If you are maintaining an old version of SolidWorks (2019 or earlier) on an air-gapped (offline) machine, the hosts file block is technically valid. However, treat your hosts file as a sacred system file. Backup the original before editing, and sanitize any Patch.exe you download in a virtual machine first.
The risk of malware from crack sites vastly outweighs the benefit. Consider the free Altair Inspire, Fusion 360 for personal use, or the Onshape free plan instead. Solidworks Host File Block
Even after uninstalling, SolidWorks leaves background services (like SolidWorks Licensing Service ). These services attempt to send telemetry. The hosts file stops these background processes. If you are maintaining an old version of
Introduction If you have ever installed SolidWorks—whether for legitimate educational purposes, testing, or unfortunately, through unauthorized means—you have likely stumbled upon a cryptic instruction buried in a readme.txt file or a YouTube tutorial: "Block SolidWorks exe's in firewall" or "Add these lines to your hosts file." The risk of malware from crack sites vastly