| Solution | Portability | Offline | Editing | Cost | |----------|-------------|---------|---------|------| | | ✅ USB | ✅ | ❌ Viewer only | Free | | Laptop with SolidWorks installed | ✅ (whole laptop) | ✅ | ✅ | Standard license | | SolidWorks on AWS / Azure | ❌ (needs client) | ❌ | ✅ | Pay-as-you-go | | Onshape (cloud-native CAD) | ✅ Browser | ❌ | ✅ | Subscription | | Fusion 360 (install to USB? No) | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | Subscription |
| Feature | True Portable | SolidWorks Standard | |---------|---------------|----------------------| | No installation | ✅ | ❌ | | No registry entries | ✅ | ❌ (hundreds) | | Runs from removable media | ✅ | ❌ (unless virtualized) | | Leaves no trace on host | ✅ | ❌ (temp files, logs) | | No admin rights needed | ✅ | ❌ (requires admin for install & licensing drivers) | Solidworks Portable
| Component | Why It Prevents Portability | |-----------|----------------------------| | | Writes to %ProgramFiles% , %AppData% , %CommonAppData% | | Registry | COM class IDs, file associations, license tokens | | SolidWorks Licensing | Binds to MAC address, motherboard ID, or volume serial number (not USB serial) | | FlexNet | Installs kernel-mode drivers; requires admin on every run | | .NET / VBA | Registers assemblies in GAC | | Third-party add-ins | Each has its own registry keys and paths | | Temp files | SolidWorks creates large temp files in %TEMP% and C:\SWTemp | | PDM integration | Requires persistent local cache and SQLite databases | | Solution | Portability | Offline | Editing