Does not install on SolidWorks Student Edition 2025 SP5.0

[vipermn]

System Information

1. SolidWorks version and service pack
   SolidWorks Student Edition 2025 SP5.0
2. Version of exporter
   SW2GZ-Setup-2.8.1

Describe the bug
A clear and concise description of what the bug is.
Downloaded and ran as Administrator. Appears to install okay. However, I do not see it on the list of AddIns when going to Tools -> Addins.

Attach simple model which clearly illustrates the issue

Attach an example of a corrected URDF (if applicable)
Not Applicable.

[Aryan01b]

Thanks for the report — think I found where this breaks, but need one thing from your machine to confirm before I ship a fix.

Could you check:

1. Does C:\Program Files\SW2GZ\solidworkstools.dll exist after install? (Right after installing, before opening SolidWorks.)
2. In regedit, does HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SolidWorks\Addins\{34fad620-2a46-4ba6-9f5f-1dfefde894c7} exist?
3. Where is SolidWorks Student Edition actually installed on your machine? (e.g. C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\ or somewhere else — whatever folder contains solidworkstools.dll.)

My guess: the installer can't locate your copy of solidworkstools.dll (Student Edition installs to a slightly different path than the installer expects), so it never gets copied next to SW2GZ.dll, and COM registration silently fails — installer reports success but the add-in registry key never gets written. Your answers above will confirm it.

[vipermn]

1. Does C:\Program Files\SW2GZ\solidworkstools.dll exist after install? (Right after installing, before opening SolidWorks.)
   It does not exist.
2. In regedit, does HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SolidWorks\Addins{34fad620-2a46-4ba6-9f5f-1dfefde894c7} exist?
   It does not exist.
3. Where is SolidWorks Student Edition actually installed on your machine? (e.g. C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\ or somewhere else — whatever folder contains solidworkstools.dll.)
   ./Program Files/Common Files/SOLIDWORKS Shared/3DEXPERIENCE Exchange/solidworkstools.dll
   ./Program Files/SOLIDWORKS Corp/SOLIDWORKS/URDFExporter/solidworkstools.dll
   ./Program Files/SOLIDWORKS Corp/SOLIDWORKS (2)/CircuitWorksFull/solidworkstools.dll
   ./Program Files/SOLIDWORKS Corp/SOLIDWORKS (2)/DriveWorksXpress/solidworkstools.dll
   ./Program Files/SOLIDWORKS Corp/SOLIDWORKS (2)/solidworkstools.dll

The most recent install of the Student Edition is the last three. The 3DExperience and URDFExporter were previously installed before I updated to the SolidWorks Student Edition 2025 SP5.0.

[vipermn]

Let me know if when you have changes you want me to test.

[Aryan01b]

Found it — thanks for the detail, that SOLIDWORKS (2)\ folder confirmed it exactly.

Root cause: the installer looked for Dassault's solidworkstools.dll (needed so it can register the add-in) only at a hardcoded SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\ path. Since your Student Edition install landed at SOLIDWORKS (2)\ (Windows suffixed it because an older leftover install already sat at the plain name), the installer never found the file, silently failed to register SW2GZ as a COM add-in, and reported success anyway — so it never showed up in Tools > Add-Ins, with zero errors on screen.

Fix shipped: v2.8.2 — the installer now resolves solidworkstools.dll through the actual registered SolidWorks COM server (not a guessed folder name), so it finds it regardless of folder naming/versioning. It also now shows a real error dialog if registration ever fails, instead of failing silently like this did.

Tested on my end: installed v2.8.2 fresh and confirmed in SolidWorks itself — SW2GZ now shows up under Tools > Add-Ins, checked, loads in under a second, no crash. That's the exact screen you reported as empty.

Could you uninstall the old version, install v2.8.2, and confirm it shows up for you too? Once you confirm, I'll close this out.