This page is related to key-based licenses — a regular license type used in TestComplete 15.47. For information on the new ID-based license type, see SmartBear ID-based Licenses.
If you have a TestComplete 15 license and want to run more product instances or use more features, you may purchase the needed number of licenses as new licenses or as an upgrade of your existing license. This topic explains the difference and helps you choose the correct way to upgrade.
Upgrade or a New License?Upgrade or a New License?
If you have a TestComplete 15 license and want to use more product instances, you can either purchase a new license or add product instances to your existing license. In both cases, you are still able to use the existing License Manager PC.
If you purchase a new license, you can activate it on your License Manager PC. The old and new licenses will be merged. Note that although licenses are merged on the License Manager PC, they remain individual licenses. You can separate them and move to different License Manager PCs.
If you choose to upgrade an existing license, you simply add new Platforms, Modules or add-ons to the existing license. If you upgrade an existing license in this way, you will get a special upgrade file, which you can then apply on your License Manager PC. The old license will become unavailable, and you will use the upgraded one.
| Note: | After upgrading your license, enable features provided by the new license on TestComplete workstations manually. To do this, in TestComplete, open the File > Install Extensions dialog, find the sets of features provided by the new license and enable them. |
How Licenses Are Upgraded
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Node-Locked licenses cannot be upgraded in the way described above. If you want to run more product instances, simply buy them as new licenses. Consider upgrading to a Floating User license for easier license management.
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If you have a Floating User license, then you can purchase an upgrade and increase the number of TestComplete instances controlled by the license.
Upgrade From Node-Locked to Floating User License
If you have a Node-Locked license and want to upgrade it to a Floating User license, contact the SmartBear Sales Team.
When upgrading from Node-Locked to Floating User, you may want to choose a computer to be used for license management and activate the license on it (strictly speaking, you may want to change the License Manger PC). In this case, you will have to move the license before or after the upgrade. See the Two Ways to Activate Upgraded License section below.
Two Ways to Activate an Upgraded License
There are two ways to apply the upgraded license data:
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You can apply the upgrade on the computer that has your current license activated (that is, you can apply the upgrade on the current License Manager PC).
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You can move the license to another PC and apply the upgraded license there (that is, you can combine the move and upgrade).
If you choose to upgrade your license on the existing License Manager PC, we will generate a new file containing the details of the updated license. You will download this file to your License Manager PC and apply it there. After this, your License Manager PC will support the product instances and features provided by the upgrade.
If you want to move the license to another PC, then you will first need to deactivate the license on your current License Manager PC. After that, we will generate a new license key which you can use to activate the license on any other computer.
For information on how to activate the upgraded license, see Purchasing and Activating Upgrades of Existing Licenses.
Purchasing and Activating Upgrades
For information on how to purchase and activate license upgrades, see Purchasing and Activating Upgrades of Existing Licenses.
See Also
Upgrading Licenses
Purchasing and Activating Upgrades of Existing Licenses
Deactivating and Moving Licenses
Activating Additional Licenses