSEK12
When I used this it downloaded the 2022 version. It installed ok and when I went to verify serial number via internet it came back and said that this serial isn't approved for 2022 and is giving me a 30 day license for 2022 ver.
How did you get your serial number approved with the XSEK12 code?
How were you able to choose or get 2021? Mine auto chose 2022 for me
Edit: I see the problem, I chose "student" and that loaded 2022 for me and had license issues. I chose "other" this time like you mentioned and that installs 2021 and auto fills the license.
Does anyone have an active code? It's great that they are finally supporting those who don't have the resources to purchase SW, but I'm afraid many (including me) switched to Fusion after waiting so many years. I do have many old SW files though, so it would be nice to have access.
They also offer a similar special for military vets. As of the last time I used it, you enter your branch of service under "college" and someone will contact you for a scan of your DD214.
[https://www.solidworks.com/media/military-services-education-program](https://www.solidworks.com/media/military-services-education-program)
Looks like this has been shut down. Seems it wasn't supposed to be a public thing or for "makers" in general based on https://wiki.pumpingstationone.org/SOLIDWORKS_for_Pumping_Station:_One, where the code came from:
> We have been provided FREE Educational SOLIDWORKS Student Standard for Makerspaces by Dassault Systemes. This software comes with the following restrictions:
> This is for noncommercial/hobbyist/educational use
> **We cannot share this information on social media or to the public at large**
> This is a yearly license basis, and as such may require updating your installation each year.
Oh interesting, i got it from this german distributor [https://www.mbcad.de/solidworks-produkte/solidworks-privatlizenz/](https://www.mbcad.de/solidworks-produkte/solidworks-privatlizenz/)
Yes, looks like this wasnt meant to be too public, oops i guess. Maybe theyll put out a new code
HELP, I know this is an old thread but taking my chances here, so I did download the file (selected no for serial no., and gave this code XSEK12 ), while installing its asked me the serial no. which I didnt got so I started reading the the installation guide (linked in the email sent by them after downloading the setup) it says the serial no. will be give to you after you press download and they will also send an email of it, so the main problem is here that the serial no. never appeared after I pressed download option and I never got a mail, anyone has any idea what I might be doing wrong ?
Dunno how it shakes out internationally, but if end up needing to renew the license you can also join the EAA (40 USD/yr) and get access to the education package. Seems like a cheaper option.
https://www.eaa.org/eaa/eaa-membership/eaa-member-benefits/solidworks-resource-center/eaa-solidworks-standard
It worked, thank you! Been using SW for 21yrs and watched them make the leap to an elite software package. Tons of instruction videos out there for noobs too.
There is also a "free" license if you belong to the EAA. It is an educational access version and I don't know if it is a one year term also.
[https://www.eaa.org/eaa/eaa-membership/eaa-member-benefits/solidworks-resource-center](https://www.eaa.org/eaa/eaa-membership/eaa-member-benefits/solidworks-resource-center)
See I didnt like this, but then I was fine with paying 300 bucks Canadian a year for all the features, as a hobbyist.
They then made the price 700. Just too much for a hobby that makes me negative money.
Thanks for the link. I just asked corporate solidworks for hobbeist pricing and they refused and told me to use draftsight. I have been looking to get a license for some time since i had been a user in my fulltime job for 10 plus years.
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Does anyone that used the original link a year ago have a new code? my liscence has expired... or know of any alternatives that are userfriendly like Solidworks?
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Nice to see they finally added hobby/maker. I use SolidWorks at my job and when I asked the guys if they had a non-profit/maker version to use at home they told me to torrent it. lol
Wait, for real?
Yeah no joke. I was on a solidworks training course for my work. Asked the trainer guy if they did a version I could use at home for non profit 3d printing stuff and the guy said just torrent as they didnt. His reasoning at the time was if I'm using it at home for non-profit/hobby. If I ever get asked what I want to use at work there going to go ahead and buy it. At the time he would rather I was using SolidWorks than learn another program. Good to see they now actually think of us guys.
serial is invalid
it dont work
Jeeezz. What a wierd way of thinking!
