SOLIDWORKS Important Reminders for 2019-2020

With SOLIDWORKS 2020 on the horizon, we will look at some of the changes coming to the landscape of the future.

SNL HUL Licensing
SOLIDWORKS has decided to phase out existing HUL licenses. Starting October 4th, 2019, all existing Home Use Licenses will be phased out. Users with an activated HUL license will still be able to use their SOLIDWORKS license until they deactivate/transfer it. New activations won’t be possible.

HUL or Home Use License was setup as a standalone license that allows customers with SOLIDWORKS Network licenses to install and run SOLIDWORKS on machines that are outside a company network for work-related purposes, training or personal education. They were not intended for machines that are generally connected to the office network and were introduced when internet access, virtual private networks (VPN) and mobile workstations were not widely available way back in 1999.

• Effective May 1st, 2019, DS SolidWorks will not issue any new Home Use Licenses
• Starting October 4th, 2019, existing Home Use Licenses will be phased out

What other options are available for home usage?

• Connect to the company network using VPN
• Borrow an SNL license
• Convert an SNL license to Standalone license
• Buy additional Standalone licenses (Perpetual or Term) and leverage Online Licensing if needed

See the full blog post here:
https://blogs.solidworks.com/solidworksblog/2019/05/home-use-licenses-changes-to-our-current-policy.html

Windows 8.1 end of life
SOLIDWORKS 2018 SP5 brought forth the end of life for Windows 8.1 OS. To install SOLIDWORKS 2019 you will need to upgrade your OS. Most users have already upgraded to Windows 10, many of them during the Windows 10 free upgrade that ended on July 29, 2016. Windows 8.1 was not very popular amongst SW users and has likely been replaced already. Microsoft will still support Windows 8.1 until 2023. However, if you are still on it, then it’s time to move on in order to continue upgrading SOLIDWORKS.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/15347/announcing-windows-8-1-support-lifecycle-policy

Windows 7 end of life
Another point of concern is the ending of Windows 7 support. SOLIDWORKS 2020 SP5 will be the last version of SOLIDWORKS to support the Windows 7 OS. Unlike Windows 8.1, Microsoft will be ending ALL support of Windows 7 on January 14, 2020. This means no more technical support, no software updates, and no security updates that may leave your company vulnerable.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-windows-7-support

Windows Server 2012 R2
The long-standing 2012 R2 version will see the end of life with SOLIDWORKS 2019 SP5. Make sure to pay attention to this as you will need to move to Windows Server 2016 or later to install the SNL manager for networks seats before you can upgrade your systems to SOLIDWORKS 2020!!

Windows Server 2019
Starting with SOLIDWORKS 2019 SP3 Windows Server 2019 is now fully supported and can be used for SNL installations.

Microsoft Office products
Excel and Word 2019 are supported with SOLIDWORKS 2019 SP2. 64-bit versions of both are recommended for Office 2016 and 2019 while working with SOLIDWORKS. You may need your IT department to help with these installations.

To keep up with lifecycle changes to SOLIDWORKS, see the system requirements pages here:
https://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/SystemRequirements.html

Stay tuned to CATI blogs for upcoming SOLIDWORKS 2020 upgrade information including new features and installation. 2020 is just around the corner please test the beta versions and let’s make this the best launch ever!

John Van Engen
Support Team Lead
Computer Aided Technology, LLC