RSLogix 500 Activation Moving

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Thread Starter

Adam Jones

I installed rslogix 500 on a computer that originally had rslogix 5. Seems easy enough. When I moved the activation it somehow put the activation of the rslogix 5 onto the masterdisk of the new rslogix 500. Now, I can't move the activation ANYWHERE. I have tried several different things including moving the old activation back to the C drive and installing the rslogix onto another computer and trying to move the new activation over, but it's completely gone at this point. Anybody have ANY ideas???
 
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Bill Clemons

You may check with Rockwell on activation keys for different packages. With a license, you are entitled to a free copy of activation key per year.
 
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ScienceOfficer

Adam---

For several reasons, the sequence of events you describe can't actually have happened exactly as you recall them. Rather than try to unwind what happened, I recommend that you figure out where your activations actually are right now. The special section at Rockwell Software's Technical Response Center (440-646-5800, press 3, press 2, press 1) can help with this quickly, but here's something to try:

Put your Master Disk in each computer you have touched during this adventure and run the application A:\RESET (or A:\RESETW on newer Master Disks). The reset utility starts by doing an inventory of all activations, moveable and otherwise, on the local computer. Browse A:, then C:, then any other logical disks visible on each local computer, and find where each activation resides today. If you used other Master Disks, you'll have to do this for each of them.

If an activation is on the wrong Master Disk, use A:\EVMOVE (or A:\EVMOVEW) on that disk to move it where you want it. If you find the activation on the wrong hard disk, use A:\EVMOVE(W) on the right Master Disk to move it back to the Master Disk and then to where you want it. (Generally, that would be on the logical hard disk upon which you have installed the product.)

Hope this helps!

Larry Lawver
Rexel / Central Florida
 
Call Rockwell. They have been very responsive to me when it comes to master disk issues. I normally get disks the very next day. Also you may want to reset the master disk first (follow web instructions) and try that.
 
assuming that yours are "legal" copies of the software, have your "master disks" physically on hand and a computer with a floppy drive fired-up and ready to go (not necessarily the computer that you'll be using for the RSLogix software)... then phone Rockwell Technical Support at 440-646-5800... navigate the phone system menu for "activation issues" (that's 3-2-1 at the time of this writing)... they can give you a "reset code" which should take care of your problems... this can also be done on the Rockwell website, but it's usually better to have a person to talk to on the phone...
 
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Bob Peterson

If you are under support, just call RSI and they will fix your problem.

If out of support, you can always try running off the floppy.

Bob Peterson
 
If the activation is not in the C drive nor the diskette, then you have to contact Rockwell and give them the serial number of your software in order to get a new master disk with the activations.

Regards.
 
Call AB for a new activation disk. In the meantime the existing floppy has an unmovable activation on it. If you put in into your floppy drive you can use RSLogix500 until you get the new disk.
 
When you have sorted your problem ie got your keys back put them back on your floppys and use a software called teledisk, i believe you can download it free, to make "Back-ups"
 
It means can i make duplicate master disk if Key is inside master disk using this software teledisk. pl clarify.

Regards
 
how does the teledisk work do you need the master
disk or a copy.
or does it release the activation code within the master disk.
 
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Lynn at Alist

Just curious - I have been happily placing my RSLogix500/5000 activation on a small USB drive for years (a 1GB IBM drive salvaged from an old notebook inside a $39 'BAFO' enclosure). This allows the activation to move between systems just by moving the drive (or at least betwen my 2 Win2K systems).

Has anyone tried to place a Rockwell key onto one of those small flash dongle drives?

- LynnL, www.digi.com
 
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Michael Griffin

I would be careful about testing this. If it allows you to transfer it, you might lose your software key. These copy protection systems typically work by doing things with the hard drive that are outside of the drive spec. This is what prevents you from simply copying the activation file and why file system repair utilities can destroy the file.

USB flash drives are compatible at the FAT file system level, but may not have enough low level similarity to a normal hard drive to allow the copy protection systems to work. That is, they may be close enough that the software will store the key on the USB flash drive, but it may not recognise the key as valid when you try to recover it.

I suppose there could be a market for special USB "keys" that allow secure storage of software activation keys. They would probably be much more reliable than floppy disks and would solve the problem of laptops that don't
have floppy disks.

I don't however like copy protection software activation keys. Some software vendors will refuse to replace them unless you buy an annual software "maintenance contract" from them. This is like being forced to buy a new car if you lose your car keys.

--

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Michael Griffin
London, Ont. Canada
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ScienceOfficer

Lynn---

Sadly, it doesn't work. I say "sadly" because your idea would have solved a commercial problem I was trying to handle with one of my sales reps when I saw your post...

I tried all available methods under Win2K to transfer activations to a USB "thumb" drive. All were blocked by the limitation that came with NT: The activation transfer system is not supported for removable drives on WinNT
and beyond. (I've always suspected that this prohibition came from problems with users in the previous generation transferring activations to RAM drives...)

While I'm reporting that my experiments were futile, I'm not saying that the goal is impossible. I'm just saying it's not possible in a supported environment under Win2K. I can imagine unsupported solutions that would work under other operating systems that would not violate any license
agreement.

