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Expert Series FAQ

Licenses

How can I install the license key ?
Is it possible to check the contents of the installed license key ?
The license key cannot be stored trough the program "About"-window. Why ?
Why is the system ID not shown in the "About"-window ?
What program versions work with the same license key ?
Why is many different license systems used with the Expert Series ?

1. Question: How can I install the license key ?
Answer: The license key for the Expert Series is installed through the "About"-window of the programs. You can open the "About"-window by first starting one of the Expert Series programs (3Data Expert, Dimensions Expert, View Expert or Design Expert) and then selecting the "About DeskArtes ..." command from the "Help"-menu of the program. When the "About"-window is shown, copy the license key codes to the text field with title "Type license string here", using the Windows copy/paste functions (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V). If you received the license key in such form that the copying is not possible, then type in the code characters carefully. The license code consists of hex code numbers, so there can be only the numbers 0-9 and the characters A-F. The lowercase L character (l) or uppercase o character (O) are never included in the code.

1. Question: How can I install the license key ?

Answer:
The license key for the Expert Series is installed through the "About"-window of the programs. You can open the "About"-window by first starting one of the Expert Series programs (3Data Expert, Dimensions Expert, View Expert or Design Expert) and then selecting the "About DeskArtes ..." command from the "Help"-menu of the program.

When the "About"-window is shown, copy the license key codes to the text field with title "Type license string here", using the Windows copy/paste functions (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V). If you received the license key in such form that the copying is not possible, then type in the code characters carefully.

The license code consists of hex code numbers, so there can be only the numbers 0-9 and the characters A-F. The lowercase L character (l) or uppercase o character (O) are never included in the code.

2. Question: Is it possible to check the contents of the installed license key ?
Answer: Starting the version 6.1 of the Expert Series software there is a "Show license"-button in the "About"-window of the programs. Pressing this button you get a list of program features and information if they are enabled with the installed license.

3. Question: The license key cannot be stored through the program "About"-window. Why ?
Answer: If you get an error message "Unable to update the license file. You are not allowed to create or rewrite the file", when pressing the "OK"-button in the "About"-window, the user account running the program doesn't have write access to the license installation directory. This can happen if the program was originally installed by some administrator account, but the license is later tried to be installed while running the program with normal user account. Using the same account for installing the programs and the license key should normally help. If storing of the license code cannot however be done in the "About"-window of the program, it is also possible to install the license key manually. You can do this by starting the Windows Notepad program, copying the license key there and then saving the file in the license installation directory with name "dalic.SYSID.txt", where the SYSID is the machine ID number, shown in the "About"-window of the program, as "ID for the license". The license installation directory is created by the program under the Windows ALLUSERSPROFILE directory, which is different depending on the Windows version: Windows Vista: "C:\ProgramData" Windows XP: "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data" Windows 2000: "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data" Inside that directory is a subdirectory called "DeskArtes" and inside that a separate license directory for all Expert Series programs, for example "3DataExpert8.0" for the 3Data Expert. The full path of the license file for the 3Data Expert 8.0 on Windows XP is then: "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\DeskArtes\3DataExpert8.0"

3. Question: The license key cannot be stored through the program "About"-window. Why ?

Answer:
If you get an error message "Unable to update the license file. You are not allowed to create or rewrite the file", when pressing the "OK"-button in the "About"-window, the user account running the program doesn't have write access to the license installation directory.

This can happen if the program was originally installed by some administrator account, but the license is later tried to be installed while running the program with normal user account. Using the same account for installing the programs and the license key should normally help.

If storing of the license code cannot however be done in the "About"-window of the program, it is also possible to install the license key manually. You can do this by starting the Windows Notepad program, copying the license key there and then saving the file in the license installation directory with name "dalic.SYSID.txt", where the SYSID is the machine ID number, shown in the "About"-window of the program, as "ID for the license".

The license installation directory is created by the program under the Windows ALLUSERSPROFILE directory, which is different depending on the Windows version:

Windows Vista: "C:\ProgramData"

Windows XP: "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data"

Windows 2000: "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data"

Inside that directory is a subdirectory called "DeskArtes" and inside that a separate license directory for all Expert Series programs, for example "3DataExpert8.0" for the 3Data Expert.

