The other day, I downloaded the Windows 10 Technical Preview. Being the good nerd I am, I installed it immediately – against the moaning and groaning prompts of several co-workers.
«Dude, it’s going to be worse than Windows 8.»
«I hate the two user interfaces Windows 8.1, Metro, and Desktop. You’d hope they’d nix that.»
I am in agreement. I felt Windows 8 was a pile of steaming… . Well, let’s just say I wanted to see for myself if Windows 10 could get the bad taste out of my mouth. Thus far, the experience has been spot on. Before talking about the SOLIDWORKS installation, let’s look at a couple of things you will get with Windows 10.
Metro App Interface = «Start Screen» is now optional
When you install Windows 10, it detects if you have a device that is driven by a mouse and keyboard or a touch screen. If you have a laptop like mine, Dell Precision m6800, you will get what looks like Windows 7 with a start menu. I’m switching to Windows 10 just for that. If you have a Windows Surface Tablet or something that is primarily a touch interface, you’ll get the Start Screen. Never fear, you have the option for either – USE THE START MENU!! Yes, I’m yelling.
Start Screen
Start Menu
Program Snapping
This one is my other favorites of the Technical Preview. When you are running multiple monitors you can now snap a program to either edge of the monitors and have the program take all or half of that display. It’s the little things, you know. You can also snap programs horizontally and vertically at the same time two up and two across- COOL!!
Installing SOLIDWORKS
Installing SOLIDWORKS seem to go off without a hitch. The only big issue you’ll see in the YouTube video below is the Technical Preview of Windows 10 did not have dot net 3.5 and 2.0 install. When the SOLIDWORKS Installation Manager went to check it, Windows 10 did something I didn’t want and got the dot net frameworks and installed them. I’m cool with that here, but it made me think about mass deployments. I’m pretty sure SOLIDWORKS will add this to the prereqs folder so Windows doesn’t have to go download and install it. I have a fast internet connection at work and it took four and a half minutes to complete that process. Except for that one concern, I see no issue with the install at all.
Enjoy everyone!!!!
Robert McGaughey
CATI Technical Applications Manager
www.cati.com
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Is SOLIDWORKS compatible with Windows 10®? That is a question we are hearing a lot lately.
On July 28 2015, Microsoft® announced that Windows 10® is now available for business. That is great news, but before you rush out and upgrade your operating system it’s always a good idea to check if your business software is compatible, or if an upgrade is coming soon. DS SOLIDWORKS released a customer bulletin about compatibility with Windows 10:
SOLIDWORKS 2015 SP5, SOLIDWORKS 2016 and SOLIDWORKS 2017 software support Windows 10 64-bit Pro and Enterprise.
SOLIDWORKS 2014 does NOT support Windows 10*
* The following SOLIDWORKS products are NOT supported on Windows 10: SOLIDWORKS 2015 SP4, SOLIDWORKS 2014 SP5 and all other earlier versions and service packs. This applies to the entire product range (i.e. eDrawings, Enterprise PDM, SOLIDWORKS Composer, etc.)
Should I Upgrade Now?
More information and commentary from our Tech Services Manager:
With Microsoft offering Windows 10 as a FREE upgrade, there’s been much more interest in upgrading sooner rather than later. But before you make the decision to upgrade, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- The operating system is the foundation that all other applications run on. Be sure to ask yourself and able to confidentially say “Yes” to the question, “Am I comfortable with running production work on a system running a brand new operating system that could potentially still have some significant undiscovered issues?” Myself, I am upgrading my home PC right away to Windows 10 so I can do some vetting on it instead of my work PC, at home the risk of issues carries a much lower impact. Upgrading a production machine immediately will carry some risk, and you will be taking a gamble.
- Have you checked to ensure all your component vendors have produced Windows 10 drivers? After Windows Vista, I believe vendors have learned they MUST have supporting drivers for new operating systems, however the question exists, how good are those drivers? Especially one as important as video card drivers. All SOLIDWORKS users know how CRUCIAL that component is.
- Why the rush to upgrade to Windows 10? Windows 10 is going to be available for FREE until July 2016. You have almost a year to upgrade. Why not give it some time to mature a bit, perhaps wait for SP1 or at least a few months which we will inevitably see a mass number of updates to patch up some newly discovered issues.
Don’t rush into the upgrade. Wait until SOLIDWORKS has released versions that officially support Windows 10. By then, Microsoft and system vendors will have more time to make sure Windows 10 works well for you, when the time comes to upgrade.
If you do decide to upgrade right away, please consider doing so on a test machine/platform that you can do some testing on.
