SOLIDWORKS PCB
 

SOLIDWORKS PCB Declared EOL



SOLIDWORKS PCB Installation and Licensing





On July 28, 2021, Dassault Systems announced that it is discontinuing the SOLIDWORKS PCB product.

(If you are on this web page because you have already installed SW PCB but are not able to login into PCB services or create projects or collaborate between SW PCB and SOLIDWORKS CAD, please scroll to the section titled 'Jump the Gun?')

The power of SOLIDWORKS PCB (SW PCB) is its ability to interface with SOLIDWORKS CAD.

To facilitate the interface, several options are available. SW PCB, SOLIDWORKS provides an installable program known as 'SOLIDWORKS Services' that can provide this interface and be installed on your computer. If your organization is providing 'SOLIDWORKS Services' on its server or the Altium Designer vault, you do not need to install 'SOLIDWORKS Services' on your machine. Contact your IT department to request a login, password, and network path.

If you need to install 'SOLIDWORKS Services,' it is recommended that it be installed before installing SW PCB. This is not obvious because, unlike SW PCB, the 'SOLIDWORKS Services' does not require a license to download and install.

The following video will walk you through the recommended installation process. SOLIDWORKS provides a comprehensive installation tool to assist you in this process; however, you will need to know what to install, the order to install it, and where to find it in the installation program.



JUMP THE GUN?

(If you are jumping around on this page to get some idea about how to install SOLIDWORKS Services and SW PCB, please start from the top. This section addresses those individuals, like every member of Nine Dot Connects, including the guy who wrote this commentary, who installed it backwards…)

This section assumes that you have successfully installed SW PCB and may have been using it for some time, especially if you are also an Altium Designer user and have using SW PCB to open and edit files. However, if you have:

  • Attempted to login into the 'SOLIDWORKS Services' without success
  • or have tried to create a new project and cannot proceed because you cannot log in to the 'SOLIDWORKS Services'
  • or you have attempted to push the project from SW PCB to SOLIDWORKS CAD and get error messages right off the bat

then more than likely, you have not installed 'SOLIDWORKS Services.'

'SOLIDWORKS Services' is a separate program from SW PCB. SOLIDWORKS opted not to install the 'SOLIDWORKS Services' automatically to allow the user to connect SW PCB to the Altium Vault or 'SOLIDWORKS Services .' may be hosted on a company server and maintained by the company IT department. Because all of these service options use the same port number (9780), installing 'SOLIDWORKS Services' blindly can cause more harm than good.

Therefore, the following video should be watched if:
  • You have successfully installed SW PCB already
  • You do not have access to 'SOLIDWORKS Services' or Altium Vault or on the company's server.



AS AN FYI

For the collaboration capability to work, you need SOLIDWORKS PCB for the electrical, SOLIDWORKS CAD for the mechanical, and the SOLIDWORKS services (or Altium Vault) interface. The following scenarios will dictate the capabilities that are made available:

SCENARIO 1



Install SOLIDWORKS PCB only:

  • You will be able to open, edit and save existing projects (assuming that they are not stored in SOLIDWORK services or the Altium Vault).
  • You will be able to create individual libraries, schematic documents, and a PCB layout.
  • You will NOT be able to create a project (which is necessary for SOLIDWORKS PCB to manage the netlist management between the schematics and the layout.
  • You will NOT be able to take advantage of the collaboration between SOLIDWORKS PCB and SOLIDWORKS.


SCENARIO 2



Install SOLIDWORKS PCB
-AND-
(
Install SOLIDWORKS services
-OR-
Have access to SOLIDWORKS services on your network
-OR-
Have access to the Altium Vault
)
-BUT-
Do not install SOLIDWORKS

  • You will be able to open, edit and save existing projects.
  • You will be able to create individual libraries, schematic documents, and a PCB layout.
  • You will be able to create a project (which is necessary for SWPCB to manage the netlist management between the schematics and the layout).
  • You will NOT be able to take advantage of the collaboration between SOLIDWORKS PCB and SOLIDWORKS.


SCENARIO 3



Install SOLIDWORKS PCB
-AND-
(
Install SOLIDWORKS services
-OR-
Have access to SOLIDWORKS services on your network
-OR-
Have access to the Altium Vault
)
-AND-
Install SOLIDWORKS

  • You will be able to open, edit and save existing projects.
  • You will be able to create individual libraries, schematic documents, and a PCB layout.
  • You will be able to create a project (which is necessary for SWPCB to manage the netlist management between the schematics and the layout).
  • You will be able to take advantage of the collaboration between SOLIDWORKS PCB and SOLIDWORKS CAD.



If you have additional issues, feel free to contact us. Note that the installation video is focused on the individual user.

Some items of note:

  • The location of the server placed on the drive is localhost:9780
  • The default login and password for the services: admin

Installation Issues:

(Note that we have not personally encountered them yet, but we know they are out there!!) When we do come across them, they will be provided here.

On the meantime, here's a link to Solidworks' page on installation issues:

       2017 SOLIDWORKS Installation Help via Google Search


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