In the midst of a SOLIDWORKS update from SP0 to SP1 I experienced a system crash (caused by another application). This left me with a damaged installation that I decided to get rid of manually. So I deleted all traces of SOLIDWORKS in my system drive.

Now, when trying to run the 2019 SP1 installer for a fresh installation, I cannot get it to install.

For some reason the installer is still trying to perform an upgrade, but I have no idea what traces of SOLIDWORKS that are left on my system is triggering that. I cannot get it to install a complete fresh installation.

The problems start at the 'Summary' step of the installer. Here, the 'Toolbox/Hole Wizard Options' are greyed out and cannot be changed. The dialog displays: "The installation location for Toolbox/Hole Wizard was set when SOLIDWORKS was installed and cannot be changed. Toolbox installation location: C:\SOLIDWORKS Data". I have no idea where this configuration is saved on my system. I deleted the respective folder, but that doesn't change anything.

Also, the installation size of 4.4 GB is strangely low for a complete SOLIDWORKS Premium installation.

Next up is the actual installation. As you can see below, the installer is trying to perform an upgrade, rather than a fresh installation. I have no clue what traces of my old SOLIDWORKS installation the installer has decided to upgrade.

After some progress, around the 10% mark, a first error message will be thrown. "The Installation Manager encountered an error when creating this registry key: SolidWorks Office Installed." I am not sure if this is related to the overall failing of the installation though.

Then at around 16% progress, a second error message is shown. "Internal error: The Windows Installer for this product component did not run as expected: INSTALL.".

Hereafter, the installation fails and is cancelled.

Any help in de-botching my botched SOLIDWORKS installation would be greatly appreciated.

Note: We are a SOLIDWORKS partner and have no VAR for support. I have sent a summary of the issue to partners@solidworks.com and customercenterSR@solidworks.com, but so far haven't received an answer yet.