Activation Steps

Applies to TestExecute 15.40, last modified on May 21, 2024

This page is related to key-based licenses — a regular license type used in TestExecute 15.40. For information on the new ID-based license type, see SmartBear ID-based Licenses.

This topic explains how to activate TestExecute licenses.

Before You Start

After you activate your license on your License Manager PC, it will become bound to that computer. To move your TestExecute license to another computer, you need to go through a special procedure of license deactivation. At that, you may need to contact SmartBear Sales Team. To save time in the future, we recommend that you plan the installations to avoid unnecessary moves of the license.

1. Select a License Manager PC

To activate and control your TestExecute license, you need to install the License Manager utility on some computer in your network. The License Manager is a lightweight application that can run on any (even “weak”) computer. The minimal system requirements for it are the following:

  • Windows 7 SP1 or later operating system (both Client and Server editions are supported)
  • 2 GB of RAM
  • 200 MB hard drive space
  • 1024 × 800 or higher resolution monitor
  • Network interface (see below)

There are some important requirements to the network settings and availability of that computer:

  • It should be a physical computer. We don’t recommend activating licenses on virtual or cloud machines. If you use them, you will need to ensure that their MAC address and CPU data don’t change after that machine restarts.

  • It always must be available to workstations where TestExecute instances will run. That is why we recommend that you activate your TestExecute license on a server computer.

  • It must have a working network connection. TestExecute instances running in your network must be able to connect to it.

  • It must allow traffic via TCP and UDP protocols and port 1947. It will use the protocols and the port to exchange data with TestExecute instances.

    Make sure that firewalls and proxies running in your network do not block these protocols and ports.

  • We also recommend that this computer has a functioning Web connection. In this case, it will be easier to activate the license on it. After the activation, the connection will not be needed.

    To activate the license over the Web (automatic activation), the computer must have access to the SmartBear web server (URLs https://ls1.smartbear.com and http://ls2.smartbear.com, port 443). Make sure the proxies and firewalls working in your network allow the activation requests.

    If the computer has no Internet connection, you will have to follow the manual activation steps. You will need an intermediate computer that has that connection and that you will use to exchange data with the SmartBear web server. That intermediate computer must have access to the SmartBear web server (URLs https://ls1.smartbear.com and http://ls2.smartbear.com, port 443).

    For complete information on automatic and manual activation, see below.

2. Install License Manager on the License Manager PC

After selecting a License Manager PC that matches all the needed requirements, install the stand-alone License Manager utility on it. You can get the utility installation modules from the SmartBear web site:

downloads.smartbear.com/SmartBearLicenseManager.exe

The utility does not have any special requirements for RAM and hard-disk space. The utility is small and lightweight and you can install and run it on any, even “weak” computer.

3. Activate the License on the License Manager PC

If you have an Internet connection on the computer where you activate your license, it will exchange the activation data with the SmartBear web server automatically. Otherwise, you will need an intermediate computer with a working Internet connection that you will use to exchange data between your computer and the SmartBear web server manually:

Automatic Activation (Recommended)

1. Start Activation

Click the operating system’s Start button (or the Windows button) and select All Programs | SmartBear | License Manager | Activate or Deactivate License.

This will open the License Management wizard.

2. Provide the Activation Information

  1. On the first page of the License Management wizard, choose Activate a new license on this computer and click Next.

    If you have an Internet connection to the SmartBear licensing web sites, the wizard will choose the automatic activation mode.

  2. On the next page of the wizard, specify the information needed for activation: the user name, company name, email, and license key.

    You can find the license key on the TestExecute product page of the My SmartBear section of our web site (https://my.smartbear.com) or in the email message that we sent you after you had requested the license.

    As for other values, you can enter either your user name, company name, and email, or those of the license holder. We recommend that you enter your data.

    After you have specified the activation data, click Next to continue.

  3. If your computer connects to the Internet through a proxy server, on the next page of the wizard, specify proxy authentication settings. Ask your system administrator for assistance, if needed.

  4. Click Activate. The wizard will activate your license.

3. Finalizing the Activation

If the activation succeeds, you will see the final page of the License Management wizard informing you that the activation is over.

If the activation fails, the wizard will display an error message explaining the problem.

Manual Activation

1. Start Activation

Click the operating system’s Start button (or the Windows button) and select All Programs | SmartBear | License Manager | Activate or Deactivate License.

This will open the License Management wizard.

If your computer is not connected to the Web or does not have access to the SmartBear licensing web sites, the wizard will display an error message and will suggest using the offline (manual) activation. Choose using the offline (manual) activation.

2. Collect Information About Your Computer

To generate activation data, we need some information about your computer’s hardware. The wizard collects this information automatically and saves it to a .c2v file on your computer. You will see the file name in the wizard.

If you are activating the trial license, the wizard will also display the trial license key. Remember it or write it down.

3. Exchange Data With the SmartBear Web Site

  1. Transfer the .c2v file generated on the previous step to the intermediate computer.

  2. On the intermediate computer, launch any web browser and open the following URL in it (this URL is also mentioned in the License Management wizard running on the License Manager PC):

    https://my.smartbear.com/manual-license-activation/

  3. On the opened web page, specify your license key and the name of your .c2v file. Click Send File. This will upload the file to the SmartBear web site. Transferring the file may take some time.

  4. The web site will process the file and generate activation data for your License Manager PC.

    After the web site generates the activation data, it will display a download link for the file that stores this data (this file has the .v2c extension). Download the .v2c file to the intermediate computer.

  5. Transfer the .v2c file with activation data from the intermediate computer to your License Manager PC.

4. Apply the Activation Data

  1. Click Next in the License Management wizard.

  2. Specify the name of the activation data file (.v2c) in the edit box and click Activate. This will save the activation data on your computer.

5. Finalizing the Activation

If the activation succeeds, the wizard will display a page notifying you that the license has been successfully activated. You can close the wizard then.

In case of an error, the wizard will display a message notifying you about the problems. Try to solve the problems and activate the license again.

After Activation

After the activation is over, you can check whether the license has been activated successfully:

  1. On your License Manager PC, navigate to the following URL:

    http://localhost:1947/_int_/products.html

  2. The activated license will be in the list:

    Checking the license after activation

    Click the image to enlarge it.

4. Connect TestExecute Instances to the License Manager PC

After you activate the license, it will be come available for TestExecute workstations in your network:

  1. If TestExecute is still not installed on your workstation, install it.

  2. Launch TestExecute on the workstation. TestExecute will search for an activated license first locally and then in the network.

  3. When it will find a suitable activated license, it will start.

If it fails to find a suitable license, it will show an error message. To check whether the needed license is activated and available on your computer:

  1. On your computer, navigate to the following URL —

    http://localhost:1947/_int_/products.html

  2. Find your Floating User license in the list:

    Licenses available on TestExecute workstations

    Click the image to enlarge it.

If the license is not on the list, probably, your TestExecute workstations cannot access the License Manager PC. To learn how to fix this, see Unable to Find an Activated Floating User License.

Troubleshooting

If you have encountered any issues during the license activation, you can try to fix them manually using instructions from the following topic —

Unable to Find an Activated Floating User License

You can also try resolving the problem by using the Licensing Troubleshooter on our web site:

Licensing Troubleshooter

See Also

Activating Multiple Licenses on One License Manager PC
Understanding the Activation Procedure
Activating Licenses

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