Activate Fixed License Online

Important Notice for ReadyAPI Customers

ReadyAPI has fully transitioned to the ID-based SmartBear License Management (SLM) system. We are now moving into the final phase of deprecation of file-based licenses. Customers still using file-based licensing need to plan for migration to SLM before September 30, 2025.

If you are still in the process of migrating or have yet to start, contact your Account Manager or SmartBear representative today. Our teams are ready to assist with smooth transition strategies. For additional support, please log a request with our Customer Care Team, who are standing by to help.

For further information and timelines, please refer to this page.

This topic describes how to activate a fixed license online. This mode is recommended, but if your computer cannot connect to the Internet for some reason, you can activate your license offline.

To activate a license with a file, you need to perform the following steps:

Requirements

  • To activate a fixed license online, you need a functioning Internet connection.

  • Your network's firewalls and proxies should allow access to the https://activation.smartbear.com website through the 80 and 443 ports.

Apply for license

  1. Launch ReadyAPI.

    • If you do not have an active license, ReadyAPI will display a message asking you to activate a license:

      "No valid license found" message

      Click Yes.

    • If you have an active license for any tool, select Help > License Manager from the main menu:

      License Manager in the main menu

  2. In the License Manager dialog, select the tool for which you want to install the license or select any tool if you want to install a bundle license. Click Install License.

    Install license

  3. In the Install License wizard, select License from file and specify the name of your license file (.zip or .key) in the License from File box. You can either type the file name or click Browse and choose the file in the subsequent dialog.

    Note

    You can find the license file in the email message you received from SmartBear after requesting a ReadyAPI license.

    There is no need to unzip the license file. You can specify the .zip file name.

    Install license from file

    Tip

    To learn how to check out a Floating license, see Check Out Floating Licenses.

  4. Click Next.

Activate license

The Install License wizard asks you how you want to activate the license.

  1. On this page of the wizard, select:

    • Online if you do not use a proxy to connect to the Web.

    – or –

    • Online with Proxy if you connect to the Web via a proxy. In this case, you need to specify the proxy settings.

    Note

    If you do not know what option to choose, or if you do not know the proxy settings, ask your system administrator for assistance.

    Select online activation

    Note

    Offline activation means you will exchange data with SmartBear via email. Use this mode if you cannot perform online activation. To learn more, see Activate Offline.

  2. Click Next.

Provide contact information

On this page of the wizard, specify your user data:

Specify user information

Note

  • Enter the information about the user, who will be working with the product, not the user who purchased the license.

  • All the fields are required.

Click Finish to complete the activation process. The wizard sends the activation data to our activation server and waits for the response.

If the activation succeeds, ReadyAPI displays a message about this:

User information

Install renewal license

After receiving a renewal license, you can install it. Click Install License and specify the license. When the start date of the renewal license comes, ReadyAPI will automatically bring up the activation dialog with the same credentials as those of your previous license. If you deactivate the license, both licenses will be deactivated and exported to a single file.

Note

After you activate a license, it becomes bound to your computer. You cannot activate this license again until you deactivate it.

  • If you want to move the license to another machine, you first need to export and deactivate it on your computer and then activate it on the desired machine.

  • If you change the system settings (the username, computer name, and so on), you may lose your license. To avoid this, we recommend that you deactivate the license and activate it again after you make changes.

In case of an error

If there is an error, you will see a message explaining the problem. See Troubleshooting for information on typical issues and possible solutions.

If you are unable to solve the problem, contact our Support Team. We will be glad to help you.

See Also

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