Milestone Systems Activating Licenses Quick Guide for XProtect Professional VMS Products XProtect Enterprise 2016, XProtect Professional 2016, XProtect Express 2016, XProtect Essential 2016
Before you start This guide describes the basic steps for partners who need to register and activate licenses for XProtect Professional VMS products. The descriptions include how to do so with and without access to the Internet. Installing a trial version You can try out XProtect Professional VMS products for 30 days for free. To get started, go to the download section on the Milestone website. Download and run the installer for one of the following products: XProtect Essential XProtect Express XProtect Professional XProtect Enterprise In the installer, click Install Trial. During the trial period, you can add up to eight cameras, and store recordings from those cameras for five days. When the 30-day trial period expires, you must purchase and activate licenses to continue to use the XProtect Professional VMS product. The system saves your configuration. Note, however, that you will lose recordings that are older than five days. Register software license codes on Milestone Customer Dashboard When you purchase an XProtect Professional VMS product, you receive an email that includes a software license code (SLC) and a software license file (.lic). You can register the SLC on Milestone Customer Dashboard, which is a free, easy-to-use tool for managing information about Milestone software licenses and installations. Milestone Customer Dashboard is available from My Milestone, or you can go to online.milestonesys.com. Note: Milestone Customer Dashboard requires a My Milestone account. If you do not have a My Milestone account, you can create one on the Milestone website. To register an SLC on Milestone Customer Dashboard, follow these steps: 1. Log in to Milestone Customer Dashboard. 2. Go to the Software & Customers page, and then click Register new license (SLC). 3. Enter the SLC, and complete the remaining fields.
Install with a registered software license If you are installing for the first time, and you have purchased and registered a software license, you can import your software license file. To import your software license when you install, follow these steps: 1. Find the email with the software license file attached, and then copy the software license file to your computer. The image on the left is an example of the email. Tip: If you do not have the software license file, you can download it from Milestone Customer Dashboard. 2. Run the installer for your XProtect Professional VMS product. 3. Click Browse, locate the software license file, and then click Continue. The image on the right shows the installation screen where you upload the software license file. Note: After you add devices to your system, you must activate hardware device licenses for them. Depending on whether your system connects to the Internet, use the online activation or offline activation process to activate the hardware device licenses. These processes are described later in this guide. About the grace period and changes without activation When your system is fully licensed, you can add devices and use them for 30 days without purchasing or activating hardware devices licenses for them. You must purchase and activate the hardware device licenses before the grace period expires. Otherwise, they will stop working.
You can add a limited number of devices without activating licenses. For example, this is useful when you need to replace cameras. These are called "changes without activation," and the number is calculated based on several variables. For example, the number of hardware device licenses that are activated. To view the number of changes you can make without activating licenses, and the number of changes you have already made, in Management Application, click Getting started. In the License section, the number is displayed under Changes without activation. For more information about licenses, click About licenses. Import a registered software license file After you purchase licenses, you must import and activate the software license file in Management Application. If you have installed the software as a trial version, this updates your system to a fully-licensed version. To import a registered software license file, follow these steps: 1. In Management Application, click File, select Import License, and then browse to the license file. 2. Depending on whether your system connects to the Internet, activate the license by using the online activation or offline activation process. These processes are described later in this guide.
Activate licenses You must activate licenses when you: Want to fully license your trial version Install with a registered software license Add hardware devices in Management Application Upgrade to a newer version, including service releases Depending on whether your system connects to the Internet, use the online activation or offline activation process to activate licenses. Use the online activation process By default, after you import your software license file, XProtect Professional VMS products use an online activation process. Online activation requires that your system is connected to the Internet. If your system is not online, use the offline activation process described later in this guide. When you import a software license file, Management Application displays a banner that lets you quickly activate your software license file. When you add devices, the system automatically activates hardware device licenses, up to the number of devices included in the license. Management Application displays a banner at the top of the workspace to prompt you to save the change to the system configuration, as shown in the following image. The system activates licenses for new devices when you click Save. Automatic activation might take a few minutes to complete, but you can work in Management Application in the meantime. You can also activate licenses manually. In Management Application, click File, and select Activate License Online. In the Online License Retrieval dialog box, click Activate. Use the offline activation process After you import your software license file and add devices in Management Application, if your XProtect Professional VMS product is not connected to the Internet, you can use an offline process to activate hardware device licenses. Note: To complete this process you need a portable storage device, such as a USB flash drive, and a computer with access to the Internet. The following are the steps in the offline activation process: 1. Export a license request file (.lrq) from Management Application, and then upload it to Milestone Customer Dashboard. 2. Receive an activated license file (.lic) in an email, and then import the file in Management Application.
Export a license request file and upload it to Milestone Customer Dashboard The license request file contains information about your system. For example, it contains the number of hardware devices to activate licenses for. Follow these steps: 1. In Management Application, click File, and select Activate License Offline. 2. Click Export to generate the license request file. 3. Save the license request file to a portable storage device. 4. Connect the portable storage device to a computer with Internet access, and then log in to Milestone Customer Dashboard. 5. Click Customers & Licenses, and then click Upload License Request. 6. Click Select.lrq file, and then find the license request file on the portable storage device. 7. Optional: By default, the activated license file is sent to the email address that was specified when the software license was purchased. To allow other people to also receive the activated license file, add their email addresses in the Additional email recipient (optional) field. 8. Click Upload. Receive an activated license file in an email, and then import the file in Management Application After you receive an activated license file, you can import the file in Management Application to update your software license information. To import the activated license file, follow these steps: 1. Copy the activated license file from the email to your portable storage device, and then connect the portable storage device to the computer where Management Application is installed.
2. In Management Application, click File, and select Activate License Offline. 3. Click Browse, find the activated license file on the portable storage device, and then click Activate.
About Milestone Systems Milestone Systems is a global industry leader in open platform IP video management software, founded in 1998 and now operating as a stand-alone company in the Canon Group. Milestone technology is easy to manage, reliable and proven in thousands of customer installations, providing flexible choices in network hardware and integrations with other systems. Sold through partners in more than 100 countries, Milestone solutions help organizations to manage risks, protect people and assets, optimize processes and reduce costs. For more information, visit: http://www.milestonesys.com.