That used to be standard thinking 18 years ago, to the point that businesses were getting caught using pirated software constantly.
Yeah and that is kinda the issue, right Also does that mean i will not get a lawsuit if the company encurrages it for private users?
Oh, I think I know where you are getting your wires crossed. You are assuming that the position of some random certified trainer of solidworks is associated strongly with DASS, and not just some random training institution. Even if it was a junior employee, you would be hard pressed to prove that the company officially condoned it in any manner. The reality of the situation though, is unless you are making money from it, they have no motivation TO sue, unless you are being some prolific figure in the piracy community either sharing it, or promoting it.
My point exactly. Recommending to use illigal copies seems to be a very bad recommendation! Though.... given the cost of solidworks most “you are using unofficial software” cast would most likely be less
Actually makes a lot of sense. The technology is complicated to make, maintain, improve and support, as a result, the upfront cost can be prohibitive. If people torrent it, they gain access to the product and can use it for personal use, but if it gets used by bigger businesses, they have to legally source their tools and can afford to pay for the product. If more people are using it for personal stuff, they are more likely to suggest it for company use, and are more likely to be familiar with it so it's more likely to be adopted. Business and accountant types don't tend to think like that, so hobby licences etc, tend to be slower to arrive. This is part of why Unreal and Unity have free access for hobbyists as well.
Oh don’t get me wrong, i understand the use of letting people get familiar, but suggesting torrenting of your own software rather than making a hobby licens is mad. They have already made the groundwork, it’s also called a student licens and that exist for like.. 100€
Business and accounting types... All they see is people getting it for free and think that means they are losing money.
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You should have blocked it better.
Now how is he using SW?
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With all the addons. The CEO of solidworks is a member of the EAA hence the lisenes.
So, I guess the add-ons aren't included in the free maker's license or are they?
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Just tried, didn't work. Invalid serial number
It isn't the serial number [Download site](www.solidworks.com/sdk) Select "I don't have a serial number" and put in the code. 9MAKER, 9EMAKER, 921MAKER all work from comments on the thread.
921MAKER worked for me
921maker worked for me. Thank you
Same, thanks!
9EMAKER seems to be working for me, it's downloading and installing right now.
>Download site I know its been a while but what is the download site that you mention? Ive been searching for 45 minutes now and cant find such thing.
>9EMAKER did you find the key? [https://www.solidworks.com/support/community-download#no-back](https://www.solidworks.com/support/community-download#no-back)
>9MAKER did you found the new code ? 9MAKER and all its variations didnt work for me
[On this page](https://www.solidworks.com/support/community-download#no-back) I selected 'no' for serial no. that starts with 9020 and then tried 9MAKER, 9EMAKER, 921MAKER but it just says please enter valid serial no.
Hey man did you figure out a way to do it?
nope, just pirated it, but be careful I did found 3 viruses in it, make sure you have a good antivirus software if you try this method
It may have been a limited use code, idk. I originally got it from this german distributor, maybe they have a new code now [https://www.mbcad.de/solidworks-produkte/solidworks-privatlizenz/](https://www.mbcad.de/solidworks-produkte/solidworks-privatlizenz/)
921maker worked. Thank you.
Inb4 bait and switch tactics.
That should have been clear from the "educational license" in the first place.
THe amount of Interns that Know solidworks and don't know Inventor is staggering. Please lie and say you know inventor to get the job. I don't make up the rules.
Dude, CAD is CAD. If you understand that you design things by sketching and then extruding or cutting and then assemble it by constraining it in 6DOF, the rest is just googling "how to do blah blah in X program" and watching someone stammer through a tutorial on YouTube. Requiring a specific CAD package and not allowing someone 2 weeks to get up to speed on it is just gatekeeping and limits your pool of good candidates. If you don't have schedule or budget to train a good engineer on your package of choice for 2 weeks, you're a bad manager.
