Version: 8.5 & Up

Q - I received an Elliott 8.5 license key code. How do I apply this new license key code to my Elliott 8.5?

A - The following instructions apply to Elliott 8.5, 8.6, and all future releases. If this article refers to '85', you can substitute it with '86' or a future version number. The Elliott license key code is a 30-digit code that controls the licensing information of Elliott Business Software, such as the number of users, maintenance expiration date, and add-on licenses. When you renew your Elliott maintenance agreement or add additional users or add-on options, we will provide you with a new license key code. The question is, how do you apply this new code to activate it? We are providing three methods below. Method 3 is the easiest for end-users, while method 1 is easier for IT personnel. You can perform these methods from either the server or workstation. Once you update the license key code, it will automatically apply to all workstations.  

If you implemented NTFS security, by default, all users do not have sufficient rights to update the  <ElliottRoot>\Bin85 folder. That is the case even if you are an Administrator-equivalent user. This is due to the fact that user NTFS rights need to go through UAC elevation in order to get Administrator rights. Please use the following three steps to resolve this problem:

To explain this, you will need to know the Elliott 8.5 directory structure.  We have a root directory for Elliott 8.5, which is like "M:\Elliott7."  In this article, we shall refer to this folder as <ElliottRoot>.  Under the Elliott root directory, you will see a Bin85 sub-folder where all Elliott 8.5 programs reside. The Elliott 8.5 license key code is stored in the following file:

        <ElliottRoot>\Bin85\EL850.CFG

Technically speaking, you can simply use Notepad to edit this EL850.CFG file, change the entry for the license key code and save the change in the EL850.CFG file.

Be aware that if you implement NTFS security for Elliott, then by default users only have Read/Execute rights to the Bin85 folder.  In that case, you must login as an admin or equivalent user that has sufficient rights to update the EL850.CFG file.

Your users need to exit out of Elliott 8.5 and start up Elliott again for their local copy to be synchronized.

The above method seems to be a little crude.  That is the reason why we have developed a utility to handle this.  You can use Windows Explorer and browse to the following location to run the utility:

        <ElliottRoot>\Bin85\EL850CF.EXE

If you implemented NTFS security with <ElliottRoot> folder; and you login to PSQL server with an admin equivalent user, then you may need to (1) browse to the equivalent local path on the server; and (2) right click on EL860CF.EXE and choose "run as administrator" 

Then the Elliott 8.5 Configuration utility will show up as follows:

In the License tab, copy and paste your new key code and click "Validate" to make sure it is a valid license code. Click "Finish" to save and exit.  Again, make sure you are an admin or equivalent user that has sufficient rights to update the EL850.CFG file.

Another method is that you can login to Elliott 8.5 as SUPERVISOR.  Then you will see the "Config" button on the top left corner of your Control Center.  See sample screen below:

Click on this button and you will see the configuration utility show up as if you are running the utility <ElliottRoot>\Bin85\EL850CF.EXE through Windows Explorer.  From there, you can copy and paste your new license key code and finish exiting the configuration utility.  Make sure you have sufficient NTFS rights to update the EL850.CFG file.

We introduced the license key code method of licensing control after Elliott 8.5. It is expected that all future Elliott Business Software releases will use this convention for licensing. The difference is that we will use different version numbers. For example, you can expect Elliott 8.6 to use the Bin86 folder. The configuration file will be named EL860.CFG, and the utility name will be EL860CF.EXE. This convention will continue for future Elliott releases, such as version 8.7 and so on.

EMK