Understanding your category is vital because SolidWorks does not offer a permanent free trial. Every legitimate download is tied to a license (subscription or perpetual) or a time-limited educational license.

In the portal, you will see a list of available versions. It is generally best practice to download the latest version (e.g., SolidWorks 2024 or 2025) unless you have specific compatibility requirements with older legacy data.

If you own a subscription or a perpetual license, this is your official source.

If you are in a company, you may need to point the installer to your “SolidNetWork License Manager” server address (e.g., 25734@your-server-name ).

Instead of downloading a single huge file, SolidWorks uses a “Download Manager.” Click the “Download” button next to your licensed version. This small .exe file will pull the remaining 15GB+ from Dassault’s servers.