Generic User

[Mark.Lancaster]

This question has been asked numerous times on the forums and there's never a clear answer in what it really means.  I'm also starting to question the wording myself and I can see with this subscription change, more and more companies who are switching from network to single user are going to be asking this very same question..  Meaning if they are allowed to use generic login.

In this term of use https://www.autodesk.com/company/terms-of-use/en/subscription-types?_ga=2.183878753.69887588.1582048... , for single user, it states the following:

"If Your subscription for single-user Offering authorizes a “Generic Login,” then Your generic login and associated rights to the subscription Offering may only be used by one (1) individual Authorized User at a time and may not be shared and/or used by any other individual simultaneously."

So many have asked in the past is the offering to do so an exception I have to obtain from Autodesk or is it already allowed as long you abide by the rule it states? 

The term starts out with:

If Your subscription is described as “single-user,” “individual” or “named user,” then You may only assign such subscription to one (1) of Your Authorized Users. The Authorized User must (i) be identified by a unique user identification (“Autodesk ID”) and (ii) be an individual, not a group or associated with a generic login (except as permitted below). The Authorized User must log in using his or her Autodesk ID to install and/or access each Offering, and no one else may access and/or use such Offerings using the same Autodesk ID.

[aaron.tw]

Hey @Mark.Lancaster - I'll dig into this and see what kind of answer I can get for you.

[aaron.tw]

Hey @Mark.Lancaster  - 

From our terms of use:  If Your subscription for single-user Offering authorizes a “Generic Login,” then Your generic login and associated rights to the subscription Offering may only be used by one (1) individual Authorized User at a time and may not be shared and/or used by any other individual simultaneously.

Key points of information:

• This only applies to a select set of products with specific use cases - for example, CAM products that are tied to a machine on the shop floor rather than a single named user.​
• These products self-identify their documentation so when being set up by the user/administrator, the applicability of generic ID should be apparent.

[Mark.Lancaster]

@aaron.tw 

Thanks Aaron.   I'm also updating what I heard as well in this other posting https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/subscription-changes/removal-of-nlm-is-short-sighted/m-p/9343932#M127

However can we be provided with a list of those applications that do permit the use of the generic iD?

[amanda.k]

Hi @Mark.Lancaster  - I'm finding out the answer for you on this, but it may take just a bit for the right contacts to be online today. Wanted to let you know we see this and will be replying with the answer as soon as possible. Thank you!

[Mark.Lancaster]

Now that we know the true meaning of when we can use generic IDs (well we really can't)..

One feature of the 2020 product line (and I assume the same going forward) if you don't know already..  Is when you go to manage your license,

Select Change License type

And since someone else is logged in, you can select to Switch User and the other person signs in.

Granted this doesn't help if you're not using the 2020 product line or don't have the extra license to assign to other users but wanted to point this out too.   But if you do have the extra license and a single machine you can toggle between users without the need to shut down the application..   Okay just a tip here (nothing here to see 😁)

[lynn_zhang]

Great observation @Mark.Lancaster ! Thanks for sharing this tip. 👍

[Anonymous]

---

@Mark.Lancaster wrote:

Now that we know the true meaning of when we can use generic IDs 

---

But we don't? I can't see an update from Autodesk in this thread... I know you @Mark.Lancaster have said in another thread that you received a private message from someone on this but that's not the same as an official response from Autodesk.

[Mark.Lancaster]

@Anonymous 

This was not a private message or anything like this..  It was meeting with folks directly from Autodesk.   But you can take my information and go with it or wait for an offical word.  😁

[Anonymous]

But how are users browsing this thread meant to know that? I'm not having a go at you at Mark, it would just feel bizarre if this thread died down without an official reply, although it would not be surprising... 

[Mark.Lancaster]

@Anonymous 

Understand..

However the info that @aaron.tw  provided above or this

Is the same info I heard or saw in the Autodesk meeting I attended..    Granted this are just words that you're seeing at this point and the meeting explained more in details.   I also think @lynn_zhang or @amanda.k  was looking into getting the list of Autodesk application that allow for this.   However I believe the list of these so-called application are few or limited.

[amanda.k]

Hi @Anonymous and @Mark.Lancaster ,

I am still working on getting an official list of allowed applications for Generic Users. The request had to be put into several teams here, all which are working together to provide that. I promise as soon as I receive this list I will post it here.

My sincere apologies for the delay - I will update as soon as I can.

Thank you!

[DarrenP]

are the Vault products on this list?

especially if you use a separate machine for the Job Processor usually you will have a generic user for vault to do this

if not now you will have to have an actual user name in your Autodesk Account & inside of vault

which will bring up this issue: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/subscription-changes/working-on-multiple-projects/m-p/9355601#M321

if the users current machine is being used to run job processor that will mean their machine will be running slow & they can't use another machine while this is going on since this will be a violation of the license agreement based on the above thread

[Anonymous]

Hi @amanda.k , any news on this?

[petestrycharske]

@amanda.k, good morning!

I've also been asked this question and was curious if you've received an update on the list of software that allow a generic user?  Hope all is well and have a most blessed day!

Peace,

Pete

[jonaskellens]

We are also searching for this answer

[amanda.k]

Hi @Mark.Lancaster  and all,

Thank you very much for your patience in the delay in this response. 

Ultimately, there are currently no products available that support generic login. We will be updating our Terms of Use to reflect this.

We appreciate you calling this out to us and following up on the response.

Take care,

Amanda

[JamesMaeding]

How do you define a generic login anyway?

From Autodesk's point of view, if I regularly sign into multiple machines, do I look like a crook?

CAD managers will be doing this all the time to troubleshoot a user issue.

I'll walk over and say "let's see if that happens using my windows profile", then I log into windows and sign in to open acad. Or I might use team viewer to sign in on a remote user and start acad to troubleshoot or just use acad.

How exactly will adesk decide if I am really using acad, or someone I crookedly gave the login to, or someone that stole the info somehow and then I don't know.

Can you point me to how that will go?

thx

[theo.bot]

Hi @amanda.k ,

Thank you for the update. So we can conclude that no generic logins are allowed to be used. 

But for "system user" like Vault job processor we have a challenge, because there is no physical human that operates the applications (Vault, Inventor , AutoCAD) . So you have to create a generic login for each system user, because customers are not allowed to share login information.

What frustrates me, is that this question can be placed at different locations inside autodesk but the answers are different. I even get an answer today by a support case, that they don't think it would be a problem for compliancy if you stick to the rules of not sharing. The problem with this is that we (partner network) try to give good advise to customers, but in these senario's it's hard to do it correctly.   

Can you find out for customers that using job processors if they are allowed to use a generic login, with the knowledge of not sharing the log in and can by used the login on one machine.

[rkmcswain]

@Anonymous wrote:

How do you define a generic login anyway?

From Autodesk's point of view, if I regularly sign into multiple machines, do I look like a crook?

CAD managers will be doing this all the time to troubleshoot a user issue.

I'll walk over and say "let's see if that happens using my windows profile", then I log into windows and sign in to open acad. Or I might use team viewer to sign in on a remote user and start acad to troubleshoot or just use acad.

How exactly will adesk decide if I am really using acad, or someone I crookedly gave the login to, or someone that stole the info somehow and then I don't know.

Can you point me to how that will go?

Based on history, and without any documentation, I'd have to guess that it will be treated like the old scenario with standalone licenses and multiple activations. They'll let so many slide through, and then when it reaches some limit that only they know, they'll start asking questions and/or denying access.