Manifold is licensed, not sold, and your Manifold license is not without limits. It only allows you to use Manifold within the limited terms and conditions of the license. Important limitations on usage will apply, so be certain to read this topic carefully to make sure you can get maximum use of your Manifold license.
This topic talks about the nuts and bolts of activating a Manifold installation. You should read this topic before activating Manifold.
All Manifold licenses are copy protected using one of two mechanisms:
· Authorization using a Serial number and Activation keys that locks each license to a single computer system. Manifold licenses acquired in small quantities or acquired for use on portable devices use this mechanism. Continue reading this topic to learn about the serial number and Activation key process.
· Authorization of floating licenses using a License Server. Manifold licenses acquired in larger quantities will frequently use this mechanism, which requires licensing of the Manifold System License Server product. See the Manifold System License Server topic for discussion of License Servers.
The rest of this topic assumes you are using a serial number to activate Manifold on a single computer system.
For Manifold x64 Users: If you will be operating Manifold in a 64-bit Windows system, please read the 32-bit and 64-bit Manifold Editions topic after carefully reading this topic.
Your Serial Number
Your Manifold serial number identifies your license to use a specified Manifold System edition or a Manifold System extension such as Business Tools, Geocoding Data or Surface Tools. Each serial number allows a license to be used on one machine by one person, and a copy-protection mechanism using that serial number aims to prevent software piracy. Keep your serial number secret. If someone else learns your serial number, they can use it to steal your license rights from you.
A serial number works only for the product for which it was issued. For example, a Professional edition serial number cannot be used to turn on Enterprise edition. For example, a 32-bit Personal edition serial number won't turn on a 64-bit Personal x64 installation. The email in which your serial number is delivered to you makes it clear what product that serial number is for. Keep track of your serial numbers - that is easy to do if you are careful not to lose the original serial number email.
For permanent installation and continued use, a Manifold license must be activated. Activation requires fetching an Activation Key that matches the serial number. This may be done through the web in a fast and easy manner or it may be done manually if desired. Once a Manifold license is activated it will be permanently installed on one computer system and will run without time limit on that computer.
Important: Each serial number allows five activations. The purpose of those five activations is allow re-installation in case of hardware difficulties or upgrades. The purpose is not to allow usage of one license on five different machines. If you use the same serial number to try to run one Manifold license on more than one machine at the same time, Manifold will automatically revoke that serial number and you will lose your licensing rights.
The Manifold serial number and activation system is very simple; however, it is the nature of comprehensive documentation to include explicit cautions against errors encountered by some users. What may seem obvious to the reader may not be so obvious to someone else, so we have erred on the side of too much detail rather than too little. We apologize in advance for the resultant length of text that everyone thus must plow through.
Activation Keys and Serial Numbers Overview (Short)
This topic begins with a short Overview section of paragraphs that cover the most important points. Following the overview section is a horribly long Details section that goes into greater detail about activation. It's best to read both sections.
Administrator Permissions Required
You must have Administrator permissions in Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP or Windows 2000 when doing any Manifold installation or activation. The easiest way to assure you have Administrator permissions is to login using the built-in Administrator login. If using XP Home in default configuration any user login with "Computer administrator" rights is OK.
Windows Vista users should login using the built-in Administrator login to avoid problems caused by logins that are thought to have Administrator permissions but do not actually have them.
Launching Manifold for the first time or attempting to activate Manifold or a Manifold extension will display a warning message if the user account being used does not have sufficient permissions to complete the activation process.
Shut off all other programs when doing Manifold installation or activation, including any antivirus programs, network snoopers, uninstall utilities, registry protectors, Windows modifications, virtual machine middleware and other weird stuff.
If you see an Authentication Error message box pop open during any part of the activation process, something is interfering with that process. The usual problem is either failure to have Administrator permissions or failure to shut off some background program, such as an antivirus program, that interferes with activation.
Manifold is Copy-Protected
Manifold is copy-protected against software piracy, using a combination of technical means and incentives aimed at human nature to discourage people from stealing licenses.
The Manifold copy-protection mechanism relies in part on technical mechanisms and also in part on human nature. The technical part happens when a serial number is locked to a particular machine during the activation process. The human nature part happens when the activation process is policed by you, because you only get five activations for each license. If those five activations are used to cheat the license, you'll find yourself without the ability to re-install Manifold when you need to because of a hardware failure or machine upgrade.
The purpose of providing five activations for each license is not to enable you to install one license on five different machines for five different users. One license can only be installed on one machine for use by one user at a time. The purpose of providing five activations is to provide the ability to re-install Manifold if you encounter a hardware failure, upgrade a machine or otherwise need to re-install Manifold for use on a single machine.
If you run out of activations, you'll need to buy a fresh license. This policy is strictly enforced, because otherwise software pirates would have no incentive not to rip off the system.
The Activation Process
For 30 days after a serial number has been issued, that serial number can be used to enable launch of Manifold. This initial 30 day period allows users to resolve any difficulties with software or hardware configuration on the machine they decide to use for the license. After 30 days, the Manifold installation must be activated to enable Manifold to run forever on that machine.
Activation can be accomplished automatically if the machine is connected to Internet. If the machine is not connected to Internet, activation can be accomplished manually by using a different machine that is connected to the Internet.
If a Manifold installation is not activated within 30 days of the serial number being issued, Manifold will no longer launch on that machine. The serial number will still identify a Manifold license, but after 30 days it can only launch Manifold if activation is also done.
Note: The preliminary installation period before activation is required is 30 days from the date the serial number was issued. It is not 30 days from the date you receive Manifold and not 30 days from the date you install Manifold. Use a timely delivery service, like FedEx, so your DVD arrives with a reasonable amount of time left in the initial 30 day period and then get straight to work. Don't order Manifold and then go off on vacation for three weeks.
Activations are Limited
You only get five activations per serial number, so don't waste activations. Use the first 30 days to sort out any machine problems or other software installation problems and don't activate your Manifold installation until you are sure you want to install Manifold on a particular machine.
Plan your installations so that activations are not wasted. If you know you are going to install a larger hard disk into a particular machine, don't activate Manifold on that machine a week before you will install the larger hard disk. That will waste an activation key on only a week's functioning and then when you install the larger hard disk you'll need to use up another activation. It would be smarter to install the new hard disk first and only after do a Manifold activation.
Five activations are plenty if you install Manifold only on one machine as allowed by the license and if you follow prudent machine and Windows administration policies. Manifold can run for many years given five activations. In fact, given Manifold's traditional upgrade policy that provides fresh activations it is really difficult to run out of activations.
Purchasing Additional Activations
The least expensive way of assuring a regular re-charge of activations, should such be needed, is to take advantage of low-cost upgrade offers whenever a new Manifold release is announced. Every year and a half or so, Manifold System has historically been upgraded to a new release and manifold.net has traditionally offered the new release to licensees of the previous release for a nominal charge for a limited period of time.
The cheapest way to get additional activations is to upgrade to the new release during the initial, low-cost offer. For example, during the first 45 days of the availability of 6.50, 6.00 licensees could have upgraded to 6.50 for only $50. The low upgrade fee delivered a new serial number complete with five fresh activations.
If you take advantage of upgrades to new releases, you can get a new serial number and five fresh activations for a very low cost, typically around $50, every year and a half for five fresh activations. If you are using Manifold on one machine as permitted by the license, it is virtually impossible in ordinary usage to burn up five activations in only 18 months.
On the other hand, if you don't take advantage of upgrade offers or if you have special needs (such as usage in harsh environments that regularly destroys machines), then your costs of getting activations could be higher, possibly much higher if you need to buy new licenses on a regular basis. If taking advantage of upgrade offers does not provide sufficient activations, you must buy additional Manifold licenses to get the activations you need.
Note: If you are a member of an organization that is operating a Manifold System License Server you normally will not have to worry about activations because you can take advantage of floating licenses administered by the License Server. This can be a highly cost effective route for some organizations.
Activation via the Web
When Manifold has yet to be activated, it will raise the Activation dialog every time Manifold launches. This dialog can also be launched from within Manifold by using the Help - Activate command.
To activate Manifold automatically via Internet:
· Launch Manifold and in the Activation dialog provide your serial number in the Serial number box and then press the Get Activation Key via the Web button.
· When the Activation key appears, press the Accept button. That's it!
Activating Manifold automatically via the web will connect to the Manifold activation service, will automatically send the activation server your serial number and the system ID identifying your machine and will fetch an Activation key, decreasing by one the number of activations allowed for that serial number in the central Manifold serial number registry.
If the serial number has already been used to accomplish five activations or if the serial number has been revoked for any reason, the attempted activation via the web will fail.
If you have previously provided a serial number to allow Manifold to run for a limited period before activation, when the Activation dialog opens it will show a masked version of the serial number, with X characters concealing the trailing portion of the serial number. You cannot use this masked version for activation. You must paste the original, complete serial number into the dialog before getting an Activation key over the web.
Note: When we press Get Activation Key via the Web Manifold must be able to connect to the Manifold activation web service via the web. If Manifold cannot connect to the Manifold activation web service a dialog will pop open allowing editing of proxy server configuration in case a proxy server is blocking outbound web access.
Manual Activation
If you prefer to activate Manifold manually you can do so as follows:
· Launch Manifold System and with the Activation dialog open, copy the System ID string. A System ID is a long alphanumeric sequence that comprises a "fingerprint" for a specific computer system. Each computer has a different System ID.
