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Can I deactivate a new license?

18 REPLIES 18
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Message 1 of 19
tsilano
3069 Views, 18 Replies

Can I deactivate a new license?

Some of the employees at my company use AutoCAD 2005. One particular employee had this program on his old computer. He recently switched to a newer computer, and since I am the local IT person, I installed AutoCAD 2005 on his new machine. However I made a mistake and instead of transferring the license from his old machine to the new one, I activated the product on the new machine (I assume this means I got a new license). I am very upset over this because my boss told me that the licenses cost $1200 each. Can you tell me if what I did by activating the software on his new machine incurred a new license fee of $1200? And also, can I deactivate this license? I would like to simply transfer the license from his old machine to the new one instead.

Thanks,
Tom
18 REPLIES 18
Message 2 of 19
TravisNave
in reply to: tsilano

No, you have nothing to worry about. The activation of that serial number is not going to charge you back any more money. You can reactivate a serial number more than once for the purpose you describe. However, it probably won't work again the next time. It's a normal process. Glad you are up and running. 😃


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Message 3 of 19
frhervet
in reply to: tsilano

Hi,

No it didn't injured a new license fee when you activate your product.
The best will be to just uninstall AutoCAD 2005 on the old computer.

Franck Hervet
Ps : Travis you are too fast for me !! ;-) Edited by: frhervet on May 6, 2010 8:09 PM
Franck Hervet

Please mark this response as "Accept as Solution" if it answers your question.
S'il vous plaît Marquer cette réponse comme "Accepter comme solution" si elle répond à votre question.
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Message 4 of 19
TravisNave
in reply to: tsilano

Hahaha! Trust me, you've beat me to the punch a number of times. How'd you like my rant back to the Autodesk post yesterday about the -15 error? I've actually had a lengthy phone conversation with Autodesk about their involvement on the boards lately.


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Message 5 of 19
tsilano
in reply to: tsilano

Are there a certain number of computers that I can activate the program on?
Message 6 of 19
tsilano
in reply to: tsilano

I really don't understand the whole licensing and registration/activation thing. I know that we have used the same serial number to install AutoCAD 2005 on more than 1 machine at my company. Question - is it possible to install this on only a certain number of machines using this serial number? I understand that I activated the product on this particular employees old machine, as well as the new machine. What I don't understand is by doing that, did I use up one of the licenses? For example, say my company purchased this program and a license to use it on 5 different computers (So I'll say this means we have 5 licenses for the 1 serial). By activating it on the new machine, did I use up 1 of those 5 licenses? The reason I'm asking is because if that is the case, then is it possible to deactivate the license on the new machine so that I gain back 1 of the 5 licenses? I understand that I can export this license to a different machine in the future if we want to use it on a different computer, but I don't want to have to export it. I want to erase any evidence that I activated the license on the new machine, and gain back 1 of the 5? I hope this makes sense.

I would appreciate it if somebody could e-mail me at weirdfishes79@fastmail.fm.

Thank you very much,
Tom
Message 7 of 19
frhervet
in reply to: tsilano

It's good for all people having problem !
I too have a conversation with Autodesk about the future.
They search solution about to be more proactive to customer. The idea is good. What method could it be used ?
I don't know exactly what could be the best solution.
I'm waiting to view how customer respond to this.

Franck Hervet
Franck Hervet

Please mark this response as "Accept as Solution" if it answers your question.
S'il vous plaît Marquer cette réponse comme "Accepter comme solution" si elle répond à votre question.
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Message 8 of 19
TravisNave
in reply to: tsilano

That depends on how many seats your license is good for. Generally, you can activate it on one computer. If it is a multi-seat stand-alone, you can install it on as many clients as you own seats for.


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Message 9 of 19
tsilano
in reply to: tsilano

Say my company purchased seats for 10 computers when they purchased this license, does that mean it can be used on 10 computers?

So I activated the product on 1 computer. Now I only can only activate the product on 9 more computers. Can I deactivate it on the first computer and bring the number back up to 10?
Message 10 of 19
frhervet
in reply to: tsilano

You can install ,uninstall all the product all the time.
The only limit is to proove that all the time you use only 10 license.
If you use 20 license at one time and Autodesk control you, you will have problem with Autodesk and the EULA that is with AutoCAD.

