You can deactivate a license that has already been activated to supply end users with a new version of the license. This lets you make changes to the license -- for example, tie it to a different machine, change the license count, etc.-- and then let the user activate and download the license again, instead of issuing a completely new license to the user. You can also optionally allow end users to deactivate licenses themselves a specified number of times, to facilitate their needs to change hosts, etc.
Be aware that each reactivation is counted and will reduce the number of remaining activations, as reported in the Activations tab under the Administration page.
When a license is deactivated:
- The previously generated license is deleted.
- The license request from queue is deleted, if it exists.
- All license generation errors are deleted.
- End-user HostIDs are deleted, if not needed in other licenses.
Deactivating a license as a LAC administrator
LAC administrators can deactivate any license that is currently activated. To deactivate a license:
- Go to the Licenses tab.
- Click the Deactivate icon under the Action column for the license you want to deactivate.
- Click Yes at the confirmation dialog to complete the deactivation.
- Make the desired changes to the license, and let the user know the license is available for reactivation.
Note that the Deactivate icon appears only for licenses that can be deactivated. Licenses that have not yet been generated or are currently being generated cannot be deactivated.
You can also deactivate licenses using the DeactivateLicense SOAP API function.
Allowing end users to deactivate licenses
Optionally, you can allow end users to deactivate their own licenses. You can specify the maximum number of allowed end-user license deactivations in the product template using the Deactivations Allowed setting, which defaults to zero (deactivations not allowed). As with other template settings, the template's value can be altered as needed per license order by editing the license order settings.
With deactivations allowed, the end user can execute the SOAP API function DeactivateLicense to deactivate their own license orders if the license has remaining deactivations allowed. After the end user has deactivated the license the maximum allowed number of times, the license cannot be deactivated again.
If you want to restore the number of allowed activations for a license (for example, if an end user has no deactivations remaining and you want to allow the original number of activations again), you can reset the deactivations counter using Reset Deactivation Counter from the License Orders grid Action column, or using the vendor SOAP API function ResetDeactivationCounter.
You can check the values for Deactivations Allowed, Deactivations Left, and Deactivation Utilization in the License Orders grid. These columns are hidden by default, so if you do not see them in the License Orders grid, use the column visibility controls to view them.