You updated and converted your old Maintenance Suites to Subscription Collections and want to know how to change the licensing over to the new serial numbers/product keys.
For Multi-user (i.e. Network Seats):
This one is fairly straight forward, and requires very little effort.
- Update the license file on the server to the new Collection from the old Suites
- Remove any products not covered by the new license and install the correct one from the collection
- Typically this operation is done when moving from a Premium Suite to a collection
- The products typically affected are Navisworks Simulate (replace with Navisworks Manage) and Inventor (replace with Inventor Professional)
- Generally speaking, no other intervention or processes are needed.
- If you want to have the users have access to any of the cloud-based benefits, then you will need to assign seats to them
For Standalone Seats:
Here’s a little important piece of Information to be aware of:
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/customer-service/account-management/users-software/previous-versions/subscription-previous-version-rights#move-to-subscription
If I switched from a maintenance plan to a subscription, can I continue using previous versions of products from my original maintenance plan?
Yes. After you switch, you will be able to continue using previously licensed, installed and accessed versions of your software from your maintenance plan if the product is included in the new subscription. You will be subject to subscription terms and conditions, so if your subscription were to expire, you must uninstall and stop accessing all versions associated with the original maintenance plan and the subscription.
This means, that if a customer did the M2S, they do NOT have to change any currently installed and correctly licensed suites or end products provided that the installed software is included in the switched subscription license, but any new installations will have to use the collection install/SN/Key. If someone had a premium Suite and moved to collection, they would only have to remove Navisworks Simulate and replace with Navisworks Manage to stay compliant.
Otherwise you are going to need to follow this process:
This one does require more steps to ensure it converts properly.
- Have the Contract Manager or the Software Coordinator create users and assign the software they will be using
- On each machine with the older Suites, you will need to uninstall each base product that is being replaced
http://blogs.rand.com/support/2017/11/uninstalling-autodesk-software-made-easy.html - look at the bonus section at the end
- Reinstall the products taken off, and reactivate using the new serial number/product key/User information
- This step is REQUIRED, since the product keys for the software are fixed in the ProductInformation.pit file, and cannot be changed after activation.
- You must uninstall the products, so you can go back through the activation and put in the correct product key when re-activating. OR SEE NEXT STEP!
If you do not want to uninstall and reinstall everything, there is another option:
Please note: the process below will only work for 2017 and newer Suites, any 2016 and older suites will have to be uninstalled and reinstalled, due to the fact that Licensing information was encrypted and stored on the machine at the time of installation. If the suite product key was used to install the applications the stored key would not allow for a Collections activation. The only solution is to uninstall and reinstall the products.
So, if you feel the need to update your current installs to the new Subscription here's the process to follow:
- Have the Contract Manager or the Software Coordinator create users and assign the software they will be using
- Install the Collection Software on a machine that doesn't have the Suite already installed. Generally, Install the same products you have installed already as part of the Suite.
- You MUST install and activate each product and product year you are replacing in the Suite
- If you don't install and activate all products and all years, then you will have to uninstall and re-install the products you missed
- For example, if you miss AutoCAD 2017, and try to run it after you replace the ProductInformation.pit file, it will fail to run and give you an error
- Activate the Software with the License from the Collection on that machine.
- Look for ProductInformation.pit file that is created in this folder: C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\AdLM.
- Make a copy the ProductInformation.pit file and save it to a location you can access later (USB stick or Network Drive)
- Go to a machine that currently has the old Suite installed, and navigate to the folder C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\AdLM.
- Rename Old License Machine ProductInformation.pit file (so you have it available to restore easily in case new .pit file doesn't work).
- Copy the saved ProductInformation.pit file from Step 4 into this directory
- Open Autodesk Product and follow the activation screen and input the new Serial number and Product Key.
Were you also running single seats of Autodesk Products (like AutoCAD, Civil 3D, etc.) and have switched to Subscription for those seats as well, refer to the links below for information on how to update those versions:
- 2017 and newer, use the following to reset/license licensing and serial number blog
http://blogs.rand.com/support/2016/03/changing-license-type-in-autocad-2017-.html
- 2016 and prior, use the following to reset/license licensing and serial number blog
http://blogs.rand.com/support/2016/02/how_to_reset_all_autodesk_licenses.html