The full path of the license file for the 3Data Expert 8.0 on Windows XP is then: "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\DeskArtes\3DataExpert8.0"

4. Question: Why is the system ID not shown in the "About"-window?
Answer: The system ID is constructed from the C: drive information of the machine. If your machine does not have the C: drive, then the system ID cannot be generated and the corresponding field in the program About-window is empty, or showing some strange characters. Starting from the version 8.0.0.2 of the Expert Series programs the system ID is generated from the Windows system drive, if the C: drive does not exist. If the system ID cannot be generated for a machine, it is possible to use a special node-locked Reprise license instead. The Reprise license system uses the network card MAC-address as the host ID number. In the Expert Series programs the Reprise license system is normally used only for the network (floating) licenses. The host ID can be shown with the "rlmhostid.exe" command line tool, included in the DeskArtes License Server files.

4. Question: Why is the system ID not shown in the "About"-window?

Answer:
The system ID is constructed from the C: drive information of the machine. If your machine does not have the C: drive, then the system ID cannot be generated and the corresponding field in the program About-window is empty, or showing some strange characters.

Starting from the version 8.0.0.2 of the Expert Series programs the system ID is generated from the Windows system drive, if the C: drive does not exist.

If the system ID cannot be generated for a machine, it is possible to use a special node-locked Reprise license instead. The Reprise license system uses the network card MAC-address as the host ID number. In the Expert Series programs the Reprise license system is normally used only for the network (floating) licenses. The host ID can be shown with the "rlmhostid.exe" command line tool, included in the DeskArtes License Server files.

5. Question: What program versions work with the same license key ?
Answer: The so called internal license key has been changed in the following versions of DeskArtes Expert Series: 4.1 5.0 5.2 5.3 6.0 7.0 8.0 When the internal license key is changed the new version of the program doesn't run anymore with the same license key with the previous versions, but they need separate license keys. This means that for example the versions 5.0 and 5.1 work with the same license, but the versions 5.1 and 5.2 do not.

5. Question: What program versions work with the same license key ?

Answer:
The so called internal license key has been changed in the following versions of DeskArtes Expert Series:

When the internal license key is changed the new version of the program doesn't run anymore with the same license key with the previous versions, but they need separate license keys.
This means that for example the versions 5.0 and 5.1 work with the same license, but the versions 5.1 and 5.2 do not.

6. Question: Why is many different license systems used with the Expert Series ?
Answer: There are three different license systems used with DeskArtes Expert Series 8.0: the Dalic, Reprise and FLEXlm. For most of the Expert Series installations only the DeskArtes own license system Dalic is needed. It is a node-locked license system where the license is tied to the system ID number of the machine where the program is run. The Dalic licenses are handled through the "About"-window of the Expert Series programs. The Reprise license system is needed to provide the so called floating license system for the Expert Series programs, which the Dalic system cannot support. In the floating license system the programs are not tied to a certain machines, but only the number of concurrently running programs is controlled. Additional information about the Reprise and floating licenses is found in a separate Reprise section of this FAQ. The import translators in the Import Package are implemented using third party libraries, whose usage has to be controlled by their manufacturer. Starting from the version 7.1 the Import Package translators use the FLEXlm license system. With the FLEXlm license system both node-locked and floating licenses are supported for the Import Package translators. Additional information about the Import Package translators and their licenses are found in a separate Import Package section of this FAQ.

6. Question: Why is many different license systems used with the Expert Series ?

Answer:
There are three different license systems used with DeskArtes Expert Series 8.0: the Dalic, Reprise and FLEXlm.

For most of the Expert Series installations only the DeskArtes own license system Dalic is needed. It is a node-locked license system where the license is tied to the system ID number of the machine where the program is run. The Dalic licenses are handled through the "About"-window of the Expert Series programs.

The Reprise license system is needed to provide the so called floating license system for the Expert Series programs, which the Dalic system cannot support. In the floating license system the programs are not tied to a certain machines, but only the number of concurrently running programs is controlled. Additional information about the Reprise and floating licenses is found in a separate Reprise section of this FAQ.

The import translators in the Import Package are implemented using third party libraries, whose usage has to be controlled by their manufacturer. Starting from the version 7.1 the Import Package translators use the FLEXlm license system. With the FLEXlm license system both node-locked and floating licenses are supported for the Import Package translators.

Additional information about the Import Package translators and their licenses are found in a separate Import Package section of this FAQ.

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