No nonsense tools, apps and add-ons for SharePoint License Activation Guide Author: Adrian Bear Date: 22 Sep 2013 Version: 1.0
Overview This document describes the actions required to activate a license key (product key) for any one of the solutions provided by ThorApp s. The steps are the same in both SharePoint 2010 and 2013. This guide uses the Reflex Reporting solution as an example, but the steps are the same for all ThorApps solutions. Prerequisites To follow this guide you must have access to the following items. A computer with internet access Remote console access to the SharePoint server hosting SharePoint Central Administration (either directly or via remote desktop). SharePoint farm administrator rights (or access to such a logon). The solution must already be installed (see solution installation guide) A valid product key
Steps The following steps will guide you through activating a solution license for any solution provided by ThorApp s. If you have internet access from the server hosting SharePoint Central Administration, activation is easy. We call this Online Activation. If you do not have internet access from the server hosting SharePoint Central Administration activation is still easy but involves several more steps. This is referred to as Offline Activation although it does still require you to have internet access via another device. Step 1 From your desktop open a remote desktop connection to the server hosting SharePoint Central Administration and login using a SharePoint Farm Administrator logon. Open SharePoint Central Administration via the Start menu (press the windows key and search for Central Adm to locate it). Opening SharePoint Central Administration via the Start menu ensures it is started with Administrator rights.
Step 2 From SharePoint Central Administration click Application Management and look for the Thor Apps Licenses menu group. It will look like the image below. If you can t find it, the solution must not yet be installed and you will therefore need to install it first. Click the name of the solution you wish to activate a license for (for this example we are activating Reflex Reporting). If you do not see the Activate Online button, either the solution is already activated or the server does not have internet access and you will therefore have to proceed with Step 4 (Offline Activation).
Step 3 (Online Activation) Assuming you do see the Activate Online button, click it. Enter the product key you received when you purchased the solution into the Product Key box and click Activate. Skip to Step 7.
Step 4 (Offline Activation) Offline activation involves producing a unique string from your SharePoint farm and using it on the ThorApp s website to produce a license file that you upload into SharePoint to activate the solution. Assuming you do not have internet access from the server hosting SharePoint Central Administration you should see a page similar to the following image. Click Request and copy the License Request String to your clipboard.
Step 5 From your desktop computer (or any device with internet access) navigate to https://support.thorapps.com/sitepages/offline License Activation.aspx and enter your Product Key and the License Request String. Click Get License and save the License.lic file to your desktop (or device). Use whatever method you need to copy the License.lic file from your desktop (or device) on to a local disk on the server hosting SharePoint Central Administration. We usually simply copy the file from our workstation desktop over the remote desktop session to the desktop of the server hosting SharePoint Central Administration.
Step 6 Return to the server hosting SharePoint Central Administration and if it s closed reopen SharePoint Central Administration. Navigate back to the ThorApps license page (Application Management and the relevant item under the Thor Apps Licenses menu group). You should see an Install button. Click it and you will be presented with the following page. Click the Browse button and select the License.lic file you copied onto the server earlier. Click Open on the file selection dialog window and then Install.
Step 7 Click OK. The solution is now fully licensed. You can double check the status of the solution by navigating in SharePoint Central Administration back to the License page (Application Management and the relevant item under the Thor Apps Licenses menu group).
So what s next? If you have followed the guides in the correct order there will be nothing left to do but use the solution. However you may have downloaded, installed, purchased and activated without configuring. If so, you will need to follow the configuration guide which will be specific to the solution you have downloaded. The ThorApp s solution configuration guides can be found in the solution installation package and on the ThorApp s web site ().