forum.datacad.com

To all,

I've been using DataCAD since 1991 & SU since version 5 with the @Last crew to complement my work. However, I was drawn to learning a Parametric CAD programme & thus decided to stop my DataCAD 18 subscription plan to save on office costs. However, I still find myself using DataCAD years later & learning new software is proving difficult as I always seem to be busy with work with little learning time. I guess it may have been a regretful decision not to keep my options open & keep my DataCAD subscription on-going, as to upgrade now to the current version looks a tad expensive at around $495 & I may have add 20% on top as import duties, as being outside the US (UK)..... but I digress....

Anyway, in the next month or so a new PC will be arriving, so I just wanted some confidence from others who regularly use the DataCAD Softlock to De-activate & activate their licenses from one PC to another, that it will be a painless exercise. I'll have to do this I guess when the new PC is up & running. However, I can't recall doing this myself, but note in the past with PC upgrades/new hard drives etc, my IT chap who builds & looks after my PC stuff has copied all my Data over & it seems to all work. Not too sure on this IT wizardry, but apparently they now make a PC-image of the existing data from one PC to another to negate physical loading of the software & all associated activations or passwords etc for various software programmes. This obviously saves time, but not too sure if I should be manually undertaking the associated activations or passwords etc for various protected software I will be using on the new PC.

Any thoughts on this will be appreciated.

Over & out,
Clayton.

The activating and deactivating the software license has been a pretty simple and straight forward system. I don't think I have had one day of downtime related to it. I had a little confusion on how it worked at first back in 2011, but it's super simple and can be deactivated and reactivated in less than a minute.

To deactivate
1. Login to https://secure.softwarekey.com/solo/cus ... fault.aspx
2. Click Licenses & Activations
3. Click the license you want to deactivate (your licenses for v20, v21, v22 etc. all show here)
4. Click Manage Installations
5. Click the little Red X to deactivate

Then you can re-activate on another system at that point if you wish. Datacad will also remember the last license and serial numbers used so you don't have to dig out the codes or license info everytime.

Datacad will also facilitate an auto deactivate once for you. Say you leave the office without remembering to deactivate on your main workstation, and you get on the road with your laptop. When you launch the same version of Datacad with the same license installed on your laptop, it will ask you if you want to deactivate your currently "in use" license. You can click YES and it will send the signal to the server without you even having to login and then you can click Activate on your laptop and it will fire right up. Once you return back to the office, you will have to perform the steps above manually to reactivate Datacad on your workstation.

You can also create scripts to auto-activate and deactivate your license and create shortcuts to launch the program with as another option. I used to do this extensively when I was beta testing at work and home. You can find some post here on the forum form me and others on how to do this am sure.

joshhuggins wrote:CUT DOWN>>>>The activating and deactivating the software license has been a pretty simple and straight forward system. I don't think I have had one day of downtime related to it. I had a little confusion on how it worked at first back in 2011, but it's super simple and can be deactivated and reactivated in less than a minute.
CUT DOWN<<<

Hi Josh,

Thanks for cofirming there's nothing to worry about when undertaking the deactivating & activating procedure, its much appreciated. Once I've done this, I'll be less nervous in do this in the future, as I'll be probably using my old PC & new PC in the office on various occasions. I do recall seeing these auto-scrips at the time & someone offering this as download, but I'm not one for under the bonnet tinkering so to speak. Thinking out loud for the moment on this subject, I was wondering for future DC uppdates, would a sort of option for automatically deactivating & activating when one starts & closes DC on your PC/laptop be a consideration ? I think these days most would be able to connect to the Internet, so shouldn't be too much of a concern & seamless when using other PC's/laptops etc. just a thought, but I'm guessing I've missed something obvious to prevent this.....

Over & out,
Clayton.

Welcome back, it's been a while since you were on the Forum. I think Josh has addressed your query so there's not much else to add. I haven't had much need to deactivate a licence on one machine then reactivate on another but there are those on my team who do do this and I've not been made aware of any issues. So long as you have an internet connexion I'd say it's pretty robust.

Mark Bell wrote:Welcome back, it's been a while since you were on the Forum. I think Josh has addressed your query so there's not much else to add. I haven't had much need to deactivate a licence on one machine then reactivate on another but there are those on my team who do do this and I've not been made aware of any issues. So long as you have an internet connexion I'd say it's pretty robust.

Hi Mark,

Thanks, yes, still drawing many DataCAD electronic lines
I'm now more confident with the help of this forum to proceed with deactivating & reactivating when the time comes. As not too confident on relying on the IT-image-PC copy from my existing PC to the new forthcoming PC from what I've further read on this subject.

Thanks again, its much appreciated.

Over & out,
Clayton.

As reminder there is also Deactivate/Activate in the Windows Start Menu, as well as in the DataCAD Help menu.

Just remember to Deactivate before Activating on another computer.

I'm not sure if this is how it was in DataCAD 18...

Joseph Baron wrote:As reminder there is also Deactivate/Activate in the Windows Start Menu, as well as in the DataCAD Help menu.

Just remember to Deactivate before Activating on another computer.

I'm not sure if this is how it was in DataCAD 18...

Hi Joseph,

With my DC-18, Deactivate/Activate aren't listed in the DC HELP pulldown menu, so must have been added in later versions, but is, in the START menu as you note, which I've not noticed before.

Over & out,
Clayton.

[quote

Hi Joseph,

With my DC-18, Deactivate/Activate aren't listed in the DC HELP pulldown menu, so must have been added in later versions, but is, in the START menu as you note, which I've not noticed before.

Over & out,
Clayton.[/quote]


Just an update to all on this one.

My PC-01 gave up on me prior to receiving my new PC, so I'm using my slower backup PC-02, this means I had to test the DC 18 softlock
Anyway, I can report the online de-activate & activate was very straight forward & painless to use so nothing to worry about & all working on PC-02

That's good news about your de-activation/activation results.
When I first heard about the transition from hardlock to softlick, I was more than a bit nervous too. I don't have a sufficient profit margin for spending a lot of problem resolution time.Fortunately, I have never had to actually deal with it as DataCAD has always "worked". I should have had faith.
Right now, I am working in several remote locations and have been jumping back and forth regularly. Every time has been painless.
Thank you DataCAD.