Alternative Method to Move SOLIDWORKS SolidNetWork License

For the most part, moving the SOLIDWORKS SolidNetWork License can be performed, as explained in my colleague’s article, Moving The SOLIDWORKS SolidNetWork License (SNL) Manager. But in some cases, Windows user permissions can cause issues.

Many of these issues can be addressed by logging into the server as an administrator. I personally like to use the Local System Administrator, as this eliminates any variables that may be related to a domain. Of course, this will depend on how your environment is set up.

Move SOLIDWORKS license executable

Alternatively, permission issues can be bypassed, by manually running the utility used to move a license. This utility is the SOLIDWORKS Product Activation application. The executable for this application is called swlmwiz.exe and, by default, it is located in:

C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\setup\i386

To launch this utility, on the old server, right-click on the executable and choose ‘Run as administrator’ to elevate permissions.

Running swlmwiz.exe as Administrator

SOLIDWORKS Product Activation utility

This will launch the SOLIDWORKS Product Activation utility, which is part of the SOLIDWORKS SolidNetWork License Manager. Choose the option to Move your product license(s) to a new/upgraded computer, then select Next

Move License Product Activation

Select the licenses you want to deactivate and press Next to deactivate them on the old server.

Now that the license(s) have been deactivated old server, you can now activate them on the new server. If you run into issues activating the license(s) on the new server normally, the above method can be used to activate it. In this scenario use the ‘Activate/Reactivate your product licenses’ in the SOLIDWORKS Product Activation utility.