SolidWorks Student Edition only works with certain versions of Windows Vista.
Vista Home is not supported! You can pay Microsoft some more money to upgrade.
If your OS is:
Vista (32-bit) it needs to be Windows Vista Ultimate, Business and Enterprise editions only. SP0 or higher
Vista (64-bit) (12)(11)(13)
(11) Windows Vista Ultimate, Business and Enterprise editions only. SP0 or higher.
(12) Windows Vista 64-bit is supported for SolidWorks 2008 SP3.1 or higher.
(13) The Education Edition, Student Edition, and Student Design Kit for SolidWorks 2008-2009 and earlier are not supported.
Copied from
http://www.solidworks.com/sw/support...uirements.html