Activating and Deactivating Licenses via License Management Wizard

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.

You can activate and deactivate your TestExecute licenses in the License Management wizard that is built into TestExecute or is shipped as a standalone executable with the License Manager utility.

Licensing Concepts

To activate a TestExecute license, you need to exchange data with the SmartBear web site. During the activation, you send your activation data (user name, company name, license key and hardware-specific information) to the SmartBear web site. The site processes this data and generates activation data for your computer. This data is stored on your computer and indicates that the license is activated:

Licensing
Notes

  • The computer on which you activate a license becomes the License Manager PC for this license, that is, controls the license usage. Every time a TestExecute instance is launched or uses some licensed functionality, it connects to the License Manager PC and requests a permission (see the image above).

  • Activate your license only on physical computers. Do not use virtual computers as License Manager PCs.

    This does not mean that you cannot run TestExecute on virtual computers. You can use virtual machines as workstations to run automated tests.

  • A Floating User license includes several license keys. You need to activate all these keys one after another.

Automatic and Manual Modes

You can activate and deactivate your license in two modes: automatic and manual –

  • Automatic activation (and deactivation) means that the wizard exchanges data with the SmartBear web site automatically. All you have to do is to specify the activation data and, if needed, proxy settings.

  • Manual activation (and deactivation) implies that you will upload information to and download it from the SmartBear web site manually. You do this by using online wizards on the SmartBear web site.

Which mode to use?

By default, TestExecute uses the automatic mode when possible, because it is faster and simpler. The automatic mode needs a functioning Internet connection on your computer and access to the SmartBear licensing web sites (https://ls1.smartbear.com or https://ls2.smartbear.com, port 443). If you do not have Internet access or do not have access to the licensing web site (for example, because of the security policy in your company), TestExecute will suggest using the manual mode. To exchange data with the SmartBear web server in this case, you need to find another computer connected to the Internet.

Activation Steps

To activate a license, just follow the instructions that you see on the wizard pages. Below is a brief description of the activation steps.

Automatic Activation

  1. On the first page of the wizard, select Activate a new license on this computer.

    If your computer is connected to the Internet and has access to the SmartBear licensing web site, TestExecute will select the automatic activation.

  2. On the next page of the wizard, enter your user name, company name, email, and license key, and click Next.

    Tips:

    • 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 e-mail message that we sent you after you had requested the license.

    • We recommend entering your user name, company and e-mail, not those of the license holder.

  3. On the next page of the wizard, you can enter proxy authentication settings. See more information about proxy settings below).

    After you have specified your proxy type, user name and password, click Activate. The wizard will activate your license.

Manual Activation

To exchange data with SmartBear, you need to use a computer that has access to the My SmartBear page of our web site (https://my.smartbear.com). Check that the firewalls and proxies working on your network allow this computer to access this web site.

  1. On the first page of the wizard, select Activate a new license on this computer.

    If your computer cannot access the SmartBear licensing web sites (ls1.smartbear.com or ls2.smartbear.com, port 443), TestExecute will suggest that you activate the license manually. Choose the offline (manual) activation mode.

  2. Specify the file, to which the wizard will save hardware-specific data. The licensing web site needs this data to generate the appropriate license activation file for your computer.

  3. Upload this file to the SmartBear web site. To do this, you can use some computer that has an Internet connection. Use the following address:

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

    Make sure that the firewalls and proxies working on your network allow this computer to access the My SmartBear portal (https://my.smartbear.com).

  4. On the web site, specify the license key. SmartBear will generate a file with activation data for you.

  5. Download the activation file and copy it to your computer. Tell the wizard to apply the activation file. This will activate the license.

Deactivation Steps

To deactivate a license, follow the instructions that you see on the wizard pages. Below is a brief description of the deactivation steps.

Note: You can deactivate licenses in the License Management wizard only if you have TestExecute version 10.30 or later.
Automatic Deactivation

  1. On the first page of the wizard, choose Move or deactivate the selected license and select the license you want to deactivate. Click Next.

    Note: To deactivate the license automatically, you need a functioning Internet connection and access to the SmartBear licensing web sites (https://ls1.smartbear.com or https://ls2.smartbear.com, port 443).

  2. Specify proxy authentication settings. See more information about proxy below).

    After you have specified your proxy type, login and password, click Deactivate. The wizard will deactivate your license.

Manual Deactivation

  1. On the first page of the wizard, choose Move or deactivate the selected license and select the license you want to deactivate. Click Next.

    If your computer cannot access the SmartBear licensing web sites (https://ls1.smartbear.com or https://ls2.smartbear.com, port 443), TestExecute will suggest that you deactivate the license manually.

  2. Specify the file to which the wizard will save information about the licenses activated on your computer.

  3. Upload this file to the SmartBear web site. Follow the instructions on the web pages. The site will generate a file with deactivation data for your computer.

  4. Download the deactivation file from the SmartBear web site to your PC. Specify the file’s name in the wizard and click Deactivate. This will remove the license information from your computer.

  5. Now you need to confirm the deactivation. The wizard will generate a new file with the updated license information. Upload this file to the SmartBear web site. The site will update the information about your license in our database and will generate a new license key.

After the deactivation is over, you can find the new license key on the My SmartBear portal (https://my.smartbear.com).

Specifying Proxy Settings

Quite often, office computers connect to the Internet via a proxy server. Depending on its type, the proxy server may or may not require special authentication for connection.

If you activate or deactivate a license in automatic mode, you need to specify your proxy type and the proxy user name and password, if used. Most proxies do not require authentication, so, most likely, you will not have to specify anything. If you do not know your proxy type, user name or password, ask your system administrator.

Troubleshooting

  • If activation or deactivation fails, the wizard displays a message with a short description of the error. To see detailed information and possible solutions, click Tell me more in the wizard (or Help, if you are using Windows XP).

  • To resolve licensing problems, you can use the Licensing Troubleshooter on our web site:

    Licensing Troubleshooter

    The troubleshooter will help you collect information needed to submit a request to the SmartBear Support Team.

  • If neither the documentation nor the troubleshooter helps, please contact the SmartBear Support Teamcontact the SmartBear Support Team.

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