· Visit the Manifold activation web site at http://www.manifold.net/activation and paste the System ID into the System ID box. Paste the serial number provided to you for your license into the Serial number box.
· Press the Create Activation Key button and carefully write down or copy the resulting Activation key. This Activation key is good only for 72 hours from the time it is issued. After that, it is useless.
· Back in the Manifold System Activation dialog, enter your serial number and the Activation key obtained from the Manifold web site and press Accept.
Because serial numbers, System IDs and Activation keys are all long sequences of numbers and letters, it doesn't make sense to do manual activation if there is any possibility of doing activation automatically via Internet.
Important: Using the same serial number within any 24 hour span to fetch an Activation key, even if the System ID is different, will result in the same Activation key. This is both a safety measure and an anti-piracy measure. It is a safety measure so that people who mindlessly push buttons multiple times on web sites or dialogs don't use up all their Activation keys in a matter of seconds, and it is an anti-piracy measure to discourage cryptographic attacks.
Important: The above means that you should wait at least 24 hours after getting an Activation key for your desktop machine before getting an Activation key using the same serial number to activate a Manifold license installed on your portable computer. If you don't wait 24 hours, you'll get the same Activation key back even though you used a different System ID for the portable computer. The resultant Activation key, therefore, won't work. This problem is easy to avoid: simply wait at least 24 hours after using a serial number to activate Manifold on your desktop machine before using the same serial number to activate Manifold on your portable computer.
Checking Status of Serial Numbers
To check the status of any particular serial number, visit the Support page on the www.manifold.net web site to find a link to the Serial Number Status page. The status page may be used to find out if a particular serial number is a 32-bit or 64-bit serial number, whether it is still active or has been revoked (as might occur if it has been traded in for an upgrade), what product it authorizes and how many Activation keys are available. This same page may also be used to check the status of a technical support token.
A reminder: Any use of a serial number, such as checking status via the Serial Number Status page, should be done using Copy and Paste from the original serial number email sent out by manifold.net. Do not use the "masked" version of the serial number that may be displayed in the Help - About dialog which ends in a series of X characters. The masked version displayed in Help - About has had the final characters altered with a series of X characters so that someone who has physical access to your computer cannot steal your Manifold serial number. The masked version displays enough of the serial number so you can determine for your internal record keeping which serial number you used on a particular machine, but not enough of the serial number for someone to be able to steal it and use it to obtain Activation keys or other wise use it.
Use Email for Activation Questions
If you have difficulty with your Manifold serial number or with the activation process, contact manifold.net by email. Follow the procedures set forth in the Technical Support topic. To discourage people who steal serial numbers and then try to get manifold.net to help them put those serial numbers to use, all serial number and activation key questions are dealt with by email only.
Runtime Licenses
If you ordered a runtime license for Manifold, then the serial number will configure operation in runtime mode only.
In runtime mode, Manifold does not provide a GUI (Graphical User Interface) for interactive use. In runtime mode, Manifold can only function as Manifold IMS or under programmatic control of another application. Attempting to launch a runtime license in interactive mode will display an error message.
Runtime editions of Manifold System make it possible for technical experts to license Manifold at reduced cost for IMS use only or for embedded use of Manifold System within programs they create. Runtime editions may be licensed at a discount from regular pricing charged for non-runtime editions.
Note: Runtime licenses are for tech professionals who have programming expertise, substantial web mastering skills and Manifold skills. Any tech support questions involving runtime licenses require a developer level technical support incident. This includes questions about activation, which normally do not require a tech support incident when non-runtime licenses are involved.
See the Runtime Licenses topic for additional information and tips when working with runtime licenses.
Serial Numbers Determine the Edition
Your serial number turns on whatever product level you have licensed. For example, a Professional Edition serial number will configure Manifold with all Professional Edition features. An Enterprise Edition serial number will configure Manifold with all Enterprise features.
Optional Extensions
Serial numbers and Activation keys are also used to "turn on" optional extensions to Manifold, either as separate installations or as part of a product bundle such as Universal Edition. For example, the Business Tools, Geocoding Tools and Surface Tools extensions are turned on using serial numbers that enable use of these extensions. If you acquire Business Tools, Geocoding Tools or Surface Tools as a separate product you will receive a serial number for each extension you licensed.
If you license Universal Edition, then one serial number will turn on all Universal features, including Business Tools, Geocoding Tools and Surface Tools.
Extensions to Manifold System use the same serial number and activation process used by the main Manifold System license. A serial number for an extension will allow use of that extension without activation for 30 days from the date that serial number was issued. After 30 days, activation will be required for continuing use of the extension.
Important Notes
· Serial numbers and Activation keys are confidential information. Keep them secret to prevent other people from stealing your license rights from you. Your serial number is like a PIN code to your bank account. Keep it secret. If someone has your serial number, they can control your license record and instruct manifold.net to change the name, addresses and email address associated with that license record.
· Do not lose your serial number. You will need your serial number if you must ever re-install Manifold. Save a copy of the original serial number sent to you. If you lose your serial number, it may not be possible for manifold.net to provide it to you again. If it is possible, a fee for recovering the serial number will be charged.
· Activations are limited. Each serial number is a license for only five activations. These five activations allow you to re-install Manifold up to five times for a single license. They are not a license to install Manifold on five machines for use by five users but rather give you five chances to re-install Manifold on the same machine or for the same user should a disk failure or hardware or software upgrades require re-installation of Manifold. If you need more than five activations, you will have to pay for another license.
· You must have Administrator privileges in Windows Server 2003, Windows XP or Windows 2000 when entering a serial number or Activation key.
· When acquiring multiple licenses for Manifold or Manifold options, take care to accurately keep track of your serial numbers. For example, if you acquire Universal Edition and also a Universal Runtime license do not confuse the two serial numbers. Keep a record (such as the original email providing the serial numbers) of which serial number corresponds to Universal Edition and which serial number corresponds to the Universal Runtime license.
· If you don't want to keep track of many serial numbers, acquire and use a Manifold System License Server to administer "floating" licenses that are authenticated from a single server.
Activation Keys and Serial Numbers Details (Long!)
The rest of this topic covers all aspects of the serial number and activation process in greater detail. It will appeal to the detail-oriented reader and will be cursed by everyone else.
Installation and Activation Workflow
Installing and activating Manifold consists of several steps:
· Install Manifold from the DVD using the directions in the Setup folder on the DVD. You must have Administrator privileges in Windows Server 2003, Windows XP or Windows 2000 to install Manifold System.
· Launch Manifold. In the Activation dialog that pops up, provide the Manifold System serial number that was sent to you when you acquired your Manifold license. The serial number alone will enable Manifold to function for 30 days from the date the serial number was issued.
· If you have licensed any extensions, such as Business Tools, Geocoding Tools or Surface Tools, after launching Manifold open the Help - Activate Extension dialog. Provide the serial number sent to you with your Business Tools, Geocoding Tools or Surface Tools license. Just like your main Manifold System serial number, the serial number alone will enable the extension to function for 30 days from the date the serial number was issued. Note: this step is not necessary with Universal Edition, since with Universal Edition the same serial number that licenses Manifold System will also automatically turn on Business Tools, Geocoding Tools and Surface Tools
· When you are ready to permanently install Manifold on a particular computer system, you may activate Manifold via the Internet automatically or you may activate manually.
· If you have licensed any extensions, such as Business Tools, Geocoding Tools or Surface Tools, when you are ready to permanently install the extension on a particular computer system, you may activate the extension via the Internet automatically or you may activate manually. Note: this step is not necessary with Universal Edition, since with Universal Edition by activating your Manifold System license you will also automatically activate extensions.
Please take care to keep track of your serial numbers. For example, do not confuse a Business Tools, Geocoding Tools or Surface Tools serial number with a serial number for your main Manifold license. An Activation key fetched for a particular serial number will work with that serial number only. Do not try to use an Activation key that was fetched using one serial number with a different serial number. Such errors are easy to avoid if you keep track of your serial numbers.
When No Direct Internet Connection is Available
If your machine is not connected to the Internet, you must have some other way of visiting the Activation web site to get an Activation key with your serial number and System ID.
If you do not have a direct Internet connection for the machine on which Manifold is installed, you will have to use some other machine to visit the Activation web site. Although it may be tempting to simply print out the serial number email, use a different machine to visit the Activation web site and then manually write down the resulting Activation key, it is usually a bad idea not to use Copy and Paste because of the risk of typographic errors introduced through a lot of manual handwriting. Serial numbers, System IDs and Activation keys are so long that manual entry is begging for typographic errors.
Instead, take a moment to copy your serial number and System ID into some electronic form: write the serial number and System ID into a text file that you put on a USB drive or other removable medium, or email them to yourself using some free web email service such as hotmail or gmail that can be accessed from other machines. You can then go to a machine with Internet access and open that removable medium or email, copy and paste the serial number and System ID into the Activation web site to get an Activation key and then copy and paste the Activation key back into the removable medium or reply email. Back on the installation machine you can then easily copy and paste both serial number and Activation key from the removable medium or the reply email into Manifold's Activation dialog.
If you will be traveling to locations with no Internet access whatsoever, please plan ahead and activate your copy of Manifold before departing civilization. In extreme cases, people have used satellite phones or radio to contact colleagues back in civilization, have read to them their serial number and System ID, and have gotten their colleague to read back to them an Activation key. This is obviously a formula for errors, so plan ahead to avoid such situations.
