Starting with SOLIDWORKS 2022, users with perpetual commercial or educational licenses must reactivate their licenses once a year. While a perpetual license never expires, it does require annual reactivation to ensure continued access. If you’ve received a prompt to reactivate your license, don’t worry—it’s a simple process. Here’s everything you need to know.
Why Does SOLIDWORKS Require Annual Reactivation?
If you have a perpetual SOLIDWORKS license, you still own your software and can use it indefinitely. The only change is that you must complete a brief reactivation process once per year. This requirement applies to both Standalone and Network licenses.
The reactivation date is based on a rolling one-year window from the last time your computer and license interacted with the SOLIDWORKS Activation Manager Server. This timing is independent of your Subscription Service Renewal date. Even if you haven’t upgraded to the latest SOLIDWORKS version, you must still reactivate your license if a year has passed since your last activation.
How to Reactivate a SOLIDWORKS Standalone License
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Open SOLIDWORKS.
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Go to the Help menu.
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Select Licenses > Activate…
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Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the activation process.
If you regularly update your SOLIDWORKS version, you likely won’t even notice this requirement since activation occurs automatically during the upgrade. However, if more than a year has passed, you will see a pop-up reminding you to reactivate.
How to Reactivate a SOLIDWORKS Network License
For users with floating network licenses, the process is similar but requires action on the server hosting the SOLIDWORKS License Manager.
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Open the SOLIDWORKS License Manager on the server.
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Click Modify.
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Select Activate/Reactivate and click Next.
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If prompted, check A firewall is in use on this server (even if none is present) and enter a port number (default: 25735).
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Ensure a valid email address is entered in the contact information field.
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If multiple licenses are listed, click Select All to activate them all.
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Click Next, then Finish to complete the process.
Final Thoughts
Reactivating your SOLIDWORKS license is a quick and simple process that ensures uninterrupted access to your software. Whether you use a Standalone or Network license, following these steps will keep you up and running for another year.
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