After installation, you can activate SOLIDWORKS licenses either by activating
individual computers (machine activation), by installing and activating floating network
licenses on a server (SolidNetWork Licensing), or by logging into your SOLIDWORKS applications
(online licensing).
Typically, installations on individual computers use license activation; however, you can install the software individually and then control the licenses with SolidNetWork License Manager. Conversely, although larger sites typically use floating network licenses, you can deploy the installations from an administrative image and then activate the serial numbers from the individual computers.