- Make sure SOLIDWORKS will run to your satisfaction, especially if you decide to try to run it in Compatibility Mode.
- Ensure that your video card has an updated driver for Windows 10, and that it also works well with SOLIDWORKS.
- Be sure to test using your largest assemblies to give it a proper stress test. Opening a small part or assembly will not properly mirror how you work with it.
Do not base your decision to move forward with upgrading production machines on such a limited test, or worse, by not doing any advanced testing.
In the end, I ask you make an informed decision and do not upgrade just because Windows 10 is free and available to you now.
Good luck!
More Information about Windows 10
About upgrading: http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/07/28/windows-10-free-upgrade-available-in-190-countries-today/
The official press release for Windows 10: https://news.microsoft.com/2015/07/28/windows-10-available-in-190-countries-as-a-free-upgrade/.
Upgrading an older version of SOLIDWORKS
If you are using an older version of SOLIDWORKS and are not currently on Subscription Service but would like to get the SOLIDWORKS Windows 10 compatible version: learn more about SOLIDWORKS Subscription Service and contact us for a quote.
SOLIDWORKS 2017 Resources
Access our resources page to get everything you need to learn what’s new in SOLIDWORKS 2017, including tech tips, demonstrations, and upcoming product webinars.
WHAT’S NEW RESOURCES
Недавно собрали рабочую станцию на базе процессора Intel Core i3-7100 + 16 Гб DDR4-2400 + SSD 256 ГБ + GeForce GTX 1050Ti 4 Гб (кстати, рекомендую такую конфигурацию для работы в SolidWorks, по соотношению цена/производительность — самое то).
Из-за отсутствия официальной поддержки от Microsoft для ОС Windows 7, начиная с 7-го поколения процессоров Intel, на новый комп поставили Windows 10 (в другом случае, её бы и не ставили, так как единодушно считаем, что «десятку» на комп для работы в CAD/CAE пока устанавливать не стоит). И обнаружился такой момент — в рабочем окне Солида теперь красуется вот такая полоса, которой там не должно быть. После многих безрезультатных экспериментов с драйверами от nVidia и перебирания разных настроек Windows, решили установить Солид просто для теста на мультимедийный ноут с предустановленной Win 10 и встроенной в процессор графикой от Intel. В итоге — результат абсолютно такой же на версиях SW 2015/2016/2017.
Кто-нибудь знает, как с этим бороться? Оно то на работу человеку не влияет, но очень хочется, чтобы на рабочем поле все было в ажуре.
Изменено пользователем Knight of Truth
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[16-NOV-2015 update: SP5 is still not available…]
SolidWorks 2015 SP4 has compatibility issues with Windows 10. SolidWorks announced they will fix this in the next release of their Service Pack, which will be SP5. Since SP5 will be released no earlier than October, here is a work-a-round: run SolidWorks in compatibility mode.
To do this, right-click the Solidworks-icon and select properties:
Then, under the Tab Compatibility change the settings to Run in Windows 8 mode:
There’s a second problem with SolidWorks 2015 on Windows 10: some add-ins are unavailable, like the add-in “Solidworks Simulation”. This is caused by a conflict with Windows Update KB3072630. To solve this, remove (de-install) SolidWorks AND remove Windows Update KB3072630 (via Control Panel > Programs and Features, View installed updates).
Then, run a registry cleaner. After that, install SolidWorks. The add-ins should be available now.
This service pack for SOLIDWORKS and Enterprise PDM, is now available to Subscription Service customers. To download, click here. Alternatively log into the SOLIDWORKS Customer Portal at https://customerportal.solidworks.com and click Download Software and Updates to access the update.
View Fixed SPRs by version and service pack.
- SOLIDWORKS 2015 SP5 now supports Microsoft Windows 10 64-bit (Professional and Enterprise editions)
- SOLIDWORKS 2014 was the last release that supports 32-bit operating systems. SOLIDWORKS 2015 and later will not install on 32-bit operating systems.
- Starting with the SOLIDWORKS 2015 release, the SOLIDWORKS Viewer is being retired and will be replaced by the eDrawings Viewer. The SOLIDWORKS 2014 Viewer will remain available for download but will not open SOLIDWORKS 2015 and later models. The eDrawings Viewer 2015 is available on 64 bit operating systems only. For the complete list of supported operating systems, please see http://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/SystemRequirements.html
SOLIDWORKS 2016 eDrawings 32-bit Support
eDrawings 2015 was the last release that supported the Windows 32-bit operating system. eDrawings 2016 products will not install on the Windows 32-bit operating system.
