Obtain a Product Key

A product key (also called a license) allows you to operate RTW and RTSHARE either permanently or for a set period of time.

If you are interested in purchasing a permanent product key, please contact rtwsales@vistasource.com

Two methods are available for managing the Vistasource RTW product key:

By default, upon installation of RTW and RTSHARE, VSLIC is used.

Technical Specifications
Software License Terms

VSLIC is an online product key management tool for RTW and RTSHARE.

The Vistasource Online Licensing Tool “vslic” allows easy management of your RTW & RTSHARE licenses by retrieving licenses via an internet connection using a unique identifier, or VSID. A single VSID can be used for multiple machines, simplifying large scale deployment.

After downloading and installing RTW for the first time, the application will attempt to obtain a demo license using the VSID “30DAYDEMO”, which will allow you to run RTW for 30 days. This VSID can only be used once for any machine and version of RTW.

The Vistasource Online Licensing Tool can be accessed in three ways:

• At the end of the installation, keep the default selection Obtain permanent or evaluation license now. See Installation for more information.
• In Excel 2007 or 2010, click License Management on the Vistasource ribbon menu. In Excel 2003, click Vistasource → License Management. See Installation for more information.
• In the RTW application directory which by default is in Windows XP in C:\Program Files\Vistasource\RTW\4.5 and in Windows 7 in C:\Program Files (x86)\Vistasource\RTW\4.5 ). In Windows XP, click on the application named “vslic”. In Windows 7, it is required to run vslic as Administrator. To launch vslic on Windows 7, right-click on the application named “vslic” and select Run as Administrator.

The dialog Vistasource Online Licensing Tool opens.

To License RTW and RTSHARE during installation:

1. At the end of the install process, keep the default selection Obtain permanent or evaluation license now. The dialog Vistasource Online Licensing Tool opens.
2. Three scenarios are possible:
   1. If you install for the first time, the VSID will be set to“30DAYDEMO”. The tool will attempt to generate a demonstration license. If a demonstration license has already been generated for the machine, vslic will error and invite you to contact rtwsales@vistasource.com.
   2. If you have obtained a permanent VSID, enter the alphanumeric code.
   3. If you are a system administrator and installing multiple instances of the product with automatic license retrievals, see Options further down.
3. Click Get license. The status window displays a list of your license components together with a confirmation that RTW is correctly licensed. A license called “vista.lic” will be installed in the application directory.
4. Click Quit to close the dialog.
5. Restart MS Excel and RTW is ready for use.

To license RTW & RTSHARE after installation:

1. Click License Management in the Vistasource ribbon menu in MS Excel to open the Vistasource Online Licensing Tool dialog.
2. Enter your alphanumeric VSID, To obtain a permanent VSID, contact rtwsales@vistasource.com.
3. Click Get license. The status window displays a list of your license components together with a confirmation that RTW is correctly licensed. A license called “vista.lic” will be installed in the application directory.
4. Click Quit to close the dialog.
5. Restart Excel and RTW is ready for use.

To verify your licensed comopents:

1. Click License Management in the Vistasource ribbon menu in MS Excel to open the Vistasource Online Licensing Tool dialog.
2. Click Verify License. The status field displays a list of your licensed RTW features, e.g which RTW engine is licensed. A status message provides information about the state of the license.
3. Click Quit to close the dialog.

To view information about the scope and status of your VISD:

1. Click License Management in the Vistasource ribbon menu in Excel to open the Vistasource Online Licensing Tool dialog.
2. Click Verify VSID. The status field displays a list of your licensed RTW features together with how many licenses were purchased, how many are already deployed, and a list of the machines that are currently licensed including install dates and MAC addresses.
3. Click Quit to close the dialog.

VSLIC can make a basic test to check the system and note any missing requirements:

1. Click License Management in the Vistasource ribbon menu in MS Excel to open the Vistasource Online Licensing Tool dialog.
2. Click System Info. The status field displays a list of information regarding your system including a check for the RTW version and installed RTW Add-ins.
3. Click Quit to close the dialog.

Licenses used under a subscription agreement have an expiration date. The expiration date corresponds to the annual renewal date (plus 1 month grace) of the subscription agreement.

To view this expiration date, click Verify VSID in the Online Licensing Tool. The expiration date appears in the status field.

Upon successful renewal, click Get license in the Online Licensing Tool to activate the new expiration date. Restart Excel, and your license is valid for the duration according to the renewed leasing terms.

A VSID can contain licenses for multiple machines.
If your VSID has an associated maintenance plan, uninstalling RTW or RTSHARE will free the license for use on another machine.

For system adminstrators installing multiple instances of the product with automatic license retrievals, the following two user environment variables can to be set prior to installing RTW

• VSID = your vsid
• VSAUTO =“YES”

If these environment variables are set, the Online Licensing Tool will automatically generate the appropriate licenses upon installation.

VSLIC is non invasive. The only machine information transmitted online to our license server is the MAC address, Hostname, and Username. We do not sell, trade of otherwise transfer this information to any outside parties.

In case problems arise, please check our troubleshooting section.

The FLEXlm license server allows running a license server either on the same machine as RTW or RTSHARE,
or on a dedicated machine. For more details, see:

• How to Get License Keys
  
• Setup and Configuration
  
• Setting up a License Client
  
• Remote License Server

After purchasing the desired number of licenses, the Vistasource licensing department at licensing@vistasource.com will issue valid license keys.

In order to create a license key, the licensing department needs the unique MAC Ethernet address of the first Ethernet network interface card of the MS Windows machine, on which you want to install the RTW product.

There are two ways to get this MAC Ethernet Address from your PC:

1. After installing RTW, execute the FLEXlm tool lmtools that is located in the install directory for RTW. Run lmtools to start the program. You will see the dialog box “LMTOOLS by Flexera Software, Inc.”, which contains several tabs. Click on the tab “System Settings”. The MAC Ethernet address is located in the field “Ethernet Address”. Copy the number and forward it to the Vistasource licensing department.

2. If Vistasource RTW is not installed on the machine which will be the license server, you can use a DOS tool to get the MAC Ethernet address for that machine. In a DOS Shell window, run the command “ipconfig/all”. Part of the output is the Physical Address, for instance, “00-02-A5-53-C0-D4”. Next, you need to delete the hyphens between the numbers to convert the physical address in a format that can be used for creating license keys: “0002A553C0D4”

Flexlm's configuration tool LMTools:

1. Launch lmtools which is located in the install directory.
2. In the “Service/License File” tab choose “Configuration using Services”.
3. In the “Config Services” tab, type “License Server” in the field “Service Name”.
4. Put in the path for lmgrd.exe and the license file. The file lmgrd is in the install directory.
5. Put in the path to your /temp directory for the debug log and name it lmgrd_vistasrc.log.
6. Toggle on “Use Services”
7. Toggle on “Start Server at Power Up”
8. Click “Save Service”.
9. Click on the “Start/Stop/Reread” tab. Your new service should be listed.
10. Click “Start Server”.

1. If you start an engine and you are not licensed you will see the FLEXlm License Finder dialog box with three options:

• Specify the License Server
• Specify the License File
• Select Demo Mode

2. To set up a license client, choose the option “Specify the License Server”. Another dialog box is displayed where you need to enter the Computer Name of the License Server.

3. Click on Finish to complete the procedure. The RTW status window will now display messages about starting the engine.

Set the environment variable LM_LICENSE_FILE to point to the hostname of the license server machine:

1. Choose Control Panel → System → Advanced system Settings → Environment variables

2. Add the variable LM_LICENSE_FILE and set this to “@hostname” where hostname is the name of the machine running your License Server.