The Activation Dialog
The first time that Manifold launches after installation, the Activation dialog will open to allow you to enter the serial number for your license and, optionally, an Activation key. If you enter both a serial number and an Activation key, Manifold will be permanently installed.
When the Activation dialog opens, it automatically shows the System ID computed for your machine by Manifold. The System ID is a unique "fingerprint" for your computer that identifies your current hardware and software configuration. Making major chances to the computer, such as replacing a hard disk, installing a new version of Windows or changing a motherboard will change the System ID. Such changes will occur over the life of a computer or Manifold license (neither of which will run to the end of time), so you can obtain five activations per serial number to enable you to re-install Manifold after making such major changes.
If you enter only a serial number and it is not yet 30 days past the date of issue of the serial number, Manifold will continue to function without activation until the initial 30 day period expires. Each time Manifold launches, the system will pop open the Activation dialog to let you know how many days remain in the preliminary installation period and to give you the opportunity to activate Manifold should you choose to do so.
When the initial 30 day period expires, Manifold will not launch unless it has been activated. Because activations are a limited resource, the purpose of the preliminary 30 day installation period is to allow users to try out different hardware configurations before they commit their license by activation on a particular computer system. The preliminary installation period also allows users to get started with Manifold until it is convenient to access the Internet for activation.
Take your time and resolve all hardware issues during the preliminary installation period. When ready, you can activate Manifold System on the computer you intend to use for Manifold.
When entering a serial number or activating via the Activation dialog you must have Administrator privileges. When an Administrator enters a serial number or Activation key into the Activation dialog, Manifold will be activated for all users on that machine. To make sure you have Administrator privileges login as "Administrator." Don't assume your login has full Administrator privileges.
When running the Activation dialog, make sure no other programs are running in background except standard Microsoft Windows processes and services. Do not run anti-virus checkers, uninstallers, registry "protectors," network checkers, special administrative protection programs or other such programs. These may interfere with the activation and permanent installation process.
If desired, the Activation dialog also may be launched via the Help - Activate command.
About Serial Numbers
Every Manifold System license is identified by a unique, permanent serial number. The serial number encodes the Manifold System edition that is licensed and the date and time the serial number was issued. Serial numbers are long alphanumeric strings that look like:
384C86E77919-4DAEA5A0-2BC41719A85FC5F1EA49A6243055
For a serial number to be valid, it must be reproduced exactly as it was issued by manifold.net. Do not change upper case to lower case, remove hyphens, add space characters or make any other changes. A serial number must be entered as a single line without any paragraph breaks. If your email system splits long lines into two lines, make sure to reassemble the serial number as a single line when entering it into the activation web site or into the Activation dialog.
Note: Manifold serial numbers do not end in a series of "X" characters. If you are trying to use a serial number that ends in a series of "X" characters, you are wrongly attempting to use a masked version of the serial number that has had the last few characters concealed with "X" characters to prevent theft. Use the original serial number sent to you, not the masked version.
When a Manifold license is acquired from manifold.net, a new unique serial number is generated and recorded in the manifold.net central registry of licensees. The serial number will be sent to the licensee by email using the email address provided at the time of purchase. If you acquired your license directly from manifold.net, you have been emailed the serial number for your license. If you have not received the serial number by email, please see the Tech Tip below to determine what problems in your email system may be preventing you from receiving your serial number email message.
Serial numbers have four functions:
· To provide a permanent, unique identification for each Manifold license.
· To specify the Manifold System edition (such as Personal Edition, Professional Edition, Enterprise Edition, Database Administrator Edition, Universal Edition, License Server or a Runtime edition) that is launched, or to authorize use of an optional extension.
· To enable up to five activations of the Manifold license, accomplished by obtaining up to five Activation keys from the Manifold Activation key server.
· To allow for temporary operation on any computer system during a limited time period without needing an Activation key. This limited time period is called the preliminary installation period and runs 30 days from the date the serial number was issued.
Your serial number specifies which edition of Manifold System has been licensed. Professional Edition licensees will have been issued a serial number that specifies Professional Edition, while Enterprise Edition licensees will have been issued a serial number that specifies Enterprise Edition.
There is only one installation file on the Manifold multi-edition DVD. This installation includes all the code necessary to run any Manifold edition as well as any optional extensions available at the time the DVD was manufactured. All licensees use this same installation file. After installing Manifold System the type of serial number provided to the Activation dialog will control which Manifold System edition will be launched. In addition, providing a serial number for an optional extension in the Help - Activate Extension dialog will turn on that optional extension.
Providing a Professional Edition serial number in the Activation dialog will cause Manifold to launch in Professional Edition mode. Providing an Enterprise Edition serial number will cause Manifold to launch with all Enterprise Edition features enabled. Providing a Universal Edition serial number will launch Manifold with all Enterprise Edition features and also with Business Tools, Geocoding Tools and Surface Tools extensions enabled as well.
Serial numbers may be revoked by manifold.net if the terms of the License are violated. In particular, disclosing your serial number to any third party (except for the sole purpose of a one-time transfer of your license to someone else) will result in the cancellation of a serial number. If your serial number appears in any hacker lists or hacker web sites for unauthorized use of Manifold System it will be cancelled immediately. Therefore, please take care to keep your serial number secret.
Serial numbers are very important so do not lose your serial number. You cannot install Manifold without your serial number. When you receive your serial number by email, print a copy of the email and save the printed copy in a safe place. It might not be possible for manifold.net to recover your serial number if you lose it. If it is possible to recover your serial number, manifold.net will charge you a fee to recover it.
30 Day Preliminary Installation
Each serial number encodes the date it was issued as well as the period of time after that date during which Manifold System will function without activation. The limited, 30-day period of time during which Manifold will function with a serial number alone is called the preliminary installation period. The preliminary installation period runs 30 days from the date the serial number was issued.
For example, if you acquired your Manifold license from manifold.net on July 8, a serial number will have been generated on that date and sent to you. When entered into the Activation dialog, that serial number will allow Manifold to launch without activation until August 8. After August 8, the preliminary installation period will have ended and activation will be required to allow Manifold to launch.
Because serial numbers are very long, to avoid typographical errors use Windows Copy and Paste to transfer them to the Activation dialog as follows: Open the original email in which you received notice of your serial number. Highlight the serial number and choose Edit - Copy (or press CTRL-C, the Windows keyboard shortcut for "copy"). Launch Manifold and right-click into the Serial number box in the Activation dialog and choose Paste from the context menu (or, click into the box and press CTRL-V, the standard Windows keyboard shortcut for "paste"). This procedure will copy the serial number from the email and paste it into the Activation dialog without the need to manually type a long serial number.
Just like a Manifold System license, extensions such as Business Tools, Geocoding Tools and Surface Tools also use serial numbers that offer a period of preliminary installation after which activation is required for permanent installation.
Display of Serial Numbers in the Activation Dialog
During the preliminary installation period whenever Manifold is launched it will display the Activation dialog to remind you that Manifold has not yet been activated.
The Activation dialog will display the serial number used for preliminary installation, but the last few characters will be replaced with "X" characters to keep your full serial number secret. This is similar to how credit card numbers are often partially masked with * or other characters on receipts so that the receipt cannot be used to steal the credit card number, yet the credit card owner can see enough digits of the actual number to determine which credit card was used for the transaction.
If your serial number was not masked with X characters, anyone who had physical access to your machine could launch Manifold, copy the serial number and then steal it. The version masked with X characters is useless for activation, but it still contains enough unique digits to determine which serial number is in use. Manifold licensees who have many serial numbers can thus easily determine which serial number was used on which machine.
Do not let this simple privacy measure cause confusion when later activating your license. Just as the masked version of a credit card number printed on a receipt cannot be expected to work if you copy the * asterisk characters and attempt to use that number to buy something, just so the masked version of the serial number will not be able to fetch an Activation key.
When copying and pasting the serial number during activation, make sure to use the full serial number as originally emailed to you. Do not use the masked version of the serial number that appears in the Activation dialog.
About System IDs
The Activation dialog will always show the same System ID for your computer unless a major change is made to the computer's hardware or software. The System ID is a long alphanumeric string that looks like:
906578E309D5FFDCB994F8D2A8C47BCE113AE103D
If we activate Manifold via the web we don't have to worry about handling System IDs. If we choose to manually activate Manifold, we will need to copy the System ID from the Activation dialog to use at the Manifold web site for activation. The Activation dialog will let us use Copy to copy the System ID from the box in the dialog.
Note: The System ID box is read-only in the Activation dialog because the System ID is always generated by Manifold based on the "fingerprint" of the current hardware and software configuration for the computer system in use.
About Activation Keys
An Activation key is required to permanently install Manifold to your computer system. Each Activation key is unique and matches only the one serial number and the one System ID used to obtain it.
Activation keys are very long because they encode three important pieces of information:
· The date and time the Activation key was issued.
· The serial number used to obtain the Activation key.
· The System ID used to obtain the Activation key.
Activation keys are very long alphanumeric strings that look like:
B8384D8A1C6B-4942B549-2911DE16722F3727080800EE2D2B274EC02CC5F1EA6025FECEAE
[Activation keys do not include returns - An Activation key is entirely the same line. The Activation key shown above is too long to fit into the margins of this page without a line wrap.]
Any user with a valid Manifold System serial number or with a serial number for an extension such as Business Tools, Geocoding Tools or Surface Tools may obtain an Activation key from manifold.net subject to the following conditions:
· When an Activation key is issued, it remains valid for only 72 hours after it is issued. If it is not used in the Activation dialog to permanently install Manifold within that 72 hour time period, it becomes useless and will no longer function to install Manifold System.
