SolidWorks' license management assumes the machine holding an active seat is available to release it. That assumption breaks the moment hardware fails — and hardware fails constantly. A dead motherboard, a fried drive, a stolen laptop: none of these are exotic scenarios, yet the system offers no path forward when they happen.

Right now, a company running SolidWorks can be brought to a complete stop because a machine died. Not because of anything the user did wrong. Not because of piracy or misuse. Because a piece of hardware failed, which is simply a thing hardware does.

Every serious software vendor with node-locked or seat-based licensing has built a manual override for this — a way to prove a machine is dead and get the seat released without it. The fact that SolidWorks hasn't suggests either the volume of complaints hasn't reached the people who can fix it, or it has and it's being deprioritized. Neither is a good look for a CAD platform this many businesses depend on for daily production work.

If you've hit this same wall, say so below. A handful of posts is an anecdote. A hundred is a pattern SolidWorks can't wave off as an edge case.