Oh, the trials of being a Mac user in the CAD world. There’s just no justice for your simple and elegant character personified in a simple and elegant computer. Who is out there to understand you? SolidSmack has your back and we want to show you how easy it it is to get SolidWorks runnin’ on your Mac.
To show this, I turn to a friend that use SolidWorks with a Mac on a consistent basis. Ben Eadie, from SolidMentor, shares this step-by-step and has a few tips.
Step-by-Step SolidWorks on a Mac
- Install Bootcamp on your Mac (this comes as a standard install on a new mac).
- Reboot and install Windows (Vista or Windows 7 recommended).
- Install SolidWorks and Microsoft Office.
- Voila!
Additional Tips from Ben
- If you want to have RealView you may have to do a Softmod on your video card. This is as simple as installing a driver.
- Mac Book Pro and lesser models will work, but RealView and performance will be lacking like any lesser computer.
- Generally, Vista or Windows 7 will run better on a Mac.
Other Virtualization/Emulation options?
You can also install Windows via Parallels, Vmware, or other emulators, but you may see lower graphics card performance. There are more details for Parallels and VM, like using the Bootcamp partition as a virtual machine so you can boot natively or as a virtual machine. The drawback to this is you have to re-register SolidWorks each time you change the way you boot, i.e. boot into Bootcamp and then later boot into Parallels. When you start SolidWorks you will have to re-register… Don’t worry, Ben says he has done this hundreds of times and it is only 2 extra mouse clicks.
Have a question about using SolidWorks on a Mac? Hit the comments!
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Question,
When I install Solid works on Parallels it says I only hace 511MG of RAM. How do I reorganize things so it recognizes that I have more than that so I can actually run Solid works?
I'm not familiar with the Parallels interface or where to adjust space allocation. Perhaps another person wathing this thread has an answer?
What should the parttion be when I am running bootcamp If i want to use solid works?
Hello, I am considering purchasing a new imac 24″, 2.9ghz duo, 4GB Ram, with the new Nvidia GT 130 graphics card to run SW 2009. Does anyone have any experience with this graphics card? I have seen enough posts to convince me that previous mac graphics cards would have been just fine for my needs (I don't need realview), but wanted to confirm that there isn't anything funky about this next generation of cards before I make the purchase. Is it possible to soft-mod the the imac cards in the same way as described for the laptop cards?
Thanks in advance for any help.
-Jeff
Hi, I have installed SolidWorks 2008 on my MacBook but from time to time some problems occured. Latelly I´m experiencing a kind of suspention of my systems while working on Solidworks. Also have a bad time trying to take advantage of my mac keyboard since it differs from the regular windows keyboard. Storing from time to time brings me some problems too. I´m not sure if the problem is SolidWorks on bootcamp or the partition I have on my MacBook or using the MacBook, i just have 1 GB of RAM, is this enough?. Hope you can help me. Kind regards. Agustina (Argentina)
I'm trying to install SW 2009 on MBP with Parallels/Vista. SolidWorks installer can't run… Any ideas?
I have SW running on my macbook pro under parallels.
4 gig of ram.
Cannot get the mouse to spin parts. Brings up the mac dashboard when I hold the mouse button.
I have tried the mac mouse and a USB windows mouse.
When I try the windows mouse alone, I cannot see the cursor.
Any ideas?
Thanks
CarVer
hmmm, I'm almost sure it has to do with the middle mouse setting on the windows mouse. have you tried installing the mouse driver?
Oleg, just saw your question. Were you able to get it to install? do you get any messages when you try?
Josh, I'm getting error from sldim. Looks like it cannot run from V: or something similar. I just got advise from SolidWorks folks to copy CD/DVD with installation to HDD and run from there… I will try to do it tomorrow and update about my results.
Best, Oleg
From what I can tell Mac's typically come with less memory than a PC. If you are running vista with bootcamp it seems like it would be likely memory could become a problem. I consistently push 3 GB on my PC. True? I the stability any better considering you still need to run vista? I would characterize my current stability as crappy. The official line from Solidworks is that my video card is unsupported, but I know people with supported hardware that have the same problems.
Also many of the comments above refer to using XP, and Solidworks is dropping XP support on the next version, so should we wait for MS2007 and skip the Vista install?
This needs to be updated. Nvidia released the quadro fx 4800 for mac with built in bootcamp drivers back in April. And is an approved Solidworks card. Problem solved, keep your beer.
hey guys, can anybody plz explain to me, can i work in solidworks on a mac book pro 2.5 ghz intel core duo, 4gb ram, 667mhz ddr2 sdram?
coz as i understand it, if i install bootcamp i have to be either in wndows or in osx, and to swap i have to shut down the computer?
ups, sry, i meant can i do that with parallels? or does it just work with bootcamp??
isn't there any way to use solidworks on mac without innstalling windows on it..
windows sucks and i don't want windows on my mac.
You can also use Parallels or VMWare.
No sir. Many of us mac users have been hoping for an OS X version of Solidworks for years. I thought sure when they released a native edrawings client for the Mac that Solidworks would be next. It's not looking likely though. Luckily licenses of Windows can be found for.. cheap.., and your Mac makes an excellent part-time Windows box.
Hello
I just upgraded to SolidWorks 4.1 Professional from 3.1 Standard. I am running it on a MacBook Pro and until the upgrade things ran flawlessly. Now SW is locking up and I have no idea why. I don't know if the latest service pack is the cause or the fact that I moved up to the professional version.
I am a designer not a tech person so I am at a loss and now in the process of uninstalling the latest service pack and reinstalling the 3.1 version. I will first try to keep the professional version I just paid for but if the porblem persists I will try to downgrade back to SolidWorks Standard.
any advice?
thanks
ITS not the way to install solid works on mac but you are telling the way to intall the sucking windows on macbooks and install solidworks on windows on macbook…
windows sucks. installing windows will make us lose the ambience of mac..
windows sucks again…
Regarding your instructions for installing Solidworks on a Mac. Which version of MSOffice do you need? Will it work with “MSOffice for Mac”?
Al,
FWIW I just ran across Ledas. They apparently have a Rhino plugin that makes it parametric. They have this for ACAD too. Ledas is in that very small elite community of parametric constraint solver providers.
I've actually have been wanting to check them out a little more. Have you used any of their plugins?
I used the waffle word apparently because I haven't tried them, but had just become aware of them. Sorry.
This f*&king cracked me up!
Mike, Mike, Mike… Those who know, use a Mac, those who don't, will eventually get one. Its only a matter of time.
Lou — It was my impression (no education implied) that the security model of BSD-based systems is the big reason for OS X being (much) less susceptible to malicious what's-its. Can anyone validate this, or is it urban tech-myth?
Lou — It was my impression (no education implied) that the security model of BSD-based systems is the big reason for OS X being (much) less susceptible to malicious what's-its. Can anyone validate this, or is it urban tech-myth?
VECTORWORKS 2010 tray it. you can use it on mac en pc
it is better than autocad
I have a iMac and uninstalled Parallels Desktop for MAC because it didn't work with Bootcamp and my digital software. Since uninstalling Parallels my computer will not open my SW 2008…nothing happens. Got and new copy of SW 2010 but my computer will not recognize it either. I hit SW set up for 2010, the window opens to a blank page and nothing happens.
Help!!!
Please email me if you have an answer.
Thanks a bunch.
lholmes@ici-usa.net
Not quite sure what could be the issue. Is bootcamp not working or is it just SolidWorks? are any other programs affected? have you tried re-installing Bootcamp? Sounds like a file may be corrupt.
Do you have to buy Windows & office software
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