· An Activation key is valid only for the serial number used to obtain it. For example, an Activation key obtained with a Surface Tools serial number cannot be used with a Manifold System serial number. An Activation key obtained with one Manifold System serial number cannot be used with a different Manifold System serial number.
· An Activation key is valid only for the System ID used to obtain it. For example, if we obtain an Activation key for our computer system at the office we will not be able to use that Activation key to activate Manifold on our computer system at home.
· Each serial number can have a maximum of five (5) Activation keys issued for it. The Manifold key server keeps track of how many Activation keys have been issued for each serial number. After five Activation keys are issued for a serial number, no more Activation keys will be issued. Five Activation keys are allotted per serial number in case you need to re-install Manifold at a future date as a result of system upgrades or other changes. Five Activation keys are not issued to enable users to violate the license by installing the same Manifold license on five different machines.
· You must have Administrator privileges in Windows Server 2003, Windows XP or Windows 2000 when launching Manifold to provide an Activation key via the Activation dialog.
Obtaining an Activation Key
The fastest, easiest way to obtain an Activation key is to launch Manifold and in the Activation dialog provide a valid Manifold serial number and then press the Get Activation Key via the Web button. Manifold will automatically reach out through Internet and get an Activation key for us. It is madness to use manual activation if our computer is connected to Internet.
If desired, we can always obtain an Activation key manually. To do so, visit the Manifold Activation key web site at
http://www.manifold.net/activation
This website requires a modern browser that can correctly handle JavaScript. You must have scripting enabled in your browser. If you have any difficulties using this website, please visit it using Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or more recent edition of IE. Since you must have IE installed on your computer (even if you do not use it as your default browser) to run Manifold, you will have an IE installation available to use even if you normally use some other browser.
Visit the Manifold Activation key web page and provide a valid Manifold System serial number and the System ID for the system on which the Activation key will be used. If the serial number has not yet been used to generate the five Activation keys it is allowed, the key server will provide an Activation key. Immediately write down the Activation key in a safe place. Because the key is very long, the safest way of writing it down is to use Windows Copy and Paste to save it in a text file.
To use Copy and Paste to save the key in a text file, after the key server provides an Activation key highlight the Activation key on the web page with your mouse and choose Edit - Copy in Internet Explorer (or press CTRL-C on the keyboard) to Copy the key. Next, open a text file on your computer using Notepad or Microsoft Word or any other convenient text editor and choose Edit - Paste (or press CTRL-V on the keyboard) to Paste the key into the text document. Save the document. Save a copy of the document in a safe place, such as on a different disk drive or print out a hard copy on paper.
Once you have obtained an Activation key you can launch Manifold and provide the Activation key to the Activation dialog to permanently install Manifold System. Since the Activation key is very long, the best way to avoid typographic errors is to use Windows Copy and Paste to enter the Activation key into the Activation dialog. Open the document in which you saved the Activation key. Highlight the key and Copy it. Click on the Activation dialog and right-click into the Activation key box and Paste the key.
Because Activation keys have a limited life of only 72 hours, do not obtain an Activation key until you are ready to use it to permanently install Manifold System. Once you have obtained an Activation key, you must use it within 72 hours.
Important: Using the same serial number within any 24 hour span to fetch an Activation key, even if the System ID is different, will result in the same Activation key. This is both a safety measure and an anti-piracy measure. It is a safety measure so that people who mindlessly push buttons multiple times on web sites or dialogs don't use up all their Activation keys in a matter of seconds, and it is an anti-piracy measure to discourage cryptographic attacks.
Important: The above means that you should wait at least 24 hours after getting an Activation key for your desktop machine before getting an Activation key using the same serial number to activate a Manifold license installed on your portable computer. If you don't wait 24 hours, you'll get the same Activation key back even though you used a different System ID for the portable computer. The resultant Activation key, therefore, won't work. This problem is easy to avoid: simply wait at least 24 hours after using a serial number to activate Manifold on your desktop machine before using the same serial number to activate Manifold on your portable computer.
Administrator Privileges Required
As mentioned earlier, you must have Administrator privileges to use the Activation dialog. "Administrator" privileges are special rights granted to the Administrator user and to members of the Administrators group in Windows operating systems such as Windows Server 2003, Windows XP or Windows 2000 that provide user logins. If using XP Home in default configuration any user login with "Computer administrator" rights is OK.
Administrator privileges allow users to change anything in the system. Ordinary users do not normally have the required rights to make important changes to the system such as may be required when installing new software.
If you work in an organization where someone else configures and administers your computer, the login name you use might not have Administrator privileges on your computer. In such cases you should ask someone with Administrator privileges to login to your computer and to use their Administrator account to install Manifold System, including either preliminary installation with a serial number or permanent installation via activation.
Caution: If you do not have Administrator privileges the Activation dialog will accept the Activation key and will allow you to run for that session, but the installation will not be permanently accomplished. This feature enables emergency activation of Manifold on a temporary basis if an Administrator is not available. If you do not remember to use the Activation key with an Administrator login during the 72 hour life of the Activation key you will have wasted that Activation key. If you do not have Administrator privileges when the Activation dialog is launched, Manifold will warn you that any activation will be good only for that session. Don't make the mistake of ignoring such warnings!
Remember: When using Activation keys to permanently install Manifold you must be logged in with Administrator privileges in Windows Server 2003, Windows XP or Windows 2000. If using XP Home in default configuration any user login with "Computer administrator" rights is OK.
Do Not Waste Activations
Five activations may seem like a lot, but they are not so many that you can afford to waste activations, even if you expect to get a fresh batch of activations every year or two through low cost upgrades.
Over the course of two or three years it is quite possible that you might want to upgrade your computer's hard disk, install a new version of Windows, or otherwise make changes that require re-installation of Manifold System. Each installation requires activation, using up one of the five activations allowed. Because each Activation key works for only 72 hours and works only for the System ID used to fetch it, when you need to reinstall Manifold over the course of months or years you will have to use up one of the allowed activations for each installation.
If you upgrade the hard disk once and upgrade Windows once, you will use a total of three activations (one for the original installation and one each for the disk and Windows re-installations). That will leave you with only two activations available should you ever need to re-install Manifold due to unforeseen circumstances, such as a disk crash, lightning strike, power spike or other calamity.
Five activations are plenty for even very active computer users but they are not enough to waste activations thoughtlessly or to give out free copies of Manifold to friends. If you are not careful with activations, you might not have any left when you really need one.
Note that since every serial number can be used to obtain only five activations it is important to keep your serial number a secret. If anyone else learns your serial number, they could use your serial number for their own use in activation Manifold. If your serial number ever gets out to a hacker your five allowed activations will be gone overnight.
As noted earlier in this topic, if you take advantage of upgrades to new releases, you can get a new serial number and five fresh activations for a low cost. A single Manifold serial number can allow you to run your license for many years, but given advances in computer hardware and software (as well as in Manifold) most people will take advantage of upgrades to renew their serial numbers from time to time.
System Date Must be Accurate
Serial numbers and activation keys encode the date they were issued. They will not work with system dates that are obviously wrong such as a system date before the date of issue of the serial number or Activation key. Permanent installation also encodes the date as well. Your system date and time must be reasonably accurate (within the correct day of the date) for activation to work.
If after activation Manifold suddenly raises the Activation dialog again and no major hardware or software changes have been made, check the system date. If you or someone else has reset the system date to an obviously wrong date, Manifold will not launch.
Manifold Removal and Re-Installation
Once your Manifold System license has been activated on a particular computer, you may uninstall Manifold System using the Windows Control Panel - Add/Remove Programs applet and then later re-install your Manifold System license on that same machine without requiring any new activation. The computer system will "remember" that your Manifold System license has been activated. For example, if you installed Manifold System from the original Manifold DVD first issued for your copy of Manifold System Release you could uninstall that original release, download and install an update for that same version without needing to activate again.
This doesn't work, of course, if you make changes that would destroy the activation status on your machine in any event. For example, if you uninstall Manifold and then change your hard disk or install a new version of Windows when you re-install Manifold or install an update to that same version you'll need to use an Activation key.
Note that this applies only to that same Manifold version and updates or service packs published for that same version. For example, if you have a Manifold 7x license you cannot download and install an update published for a later edition such as Manifold 8 and expect that Release 8 will be activated by the Release 7x activation status of the machine. If you want to move up to a newer Manifold version, such as moving from 7x to 8, you'll have to acquire a license for 8.
Activating an Extension
See the Installing and Activating a Manifold Extension topic for details on activating a Manifold extension such as a Business Tools, Geocoding Tools or Surface Tools extension.
Installation on a Notebook Computer
The Manifold End User License Agreement allows you to install your Manifold license both on a desktop machine and also on a portable computer used by you, so long as the two computers are not used at the same time.
Activating your license on a desktop computer and also on a portable computer will use up two activations. Two activations are required because each individual activation, that is, each individual Activation key, is locked to a particular System ID, that is to the "fingerprint" of a particular computer.
It is true that installing Manifold both on a desktop computer and also on a notebook computer will consume activations at a higher rate than installation only on one computer; however, that's the choice of the user. If you choose to install both on a desktop computer and also on a portable computer, make sure to take advantage of any special upgrade offers to avoid running out of activations.
