Simple Activation
Licensing
This tutorial demonstrates a simple activation licensing scenario in
which you can easily deploy the Activation
Server and manage licensing of your application. While LicenseKey Manager
is a licensing tool for your desktop/laptop computer, you can use the
Activation Server as the online web-based tool that you can manage licensing
from anywhere and from different devices.
In this tutorial, we assume that your application is protected as a
trial (general evaluation) node-locked license. Specifically, you want to
distribute your application as a trial version in which the user can try out
the application immediately after installation. To continue to use the
application after the trial period, the user must register (or pay a license
fee) for the Activation Key to activate and
turn the trial version into the full registered version.
Based on the settings used in this tutorial, the following describes
how the user would experience the protected application.
·
When starting the application, the
Registration and Activation dialog box pops up. The user may click the Register
Later button to skip registration during the trial period.
·
The user can try out the application for a
limited trial period.
·
The user cannot gain additional trial period
by reinstalling the application or turning back the system clock.
·
From the Registration and Activation dialog box,
the user can register at any time by clicking the Register button, which will
link to your registration web page.
·
When you receive an order from the user, you
can log in to your Activation Server to issue an Activation Key and send an
order confirmation email to the user.
·
The user can activate the application
instantly online by entering the Activation Key in the Registration and
Activation dialog box.
·
Alternatively, if the user’s computer does
not have an Internet connection, the user may use the offline activation
method.
·
The user may contact you by email, phone, or
through your activation web page, and provide the Activation Key and Registration ID (shown in the Registration and
Activation dialog box).
·
With the received Activation Key and
Registration ID, you can log in to your Activation Server and manually generate
the License Key to be returned to the user.
·
The user can activate the application offline
by entering the License Key in the Registration and Activation dialog box.
Protecting Applications
The following instructions use ElecKey Integrator (the shell
protection method) to protect the application. The necessary settings are
described below. However, you may change the options as you want.
Besides the shell protection method, you may also use the provided KeyCheck API (including
the KeyCheck Class Library and the KeyCheck .NET Component) to protect your application, by
specifying the same settings as described below. Please see Protecting Applications
Using API and the provided code examples
for more information.
To Protect an
Application
1. Run ElecKey
Integrator. The wizard dialog box appears.
2. In the Select
Application License Type dialog, select Machine License.
3. In the Select
Integration Task dialog, select Protect Code and Enforce Licensing.
4. In the Specify
Protected Program dialog, specify your executable file name in the Original field. In the Target field, specify a different
name for the protected executable file that will be created.
5. In the Set
Identification dialog, assign a Program ID in the Program ID field.
6. In the Key
Detection Method dialog, select Detect Stand-Alone Key.
7. In the Set Options dialog, you can use the
default settings.
8. In the Choose
Implementation dialog, select Evaluation.
9. In the Select
Evaluation Mode dialog, select General Evaluation and specify the limits as you want.
10. In the Customize
Messages
dialog, the needed dialog boxes for the implementation you have chosen are
automatically checked. However, you can enable the dialog boxes as well as edit
messages and options as you want.
11. From the Dialog Box
Style
drop-down list, select Default Dialog Box/Auto-Activation. Then, click the Edit button of the Registration
Dialog Box
checkbox.
12. In the Registration
Dialog Box Properties dialog box, under the Appearance Options box, select Show auto activation first, followed by
manual activation from the drop-down list.
13. Click the Options tab. Then, in the URL/Email/Document/Executable field, enter your
registration web page URL. For instance, https://demo.eleckey.net/registration_activation.aspx.
14. In the Web Service
URL field,
enter your Activation Server web service URL. For instance, https://demo.eleckey.net/service.asmx.
15. In the Create
End-User Utilities dialog, the needed end-user utilities for the implementation you have
chosen are automatically checked. However, you can choose to build the end-user
utilities as you want.
16. In the Summary dialog, review the action
you have chosen.
17. Click the Integrate button. The protected
version of your executable file is created.
It is recommended that you save your unprotected executable file in a
safe place. You can then rename the protected version to its original file
name, and use it further to create a setup package and distribute your
application to the user.
