I've just installed SolidWorks 2013 Professional (32-bit) on a colleague's Windows Vista laptop and the installation appeared to proceed without a hitch.

After a restart, when I try starting SolidWorks 2013 it crashes at the point where it says "Loading registry" on the splash screen, and a tray notification appears that says Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is preventing SolidWorks from starting.

I followed steps to disable DEP for SolidWorks (right-click Computer > Properties > Advanced system settings > Performance section > Settings > Data Execution Prevention tab > "Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select:"), but a message popped up saying that SolidWorks requires DEP to run.

So I can't start SolidWorks with DEP enabled, and I can't disable DEP because SolidWorks says it needs it.

On the SolidWorks download page, it states that "SolidWorks 2013 is the last release that supports Windows Vista. SolidWorks 2013 will not install on Windows XP."

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks for reading.

Chris