Important: You should wait at least 24 hours after getting an Activation key for your desktop machine before getting an Activation key using the same serial number to activate a Manifold license installed on your portable computer. If you don't wait 24 hours, you'll get the same Activation key back even though you used a different System ID for the portable computer. The resultant Activation key, therefore, won't work. This problem is easy to avoid: simply wait at least 24 hours after using a serial number to activate Manifold on your desktop machine before using the same serial number to activate Manifold on your portable computer.
Example 1
John Doe orders Manifold System via the Manifold Online Store on July 7. He receives an email with his serial number when his order is processed on July 8. The email tells him his serial number will be valid for preliminary installations for 30 days from the date it is issued. A few days later he receives his Manifold System DVD. He is away on a business trip when the DVD arrives. He is not able to install Manifold System until 22 July. John logs in as Administrator for all of his installation and configuration activity with Manifold.
When he launches Manifold for the first time on 22 July he is not sure exactly what to do about activation so he copies the serial number from the email sent to him and uses it to launch Manifold without activating his license. He feels he has plenty of time until August 8 to figure out what he wants to do before he needs to activate his license.
John works with several different computers. He installs Manifold on several different machines during the preliminary 30-day installation period to see if he needs to make any performance upgrades. He installs Manifold on his notebook computer as well. All of his machines run Windows XP except his notebook computer, which still runs Windows 2000.
After a few days he decides to upgrade his notebook (finally) to Windows XP. To assure a clean install of Windows he reformats the hard disk and installs Windows XP and then he begins reloading his software. He re-installs Manifold, using his serial number. Because it is not yet August 8, John can continue using his serial number to make as many preliminary installations as he wants without needing to activate his license.
As August 8 draws near, John decides that he will use Manifold on his notebook computer and on his new desktop machine at the office. Every day that he launches Manifold the Activation dialog reminds him that he has only a few days left before he must activate his license. However, John is a procrastinator and gets involved in another project for a few days.
The next time he works with Manifold is on August 12, a few days after the preliminary installation has expired. When Manifold launches it tells John the preliminary installation period has expired and asks him to provide a serial number and Activation key. John realizes it is time to stop procrastinating and to activate his license.
John launches Manifold on his desktop machine and activates his license via the web. He would like to use Manifold right away on his notebook computer, but he remembers reading the portions of this help topic that start with "Important" in bright red letters. He waits a day and a half to be sure he is past the 24 delay period required to get a new Activation key using the same serial number.
He then launches Manifold on his notebook computer and realizes that his notebook does not have a web connection. If his notebook computer had an Internet connection he could have activated his license over the web. Instead, John will have to do a manual activation.
John copies the System ID from the Activation dialog and pastes it into a text file that he saves to a zip drive plugged into one of his notebook computer's USB ports. John unplugs his zip drive from the notebook computer and plugs it into his desktop computer. He opens the text file and copies the System ID. John visits the Manifold activation web site and provides his serial number and the System ID for his notebook computer. The activation web site obligingly spits out an Activation key. John copies that Activation key to the text file in the zip drive along with a copy his serial number.
John knows the Activation key is good for only 72 hours so he does not procrastinate this time. He makes use of it right away. John plugs the zip drive back into the notebook computer and copies his serial number (copied from the original email) together with the new Activation key into the Activation dialog to permanently install Manifold on the notebook.
He now has a permanent installation on the two machines (a primary desktop machine and an optional portable computer) allowed him by the Manifold License. After all this he has used two activations. He still has three activations left on his serial number should he ever need to reinstall Manifold.
Because John doesn't want to get confused about where his licensed software is residing (and because he's straight about honoring his software licenses) he takes a moment to uninstall Manifold from all the different systems he installed it to while experimenting during the preliminary installation period. No serial number or key is required to install or to uninstall Manifold System. A serial number or activation is required only to launch Manifold.
After a year, a wonderful new version of Windows is released. John installs the new version of Windows on his desktop computer and then re-installs Manifold System as well. He activates that Manifold installation. He still has two more Activation keys in case he ever needs to install Manifold again. For now, he does not install the new version of Windows on his notebook computer because the new Windows version is said to require more memory and a faster processor than available on his aging notebook.
After another year, John purchases a new notebook computer with a hot new multi-core processor, built-in broadband cellular Internet and the wonderful new Windows edition pre-installed. He installs Manifold on the new computer. He now has only one activation left on his serial number. John's not worried because he knows he will soon upgrade to the next edition of Manifold System, which will get him a new serial number and five more activations.
After a few more months John decides to acquire a Surface Tools license. He orders Surface Tools via the Online Store and the next day receives an email giving him a serial number for Surface Tools. Because John already has decided the computer on which he will run Surface Tools he decides to activate the package right away. He logs in as Administrator, launches Manifold, launches the Help - Activate Extension dialog and copies and pastes the Surface Tools serial number into the dialog and then activates over the web. After restarting Manifold he is pleased to see the new Surface Tools features have been enabled.
Example 2
Henry Doe, John's younger brother, a student, also acquires a copy of Manifold via the Online Store. He pays no attention to the email he receives except to note the serial number. When Manifold arrives he installs it and then copies and pastes the serial number. He does not activate the license.
After a few weeks he decides it is time to get activated, but he does not "trust" web-based activation and decides to manually get an Activation key from the Manifold activation web site. When the Activation dialog pops up he copies the serial number from the dialog and attempts to get an Activation key. This does not work because Henry has copied the masked version of the serial number from the dialog, which has X characters substituted at the end. He is not using the original serial number sent to him by email. Henry, of course, has not read this topic so he thinks it is just fine to copy the masked version of the serial number from the Activation dialog.
Henry emails tech support and swears he is copying and pasting the serial number accurately. Tech support responds by asking Henry a series of detailed questions, some of which check up on typical errors (one question asks if Henry copied the serial number from the original email or from the Activation dialog). Henry is offended that they would ask him to confirm such simple things so instead of reading the questions and responding accurately, Henry just skims the questions and emails a testy reply, "Yes, I'm doing all that."
Manifold's experienced support personnel can tell right away that Henry isn't very good with details, so they ask him each question individually again in a different way and they ask him to give the exact serial number he is using. As soon as they see the X characters at the end of the serial number they solve the problem. Henry copies the serial number from the original email, gets an Activation key and activates Manifold. This experience transforms Henry for the better.
Henry realizes that perhaps things will go better if he reads the manual instead of trying to "wing it" all the time. He reads Manifold documentation every night and becomes an expert. His grades soar from C's to A's. He uses his newfound Manifold expertise to invent a new method for finding diamond-bearing Kimberlite pipes. He stakes claims on fabulously rich diamond properties and becomes very wealthy. He marries a beautiful Hollywood actress who is entranced by his continued hobby of reading Manifold documentation in depth. His friends admire his ability to cite any Manifold Help topic from memory. [This paragraph contributed by Manifold tech support].
Example 3
Jane Doe orders Manifold System via the Online Store. She receives an email providing her with a serial number. A few days later her Manifold DVD arrives and she installs from the DVD. The first time she launches the product, the Activation dialog pops up asking her for a serial number and Activation key. She has forgotten about the serial number, but quickly finds it in her email inbox and pastes it into the Activation dialog. After a few more days she decides to permanently install the package so she activates Manifold over the web.
After a few weeks of work, Jane encounters problems with her Windows system when an application she recently installed is not working properly. She decides to simplify her system to see what could be causing the problem by uninstalling some of the applications she has installed recently. She uninstalls Manifold using the Windows Control Panel Add / Remove Programs dialog. Removing Manifold proves it is not the problem. After removing a few other applications she traces the problem to a freeware screen saver utility. After cursing lame freeware authors she removes the offending utility.
To re-install Manifold she installs it again from the Manifold DVD. When she launches Manifold, it automatically launches without the need to enter a serial number or an Activation key since Manifold has already been permanently installed on this computer system. If Jane had re-installed Windows or made other substantial changes (such as rolling back her registry or other major alterations), she would have had to use up an activation to re-activate Manifold System.
A month or two later Jane notices that a Service Pack (SP) has been published for Manifold System. She downloads the SP, uninstalls the previous version of Manifold and then installs the SP following the SP's instructions. Once again there is no need for Jane to enter a new serial number or to re-activate Manifold.
Internet Map Server
When Manifold is running as an Internet Map Server (IMS) it will not raise the Activation dialog. Therefore, before attempting to use Manifold in IMS mode you must launch Manifold interactively at least once to provide a serial number for preliminary installation, or a serial number with activation for permanent installation. Alternately, you may use command line activation (see below) to provide a serial number and Activation key.
Runtime Licenses
Every Manifold installation will launch with the Activation dialog when it is first launched. When a serial number is provided during that first launch the Manifold installation will become the edition designated by that serial number. Providing a runtime serial number will configure that Manifold installation as a runtime edition.
Because runtime licenses do not have a GUI once they are configured with a serial number they are normally activated when Manifold is first launched. After a runtime license is configured with a runtime serial number, Manifold will not launch interactively so the Activation dialog will not appear during the 30 initial days of operation on serial number alone.
Once the initial 30 day lifetime of the serial number expires, if a runtime license running on serial number alone is launched then the Activation dialog will be raised. This will enable re-entry of the serial number and activation. However, because it is a messy situation to launch a runtime license with a serial number alone and then have to wait for up to 30 days to get the Activation dialog back again, to avoid such hassles people will normally activate a runtime license the first time Manifold is launched.
