Using SolidWorks on a Mac

Owned by Nathaniel Li
Last updated: 2024-09-25
4 min read

Overview

As it’s widely known, Mac and SolidWorks don’t usually play well together but through my time at WARG it is definitely doable. Hope this helps anyone, feel free to reach out to me (@Nathaniel Li) for any help or questions.

Mac’s come with 2 types of chips; Intel chips (2020 and older) and silicon ARM chips (M-series). I have a MBP 14” with the M1 pro chip and 16gb of RAM. This guide is mostly for those with an M-chip as they’re usually more annoying to deal with but for this with an Intel chip, this guide stills applies but you should have fewer issues/errors.

Requirements

The only real requirement to run SW on a Mac is some form of Windows virtual machine (it is impossible to run SW natively on Mac until they make it available). I use a program called Parallels that runs an entire Windows VM directly. Parallels is highly recommended for those using an M-chip due to its stability and proven performance. It does cost $$$ but you should be able to get a discounted student version. Some alternatives (not proven to work so ymmv):

  • VMWARE

  • UTM

  • Boot Camp (Intel only)

Typically with a VM (not using Boot Camp) the main concern is limited computer resources. When a VM is running, it is running both your Mac environment and Windows environment. Machines with 8gb RAM may struggle to run a VM smoothly and therefore run SW poorly. Also, keep in mind that the VM will also needs it’s own partition of your hard drive so be prepared to give up at least 128gb (preferably 256gb) of storage.

VM Setup

Apart from actually getting your VM to work, there’s nothing else you need to change in the VM to make SW work. Don’t worry about buying/activating a Windows license, it’s not needed to run SW.

Resource Allocation

Typically, the VM should automatically allocate the correct amount of computer resources to it (CPU cores and RAM). It’s usually recommended to allocate at most half of your computers CPU cores and RAM to the VM for optimal performance. If you’re using Parallels, you can follow the instructions to verify/change (should be similar for other VMs and can be easily searched online for instructions):

  1. Open Parallels and shut down the VM if it boots up

  2. Open the Parallels Control Center and click the settings button beside your VM

    1. image-20240919-014526.png
      Parallels Control Center

       

  3. Inside the settings, open the Hardware menu. From here you should be able to see how what resources are allocated. Parallels will default a certain amount but that can be changed

    1. image-20240919-014658.png
      Hardware menu

       

  4. To make a change, click the lock icon in the bottom to unlock Hardware settings, you will probably need to enter your password

  5. You can either use the dropdown menu to select the number of CPU cores/Memory or choose Other and type it in. It is recommended to use at max half your resources; depending on your version you may be limited in selecting this

  6. Click the lock icon again to save your changes, you can use your VM again.

At this point, your VM should be working and running Windows.

SolidWorks Setup

After getting the VM running, installing and running SW becomes hit or miss in terms of troubleshooting. It is sometimes a game of luck (in my case it just worked the first time and I didn’t run into any issues). Follow the instruction to install and setup SW normally Solidworks PDM Set Up. For SW itself, the only change I recommend is following this video (has tutorial for Parallels install as well) to make the Registry changes for optimized graphics. It not only improves performance, but also gives you access to Real View Graphics.

https://youtu.be/HxFEnc5SNQE?si=RdfU8VHKUYquMOVK

If you’re able to get SW running at this points, congratulations on getting past the hard part. If errors show up, you’ll probably have to do a lot of Googling. Some errors are unfixable and this is simply the nature of using a Mac for SW and other non-Mac programs.

PDM Setup

With SW working, the next big hurdle is PDM which you should follow our instructions for Solidworks PDM Set Up. This unfortunately is a big issue regardless of Mac vs Windows and is really hit or miss. Check if the issues have been mentioned in Common PDM Issues and Solutions; most issues are not Mac specific. My limited tips:

  • Make sure to install and setup ZeroTier in your VM (Ie. in Windows)

  • An isolated issue I had was using ZeroTier

    • If you get the “warg-cad server not available” after attempting to log into PDM, try restarting ZeroTier (disconnect, stop task in task manager then re-open and connect)

    • This may need to be done every time you restart Parallel

  • You may find that your status says “ACCESS_DENIED” after rebooting your VM. This is a documented issue and can be found in the “Common PDM Issues and Solutions” page.

 

Other Programs

At this point you (hopefully) have it running properly. If this is the case, you are all set to go. Something important and cool to note: if you were able to get SW running properly, there’s a very likely chance you can run other non-Mac programs like Ansys. You can treat your VM like a Windows machine and install programs as you would for a regular Windows machine. If you run into issues, there might be a fix online but programs other than SW and Ansys may be trickier.