Franck Hervet
Franck Hervet

Please mark this response as "Accept as Solution" if it answers your question.
S'il vous plaît Marquer cette réponse comme "Accepter comme solution" si elle répond à votre question.
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Message 11 of 19
TravisNave
in reply to: tsilano

As usual, Franck is correct. Theoretically, if you want to steal licenses you can. But if you get an Autodesk audit (and yes they do this frequently) then you are going to pay the price. The automatic activation system will keep you from activating more licenses than you own. So at some point, you will have to call Autodesk to activate if you run out of automatic activations. So if you own 10 licenses and have activated 10, then you want to retire a machine and reactivate it on another, you can probably do this automatically. If it fails, you can use the Portable License Utility to move the license from the old one to the new one. There are always legal options for ya. 😃


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Message 12 of 19
tsilano
in reply to: tsilano

So in other words, you're saying that I can remove the license from the new computer (and I don't have to save it), and then transfer/export the existing license from the old computer to the new computer? And I won't lose any licenses by doing that? I won't have used one up, by removing it from the new computer without saving it?
Message 13 of 19
AllenJessup
in reply to: tsilano

Lets take a simple case of 1 license. I install it once at work. Because I'm on subscription I can also install it once at home. Now the hard drive at work gets trashed and I have to install an new HD and reinstall and activate the license. No problem. Autodesk realizes these things happen and will allow the re-authorization of the license automatically. Then I get a new computer at home, doesn't matter what happens to the old on (your supposed to uninstall the license but it doesn't affect the outcome), install AutoCAD on the new computer and activate the license. There may not be any problem with the authorization this time either. Now I've gotten authorization for the 1 single license 4 times and if I've uninstall the one at home everything is still legal.
There comes a point when you've activated the license multiple times you can no longer automatically authorize another one on the web. At that point you need to call Autodesk or your reseller and offer an explanation of why you've had to authorize the license so many times. I'm on a network license but have similar issues. I've always gone through our reseller and they've had no problems getting us licenses.
The basic thing to remember is that while Autodesk wants to protect it's licenses it does allow for computers to break down or be replaced and lets you have some leeway when possible.
HTH
Allen


Allen Jessup
Engineering Specialist / CAD Manager

Message 14 of 19
tsilano
in reply to: tsilano

Thank you all for all of your help. Still though, can somebody please tell me:

How can I deactivate the license?

Thank you
Message 15 of 19
TravisNave
in reply to: tsilano

There is no way to *unregister* the license per se. The best thing for you to do on the old machine is simply uninstall the product. You can't reduce the amount of times you have activated a product. But that's okay, there's no real worry there.


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Message 16 of 19
AllenJessup
in reply to: tsilano

The license you're talking about is THE LICENSE. There is no NEW License. There is no OLD License. There is just the License There will be no bill for $1,2000 since it's impossible to buy anything except a license of 2011. Autodesk does not sell licenses of old versions no matter what you did.

You don't activate a license. You buy a license and then authorize it. You may authorize it multiple times but it's still one license. The only way I know to void a license is to buy a newer release. Then, barring Subscription, your old license is invalid. It doesn't deactivate. If you wanted to break the license agreement you could still run the old license until something stopped it from working. Then you couldn't reauthorize it. I know people who still have valid licenses of R12, now about 20 years old.

If your boss is still giving you a hard time about it you need to get him to talk to your reseller about this. Your reseller can assure him there will be no charge for the reauthorization and that it is business as usual.

HTH

Allen


Allen Jessup
Engineering Specialist / CAD Manager

Message 17 of 19
TravisNave
in reply to: tsilano

On the other hand, wait until your boss gets Allen's bill! 😃


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Message 18 of 19

But if I have just one stand-alone license of Auto CAD 2010, and receive the upgrade to 2011, I don't need uninstall the old one. I may have the both ones installed on the same computer counting as just one seat?
Message 19 of 19
TravisNave
in reply to: tsilano

If you are under Subscription, then you are fine. Just make sure you only use one at a time.


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