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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 in the "About"-window "unknown" ?
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 (View Exper, Render Expert, 3Data Expert, Design Expert, Dimensions Expert or Spectral 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 (View Exper, Render Expert, 3Data Expert, Design Expert, Dimensions Expert or Spectral 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 its 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 Expert Series 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".

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 its 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 Expert Series 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".

4. Question: Why is the system ID in the "About"-window "unknown" ?
Answer: Usually the reason to this is that the Expert Series is installed with the FLEXlm floating license client package, the "Floating license client"-component in the Custom installation. Installing this component configures the Expert Series to use the FLEXlm floating license system, which doesn't use the system ID number normally shown in the "About"-window. In the floating license system the client programs are not tied to any specific machine, but check their license from the license server. Therefore the system ID for the clients is "unknown" in this case. You can however change the type of license system used with Expert Series manually. The type of the license system is defined with the Windows environment variable DA_LICTYPE. For the FLEXlm floating license system its value is "flexlm" and for the normal Dalic license system it is "dalic". To return the Expert Series to use the normal Dalic licensing, change the value of DA_LICTYPE to "dalic". The environment variables can be changed in the following places on different Windows versions: Windows NT4: Start->Settings->Control Panel: System: Environment Windows 2000: Start->Settings->Control Panel: System: Advanced: Environment variables Windows XP: Start->Control Panel: System: Advanced: Environment variables On Windows 95, 98 and ME the environment variables are defined in startup file "C:\autoexec.bat". To disable the FLEXlm license mode, open the file in notepad and remove the following two lines: SET DA_LICTYPE=flexlm SET LM_LICENSE_FILE=1700@machinename Then save the file and restart the machine.

4. Question: Why is the system ID in the "About"-window "unknown" ?

Answer:
Usually the reason to this is that the Expert Series is installed with the FLEXlm floating license client package, the "Floating license client"-component in the Custom installation.

Installing this component configures the Expert Series to use the FLEXlm floating license system, which doesn't use the system ID number normally shown in the "About"-window. In the floating license system the client programs are not tied to any specific machine, but check their license from the license server. Therefore the system ID for the clients is "unknown" in this case.

You can however change the type of license system used with Expert Series manually. The type of the license system is defined with the Windows environment variable DA_LICTYPE. For the FLEXlm floating license system its value is "flexlm" and for the normal Dalic license system it is "dalic". To return the Expert Series to use the normal Dalic licensing, change the value of DA_LICTYPE to "dalic".

The environment variables can be changed in the following places on different Windows versions:

Windows NT4:
Start->Settings->Control Panel: System: Environment

Windows 2000:
Start->Settings->Control Panel: System: Advanced: Environment variables

Windows XP:
Start->Control Panel: System: Advanced: Environment variables

On Windows 95, 98 and ME the environment variables are defined in startup file "C:\autoexec.bat". To disable the FLEXlm license mode, open the file in notepad and remove the following two lines:

SET DA_LICTYPE=flexlm
SET LM_LICENSE_FILE=1700@machinename

Then save the file and restart the machine.

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 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 two different license systems used with DeskArtes Expert Series: the Dalic and the 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 FLEXlm license system is needed to provide the so called floating license system, 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 FLEXlm and floating licenses is found in a separate FLEXlm 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 also 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 two different license systems used with DeskArtes Expert Series: the Dalic and the 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 FLEXlm license system is needed to provide the so called floating license system, 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 FLEXlm and floating licenses is found in a separate FLEXlm 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 also 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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