If you are encountering errors during activation or startup, these steps are the industry-standard "workaround" documentation: Registry Cleaning
Dassault Systèmes (the developer of SolidWorks) documents official operating system support. SolidWorks 2016 was tested and supported on Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 (64-bit), plus Windows 10 for later service packs. Windows 11 was never tested with SolidWorks 2016.
SolidWorks 2016 is a popular computer-aided design (CAD) software used by engineers and designers worldwide. However, with the release of Windows 11, some users have faced compatibility issues with the software, particularly with regards to activation. This report aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the SolidWorks 2016 activator on Windows 11, including updates and potential solutions.
Officially, SolidWorks 2016 is not supported on Windows 11. Dassault Systèmes typically supports the current version and two previous versions for new Windows releases. However, many engineers and students still rely on the 2016 edition due to hardware constraints or specific project requirements.