I have a virus on my computer and need to reformat and reinstall all programs from scratch.  But I don't want to loose my solidworks student licence.  Is there a file I can back up to a USB to keep it??

Go to the control panel and uninstall SW.  It will have options of what to do with the license, and you can choose appriopiately.  Should be one that says something like 'remove license from pc to install on new machine'.  Or transfer.  Something like that.  It will guide you.

Hi B.D,

Can you access SolidWorks at all or are you completely locked out?

If you can access SolidWorks, navigate to help>about SolidWorks - to 1 locate your complete serial number.

You will then need to transfer the license so again help>transfer licenses and follow the activation wizard.

If you cannot access SolidWorks at all, you may need to contact your educational institute or contacts from purchase of the student edition.

Michael

B.D,

When you uninstall SW do a clean uninstall. By that I mean open SW and under the help drop down click "Transfer Licenses". Follow the directions and the license will then be off of your computer. Then you can go into the control panel and uninstall SW from the computer completely.

If you uninstall SW from the control panel and don't transfer the license then the license might not transfer and will forever be on that computer (there are ways to fix it but it will be painful if you can't contact your VAR).

Good luck,

Nick

Don't give up on virus removal just yet.

Get a cable that enables you to plug your hard drive into another computer via USB. Remove your hard drive, and plug into another computer that has up-to-date antivirus, and then zap the viruses on your drive.

This allows the other computer to rifle through your drive without having your OS (Windows, I assume) operating, and all files can be modified or removed from it without interfering with operation.

You can also find your serial number in the registry. Take a look at this post for which key: How to change serial number

Daen