It took me to the 'My Profile' page, but that page had a download link which isn't there in Chromium.
As I mentioned earlier, I had registered as a student on that page because I thought maybe that was required to get the download. I don't know whether it is or whether that was a mistake, but since it referred to the SEK there it seemed like maybe I was meant to.
Last edited by MarkG; 11-09-2020 at 12:14 PM.
Firefox doesn't work for me either. I didn't bother with Edge since it's now based on Chromium.
I poked around a little bit more on SolidWorks' website, using Internet Explorer. If you go to my.solidworks.com/support, then click on the "Desktop Solutions" tab, there's a link for Downloads. Clicking that takes you to solidworks.com/sw/support/downloads.htm. In the middle of that page, where the actual downloads should be, is a link that says, "Login for full access to the latest SolidWorks release and updates" (I'M ALREADY LOGGED IN!!!). Clicking that link does nothing but reload the same page (at least in Explorer; in Chrome and Firefox the link was dead, and did nothing at all).
Then I tried registering as a student on the My Profile page. I entered "Experimental Aircraft Association" as the school name, "2021" for year of graduation, and "https://eaa.org/" for the school's website. It accepted the EAA serial number and said I now had a Student account. Still no download link.
I fooled around for a few more minutes (still using Explorer), trying various things, and ended up back on the My Profile page. Lo and behold, a download button had appeared!! I picked "2020" from the dropdown, punched the Download button, and it FINALLY fed me SolidWorksSetup.exe.
Out of curiosity, I went back to the My Profile page with Chrome, and the Download button now appears in that browser as well.
I've been using computers since the late 70s and I've seen a lot of bad user interface and website design, but this takes the cake. What an unbelievable goat rope. Dassault Systemes should be ashamed.
Wish me luck with the installation...
Eric Page
Building: Kitfox 5 Safari | Rotax 912iS | Dynon HDX
Member: EAA Lifetime, AOPA, ALPA
ATP: AMEL | Comm: ASEL, Glider | ATCS: CTO
Map of Landings
Eric Page
Building: Kitfox 5 Safari | Rotax 912iS | Dynon HDX
Member: EAA Lifetime, AOPA, ALPA
ATP: AMEL | Comm: ASEL, Glider | ATCS: CTO
Map of Landings
Somewhat predictably, the installation failed. I entered EAA's serial numbers (using copy/paste, so no fat-finger errors) into the installer for the core program and for the Electrical Schematic and PCB components. There are two separate entry lines for "SOLIDWORKS Electrical Schematic" and "SOLIDWORKS PCB," and entering the single EAA serial number for both returns the following error:
"Enter a different serial number for each product. (Note that SOLIDWORKS Professional and SOLIDWORKS Premium include some of the listed products and do not require additional serial numbers.)"
I unchecked the "SOLIDWORKS PCB" component and tried again. This time it contacted the server, then returned this error:
"Your serial number does not entitle you to SOLIDWORKS Electrical Schematic 2020. If your license is new, you may want to try again later. Otherwise contact your reseller to verify that the number is correct. You will still be able to choose the products you want to install, but you will not be able to download any installation files. If you continue without downloading enabled, you will need to provide a complete set of download source files or a DVD from which to install."
Is anyone at EAA monitoring this forum? Can someone sort out the serial numbers and let us know what to use for the Electrical Schematic and PCB components? The serial number listed in the instructions that are provided at Step 2, here, is apparently dead.
Last edited by Eric Page; 11-09-2020 at 03:11 PM.
Eric Page
Building: Kitfox 5 Safari | Rotax 912iS | Dynon HDX
Member: EAA Lifetime, AOPA, ALPA
ATP: AMEL | Comm: ASEL, Glider | ATCS: CTO
Map of Landings
I used that serial for the PCB component. I'm not sure whether it covers the electrical schematics; it's not obvious from the page where whether it means both or only means PCB.
That then got the software working and activated.
Well, the instructions from EAA say, "Electrical / PCB (check box and enter serial): 9020..." Since the word "Schematic" is missing, I guess that could be taken to mean both components -or- just PCB.
However, having a PCB layout tool without a schematic tool is pretty much pointless, and most builders will have a lot more use for the schematic tool (for electrical system architecture drawings), so I'm guessing it's supposed to work for both.
Given the way EAA's instructions are worded, I'll bet the two tools used to be combined under one serial number, and SolidWorks has split them apart without telling EAA.
I tried to install it with just Electrical Schematic and it didn't work.
Eric Page
Building: Kitfox 5 Safari | Rotax 912iS | Dynon HDX
Member: EAA Lifetime, AOPA, ALPA
ATP: AMEL | Comm: ASEL, Glider | ATCS: CTO
Map of Landings
Yeah, that's what I was wondering; were they once the same tool but now split apart?
That said, mine installed some kind of Solidworks Electrical app as well as the PCB. I opened that app but don't know enough about it to even try to use it.
Doesn't work for me.
Even after many days I still don't have download button. There is just a link with Login request (I am logged in) that does absolutely nothing when pressed.