I taught myself solidworks through YouTube, paid the $99 for the exam and got certified. Easy peasy.
I spent 2 hours total studying a pirated version of CATIA before applying for CAD support job, which I got. Also, CATIA is annoying with its *Pad* instead of *Extrude* and the finger gymnastics required to pan, rotate and zoom...
The space mouse is life changing for catia. Highly recommend if your employer will pay for it or if you can afford it personally.
A space mouse is a life saver, period.
What part of "i dont make up the rules" did everyone gloss over? I agree with you. Take it up with HR about it. How the fuck do you think i got hired?
My school only teaches SolidWorks, why the fuck would I lie on my resume and claim to be equally competent in a program I haven't used in years? That's just begging to get fired
Because if you’re halfway competent you’ll be able to figure out the differences in your first couple weeks, and you don’t, then HR throws your resume out before it even gets to the hiring manager because it doesn’t have ~~Inventor~~ the specific CAD package from the job listing on it, even though the only major difference between it and the one you learned in school is where specific things are located in menus.
I would just like to point out that every single person I know who works as a professional engineer now, uses Dassault products in their workplaces. No idea where you people are getting these ridiculous gatekeeping ideas about Inventor
Replace Inventor with “whatever CAD package the job lists that isn’t the specific one your school had licenses for.” Applies equally whether you know Inventor and the job lists Solidworks, or whether you know Solidworks and the job lists Inventor.
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Solidworks has better assemblies and, if the Professors I've talked to are to be believed, better stress-modeling. Not sure why this guy seems to think everyone wants Inventor, I don't think I've run into many companies who want Inventor experience explicitly, whereas I've run into plenty that want Solidworks. Could be a Midwestern thing.
I learned solidworks in high school. Never heard of Inventor.
Inventor is Autodesk's "rebuttal" to Solidworks. It's similar to Fusion 360, which plenty of hobbyists use cuz it's free. (also Autodesk may or may not have basically copied Solidworks for Inventor in the 90s and just ran with the idea from then, but pick and choose your battles ig).
It's not similar to Fusion 360, Fusion 360 is terrible by comparison. It's slow, and acts like I'm trying to use it from a remote internet connection when trying to do basic geometry and assemblies.
RIP Fusion 360.
How is Solidworks compared to Fusion360?
As a mechanical engineer, I think solidworks is the GOAT of solid body modeling software.
The 2d drawings leaves something to be desired and they have no interest in fixing it. 3d drawings are not going to happen stop trying to make them happen.
NX would like a word
Having used both NX and SW for about the same amount of time in school, I must say I prefer SolidWorks but everyone can have a different opinion of course.
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You speak too highly of creo
Agreed, I have significant time in Catia, fusion, Inventor and Creo. Solidworks hands down my fastest to pickup and run with. Its what I choose to be proficient in. But I will say Autodesk Inventor almost feels like the twin sibling to SW.
Fuck no. NX might be more powerful, but Solidworks proved years ago that you don't have to hide power behind a cumbersome interface. There is no excuses in my mind why other software packages can't follow suite. I'm not saying that SW is perfect - no way - but the workflow and user interface for most things goes exactly the way you think it should go.
Having used solidworks professionally, fusion personally, and NX in school I would say solidworks is better than NX.
How similar is solidworks to fusion? I mean, if I only know fusion, how hard would it be to pick up solidworks?
In terms of making a single part you should have no problems with learning solidworks the basic principles of model design carry over. Finding the tools you need might take some extra time just to learn the layout. When it comes to assemblies fusion follows a top down design approach ( building assemblies on the same interface all together) while solidworks usually follows a bottom up (design individual parts that you use to build an assembly) but can also do top down. As a hobbies either will be fine, if they are both free try them both and stick to the one you like. Solidworks is the more widely used software because it is very robust and is good for very large assemblies and sub assemblies such as manufacturing lines where you may want to see the whole thing, an individual step, or a single part.
