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DriveWorks Pro 21
Prerequisites

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Hardware

CPUIntel or AMD with SSE2 support.

See Note below.

RAM16GB or more recommended.

See Note below.

Hard DiskSSD drives recommended for optimal performance
GraphicsA DirectX 11 approved graphics card, which must be SOLIDWORKS certified if working with SOLIDWORKS.

See Note below.

Network (if using DriveWorks in a shared environment)

1Gb or faster network card.

Microsoft Active Directory Domain.

Please Note

When using DriveWorks on a machine with SOLIDWORKS installed, please refer to the SOLIDWORKS system requirements for recommended hardware details.

Please refer to the section SOLIDWORKS>SOLIDWORKS System Requirements in the knowledge base article Info: Third Party Information And Downloads for details.

CAD

CAD ApplicationSupported VersionNotes
SOLIDWORKS

2021

2022

2023

2024

SOLIDWORKS is only required on the machines that are required to:
  • Capture SOLIDWORKS models and drawings (through DriveWorks Administrator)
  • Generate SOLIDWORKS models and drawings (through DriveWorks Administrator, DriveWorks User or DriveWorks Autopilot)
  • Re-reference SOLIDWORKS models and drawings (through DriveWorks Data Management)
Service Packs

We always recommend installing the most recent service pack for the SOLIDWORKS version you are running.

Please check SOLIDWORKS System Requirements for SOLIDWORKS supported hardware, operating system and Microsoft products. Please see Info: Third Party Information And Downloads for link.

PDM

When using Product Data Management applications the following versions are supported:

PDM ApplicationSupported VersionNotes
SOLIDWORKS PDM

2021

2022

2023

2024

Service Packs

We always recommend installing the most recent service pack for the SOLIDWORKS PDM version you are running.

Please check SOLIDWORKS System Requirements for SOLIDWORKS supported hardware, operating system and Microsoft products. Please see Info: Third Party Information And Downloads for link.

Operating Systems

When installing DriveWorks alongside SOLIDWORKS please check SOLIDWORKS System Requirements.
Operating SystemSupported VersionNotes
Windows® 1064-bit (Professional/Enterprise)
Windows® 1164-bit (Pro)
Windows® Server

2019

2022

Please see Supported DriveWorks Versions for a full list of previous DriveWorks versions and the operating systems each has been tested with.

Operating System Components

ComponentSupported VersionNotes
.NET Framework4.8 or 4.8.1
Will be installed if it is not already installed. To download separately please see the knowledge base article Info: Third Party Information And Downloads.
DirectX®11
Will be installed if it is not already installed. To download separately please see the knowledge base article Info: Third Party Information And Downloads.

Databases

DatabaseSupported VersionNotes
SQLite®3.0
Will be installed if it is not already installed. To download separately please see the knowledge base article Info: Third Party Information And Downloads.
SQL Server® Compact Edition4.0
See Note 1 below
SQL Server® Express

20142

2016

2017

2019

2022

SQL Server 2014

Please see note 2 below.

DriveApps

When running DriveApps on SQL Server, version 2016 or newer must be used.

SQL Server® Standard or higher editions

20142

2016

2017

2019

2022

SQL Server 2014

Please see note 2 below.

DriveApps

When running DriveApps on SQL Server, version 2016 or newer must be used.

1 Microsoft® SQL Server® Compact Edition is only required when converting Individual Groups, created in versions prior to DriveWorks 19, to SQLite.

To manually download SQL Server® Compact Edition (for example when an Individual Group requires converting from DriveWorks 18 to DriveWorks 21) please see Info: Third Party Software Information And Downloads.

2 Microsoft has ended mainstream support for SQL Server 2014 (all versions).

A DriveWorks fix that is dependent on a Microsoft Windows fix cannot be provided unless the machine that DriveWorks is installed on is covered by a Microsoft extended support contract.

Please see Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Lifecycle for more information.

Cloud Services

Cloud ServiceNotes
Microsoft AzureAll DriveWorks modules are supported to run on Microsoft Azure Virtual machines with a Windows Server operating system listed above.

DriveWorks Pro Server supports hosting DriveWorks Shared Groups on Microsoft Azure using the Azure SQL Database service.

For more information on working with Microsoft Azure please see How To: Microsoft Azure.

Virtualization and Remote Desktop

DriveWorks products are supported on virtual and remote environments as long as the guest operating system meets the requirements set out above.

Also when utilizing the SOLIDWORKS capabilities of DriveWorks (for example Capture and Model Generation), please check SOLIDWORKS Support for Virtual Environments.

The link can be found under the heading SOLIDWORKS System Requirements in the topic Info: Third Party Information And Downloads.

Licensing on a Virtual Machine (VM)

License information is held in Trusted Storage.

Trusted storage is a secure location that is locked to the machine on which it is located using a combination of machine identities.

A license can become untrusted for a number of reasons, the more common of which are:

  • When a machine has been restored from a backup
  • When a machine has had key hardware components added or replaced
  • When the MAC address of a machine changes (can occur on VM's that do not have a static MAC address assigned)
  • When Windows updates have affected trusted storage

When a DriveWorks License is held on a VM (either from a Fixed license being activated on the VM or when the VM is the Network License Server) the potential for a license to become untrusted can be minimized by:

  • Returning the license before creating a restore point and reactivating once restored.
  • Ensuring the VM has a static MAC address assigned.
  • Returning the license before installing Windows updates and reactivating once installed.