When you find yourself in the position where your company has made the transition to the latest version of SolidWorks but your vendor is still on the old version, how do you handle this predicament? We all have been burdened by the unfortunate fact that 3D CAD modelers are not backwards compatible. One of the solutions to this problem is to keep multiple versions of SolidWorks installed on your computer. How though do we prevent the two installs from interfering with each other? The following few tips will help keep the installations separate and prevent many headaches.
The first and main thing is to make sure to create a subfolder underneath the main install folder that is particular to the version of SolidWorks you're installing.
At the Summary page of the Install process
we are going to change two simple things:
1. Installation Location
2. Toolbox Installation Location
To the right of the Installation Location section you'll hit the change button. You'll be brought to a new window where we will be able to edit the location.
At the Installation Location page, hit the Browse button and you'll be brought to a dialogue to pick the folder you want to install too. At the bottom where it shows the folder path, we want to add a new subfolder by adding a "\foldername" to the end of the folder path. After hitting OK you'll be prompted to create the new folder.
After going back to the summary page we'll repeat the process for the Toolbox Installation Location.
Similar to Install Location, on the summary page, click the change button for the Toolbox/Hole Wizard Options.
Again click the browse button to change the location. In the above dialogue box, add the SolidWorks version to the end of the SolidWorks Data so as to designate between which toolbox folder goes with which version.
After completing these two simple things...install away!
The final thing I like to do after the install is complete is go in and repoint my file locations. In SolidWorks under the Tools, Options, System Options, File Locations you'll find a drop down of all the file location paths.
Most likely after installing your second version of SolidWorks on your machine, it will grab the old file location paths. If you're like me and run mostly defaults, I like to go through each file location and change them to the same path but reference the corresponding SolidWorks version just to eliminate the possibility of installs interferring.
Remember though any custom locations should be left alone!
These quick tips will go along way in insuring your multiple installs run smoothly!
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