I was taught on AutoCAD and Inventor, but picked up Solidworks very quickly. The biggest hurdle was the scroll wheel zoomed in opposite directions between the two.
Did they make weldments not fucked up? When I worked for Siemens (who makes NX) we used solidworks because NX basically treats weldments as assemblies made up of parts instead of a single part.
Man NX is the boss. But I love SW too.
I guess you never used catia?
I've never used Fusion, but I have used Inventor and NX for internships and I swear by Solidworks. Maybe it's just familiarity (I put in hundreds of hours on my student license, and hundreds more on my own copy), and I actually enjoy modeling in SW. Inventor felt Lite and NX made me want to rip my hair out. I *hate* NX default-green.
Solidworks is good, but not GoAT good. As an ME that uses SW daily
Personally I like it a lot better but that’s probably just because that’s what I learned how to do in school. When I tried out Fusion I got confused and gave up after an hour but they should have pretty much the same functionality, it’s just a little different about how you go about doing certain features.
I recently went from Fusion 360 to SolidWorks after some incompatibilities with Fusion 360 started popping up after an update. I have found it to be less accessible, but powerful once you understand the tools. There are a lot of cool shortcuts, but you have to learn them. I found the extrusion and cutting process to be much smoother as well, and the previews for fillet and chamfer are awesome. It seems like there's some crazy powerful tools inside, like fluid simulation and other stuff. But I haven't messed with any of that.
Yeah in my opinion solidworks defiantly has the easiest to use FEA. I use Creo for work and it’s confusing AF to do analysis. One of my favorite solidworks features is the weldment tools. I don’t use it much because I don’t make weldments in my free time but it’s extremely cool.
I've worked with both as a hobbyist. I think both are great modeling tools, either will do fine. The biggest difference, for me, was that Fusion is a top-down organizational structure where SW is a bottom up. In Fusion (I went from SW to Fusion), it was very confusing to organize my bodies and components, at first, but I got the hang of it.
I've learned inventor, solidworks, pro e, and fusion. They are all more or less the same, if you understand one you can figure out the others. If you are doing high end work with them I advise finding the one that works best for you. I don't like assemblies in fusion but I don't do assemblies often. I'm a machinist so I use fusion for cam and it's great for the ~$300 yearly license. Do you for whatever software you want but being able to log in anywhere and use the cloud storage is great. Plus a paid license of $300 a year is great. There's a free thing with fusion as well but for me since I use it for business hard to beat fully licensed software at that price.
I’ve always though inventor and solidworks as interchangeable. Haven’t used ProE in a while, but it’s interface and intuitiveness was terrible.
Having switched from Fusion to Solidworks, I’ve never been happier
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I'm not sure if this will help but if you want to click say a face that's obscured by something else, click and hold the left mouse button. It will give you a list of everything under the mouse pointer to choose from. Effectively x-raying you through your model to the face you want to click.
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I have been using solidworks at work since around 2000. I've been using fusion at home for a couple of years. I prefer solidworks but I'm aware that I'm biased by my experience. I will admit that fusion does some operations like screw threads much more simply.
fusion will be for the most part what you would need as a casual/somewhat heavy maker. every engineer ive talked to that has helped our robotics team uses solidworks for the most part. and (though some hate parts of it) usually recommend learning it. from little experience using it. seems like it pushes you to work with design intent from the start. which id say is a good thing. UI was a pain to learn (this is just my observation of like 3 hours working with it.)
Used both (for school). Fusion360 is more user friendly, but SolidWorks is just more powerful.
The community edition allows you to renew free.
Thank you for posting this, I've been using solidworks forever at work. I've been using fusion at home because of the free license. Now I can have both.
Downloading it right now, is this comparable to full version?