Command Line Activation
Manifold may be activated from a Windows command line. Command line activation options are a relatively limited tool and are only intended to be used to switch editions of Manifold that are installed on the same machine or to force a non-interactive edition (such as a runtime or a License Server installation) to raise the Activation dialog.
Command line activation allows some administrative tasks to be accomplished more easily:
· IT administrators may switch editions of Manifold installed on machines in their network using automated tools, without requiring manual action by users. However, most IT administrators will use the Manifold License Server product to simplify life even further.
· Application developers or Manifold IMS administrators using runtime editions or IT administrators using License Server editions may switch the edition of Manifold installed on a machine from a non-interactive license to a regular, interactive license, such as Professional Edition or Enterprise Edition.
There are two command line switches for activation. One switch is for activation of Manifold System itself and the other switch is used to activate an extension:
manifold.exe /activate:serial,key Activate Manifold System.
manifold.exe /activateExt:serial,key Activate an extension.
In the above, serial is the serial number and key is the Activation key. Because a System ID must be noted in order to get an Activation key with a serial number, the user must be able to launch Manifold interactively at least once on a machine to obtain the System ID.
Supplying an invalid serial number or a valid serial number without an Activation key will pop open the Activation dialog. This is a handy way of forcing a non-interactive Manifold installation to raise the Activation dialog so that the System ID may be obtained. For example, using the command line switch:
manifold.exe /activate:dialog
...will pop open the Activation dialog since "dialog" is not a valid serial number.
While command line activation options can be used to automate the deployment of Manifold licenses within an organization, Manifold System License Server provides a significantly easier and much more efficient way of doing so. The License Server allows installation of Manifold without individual activation. Instead, licenses are authenticated by connecting to the centralized License Server using the pool of available licenses.
See the Command Line Options topic for other command line options.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
I acquired my license and received a serial number more than thirty days ago. Can I still install Manifold System? Yes. You can run Manifold System but you will need to activate your installation since the time period available for preliminary installation has already expired.
I received my serial number a long time ago and never got around to installing Manifold. Can I still activate my license? Yes. For the purpose of activation, serial numbers never expire. As long as you haven't used up the activations allotted to your serial number, you can always activate the license using your serial number.
I tried to get an Activation key on the Manifold activation web site with my serial number and the web site would not give me one. Check the obvious first:
· Did you correctly enter the serial number? Use Copy and Paste to avoid typographic errors. Include the hyphens, do not change upper case to lower case and make sure to otherwise enter the serial number exactly as it was given to you.
· Did you provide the System ID copied exactly from the Activation dialog for the target system?
· Copy the serial number from the original email. Don't copy it from the Activation dialog where it is masked off by XXX characters at the end so that it cannot be stolen.
· Did you obtain the serial number from Manifold? If you obtained your license and serial number from a third party it might not be a valid serial number.
· Has the serial number been used up? You can only get five Activation keys for each serial number at the activation web site. If you or anyone else has been getting Activation keys with that serial number, it could be used up. Keep in mind that if you or someone else has been fetching Activation keys using the Get Activation Key via the Web button, each time you activate Manifold in that manner you use up one of your five Activation keys.
· Has the serial number been revoked? If you did not pay your purchase order or have reversed ("charged back") your credit card payment to Manifold, your serial number has been revoked. As they say, "no pay, no play!" If your serial number has been published on Internet or has appeared in hacker lists of serial numbers used to steal software, it has also been revoked.
· Has your serial number been traded in on an upgrade? If you upgrade from 6.50 to 7.00 and trade in your 6.50 serial number to get a new 7.00 serial number the old 6.50 serial number will no longer function. An upgrade is not a free second license: it is a replacement for a previous license.
· Some serial numbers allow a limited period of operation without the ability to obtain an Activation key. Such serial numbers are issued for trial editions or to journalists or other reviewers to allow a limited period of operation. If you have such a serial number the key server will not give you an Activation key. The email granting you the serial number will disclose any such limitations on the serial number.
· Try using Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6.0 as your browser. Some other browsers have JavaScript errors without reporting those errors. Firefox may be a cool browser, but some versions of it are appallingly unable to deal with elementary javascript without errors.
· Make sure scripting is enabled in your browser. Some people turn off scripting for security reasons, but that prevents the Activation web site from working.
· Make sure you are using a PC. If you are using a Mac, make sure your browser settings are the same as would be used on Windows.
I tried to visit the Activation web site and got a Javascript error. Use a browser that functions correctly with Javascript. Since you must have IE6 installed for Manifold, we suggest using Internet Explorer. If you are using a non-Microsoft browser, try using IE.
If I accidentally press the "Create New Activation Key" button twice on the Activation Keys web page, will I waste an Activation key? No. Once an Activation key is generated for a serial number, if the same serial number is used again the web site will return that same Activation key throughout the first 24 hours of the 72 hour life of that Activation key. If you press the button several times you will get the same key back several times. This is a safety measure to avoid wasting keys. The same Activation key will be returned even if you use a different System ID with the same serial number so if you intend to install the same serial number on a desktop machine and also on a portable computer (the only licensed use of the same serial number on more than one machine), you should wait at least 24 hours between activating the desktop machine and getting an Activation key for the portable computer.
I entered my serial number into the Activation dialog but Manifold will not launch or reports that the serial number is invalid. Check the obvious first:
· Did you correctly enter the serial number? Use Copy and Paste to avoid typographic errors.
· Did you obtain the serial number from Manifold? If you obtained your license and serial number from a third party it might not be a valid serial number.
· Has the preliminary installation period expired? If it is after 30 days from the date the serial number was created you will also need an Activation key to activate Manifold.
· Is your system date set accurately?
· Are you trying to use a serial number issued for an extension (such as Business Tools, Geocoding Tools or Surface Tools) to activate Manifold System itself, or vice versa are you trying to use a Manifold System serial number to activate an extension?
· If you are entering both a serial number and an Activation key, have you mixed up a serial number for one license with an Activation key that was fetched using a different serial number? Activation keys only work with the serial number with which they were fetched.
· A specific case of the above error: are you trying to use a serial number for a 32-bit Manifold product with a 64-bit Manifold installation? Running Manifold System in full 64-bits requires purchasing an x64 Manifold System product to get a 64-bit serial number. See the 32-bit and 64-bit Manifold Editions topic.
· Is the serial number for the same Manifold release that has been installed? You can't use a 6.50 serial number to launch a 7x installation, for example.
I entered a serial number and Activation key and Manifold worked OK, but now it does not. It is most likely that you did not have Administrator privileges in Windows Server 2003, Windows XP or Windows 2000 when you used the Activation dialog to permanently install Manifold from the DVD. The usual scenario is as follows:
· The user has a non-Administrator account that they use for daily operation.
· When first installing Manifold, the user reads all the material, logs in as Administrator and installs the product. When the Activation dialog launches, the user provides a serial number (only) and the product launches OK.
· Over the next few days and weeks the user logs in via the non-Administrator account and continues using the system in a routine way, including launching and using Manifold.
· One day when launching Manifold, the Activation dialog launches and announces to the user that activation is required. This happens because it has been 30 days since the serial number has been issued so now it is time to activate the license for continued operation.
· Right away, the user presses the Get Activation Key via the Web button to fetch an Activation key and presses the Accept button, ignoring all warnings about not having Administrator privileges. Manifold launches OK, but it is running in emergency mode for one session only.
· However, that previous step was an error because the user was logged in using his or her routine non-Administrator account. What has happened is that because it was several days or weeks after the initial installation, the user has forgotten the warnings to log in as Administrator when either a) installing Manifold or b) providing keys to the Activation dialog.
· Manifold will accept an Activation key in non-Administrator mode, but it only does so for that session as an emergency way of allowing Manifold to function even if the user cannot find someone right away with Administrator privileges.
· If you are sure it is not an Administrator privileges issue, something was changed in your system (Windows re-installation, restore from pre-installation image, hard disk changed, etc.). Someone might have tried to jump back to a previous Restore point in Windows, for example.
I activated Manifold on my laptop running XP and it ran OK for years but now it has suddenly stopped working and has raised the Activation dialog. I have installed no new programs or made any changes to my computer. What is the problem? Something has destroyed the activation status on your computer. The most common reasons:
· The system date has changed. Old laptops can have unstable clocks, so you might find your system date is not today's date. Reset the clock to today's date to solve the problem.
· A Windows restore has been done to a point before Manifold activation. Undo the restore.
· "I have installed no new programs or made any changes to my computer." Often said, but never believed by the veteran tech support engineer. People install new programs all the time. Every time you visit a web site with "active" content you install new programs, to name just one of zillions of ways in which people install new programs without realizing it. Some such programs can have very destructive effects.
· There has indeed been a change in your Windows system that can affect activation status. For the same reason people don't realize when they get hit with a virus, it is easily possible that without realizing it you have installed some program or virus that has changed things. Some viruses make significant alterations in the registry and elsewhere as part of attempting to prevent anti-virus software from eradicating them, and such viruses can affect activation due to the havoc they wreak upon Windows.
· There has been a serious change in your hardware or intermittent failure of key components. Especially with aging laptops it might be the case that your hard disk or disk controller or motherboard is failing in a way that has blotted out key sectors on your disk, much as degenerative dementia blots out parts of human brain function. In computers as in humans this can be a regrettable part of the aging process.
