Installing SolidWorks on a Loaner Laptop

Please Note: SolidWorks is not an IT Support Services supported software, nor do we assist with licensing or installation on personal machines. Students should be able to use Make Me Admin instead of needing Tier-2 Admin credentials. 

** The following is ONLY for Loaner Laptops issued from ITSS. These instructions do not apply to those working on personal laptops. **

To Install SolidWorks:

1. Students should have instructions and a license code in their email
2. Locate Make-Me-Admin (MMA) on your Chico State loaner laptop.
   • If you received it from ITSS, this should be automatically installed 
3. Open up MMA and select "Grant Administrator Privileges" 
4. Locate the download, which should appear as a .zip file. Extract the Zip file to an accessible location, such as your downloads
5. Right-click on the Setup file and Run. If you are prompted for Admin Credentials on this step, please make sure you ran MMA in step 2&3
6. Setup should launch and begin to download > 7.5 GB. This may take some time depending on your Internet connection
7. After checking the box to agree to T&C and BEFORE starting the installation review the following to avoid having the SQL Server install fail.

"SQL Server failed to install" during SolidWorks installation:
 

While installing Solidworks, you may run into the following error:

SOLIDWORKS Installation Manager

Microsoft SQL Server failed to install.
The specified password does not meet strong password requirements. For more information about strong password requirements, see "Database Engine Configuration - Account Provisioning" in Setup Help or in %SQL_PRODUCT_SHORT_NAME% Books Online.

Solution

To solve the SolidWorks installation error on the Microsoft Structured Query Language (SQL) Server, follow the steps below: 

1. Summary > Check "I accept the terms of the SOLIDWORKS"
2. Scroll down to reveal "Electrical Options" > Click "+" > Click "Change"
3. Under SQL Server > Password for "tew" user, change the password from default "xxxxxxxxx" to a strong password that meets Chico State's password complexity requirements (add a special character)
4. Click "Back to Summary" > click "Install Now" to proceed to install SolidWorks software.