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MKS Product Activation

Introduction

Starting with MKS Toolkit 9.3, Product Activation is required after installation before the product can be used. This can be done in one of several ways, depending upon your circumstances.

Activations are node-fixed and contain a list of activated users who are able to use MKS Toolkit. Users who are not in the list of named users cannot use utilities included in MKS Toolkit.

To activate MKS Toolkit, you must have an MKS Product Activation account and password. You can register for an activation account here:

https://www.mkssoftware.com/apps/support/registration

Interactive Installation

The easiest way to activate MKS Toolkit is during the installation process itself. However, this is a simplified method and is not suitable for all cases. In particular, this method only supports online activations, and does not give you flexibility in choosing which named users are to be activated. It uses any list that had been used in a previous install of MKS Toolkit (if any), and includes the user who is performing the installation (as long as that user is not the local administrator for the machine).

You can also activate MKS Toolkit after installation by using the MKS Toolkit control panel applet. This gives you complete freedom to choose which users are activated to use MKS Toolkit. The control panel applet can also be used to modify the list of users who are activated.

Offline Activation

When using the control panel applet for activation, the activation process can either be done online or offline. An online activation requires an Internet connection, and is fairly quick and easy. Offline activations can be used for the case where no Internet connection is available for the machine being activated.

When doing offline activation, the user performing the activation must manually copy the client request from the machine being activated to a machine that does have Internet access. That user then uses a standard web browser on the Internet-connected machine to go to the site:

https://www.mkssoftware.com/apps/support/activate

where the user can enter the client request and obtain the server response. The server response can be brought back to the machine being activated to complete the activation.

Concurrent Authenticated Users

For some sites which have a large number of users using MKS Toolkit, maintaining the list of named users can become a headache. For such cases, a different type of license can be obtained which simply counts the number of users who are using MKS Toolkit and ensures that the number does not exceed the number that you are licensed to have. MKS Toolkit only counts users who have used Toolkit within the past 24 hours against the limit.

At the time of an activation using concurrent authenticated users, you may specify the maximum number of users requested. If you do not specify a value, you are granted the full number of users that has been purchased for your product key.

Site Licenses

Site license may be available for sites with special needs and/or high volume.

Uninstalling

Uninstalling MKS Toolkit automatically performs a deactivation as a part of the process. This deactivation process requires an Internet connection to connect to the MKS Product Activation server.

When the machine has no Internet connection, the TKDeactivate utility can be used instead. This utility is a standalone program which can be found on the install media, or obtained from MKS Toolkit Customer Support. TKDeactivate supports both online and offline deactivation of MKS Toolkit.

Silent Installation

When performing a silent installation of MKS Toolkit, you can specify all the parameters related to Product Activation on the command line. These parameters are:

• PRODUCTKEY=product_key — specifies the product key.
• NEED_ACTIVATION=0 — requests activation after installation using the control panel applet.
• NEED_ACTIVATION=1 — requests activation during installation.
• NEED_ACTIVATION=2 — requests activation using a license.dat during installation.
• LICENSE_DAT=license_dat_path — used with NEED_ACTIVATION=2 to specify the path to the license.dat file.
• REGUSER=email_addr — specifies the e-mail address associated with the MKS Product Activation account.
• REGPASSWD=password — specifies the password for the MKS Product Activation account.
• NAMED_USERS=named_user_list — specifies the list of named users to activate.
• REGISTER_CURRUSER=1 — includes the current user as a named user.
• FLOATING_MAXUSERS=number_of_users — used with concurrent authenticated users to indicate the number of users to be requested.

Upgrade and Patches

When upgrading or patching MKS Toolkit, a deactivation is first performed, and at the end of the install you must reactivate. The procedures for the reactivation are identical to those used for the initial activation.

Administrative Installations

Administrative installations do not require Product Activation as they are not true installations. The administrative installation process does allow you to include a secure site license in the package, and this will automatically be used in all installations from the administrative image.