Unfortunately, given the inherent complexities of the latter three scenarios it is up to you to debug what is going on with your system. If you are sure the hardware is not failing, the best course to recover from chaos caused by unknown programs or viruses is to re-format the hard disk, to reload Windows from original Microsoft media (to avoid infected backups), to install industrial-grade antivirus software with current virus definitions and then finally to restore data and programs from backup media after careful screening for viruses. You can then re-install Manifold and use one of your remaining activations to activate the new Manifold installation.
I have several Manifold System licenses and serial numbers. Can I freely mix Activation keys? No. Each Activation key will work only with the serial number and System ID that was used to obtain it from the Manifold Activation key server.
I entered my serial number and Activation key into the Activation dialog but Manifold will not launch or the serial number and key are not accepted. Check the obvious first:
· Did you correctly enter the serial number and the Activation key? Use Copy and Paste to avoid typographic errors. Be sure you are copying the entire string and pasting correctly without any errors. Do not make any changes, such as removing hyphens or changing from upper to lower case. Use the original serial number, not the version masked off with XXX characters at the end.
· If you own multiple Manifold licenses, have you mixed up a serial number for one license with an Activation key that was fetched using a different serial number? Activation keys only work with the serial number and System ID with which they were fetched.
· Did you obtain the Activation key from the Manifold Activation key web page? If you obtained your serial number or Activation key from a third party it may not be valid.
· Have 72 hours passed since the time the Activation key was created by the Manifold Activation key web page? If so, the Activation key has expired. You will need to get another Activation key.
· Are you trying to use a serial number and Activation key issued for an extension (such as Business Tools, Geocoding Tools or Surface Tools) to activate Manifold System itself, or vice versa are you trying to use a Manifold System serial number to activate an extension?
· Is the system date reasonably accurate? Serial numbers and Activation keys encode the date they were issued and will not work with system dates that are obviously wrong such as a system date before the date of issue of the serial number or Activation key.
· Are you using a nonstandard program that replaces or modifies the standard Windows interface so that Copy and Paste operations are modified?
· Are you running any programs in background other than standard Windows processes and services? When running the Activation dialog, make sure no other programs are running in background except standard Microsoft Windows processes and services. Do not run anti-virus checkers, uninstallers, registry "protectors," network checkers, special administrative protection programs or other such programs. These may interfere with the activation and permanent installation process.
I lost my serial number. Can you help? Possibly yes. However, a serial number recovery fee will be charged for this service. See the products listing page in the main manifold.net web site for prices charged for serial number recovery as well as terms and conditions for such recovery.
Can I transfer a Manifold System license from one computer to another? During the preliminary installation period you can install Manifold System on any computer system using only the serial number. After the preliminary installation period has expired, a license transfer will require normally require reinstalling Manifold System and using up an activation.
Can I upgrade my computer system without re-installing Manifold? As long as you don't make major changes in hardware or software, probably yes. Simple upgrades will normally not require a re-installation of Manifold. Some changes in hard disk structure will require re-installation of Manifold and the use of an activation. The only way to know for sure is to try. Accordingly, it is wise to do any major upgrades during the period of preliminary installation.
Can I upgrade Windows without re-installing Manifold? In most cases, no. Installing a new version of Windows will usually require a re-installation of Manifold and use of an activation.
Can I remove and re-install Manifold without a new activation? Yes. Even if you remove Manifold, on the next installation Manifold will know that you have already activated Manifold on this system so it will not require a new activation.
Can I install a new Manifold serial number without a new activation? No. Installing a new serial number requires a new activation. Activation is locked to only one serial number and system ID. For example, if you have installed Professional Edition and you would like to switch to Enterprise Edition you will need an Enterprise Edition serial number and a fresh activation for that new Enterprise Edition serial number. See the Help - Activate topic for discussion and an example.
Can I install a Manifold Update or Service Pack without a new Activation key? Yes. You can uninstall the previous Manifold installation and then install the update, which also may be known as a Service Pack (SP), without requiring a new activation. The system will "remember" the previous activation even though Manifold was uninstalled. Of course, this assumes you have made no other changes to your system that would require a new activation in between uninstalling the previous Manifold installation and then installing an update. You cannot, for example, uninstall the previous Manifold installation, install a new version of Windows, and then expect to install an update without requiring an activation.
Can I use a serial number from one edition of Manifold with a newer edition of Manifold? No. Each new major release of Manifold requires a new serial number. For example, a Manifold 5.00 serial number will not work with newer editions such as 5.50, 6.00 or 6.50. Manifold provides low cost, limited time upgrade offers to licensees of the previous release whenever a major new release is issued.
What is a "substantial" change in Windows that requires a new Activation key? Any re-installation of Windows or upgrade to a different edition of Windows will require a new activation. Other major configuration changes (such as Registry configuration or rollback to a pre-Manifold restore point) may require a new activation.
Why do serial numbers allow only a limited time period of preliminary installation? This is a measure against software piracy that is designed to allow legitimate licensees time to experiment with different machine configurations and to sort out any hardware or software configuration issues before they commit to a permanent installation.
Why do Activation keys have a limited life of 72 hours? Activation keys have a limited life of 72 hours from the time they are issued in order to discourage attempts to clone installations in violation of the license and to otherwise discourage software piracy.
Why are serial numbers limited to five activations? This is an anti-piracy measure. The preliminary installation period allows time to sort out the initial Manifold installation before the first activation is used. After that, four additional activations will allow users to re-install should Manifold ever need to be re-installed in the future. Five activations are plenty to allow users to deal with changing system configurations for a single license, but they are not so many that people can afford to be careless with them or to give them away to enable piracy.
Do I get a new serial number and more activations when I upgrade to a new release? Yes. For example, licensees upgrading from 6.50 to 7.00 received a new 7.00 serial number and five new activations. Manifold issues a major new release every year or two and upgrading to a new release is very inexpensive if one takes advantage of the upgrade offer when a new release first comes out. Most Manifold licensees therefore will upgrade to new releases and so get the benefits not only of many improvements but also a fresh stock of Activation keys in case of need.
I upgrade my computer system frequently and I need more than five activations. What do I do? If taking advantage of upgrade offers is not enough, you must buy additional Manifold licenses to get the activations you need. If you are a member of an organization that is operating a Manifold System License Server you can avoid burning up activations by taking advantage of the License Server.
What is to prevent me from giving my serial number to four friends who each then obtain an activation? If you are willing to break the law, nothing prevents you from doing so except your own self-interest. From a legal perspective, that is a crime and a violation of the License agreement. Engaging in software piracy risks criminal and civil penalties. As a practical matter, it is risky to do because your friends may use up the activations you need yourself. If you ever need an activation to re-install Manifold (if case your hard disk blows up or if you must re-install Windows) you might not have an activation remaining. In addition, whenever you disclose your serial number to anyone else you take the risk that they will not keep it secret. The sort of person who trades serial numbers to commit software piracy is often the sort of person who cannot resist passing on the serial number to yet another friend. Before you know it, your activations could be used up. Your serial number might even be published on a hacker web site and your serial number could be cancelled by manifold.net, permanently denying you the ability to use Manifold System.
Can I use the same Activation key to install Manifold to more than one system during the 72-hour period the key is enabled? No, because each Activation key is locked to only the single, unique System ID that is the "fingerprint" of one machine.
What happens if I run the same license on more than one machine at the same time? Do not violate the License by using the same license on more than one machine at the same time. Manifold System can detect when other instances of the same license are running on machines that are accessible to it. If you use the same license on multiple machines at once, sooner or later Manifold will automatically cancel that serial number and will cease functioning. To foil software pirates who attempt to find and disable such protective measures, this auto-detection function is set to a very long trigger time: it could be many weeks or months of simultaneous usage before Manifold decides that "enough is enough" and permanently stops functioning.
My organization needs to use many Manifold licenses. How should I install them? Use the Manifold System License Server product to centrally manage your licenses.
I acquired my Manifold license from a reseller and have not received a serial number. Can manifold.net help me? No. If you acquired your Manifold license from a third party and have not received your serial number you must contact the third party to resolve the difficulty. manifold.net will not intervene in a dispute between you and a third party. manifold.net does not enter into any special agreements with any dealers or distributors to represent the company so any third party who offers to transfer a Manifold license to you is acting on their own.
What happens if my serial number is revoked? If your serial number is cancelled or revoked you will not be able to obtain activations with that serial number. In addition, sooner or later your Manifold System license will cease operating.
How might my serial number be revoked? The most frequent reason is that it has been traded in to get an upgrade. For example, if you upgrade a Professional license to an Enterprise license the Professional serial number will be revoked and will no longer work. Likewise, upgrading a 32-bit serial number to a 64-bit serial number will revoke the 32-bit serial number. Serial numbers may also be revoked for a variety of business or legal reasons: non-payment, such as failure to pay a purchase order or a charge-back on a credit card transaction; automatic cancellation when Manifold itself detects multiple simultaneous usage of the same serial number on a different machine; cancellation for violation of the EULA, for example, cancellation by manifold.net if your serial number appears in a public forum such as an Internet posting.
Serial Numbers not Received by Email
When an order is processed for Manifold System the serial number for that license will be sent out by email to the email address given in the order. If you have not received your serial number by email from manifold.net check your email system for obvious errors. Typical errors include:
· You did not provide an email address when you acquired your Manifold license. This happens occasionally when purchasing groups neglect to provide an email address on a purchase order. If so, manifold.net is waiting to hear from you to learn what email address you wish to use.