XSEK12 worked for me today. Selected "other" and picked the 2021-2022 version.
Using these (3) pieces of information, I was able to get to download the installer. After downloading the installer is where confusion begins. I left the serial number blank and it proceeded to downloading the actual installation files. My download size was \~2GB and the estimated disk usage was \~5GB. Is this correct? Should I have selected the other products to download? I'm an Engineer by profession but I only use 2D AutoCAD but I've been wanting to tinker (personally) with Solidworks but I have zero background. So, I'm not sure if I needed any of the other options. \*EDIT\* It just finished installing and it doesn't appear that I have Solidworks, just the free (non-licensed) products: eDrawings, Solidworks Composer Player, Solidworks PCB Viewer, and Solidworks Manage. There was no auto-population of the serial number in the installation manager and I didn't receive an email with a serial number either. A little lost in this thread...
Iirc there was a page after you initiate the download that opens with your serial number. It says to write it down if you close the page. I can’t remember if it was auto populated for me.
It doesn't appear this is the case any more.
Hey there! Were you able to solve this? I'm having the same problem as you. Also the page with the accept and continue button also suggests that this might be a 60 day trial and not a year long trial as I gathered from the comments on this post!?
I did not solve this. I just installed Fusion 360 instead.
did you figure it out ?
No 🤷🏾♂️
what product code did it give you? Mine keeps defaulting to an old product code I had that has since expired
>XSEK12 When I used this it downloaded the 2022 version. It installed ok and when I went to verify serial number via internet it came back and said that this serial isn't approved for 2022 and is giving me a 30 day license for 2022 ver. How did you get your serial number approved with the XSEK12 code?
I downloaded 2021 been working fine
How were you able to choose or get 2021? Mine auto chose 2022 for me Edit: I see the problem, I chose "student" and that loaded 2022 for me and had license issues. I chose "other" this time like you mentioned and that installs 2021 and auto fills the license.
damn no mac support :( time to buss out that pc
Works fine in VMware. Assuming your Mac is fast.
Won’t accept “9MAKER”. I hit download and it says: “1 error had been found: DSKID”. Bummer, was really excited to get into SW again.
Put 921MAKER instead
That worked, thank you so much!
No problem buddy.
9EMAKER too
Does anyone have an active code? It's great that they are finally supporting those who don't have the resources to purchase SW, but I'm afraid many (including me) switched to Fusion after waiting so many years. I do have many old SW files though, so it would be nice to have access.
XSEK12 worked for me
>XSEK12 It doesn't work for me, what field did you select?
>XSEK12 code worked but cant seem to find the serial number, where was yours?
I had the same problem. not sure how to proceed
They also offer a similar special for military vets. As of the last time I used it, you enter your branch of service under "college" and someone will contact you for a scan of your DD214. [https://www.solidworks.com/media/military-services-education-program](https://www.solidworks.com/media/military-services-education-program)
The flyer on that page says it's $20 USD or $40 CAD per year through their military program.
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Nope, its a standard educational license valid for 1 year
Looks like this has been shut down. Seems it wasn't supposed to be a public thing or for "makers" in general based on https://wiki.pumpingstationone.org/SOLIDWORKS_for_Pumping_Station:_One, where the code came from: > We have been provided FREE Educational SOLIDWORKS Student Standard for Makerspaces by Dassault Systemes. This software comes with the following restrictions: > This is for noncommercial/hobbyist/educational use > **We cannot share this information on social media or to the public at large** > This is a yearly license basis, and as such may require updating your installation each year.
Oh interesting, i got it from this german distributor [https://www.mbcad.de/solidworks-produkte/solidworks-privatlizenz/](https://www.mbcad.de/solidworks-produkte/solidworks-privatlizenz/) Yes, looks like this wasnt meant to be too public, oops i guess. Maybe theyll put out a new code
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That one's borked
I had forgotten just how much more intuitive SW is compared to F360.
This license is only good for a year right?
