Roadwerks Mac OS
Start up from macOS Recovery
Determine whether you're using a Mac with Apple silicon, then follow the appropriate steps:
Apple silicon
Turn on your Mac and continue to press and hold the power button until you see the startup options window. Click the gear icon labelled Options, then click Continue.
Intel processor
Make sure your Mac is connected to the internet. Then turn on your Mac and immediately press and hold Command (⌘)-R until you see an Apple logo or other image.
Go to reportaproblem.apple.com.; Sign in with your Apple ID and password. If you see the 'Report' or 'Report a Problem' button next to the item that you want to request a refund for, click it. We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us.
If you're asked to select a user you know the password for, select the user, click Next, then enter their administrator password.
Reinstall macOS
Select Reinstall macOS from the utilities window in macOS Recovery, then click Continue and follow the onscreen instructions.
Follow these guidelines during installation:
- If the installer asks to unlock your disk, enter the password you use to log in to your Mac.
- If the installer can't see your disk, or it says that it can't install on your computer or volume, you might need to erase your disk first.
- If the installer offers you the choice between installing on Macintosh HD or Macintosh HD — Data, choose Macintosh HD.
- Allow installation to complete without putting your Mac to sleep or closing its lid. Your Mac might restart and show a progress bar several times, and the screen might be empty for minutes at a time.
When the installation is complete, your Mac might restart to a setup assistant. If you're selling, trading in or giving away your Mac, press Command-Q to quit the assistant without completing setup. Then click Shut Down. When the new owner starts up the Mac, they can use their own information to complete the setup process.
Other macOS installation options
When you install macOS from Recovery, you get the current version of the most recently installed macOS, with some exceptions:
- On an Intel-based Mac: If you use Shift-Option-Command-R during startup, you'll be offered the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version that is still available. If you use Option-Command-R during startup, in most cases you'll be offered the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac. Otherwise you'll be offered the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version that is still available.
- If the Mac logic board was just replaced, you may only be offered the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac. If you've just erased your entire startup disk, you may only be offered the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version that is still available.
You can also use these methods to install macOS, if the macOS is compatible with your Mac:
Roadworks Mac Os Catalina
- Use the App Store to download and install the latest macOS.
- Use the App Store or a web browser to download and install an earlier macOS.
- Use a USB flash drive or other secondary volume to create a bootable installer.
This is a fairly long-standing issue we come up against on the Innova Systems technical support desk, and also while talking to prospective customers about SOLIDWORKS. The simple answer is that SOLIDWORKS do not develop an Apple Mac version of the software, so we can’t install SOLIDWORKS natively.
We used to recommend the Bootcamp route, which involves installation of Bootcamp and then Microsoft Windows on the partition Bootcamp creates. The issue here is that if you need to access the Apple Mac Operating System (OS), you would need to shut down windows and boot up the Apple Mac OS, because they cannot be running simultaneously. This allows the full use of the hardware (RAM and graphics card) you have in your Apple Mac for Windows.
The alternative solution that we used to steer people away from is Parallels, a virtual machine software that allows you to run another OS inside the Mac OS (inside a window). The reason for not recommending this is that you are sharing the resource of the machine with two operating systems, thus not necessarily having the required resource to run a demanding program like SOLIDWORKS.
There were also historic problems with not being able to use the graphics card properly which would result in exceptionally slow performance when selecting things. This is due to most Macs not having certified graphics cards for SOLIDWORKS and parallels using a virtual graphics card driver or the default Windows driver. The virtual or generic drivers don’t offer the level of performance needed to run SOLIDWORKS correctly.
Roadworks Mac Os Download
Innova Systems Technical Director, Ed Hawkins, explains
We have now installed and configured this on over 20 users’ Apple Mac computers and I have to say the response from these people has been amazing.
I have a mid 2014 MacBook Pro, which I’ve been using as a test bed. The specs are listed below:
You will note that this machine has Intel Iris Graphics (specific to the Mac) and not a certified graphics card for SOLIDWORKS.
So, I installed the latest version of Parallels (version 10) and a fresh copy of Windows 10 into the virtual environment and then set about making SOLIDWORKS work!
It’s pretty easy to get Windows installed, as Parallels guides you through that process very nicely. You can specify how much of the machine’s resource to give to the Windows OS – which is where a high spec Mac will stand you in better stead. It is always a good rule of thumb to assign half the available RAM to the Windows OS, so in my set up, I assigned 4GB of RAM.
The difficult bit is making the “Use Software OpenGL” button inside SOLIDWORKS become accessible. When you first install SOLIDWORKS, this button is ticked and greyed out, so we can’t turn it off. In our opinion, SOLIDWORKS is unusable at this point, as selecting geometry and navigating the software is too slow to be productive.
With a bit of effort, and some registry modifications, I was able to untick the OpenGL box, allowing us to use the graphics card to a much higher potential. The difference in performance was huge, and it allowed me to select and navigate the software much, much faster. One limitation that frustrated me early on was the lack of RealView Graphics (Accurate reflections and appearances), so I set about solving this problem too. I’m happy to report that RealView works perfectly on a properly specced Mac Book Pro!
Of course, this isn’t necessarily a new solution – Parallels has been around for some time, and installing Windows on a Mac for as long. The difference with our solution is that we can make SOLIDWORKS behave as well as a normal windows PC. No more slow selecting or poor rotational speed.
Above is a screenshot of the working set up, albeit in Window mode, not full screen. I have this running at a resolution of 2560 x 1600 in full screen mode and it is functioning very well. Please note: the specification of my Mac, and the resource I can assign to Windows is far from ideal. It would be recommended for people who are creating fairly simple parts with up to 100 features, and assemblies containing up to 500 components. Any more than that, and I think it would struggle.
In summary, the Parallels solution is now recommended by Innova Systems. We are confident of this working well in a production environment, but the spec of the Mac is key to the success. Along with our modifications to the registry in Windows, of course.
Video: See SOLIDWORKS running on Apple Mac
Video: How to run SOLIDWORKS on Apple Mac Computers
Get in touch with us to find out more
Are you based in the UK and interested in running SOLIDWORKS on your Apple Mac? We can demonstrate our configuration to you via a Team Viewer session, or if you prefer and are interested in purchasing SOLIDWORKS we can come out and show you live with some of your data.
Call us on (01223) 200690 or complete this form to organise a consultation
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in August 2015 and has been updated to feature new information on our process.