Distributing Protected Applications
To create a setup package and distribute your application, please
ensure to include the protected version of your executable file and the ElecKey system files. For Win32/Win64/.NET applications,
the following is the list of the needed system files:
·
Ekc3220.dll
(in \Deploy\Win32App\KeyCheck\)
·
Ekc6420.dll
(in \Deploy\Win64App\KeyCheck\)
·
Ekag20nt.exe
(in \Deploy\Win32App\KeyCheck\)
·
Ekag6420.exe
(in \Deploy\Win64App\KeyCheck\)
·
End-user utilities
(optional)
The above system files must be placed in the same directory as the
protected executable file. Depending on the features you have enabled, you may
need additional system files. See the topic Protecting Windows
Apps/Deployment for more details.
Setting up Activation Server
Before you can use the Activation Server to license your application,
you must first create a product in the Products table. This table contains
information about the product and the Master ID and Master License, which
encode the licensing properties of the product. You can generate the Master ID
and Master License by using the LicenseKey Manager
tool.
To Generate Master
ID and Master License
1. Run LicenseKey
Manager.
2. From the Tools menu, select Generate
Master ID.
3. In the Generate
Master ID
dialog box, from the Program ID drop-down list, select the Program ID of your
application. Then, click the Generate button. A Master ID is generated.
4. Copy the Master ID. Then, go
to the Main
tab of the Key Properties pane. Paste the Master ID in the Registration
ID field,
and click the Check button.
5. The Identification field shows the Key ID,
Program ID, and flag decoded from the Master ID.
6. From the Implementation drop-down list:
·
Select Distribution if you want to generate the Master License that
turns the application into the full version with no limit.
7. From the Note pane, you can enter notes
about the Master ID and Master License in the Messages field.
8. From the Main tab of the Key
Properties
pane, click the Generate button. The Master License is shown in the License Key field.
To Add a Product
1.
Log in to Activation Manager, and click the Products menu.
2.
Click the Insert New
Product button. A new record is created.
3.
On the new record, click the Edit button.
4.
In the ProductName edit box, enter your product name.
5.
In the ProgramID edit box, enter the Program ID of your
application.
6.
In the MasterID and MasterLicense edit boxes, enter the
Master ID and Master License generated by LicenseKey
Manager.
7.
In the MaxActivation edit box, enter the
maximum number of activations allowed, or enter -1 for unlimited activations.
8.
In the ProductTitle edit box, enter the full title of your
product.
9.
Click the Update
button.
Licensing Protected Applications
You can license the protected application by creating an activation
account in the Activation Server, and then associating it with a product listed
in the Products table. Each activation account contains a unique Activation Key
that is randomly generated. To issue the license, you can easily send an order
confirmation email containing the Activation Key right from Activation Manager. You can customize
the email through the following template files:
\ACTIVATIONSERVER\PRECOMPILEDWEB\MANAGER\EMAILSUBJECT.TXT
\ACTIVATIONSERVER\PRECOMPILEDWEB\MANAGER\EMAILBODY.TXT
To Add an Account
1. Log in to Activation
Manager, and click the Accounts menu.
2. Below the menu bar, under New Account, select a product from the
drop-down list. Then, click the Insert New Account button. A new record is created.
3. On the new record, click the
Edit button.
4. You can enter the user
information in the provided fields such as PurchaseID, PurchaseDate, FirstName, LastName, Company, Email, etc.
5. Click the Update button.
Providing Web-Based and Offline Activation
Besides automatic online activation, you can optionally provide offline
activation in case if the user’s computer does not have an Internet connection.
Offline activation requires that the user must provide the Activation Key and
Registration ID (shown in the Registration and Activation dialog box). You can
then generate the License Key to be returned to the user.
The Activation Server already includes the ready-to-use activation web
page. To provide web-based activation, you can customize from the following
file:
\ACTIVATIONSERVER\PRECOMPILEDWEB\MANAGER\REGISTRATION_ACTIVATION.ASPX
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To provide offline activation by phone, email, etc., you can log in to your Activation Server and manually generate the License Key to be returned to the user.
To Generate a
License Key
1.
Log in to Activation Manager, and click the Control menu.
2.
Below the menu bar, enter the Activation Key
and click the Get Information
button.
3.
Under the License
Activation box, enter the Registration ID and click the Activate button.
4.
The License Key is generated and shown in the
Activation Logs pane.