Multiple licenses on the same machine.

[Damo]

I reckon this may be a long shot.
Does anyone know or have any experience with using multiple versions with different licenses on the same computer.
An example of requirement for argument sake:
A contractor has their own older version without subs. But installs a later version (with subs) and transfers a customers license across to work with the customers newer version files.

Does anyone have any experience with this..? Can it work..?

[AlexLachance]

I don't see why it wouldn't work but I've never tried or read of people doing this. Maybe holla at a VAR to see if everything's good.

[Frank_Oostendorp]

Did have a bad experience with this. Had my own private SW2013 running under W7. Received a temporary licence to test SW2018, VAR told me it could run besides the SW2013 version. After temporary licence expired, took a lot of work and help from the VAR to get original licence running again.

[Frederick_Law]

SW only store 1 license in registry.
Remote Desktop maybe easiest.
Create one for Contractor. Remove access when contract expire.

Giving contractor your license means you'll need to call VAR to remove that license if contractor did not uninstall SW.

[gupta9665]

It should work OK. Have a reg/bat file which you/contactor can run to change the serial number quickly in the registry and then can use the required version accordingly.

[Damo]

I don't see why it wouldn't work but I've never tried or read of people doing this. Maybe holla at a VAR to see if everything's good.

I reckon the Tech that my VAR assigned to me has misunderstood the question.

His response was: "When installing first version of Solidworks you will be asked to enter a valid SW serial number. When you start installing the second version, Solidworks will automatically pick the serial number from the old installation and will not prompt to enter the serial number .
So, one license can be used on computer with multiple installations."

This is why I came here to ask..

[AlexLachance]

I reckon the Tech that my VAR assigned to me has misunderstood the question.

His response was: "When installing first version of Solidworks you will be asked to enter a valid SW serial number. When you start installing the second version, Solidworks will automatically pick the serial number from the old installation and will not prompt to enter the serial number .
So, one license can be used on computer with multiple installations."

This is why I came here to ask..

Frank had some good insight on this having tried it himself if you haven't seen his reply above.

[AlexLachance]

I reckon the Tech that my VAR assigned to me has misunderstood the question.

His response was: "When installing first version of Solidworks you will be asked to enter a valid SW serial number. When you start installing the second version, Solidworks will automatically pick the serial number from the old installation and will not prompt to enter the serial number .
So, one license can be used on computer with multiple installations."

This is why I came here to ask..

Also, tell him he's not answering your question and to drop the pre-written answers.

[Damo]

SW only store 1 license in registry.
Remote Desktop maybe easiest.
Create one for Contractor. Remove access when contract expire.

I am not really sure I like the idea of allowing a contractor full machine remote access while I am unable to monitor it.
Rather, giving over only a relevant project folder to work with is a much preferred option.
I am not familiar and have never been very comfortable with remote access.

[Damo]

Did have a bad experience with this. Had my own private SW2013 running under W7. Received a temporary licence to test SW2018, VAR told me it could run besides the SW2013 version. After temporary licence expired, took a lot of work and help from the VAR to get original licence running again.

Frank.

So it did work but was not straightforward.? (As if much about SW is.. Lol)
But it "did" work..?
And what is a "temporary" license..?

[Damo]

It should work OK. Have a reg/bat file which you/contactor can run to change the serial number quickly in the registry and then can use the required version accordingly.

Deepak.

This sounds promising. How would one go about achieving this..?

[gupta9665]

Deepak.

This sounds promising. How would one go about achieving this..?

The serial number is stored under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SolidWorks\Licenses\Serial Numbers in the Windows registry. So you can export this key with desired version name (keep the extension as .reg). Now make a copy of the .reg file and change the name and serial number to desired version. Finally before starting the SW, just run the desired .reg file.

The above process can be enhanced further by having a tool which will update the serial number and then run the desired SW version.

[Frank_Oostendorp]

Frank.

So it did work but was not straightforward.? (As if much about SW is.. Lol)
But it "did" work..?
And what is a "temporary" license..?

The temporary license I got, hat a time limit of 14 days to use. After that period, it becomes inactive. This was handed to me by my VAR, to test a new release before buying it. After this, I should be able to work with the old release again.
So getting the new release working with the temporary license was no problem. Getting the previous version with perpetual license running again, was another story. After resetting the serial number by the install procedure did not work. Replacing it in the registry didn't work. Activating and de-activating by me and the VAR didn't work. It turned out, the system was in a fraude detect state, blocking the software in all kind of ways. It would have been quicker to just clear the SolidWorks install of my workstation.

[Damo]

The temporary license I got, hat a time limit of 14 days to use. After that period, it becomes inactive. This was handed to me by my VAR, to test a new release before buying it. After this, I should be able to work with the old release again.
So getting the new release working with the temporary license was no problem. Getting the previous version with perpetual license running again, was another story. After resetting the serial number by the install procedure did not work. Replacing it in the registry didn't work. Activating and de-activating by me and the VAR didn't work. It turned out, the system was in a fraude detect state, blocking the software in all kind of ways. It would have been quicker to just clear the SolidWorks install of my workstation.

Yeah.. Nah... I don't reckon I'll go with this option.
Sounds like a painfull process with the very real possibility to mess things up.

Cheers for the heads-up..

[Damo]

The serial number is stored under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SolidWorks\Licenses\Serial Numbers in the Windows registry. So you can export this key with desired version name (keep the extension as .reg). Now make a copy of the .reg file and change the name and serial number to desired version. Finally before starting the SW, just run the desired .reg file.

The above process can be enhanced further by having a tool which will update the serial number and then run the desired SW version.

OOOoooohhh Very interesting.. This option has potential.
You have successfully achieved this previously.? Without issue or problems.?

I would not be in anyones good books if I messed up our contractors license or locked our own one out..

[Frederick_Law]

I am not really sure I like the idea of allowing a contractor full machine remote access while I am unable to monitor it.
Rather, giving over only a relevant project folder to work with is a much preferred option.
I am not familiar and have never been very comfortable with remote access.

The Contractor login as another user. You have full user control in Windows.
You can set one up and test it yourself first. Make sure the User only have access to what it need.
ie Network drive if needed.
No admin right to install anything.
In fact you can see what the User is doing if you got monitor on the computer.

We use:
https://www.teamviewer.com/en-ca/

Don't know if Microsoft Teams have Remote Control.

[Frederick_Law]

OOOoooohhh Very interesting.. This option has potential.
You have successfully achieved this previously.? Without issue or problems.?

I would not be in anyones good books if I messed up our contractors license or locked our own one out..

If user use wrong REG in wrong version SW, it might go crazy.
SW license go crazy by it's own sometimes anyway.

You can use a batch file to change REG then launch SW.

But double clicking SolidWorks files in File explorer might cause problem.

[gupta9665]

OOOoooohhh Very interesting.. This option has potential.
You have successfully achieved this previously.? Without issue or problems.?

I would not be in anyones good books if I messed up our contractors license or locked our own one out..

I had used this method and made a tool for a client. The tool changes many options inside the SW (serial number stays same but that can be changed as well) and starts SW. So instead of running the copy setting wizard, this tool does the tasks in the background and run SW.