Page 36 - Mastering SolidWorks

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4 CHAPTER 1 IntroduCIng SolIdWorkS

SolidWorks installs natively only on 64-bit operating systems. It is supported only for
Windows 7, 8.1, and 10. In all cases, the professional-level OS is recommended, as opposed to the
Home edition. Excel and Word 2016 are also recommended. Although it is possible to install and
run SolidWorks under emulators on Apple hardware, that configuration is not supported or
tested by SolidWorks Corporation or its resellers.
You can find graphics card requirements at the previously mentioned link for system require-
ments. The main concern with a graphics card for SolidWorks is that it must be compatible with
OpenGL and be SolidWorks certified. Hardware changes too rapidly for me to give specific
recommendations here.
In addition to having the correct hardware installed, you also must have a compatible driver
version installed. Again, refer to the SolidWorks system requirements website.
Alternatively, you might not want to get that involved at first. You can install the software
with all the defaults just to get started, using the first attempt as a practice installation, especially
if you intend to learn as much as you can about SolidWorks, and then come back and do a more
thorough job of implementing it later.
You should count on the installation requiring about 16 GB of space on your hard drive,
depending on the options you select to install. The locations of files on your computer will vary
by SolidWorks version, by your operating system, and by your own installation choices, but the
bulk of the files will be placed into two separate folders: the Program Files folder (C:\Program
Files\SolidWorks Corp\SolidWorks) and the Toolbox Data folder (C:\SolidWorks Data).
Before installing any software, be sure to exit out of all other software first, turn off antivirus
software, make sure you have enough hard drive space, and verify that the system meets the
requirements outlined on the SolidWorks System Requirements web page.
Installations generally begin from a download of an installer application named
SolidWorksSetup.exe, which is about 30 MB. You may need a login to access this area of the
site. Find the download area at http://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/downloads
.htm, shown in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1
The downloads area of
the SolidWorks website

Once you download and execute the installer, you will be prompted to unzip the installation
files, and the installation will begin, as shown in Figure 1.2.