Hope this helps!

Larry Lawver
Rexel / Central Florida
 
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When you're already buying a car with the hood welded shut :^)

I've never understood their vehemence on this point either, What possible use would you have for their software if you didn't own their hardware? And if I owned 50 of their PLCs, I'm still not going to buy more than a couple seats. It would only make it much more convenient if I had more seats, Inconveniencing me isn't going to make them any more money. Overall, their programmer to PLC ratio is pretty low, I would think it would make sense to build the software cost into the hardware. And the burden of all that license management and support for all the related problems has to be fairly high as well. I would think widespread pirating of their software would demonstrably improve the market for their hardware. If they could just get over that absolute control thing. I might even buy a rack to work with at home if I didn't need $3000 to use it. I can almost see it for pure software plays like autocad, but tied to the hardware, it would make for interesting analysis if they are actually accomplishing anything more than annoying the very folks who want to use their hardware. Of course, it would break the upgrade mill, but that's a major badwill item anyway.

Regards

cww
 
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Lynn at Alist

Well, it cannot just be "removable" since I happily place them on removable USB-based hard-drives. More likely the copy scheme queries the drive for parameters used to encrypt/fingerprint that drive in the file to prevent ghost-copy of the drive. My USB hard-drive must have those
parameters, a USB "thumb" drive may not?

I didn't worry too much about testing this - as long as you have your original Master diskette Rockwell gives you the option of playing dumb (gee, the hard-drive crashed ...) and calling up to reactivate a few times. ;^) For me, the "gain" of being able to move the key between 2 computers was greater than the potential "pain" of having to reactivate a lost key.

- LynnL
 
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Michael Griffin

On February 13, 2004, Curt Wuollet wrote:
<clip>
> Overall, their programmer to PLC ratio is pretty low, I would
> think it would make sense to build the software cost into the
> hardware. And the burden of all that license management and
> support for all the related problems has to be fairly high as
> well. <

The software for most of the automation hardware I use can be freely downloaded from the manufacturer's web site. The only exceptions are PLC and associated MMI panel software. In other words, most manufacturers of automation hardware would appear to agree with you on this point. The PLC manufacturers are the exceptions, not the norm.

> I would think widespread pirating of their software would
> demonstrably improve the market for their hardware.
<clip>

Most customers don't take the software cost into account when standardising on a particular brand of hardware. The software is just an afterthought. The major PLC manufacturers can therefore charge whatever the market will bear for the software after the customers have made their hardware decisions. The price of software seems to be more closely related to the PLC manufacturer's market share than it is to any value to the customer.

> I can almost see it for pure software plays like autocad, but
> tied to the hardware, it would make for interesting analysis
> if they are actually accomplishing anything more than annoying
> the very folks who want to use their hardware.
<clip>

I would have to disagree with you with regards to CAD software and say that Autocad is grossly overpriced for simpler jobs such as electrical schematics and technically inferior for the more complex ones. They enjoy their present market position because of customer lock-in to DWG file formats. File format translation (including to DXF) often introduces artifacts into the drawings which require you to fix up the translated drawings manually. This causes problems when exchanging drawings between companies (e.g. supplier and customer) unless they are in the same format. I have owned other CAD software in the past, but Autodesk's means of dealing with low priced competition has been to buy up the companies and terminate their products.

--

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Michael Griffin
London, Ont. Canada
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ScienceOfficer

Curt---

We already went over your points in the longrunning thread, Why do you pay for PLC programming software?, at
http://www.control.com/1026150562/index_html

However, since this thread is actually about activations, note that the automation industry experience with support for software without copy protection is hideous. When an untrained end user purchases a second-hand machine and wants support on the PLC, it's got to be paid for somehow.
Charging for the activation and renewals is the channel for that payment.

Rockwell and the other majors have been giving away full-featured evaluation copies of their programming software via CDs and download for years. To actually use the stuff, you have to pay some money. And, as I keep bringing up, why is the trivial cost of PLC programming software any kind of an issue in a successful plant?

Hope this helps!

Larry Lawver
Rexel / Central Florida
 
From a manufacturer's point of view (for which we are one of PLCs) it has always been our belief that you cannot have a PLC without a method to program it, therefore the software is included with the controller.

With the mass acceptance of the computer, you no longer need handheld programmers to do this. Thus, we now have programming software. One version for each manufacturer (and for some manufacturers, multiple versions for different products). If you find the right manufacturer, you might find one software package that will handle all of their controllers.

The common thinking among other manufacturers is that if it has an associated cost, it must have an offsetting revenue. Hence, this is why you have companies charging for their software. To get into the paying for support issue would be a whole other thread itself.

You have companies being run by accountants, and even worse the stock market. You always have to beat the whisper number, or else the company stock will tank...lol. This is why many of the manufacturers have lost touch with their customers.

Stephen Luft
Entertron Industries
3857 Orangeport Rd.
Gasport, NY 14067
Tel: 716-772-7216
Fax: 716-772-2604
web: www.entertron.com
wwjd - wdjs
 
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