Updating licensing

[dandirk]

Our company uses multi-user packs. Occasionally they will add users to the license and receive a new key.

Until now we have pushed out new license keys with new versions of the application.

My question, what is the official license update process for existing installations after we receive a new license key? Is there a cmdline/exe we can run to update keys, is updating keys not needed for existing users only new?

I looked around and didn't seem to see documentation on how to manage licensing now that I read more that it is a per user license rather then installation. Do you have HKCU keys we can push out via GPO to ensure only licensed users on a given machine can run and use your product unrestricted?

[missioncritical]

Thanks for the inquiry. Due to a number of factors, its hard to have a system that works for everyone, as it depends on how the software is used, ie individually, or through a terminal server/Citrix session, etc.

Since there isn't a centralized server or console to control this, in general, the license information is separate for everyone. Here are some options:

1. Only users who need the updated license information really need to have it. But since the maintenance expiration date is part of the license key, and newer versions will require an updated license, at some point someone using an older license will be unable to use the latest version. But if someone is using an older license right now and running v11.0, they don't have to update their license information until they might need to get v11.x.

2. One way to get the license information out to users is to have a list of 'Hyena users' and email them the two parts of the license key: The Licensee Name (company) and License key. They then go into Hyena's Tools > Settings > Licensing and update the information.

3. Hyena will keep the license information both in the registry and in a file named "Register_key.dat". This file will be found in the user's profile directory\application data\systemtools\hyena. Its a text file, so it can be modified manually, or Hyena will write the current license information into this file each time its changed.

One method to give everyone a new license is to copy this file (with the updated license information) out to new users. But since this file is in a directory that is hard to get to, this can be difficult, and it might be easier to just run Hyena and copy/paste the new license information into Hyena. But when Hyena starts up, it reads the information from this file, and if current, will write the new values into the registry. In other words, the file takes priority.

4. Finally, you can set the license information in the registry using Group Policy. This requires setting two fields that contain the license information, along with an Advanced setting to force Hyena to only read the license information from the registry (and ignore the file contents). This is documented here:

http://www.systemtools.com/kb/hyena_settings.pdf

Look on page 10 - 11.

After reviewing these options, let me know if you have any questions. Thanks for your support. And we do wish there were easier ways to do this.