· You acquired your license from a third party, such as a reseller or previous licensee. In that case, you must contact that third party for any questions about serial numbers as manifold.net is not part of your business deal with that third party. Note that manifold.net does not enter into any agency or reseller agreements or "authorize" any dealers, so if you acquired a Manifold license from some third party that third party is in no way an agent or representative of manifold.net.
· A nonexistent email address (typographical error or otherwise invalid email address) was supplied with your order. Tech tip: check the invoice and the packing slip sent to you in hard copy with the product - it will contain the email address you provided. Check that printed email address carefully for typos to be sure it is the email address you are using.
· You have forgotten to check the inbox for the email address you supplied. Tech Tip: If your Outlook application is set up to check multiple addresses, make sure the address you provided is one that is being checked for inbound mail.
· You accidentally deleted the email without realizing it contained your serial number. Tech Tip: Take a look in your Deleted Items folder to see if it is there.
· Your mailbox is over quota and so your ISP is rejecting inbound emails.
· You have not used the email address provided to manifold.net for a long time and so your email provider has suspended it as inactive.
· The email address supplied to manifold.net has been forwarded to a different email address and the forwarding is not working.
· You have changed your email system recently and it is not working (relaying not permitted, etc.) in the new configuration.
· You have created a new email address just for business dealings with manifold.net and it is not working. Tech tip: Don't use a previously-unused email address that's not been verified to work. manifold.net won't spam you or share your email address with anyone else.
· You or your ISP have installed anti-spam technology that is too aggressive and is blocking the emails being sent to you by manifold.net. Check any "spam" or "bulk mail" folders into which your spam filter may be placing emails prior to deletion.
· Your or your ISP have installed a virus or other filter that is too aggressive and is blocking manifold.net emails because it thinks they contain scripts or executables (they don't).
· You use Outlook and have applied some mail-handling rules that are deleting inbound messages from manifold.net or moving them to a folder that you do not view.
· You or your ISP have installed a "blacklist" filter that blocks emails originating from IP addresses used by Manifold email servers or email servers run by Manifold's ISP if such IP addresses are reported by a centralized listing organization to be spam servers. [Note that such filters are pointless since spammers routinely forge the origin of their spam to make it look like it comes from legitimate IP addresses.]
· You have placed manifold.net as a domain on your anti-spam whitelist but have not allowed email from other domains used by our email servers or from dedicated IP addresses.
· You or your ISP have installed spam-blocking technology that requires the sender to reply to a confirmation email or to visit some web site and enter a code. The Online Store and other Manifold servers that send out serial number emails are machines that cannot respond to return emails requiring confirmation.
· Someone else, such as a centralized IT department, runs your email system and is being a completely uncooperative bureaucrat about telling you what stupid tricks they use to prevent you from getting legitimate email. Tech tip: get your own free HTML-based email account and use that to bypass the IT department.
Everyone on the planet is totally annoyed about spam so it is natural that people want to use anti-spam technology to help get rid of it. Unfortunately, no anti-spam technology is perfect so you may have to exercise some manual supervision over your anti-spam strategy to make sure it does not filter out legitimate emails from manifold.net that you want to receive.
If one of the problems above is in play, that can lead to a very frustrating experience with communications. For example, a customer sometimes without realizing it will have massive spam filters in place that prevent any communications from manifold.net getting through. The customer does not receive the serial number email and then when the customer writes to sales@manifold.net to complain, he or she does not get any reply. The customer sends repeated emails, each of which gets angrier and angrier. The problem, of course, is that if the customer has some spam filter that rejects emails from manifold.net then no matter how often manifold.net replies the customer will not get those replies.
The solution to the above problem is to use some temporary, HTML-based, free email address from hotmail.com, yahoo.com or Google's gmail to correspond with manifold.net.
The worst situation is when someone for ego or broken logic reasons is not willing to consider the possibility that something about his or her email system is preventing email from manifold.net from being delivered. There are two classic cases: the first case being the person who thinks that because they receive plenty of emails from other people there cannot be anything wrong with their email setup. This is the "broken logic" problem because obviously you won't know about the many emails you don't get if you never get them.
The second typical case happens when the person having email reception problems is the person who has cleverly set up the email system themselves. Some people, for example, seem to have a knack for setting up their own email servers that are configured with all sorts of tricky arrangements that don't work quite right. This is the "ego" problem that arises when such self-administered email gurus are unwilling to consider they may have made an error.
If communications are the problem, keep it technical: get a free email account and use that to work around whatever problem exists.
Tech Tips
If you have acquired multiple Manifold licenses or licenses for both Manifold and Manifold extensions such as Surface Tools, keep track of which serial number goes with which license. For example, you can't use a Surface Tools serial number and Activation key to activate Manifold System.
Activation keys work only with the single serial number and the single System ID that were used to fetch them. You can't mix and match Activation keys with different serial numbers or use on different machines. You can't change a serial number on the same machine, say, from a Professional to an Enterprise license without needing a new activation key for the new serial number.
Professionally produced counterfeit or pirated software is widely available in some countries. However, the use of such software poses risks for the unwary, including the risk that the pirated software package is actually transmitting your location to police authorities. See the Beware of Counterfeit Software essay for a discussion of some of the little-known risks of using such software.
A related topic that may be useful in some cases, such as understanding what happens to a license if former partners squabble over a Manifold serial number when dissolving a partnership, is the Maintaining Your Manifold License topic.
A Note on Copy Protection
Some folks are outraged that a software company might utilize anti-piracy measures such as serial numbers and a limited number of activations. Against the chance that some such people might be interested in the practical reasons why copy protection is employed, or that a sensible person may be called upon to calm down an angry colleague, we provide the following information:
With over 40% of the software in the US in commercial settings being used in violation of licenses and well over 95% of software in some countries being pirated copies, it's just not cost effective to create and offer software like Manifold at very low cost if copy protection methods are not employed. If you are very angry about that and disagree, that's OK: do not license Manifold software. There are always alternatives that may better fit your preferences for licensing, although none of them will have the extensive capabilities and ultimately lowest costs of Manifold.
For those folks who do choose to license Manifold, the license is not an unlimited one nor is it constructed to allow all possible users to run Manifold until the end of time no matter what happens. Providing that capability would be very expensive and would ruin the low cost that makes Manifold affordable to so many users. Instead, the license and copy protection mechanisms try to strike a balance that makes reasonable use possible at as low a cost as possible for as many users as possible. It's a formula that has brought real GIS capabilities to more users than ever before.
Experienced users will not get hung up on the idea of "buying" a license that will run "forever," as attempting to do that will simply raise costs in most cases. It's not even a realistic proposition, as people who attempt it usually discover.
Computer hardware and software technology change so rapidly that installations more than a few years old become antiques. They become difficult to keep running because replacement software and hardware parts are not available and because newer software requires newer technology. You know exactly what we mean if you've ever tried to find RAID drivers for that old box made in 2001 you are trying to press into service as a new Windows web server in 2006. As a practical matter the great majority of software versions should not be expected to have a lifetime of more than three to five years at the most.
Manifold issues new editions more frequently than that and provides a low cost upgrade path that makes it easy to get newer versions and additional activations for a modest fee. Some hotheads don't like the idea that to run Manifold "forever" they have to, in effect, "rent" a license by paying modest fees for upgrades every now and then. That's too bad, as Manifold is not freeware. The costs of creating new editions are very high and manifold.net is not willing to create such new editions without compensation. Likewise, the price we all pay for endemic software piracy is the limitation on usage and increased costs associated with copy protection mechanisms.
The current system after years of experience is the least cost way manifold.net has found to assure copy protection, to provide a low initial cost and to keep the costs of upgrades as low as possible. At the time of this writing, the manifold.net system has resulted in GIS software costs that are far lower than any other full-featured GIS software, in some cases over forty times less expensive than competitors. That's an amazing accomplishment that could only have been done by assuring, through copy protection using serial numbers and activations, that everyone has paid their fair share.
It's true that there will always be atypical cases where some users need more activations or some users might really intend to keep antique configurations running for many years. Sometimes that happens when people have unique usage patterns, such as using laptop computers in very harsh environments where the computers need to be replaced with unusual frequency no matter how careful the user may be. Such users will have higher costs and it is only fair that they should bear their own higher expenses for their special needs.
In other cases some people live disorderly, unplanned lives and as a result will end up wasting activation keys. Some people acquire a Manifold license and then go on vacation for 30 days, so that when they return they no longer have a "free" period of 30 days before activation is required in which they can sort out any machine configuration problems. Some people don't bother to use anti-virus software or don't bother to familiarize themselves with Windows administration, so they find themselves unnecessarily burning through activations as they try to deal with the damage inflicted on machines by viruses or by imprudent machine management. Such people will encounter higher costs to license Manifold because they will have to acquire additional licenses to replace the activations they have wasted.
The least cost way manifold.net has found to service the above unusual needs, without forcing other users to bear the costs of those unusual needs, is to simply offer new licenses at the regular price. Of the many systems one can imagine to validate and deal with unusual situations that turns out to be the least costly method.
Note: Users who want to run old machine configurations for many years should be aware that future editions of Manifold might not run on very old configurations, so if that is the intention it would be wise order a few extra Manifold licenses of the vintage of interest while such licenses are still available. We think a better idea is to simply get with the program and upgrade machine hardware, Windows systems and Manifold editions on a regular basis so that you are always working on the latest, super-cool new stuff the computer industry delivers. You don't have to upgrade every month, but trying to run antique hardware for 10 or 20 years is just not productive.
See Also
Installing and Activating a Manifold Extension
Maintaining Your Manifold License