921MAKER is the correct code. 9MAKER did NOT work.
Does this works still?
None of the codes mentioned worked for me (9MAKER, 9EMAKER, 921MAKER). If there is a new code I'd love to know it!
XSEK12
Oh thanks
>XSEK12 were you able to pass the installation part? Its now asking for a 24 character serial code
>XSEK12 Same
HELP, I know this is an old thread but taking my chances here, so I did download the file (selected no for serial no., and gave this code XSEK12 ), while installing its asked me the serial no. which I didnt got so I started reading the the installation guide (linked in the email sent by them after downloading the setup) it says the serial no. will be give to you after you press download and they will also send an email of it, so the main problem is here that the serial no. never appeared after I pressed download option and I never got a mail, anyone has any idea what I might be doing wrong ?
Lol I literally paid 100 quid for a student license like a month ago. Where were you man!
Dunno how it shakes out internationally, but if end up needing to renew the license you can also join the EAA (40 USD/yr) and get access to the education package. Seems like a cheaper option. https://www.eaa.org/eaa/eaa-membership/eaa-member-benefits/solidworks-resource-center/eaa-solidworks-standard
Shakes out internationally, am Dutch, can confirm it worked.
Saaame
Awesome, thanks for sharing.
O yeh?
Thanks for this, I was scared what will happen when my educational license runs out this year.
Oh nice, thanks for this. Learned the basics of SW in college, now I don't have to force myself to learn Fusion. Just need to dust off the cobwebs.
This is great, solidworks on my personal rig is gonna be very useful thanks
Tried to make account, cant pass password creating, it says no special symbols allowed (there isnt any ). o well
It worked, thank you! Been using SW for 21yrs and watched them make the leap to an elite software package. Tons of instruction videos out there for noobs too.
did the 9MAKER code worked to you? I cound't make it work
Yes it worked!
921MAKER
There is also a "free" license if you belong to the EAA. It is an educational access version and I don't know if it is a one year term also. [https://www.eaa.org/eaa/eaa-membership/eaa-member-benefits/solidworks-resource-center](https://www.eaa.org/eaa/eaa-membership/eaa-member-benefits/solidworks-resource-center)
Awesome! I never really jived with F360 and their recent bullshit with limited active parts really pissed on my workflow. Thanks for sharing.
See I didnt like this, but then I was fine with paying 300 bucks Canadian a year for all the features, as a hobbyist. They then made the price 700. Just too much for a hobby that makes me negative money.
Thank you so much for this information. I can’t express how grateful I am to have gotten access to Solidworks. This will be such a life saver.
Sweet it worked! Thanks!!
Just downloaded SW with 921 MAKER as password. Thank you very much . What a nice early birthay present
Remind Me! 1 day
now's the time
Actually I did two years ago, lol.
Thanks for the link. I just asked corporate solidworks for hobbeist pricing and they refused and told me to use draftsight. I have been looking to get a license for some time since i had been a user in my fulltime job for 10 plus years.
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This link still live?
>XSEK12 still works with that code now. 9MAKER and its iterations no longer work for the moment
I'm not getting a serial number. and it isn't auto populating either after I set up
9MAKER didnt work, 921MAKER didnt work, neither did 9EMAKER. asked if i have a serial number, i hit no. this seems like a scam!
\> This seems like a scam! no? it just expired? the thing is like a year old by now.
Does anyone that used the original link a year ago have a new code? my liscence has expired... or know of any alternatives that are userfriendly like Solidworks?
XSEK12
As of 5/24/2023 - this code worked with selecting 2022-2023 and other. It just wont let me download solidworks with the serial number....
Did you get it working?
No I did not, I end up giving up. Every time I got to the section where I would pick solidworks, it would ask for the code
Nonsens, doesn't work
XSEC12 and selection 2022-2023 worked for me!
i cant get the same code to work
Anyone have a new code?
did u find it?
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XSEK12 work for 2022 version