What is a SOLIDWORKS Remote Admin Image?

With SOLIDWORKS 2023 freshly released, it’s time to start thinking about upgrading all your SOLIDWORKS installations to the latest versions. One of the most useful tools included with your SOLIDWRKS installation is the ability to create admin images. This allows teams to have one set of installation files and settings stored in a single package to be deployed to multiple users. Over the years, there has been so much functionality added to it but, in my opinion, nothing better than the Remote Admin Image added in SOLIDWORKS 2022.

SOLIDWORKS Administrative Image Type

A Typical Admin Image

Prior to SOLIDWORKS 2022 when creating Admin Images, you were given the option to create a Standard Admin Image or a Compressed Admin Image. The two are effectively the same with one being compressed being easier to copy and the other being uncompressed taking up more space. Both are then typically stored in a network location that all users can access during the upgrade and installation process.

The actual deployment of the admin images to the user machines can be done in a few ways. The first is by using the command line on the user computer in conjunction with some command line commands to silently deploy the image and get SOLIDWORKS installed. However, if a user has sufficient access rights on their machine to install software, then the Email Deploy option works as well. Emails can be sent directly from the Admin Image Option editor. The email will contain a link to the network location of the StartSWInstall.hta needed to start the SOLIDWORKS Installation. This method can be blasted out to all users at once for them to start the installation process on their own.

Remote Admin Image

Starting in SOLIDWORKS 2022, the third method to deploy admin images is to use the Remote Client Administrative Images. This type of admin image is extremely useful for user computers who either don’t have a constant, quick connection to the shared network location or doesn’t have access to a shared network location at all!

The Remote Admin Image can be edited like any other admin image to specific serial numbers, installation locations, and the actual products to install. However, rather than downloading all the installation media to be stored and deployed from the network location it will create a “custom” installation manager that will download the files from the Dassault Systemès SOLIDWORKS Download site. Ultimately, this leads to an easier image transfer (a few hundred MB compared to 20+GB) but will result in needing to download the files on each user machine again and again.

Compare SOLIDWORKS remote admin vs standard admin

With SOLIDWORKS 2023 release just past us it’s a great time to start thinking about your method to deploy SOLIDWORKS on all your users’ machines. Whether you’re planning on using a typical admin image and storing the files on a shared network or using the remote admin image to create your own custom installation manager, you can’t go wrong when deploying SOLIDWORKS to multiple machines. If you run into any issues during the process, don’t hesitate to reach out to TriMech Technical Support or your local Technical Resource and they will be happy to answer any questions.