Blog SOLIDWORKS & EPDM Full Downloads
If you’ve used SOLIDWORKS for more than a year you’ve likely needed to download an update. Those of us who’ve been around even longer know that this takes a bit of time and its worth getting right. For the newer folks it can be a little confusing so I’m putting this blog together to make it easy for everyone to get what they need so they’re ready to go when the time comes.
Note: Having a Full Download will allow you to install without requiring any previous versions or service packs.
FIRST, the SOLIDWORKS Customer Portal Login.
If you’re doing any sort of SOLIDWORKS Admin stuff, get yourself a Customer Portal Account setup and make sure it’s activated/registered. If you have any trouble getting the webpage to work, call your reseller, they can have SOLIDWORKS look behind the scenes and correct any access issues.
Below we see the SOLIDWORKS main homepage, look for the little “Login” link.
It moved recently so it could move again in the future, but this is the starting point.
Below we see the Login Options, as a customer you’ll want the “Customer Portal”.
Below is the login screen, this you’ll want to bookmark for the future.
If you don’t already have an account, select the “Create a SOLIDWORKS ID” button.
If you have an account but don’t remember the password, select the “Forgot your password?” link and try to recover the password.
Below is the landing page once you’ve logged in. There is a lot of great stuff here, but we’ll focus just on the “Downloads and Updates” link.
If you can’t select it, it’s likely because you still need to go through the “Register My Products” link “successfully” first. If you have trouble, where this isn’t working, contact your reseller to assist getting this straightened out.
Below is the Downloads page. Near the top is the “Select Version” dropdown. Make sure this is on the version you’re looking for. It has older versions as well, now going back much further. Currently it goes back to 2012!
SW Enterprise PDM, it’s a little simpler download, but needs some naming help.
Below we see further down on the same Downloads page. Here we can find links for various items from the selected version, and if it’s current enough, different service packs.
Below is the Internet Explorer downloads screen. You’ll see the filename, in this case “pdmwenterprise.exe” as well as the Save option. I like to pick the down arrow next to Save to have a little more control over this download. Pick “Save As”, you’ll be prompted with a Windows Explorer window where you can chose a download folder of your choosing. It will also show you the filename to save it as. I like to change it to something more specific, so instead of pdmwenterprise.exe, I’d make it “EPDM-2015-SP4.exe” so anyone will know what version and service pack “Before” running it.
Below we see the Save As screen. You can see where I’ve changed the downloaded file name to something more specific, in this case, “EPDM-2015-SP4”.
This is all there is to it for SOLIDWORKS Enterprise PDM’s “Full Download”.
Once you have this one file you’re set for installing or upgrading.
Now for SOLIDWORKS, which is a bit different and maybe less intuitive.
Below we see the same Downloads page but we’ll download SOLIDWORKS this time.
Below we see the End User License Agreement screen.
You’ll need to accept the agreement to go further.
Here is where it gets interesting. While it may seem that you are about to download SOLIDWORKS, you are in fact ONLY DOWNLOADING a DOWNLOADER, it’s call the INSTALLATION MANAGER. We’ll want to download and run the SolidWorksSetup.exe.
Below is the SolidWorksSetup.exe running, asking for a location.
This is only needed temporarily to install the new Installation Manager from, after it can be deleted so I like to put it into a temp folder.
Below we see the NEW Installation Manager (Note the title of the window).
This is finally where we can get the option to “Download only – Download all files that are on the DVD…..” THIS IS THE FULL DOWNLOAD we’re looking for.
Having this next download complete eliminates the need for anymore downloading for this service pack. We can install on a new machine a fully functioning install of SOLIDWORKS without having to go through any other service packs or more downloading. You can and should put this download on your network and share it with other SOLIDWORKS users so they don’t have to repeat any downloading.
Below we can see the “Summary” stating we’re downloading a full copy of 20115 SP 4.
If you’re like me, you don’t like your computer downloading things you didn’t specifically ask for. In this case you can shut off the “Background downloader” by clicking on the Change button. The Change button will also allow you to change the Download to: folder. What’s nice here is SOLIDWORKS will name the download folder smartly/descriptively (SOLIDWORKS 2015 x64 SP04) unlike the EPDM download.
Below we see the download finally begin.
Everything up to here has been prep/getting ready. Now you have the big wait, but it’s worth it because once it’s done you won’t need to do this again.
Enjoy!
Jim Krivoshein
PLM Consultant
InFlow Technology