The Option Editor enables you to specify option settings for individual clients or groups, including serial numbers, client installation options, which software components to be installed, and toolbox location.
Serial Numbers
Enter the serial numbers for products to be installed on client machines.
Because there are multiple ways to purchase SOLIDWORKS products, some serial numbers can cover two or more products. For example, a SOLIDWORKS serial number might enable you to install SOLIDWORKS Simulation without entering a separate SOLIDWORKS Simulation serial number. In addition, some products do not require a serial number. If you have any questions about your serial numbers, contact your
VAR.
If you are managing licensing using SolidNetWork Licensing:
- In the first serial number field, enter the SolidNetWork serial number.
- In the SNL Server port@server field, enter the SolidNetWork License Manager server name and port in the form nnnnn@servername. Separate multiple entries using semicolons.
For details about SolidNetWork licensing, see Installing and Configuring SolidNetWork Licensing.
Client Installation Options
| How do you want to perform client installations of major versions? |
You can specify how client installations handle an existing prior major version installation:- Upgrade an existing major version (if one exists).
Specify this option to replace the prior major version installation with the new version installation
- Create a new major version.
Specify this option to keep the prior major version and create a new installation for the new major version. To specify a location for the new version installation, click Browse.
|
| Do you want to uninstall the most recent previous version before installing a new major version? |
You can specify whether to uninstall the existing prior major version installation:- No, do not uninstall first.
Specify this option to retain the prior major version installation.
- Yes, perform a custom uninstall.
Select this option to remove these items: Programs Files and Folders, Registry Entries, Data Files and Folders.
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| How do you want to apply SOLIDWORKS settings? |
You can specify a settings file which client installations of SOLIDWORKS will reference on start-up. The settings (*.sldsettings) file must be located on a shared UNC path that is visible to all installations. You must specify a *.sldsettings path before installing SOLIDWORKS. The client installations are informed of the *.sldsettings file path during the installation. Secure the *.sldsettings file by setting Windows file permissions to allow write access to designated users only.
To create or edit a*.sldsettings, click Launch Settings Adminstrator. SOLIDWORKS Settings Administrator allows you to define which SOLIDWORKS system options to apply and optionally lock for end users in your organization. You can also define how and when the settings are applied to individual installations, and you can modify *.sldsettings file at any time by running Settings Administrator and overwriting the existing file.
You can use a different *.sldsettings files for different machines or groups.
You must have an existing SOLIDWORKS [current major version] installation to run Settings Administrator.
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| How do you want to activate client installations? |
You can specify whether to complete product activation automatically after running the installation, or require that the user perform product activation manually after installation. If you specify automatic product activation, the administrative image must be available through the shared network location the first time clients run SOLIDWORKS after the installation. If the administrative image is unavailable to clients that installed from that image, those clients will not be able to complete the automatic product activation. They will not be able to run SOLIDWORKS unless they run SOLIDWORKS Product Activation manually.
-
Activate automatically when each client installation completes.
Selecting this option setting specifies that product activation runs automatically using a SOLIDWORKS Product Activation file. (Typically, this file is named AutoActivation.xml.) Click Browse to find an existing activation file, or New to start SOLIDWORKS Product Activation to create a new activation file.
- Do not activate automatically.
Selecting this option setting specifies that no automated product activation occurs. The client user performs product activation after installation.
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Administrative Options
| Create a diagnostic log during each installation. |
A client installation can create a diagnostic log that can be used to troubleshoot installation problems. Creating this log can make the client installation run slower. The log file is stored in Administrative image directory}\x64\Logs\<machine_name>\Status.xml. |
| Run the installation as a different user. |
A client installation can run as a different user only if the User Account Control (UAC) is disabled. This option can be useful when individual users do not have local administrative permissions on their machines (which is required to install SOLIDWORKS products). An alternate method of deployment and installation is available when clients do not have administrative privileges. See Deploying Installations from the Option Editor.
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| Run a program before or after installation. |
You can specify that a custom program runs before or after the client installation. |
| Do you want clients to participate in the SOLIDWORKS Customer Experience Program? |
You can specify that client machines participate in the SOLIDWORKS Customer Experience Program. Performance information is sent to SOLIDWORKS Corporation to help improve the product. The process is transparent and confidential. For details, see Customer Experience Improvement Program Web site. |
Limitations on the Run a Program Before and After Installation Options
These options allow you to run other installation programs or scripts on the client machines before or after deploying SOLIDWORKS, for example a script that installs Microsoft Office.
If you are deploying automatically to Windows 8 and later client machines, there is a limitation on using these options. A failure occurs if you use either option to deploy an installation program or script that displays a user interface, for example a script that displays dialog boxes. When the automatic deployment of SOLIDWORKS runs, it will fail to install SOLIDWORKS on the target machines. This limitation does not occur with Windows 7 client machines.
To use the Run a program before installation and Run a program after installation options, you should only select programs that can be installed in silent mode.
Software to Install
You can specify what SOLIDWORKS product components to install.
- Selecting the check box next to the product component specifies that the component is installed during the client installation.
- Clearing the check box specifies that the component is not installed.
- If a component has optional installation sub-components in it, a +
icon appears next to the component. To
see the available sub-components for a component, click
the +
icon.
- If a component has been expanded to show optional sub-components, a -
icon appears next to the component. To
collapse the sub-component listing, click
the -
icon.
The Languages specification limits the languages that are installed for the SOLIDWORKS product only. Other product installations are not affected by this specification. For example, eDrawings®, SOLIDWORKS Workgroup PDM, and SOLIDWORKS Explorer install all languages.
Toolbox Options
You can specify which standards to support and the default Toolbox location for client installations.
It is common to have multiple users accessing a shared Toolbox, typically through a network location (for example, a UNC path, a shared folder, or a common network drive specification).
If the location contains an older major version of Toolbox, the client installation will upgrade that Toolbox to the new major version. The files will no longer be compatible with previous major versions of SOLIDWORKS.
If you want to retain the Toolbox for the older SOLIDWORKS version (for example, if some clients might continue using the older version), you must specify a different Toolbox network location for clients that are upgrading to the newer version.
For details about SOLIDWORKS Toolbox administration, see the Toolbox information in SOLIDWORKS Help.
SOLIDWORKS PDM Client Options
You can select the following options for deploying SOLIDWORKS PDM clients and add-ins:
- PDM product type
- PDM client type
- Features
See the section on SOLIDWORKS PDM for more information about these clients and add-ins.
Electrical Options
You can specify the following parameters for the administrative components of SOLIDWORKS Electrical:
- Data path
- Collaborative Server machine name and port number
- SQL Server machine name and password
See the section on SOLIDWORKS Electrical for more information about these components.