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Re: How to Prepare for a Subscription Lapse?
UPDATE: Actually it appears that all of the updates I've ever made are still on my computer (Windows 7 SP1) in folders like "C:\Users\Administrator_Name\Documents\SolidWorks Downloads\SolidWorks 2014 x64 SP05" and could be burned to a DVD. Assuming that there are no other roadblocks, all I would seem to need is instructions for installing them onto the original DVD version. Is this correct? How does one use these folders SP folders? -- John Willett
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Re: How to Prepare for a Subscription Lapse?
John,
I think you're making it more difficult than need be.
Instead of downloading the SP's to update an install DVD, download the full DVD with the SP's included.
I never download solely the update but only the complete DVD. Yes, it takes up lots of space but when installing on a new computer you then just can run the one without having to run the different SP updates.
No need to burn a DVD. Burning DVD's is mostly a thing of a past anyways. Just drop it on a USB stick if not a harddrive, much more reliable and no need to fiddle with burner programs,
Have a nice one
Peter
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Re: How to Prepare for a Subscription Lapse?
>>Instead of downloading the SP's to update an install DVD, download the full DVD with the SP's included.<<
Peter -- Thanks for your helpful reply. I obviously misunderstood what was happening when I went to through the customer portal to "https://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/subscription/downloads/manage_installs.htm", downloaded the loader, and ran it. (I didn't download the whole thing after I realized the SP's were still on my computer.) Good to know!
I didn't realize there existed full distribution DVDs for the various SP levels. Should I be able to order the latest ones through my VAR before my subscription expires, or is this the only way to get them? (My personal hangup is that I like to have physical copies of the software I "own.")
Just for completeness (since I already seem to have all the pieces) can I do the re-install as I outlined, using the distribution DVDs plus the SP updates that I have already copied (before I got your reply!) from the Solidworks Downloads folder mentioned above? And does any specific SP include all earlier SP's for that version, as it appeared to do when I initially updated on line from the distribution DVD of SW 2014 directly to SP5.0 in one step? Or do I really need all the individual SP's to pull that off? Then do I just run the Installation Manager to install the various SP's if I choose this route (as to install the full version that you recommend).
Most importantly, once my subscription expires, can I actually load any SW version/update that came out during my subscription period (either from your full-install download or using my more cumbersome method) without licensing hassles or appeal to my (then expired) VAR?
Sorry to badger you with all of these questions, but I really want to know what I'm getting myself into by letting my subscription lapse! -- John Willett
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Re: How to Prepare for a Subscription Lapse?
John,
"Should I be able to order the latest ones through my VAR before my subscription expires, or is this the only way to get them?"
I don't think that the VAR's get hardcopies from the different SP's. DVD's of SP0 sure but that will be it. Your VAR might however burn you a DVD themselves with the copy of the full install with all the SP's included but they are in no way obliged to do it.
"Just for completeness can I do the re-install as I outlined, using the distribution DVDs plus the SP updates that I have already copied from the Solidworks Downloads folder mentioned above?"
Of course you can. It just means that you'll have to install the original DVD and then install the SP('s).
See the posts by Deepak Gupta in this thread Service Packs? I think not. <rant> about how SW SP's contain what depending on what you have already installed when downloading them.
"And does any specific SP include all earlier SP's for that version, as it appeared to do when I initially updated on line from the distribution DVD of SW 2014 directly to SP5.0 in one step?"
Yes and no, it seems to depend really on what you already had installed when you downloaded the latest SP. See the thread I linked to in the above answer.
Most importantly, once my subscription expires, can I actually load any SW version/update that came out during my subscription period without licensing hassles or appeal to my (then expired) VAR?
Read the following threadSolidworks removes access to ALL downloads after your maitenance expires.
Especially the comment by Alin Varguta
Hope this helps
Peter
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Re: How to Prepare for a Subscription Lapse?
Peter -- Thanks for the full and complete answers! I will read your references and follow your advice to manually download only the fully updated versions from the customer portal. But I'm afraid that's not the last question:
Do I need to save each version of the loader (SolidWorks Installation Manager, I guess) that I have to download first from the customer portal in order to download the software itself? Or will only the latest one do the trick (see also below)?
Whether I burn the files to DVDs or copy them elsewhere, I sounds as though I cannot re-install them in exactly the same way as loading up a distribution DVD. The instructions on the portal mention using the SolidWorks Installation Manager, suggesting that I have to run that when I'm ready to install. In that case, is there a way to tell it to get the files from my saved media rather than downloading them again (which I won't be able to do)? Any special instructions involved in this?
Best Regards -- John Willett
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Re: How to Prepare for a Subscription Lapse?
John,
1. If you have the full download, or for that matter the original DVD at hand, then you can install it just by running the appropriate .exe file.
2. By running that .exe you're running the install manager and you just select the options you need/want. The program is smart enough to realize that you are running it from a DVD or a downloaded version and won't re-download. You can even check where it gets it's data from to install once you are actually on the install bit of the install manager.
Have a nice one
Peter
