EDU and Multiple Commercial Licenses On Same PC

[AFatRat]

I have a situation that I'm trying to figure out the best way to handle but I'm getting conflicting information. I have several building design programs (Revit, ACAD, 3ds, Formit, etc.) that I have EDU licenses for on my personal home computer. I also work for an arch firm that obviously has commercial licenses for their software that I would like to use at home as well. On top of that, I am starting to do some freelancing work on the side for an arch firm that is willing to let me use one of their seats at home so we can collaborate on BIM 360.

The two commercial licenses are essentially the same AEC collection but obviously with two different profiles/accounts.

My first question is, would I have to remove all EDU licenses from my PC in order to use my primary firm's license at home, and if so, can I do that without uninstalling and reinstalling all my software?

Secondly, could I use my primary firm's license to do freelance work for the secondary firm, utilizing BIM 360, without violating any terms (speaking strictly from a licensing stand point. We've already established there's no conflict of interest, non compete, etc.)? If not, how could I switch back and forth from one license/account to another without sending up red flags everywhere?

What would be the best way to handle this? Hopefully all that makes sense, and I appreciate any advice.

[Mark.Lancaster]

@AFatRat 

Having a student license and commercial license on the same machine can lead to be fined if an Autodesk Audit is started.   In addition you also run a higher risk of corrupting commercial files with the educational watermark which could even lead to more fines to you and anybody else who works on these files.

"primary firm's license to do freelance work for the secondary firm,"  No this is not possible.    But is the subscription of AEC activation based on serial #/sign in or just sign in?

[DarrenP]

you cannot use somebody else’s licenses to do your own freelance work without the companies knowledge

you will need to buy your own license for this

it would be best if you need the edu licenses still would be to have a separate machine for these or just get rid of the edu licenses altogether if not needed

[AFatRat]

My primary firm's license is by sign in but the secondary firm seems to think it is by serial number.

So can I just change the license of the EDU software by going to "change license type" and logging in with my work account? Or do I need to hunt down license files for all the EDU software first?

[Mark.Lancaster]

@AFatRat 

You can switch the license type but again you have to make sure its not in educational mode.   I would also recommend that you move all files that you created while using the educational free version to a different location or in the cloud.

What version of the product are we talking about?

[AFatRat]

This is what I mean. Conflicting info. My primary firm is fully aware of me using their license for freelance work, as long as it doesn't violate our license agreement (which is why I am asking) and there is no conflict of interest or non compete (which we've established there is not).

Also, when you say get rid of the EDU licenses, if I "change license type" and it's not in EDU mode, would the EDU license info still be on my PC? If so, would I need to locate and remove it that way?

I appreciate all the insight. This is all pretty confusing to me.

[AFatRat]

Version as in year? The overlap would be on 2017 software.

I appreciate your help by the way. I'm just trying to stay legit and it seems like a tricky thing to do.

[leowarren34]

@AFatRat To get rid of EDU status you need to contact educational support who can revoke the entitlements from your account: https://www.autodesk.com/education/support

Best way to prevent contamination of commercial files with the EDU watermark is either delete the EDU file (files created under an EDU license) or move them far away from you computer and label them as such.

[Mark.Lancaster · Accepted solution]

@AFatRat 

Since its 2017, perform a license reset per this article.

In the end it states to restart.  Don't restart yet.

After the reset, delete this file..  C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Local\Autodesk\Web Services\Login State.xml

Then..  Delete the license info here: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/troubleshooting/caas/simplecontent/content/remove-aut...   But don't delete as indicated or skip this section

Delete any residual Program Files from these locations:

• C:\Program Files\Autodesk\
• C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\
• C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\
• C:\Users\All Users\Autodesk\
• C:\Users\**YOUR USERID**\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\
• C:\Users\**YOUR USERID**\AppData\Local\Autodesk\

[Mark.Lancaster]

@leowarren34 

The OP is not changing his educational account over to commercial.

He is will be working for 2 different companies and using their license.   Meaning he does not need educational support destroy his educational account.  😁

But he needs to create 2 new Autodesk Accounts that the license from these other companies can be assigned to him.

[leowarren34]

Ah, misinterpretted the post, 😂, as you said making 2 new accounts would be safer where as I saw getting rid of the license to move to commercial 🤦‍:male_sign:.

[AFatRat]

I appreciate the help. Whenever I "Changed License Type" and signed back in using my firm's sign in, the software was out of EDU mode but I went ahead and followed your procedure anyways just to clean out the EDU license info. Thanks again.