Maximum Activations

I use Vectorworks on two machines--a desktop and a laptop. Several months ago, I moved my user folder to a Dropbox folder. This way, when I update workspaces and such on one machine, it would transfer over to the other machine the next time I started it up.

 

The downside has been that I regularly have to "Activate" again, and now for the third time, I have had to call in because I have exceeded activations. I'm only using it on two machines so I don't know what the fix is..

I am having the same issue. 

On 7/17/2019 at 3:19 AM, benelmo said:

I moved my user folder to a Dropbox folder.

 

I would not do that.

There may be settings that are machine specific

(at least the license information in this case)

which likely provoke problems.

 

On the other hand, I think VW licensing should recognize the machine

(code/UUID/....) again and not spread new activations.

 

What you can do is setting up a Workgroup Folder,

which when containing "same named" Files as VW App's Library, will

"overwrite" these with your version.

(Needs the same Folder Structure as VW App or User Library Folders)

And put this on Dropbox instead to synchronize between machines.

 

This will work great to access custom Library Elements and such things.

(Your Office Standard)

 

 

With a VW User or VW Workgroup you can easily "overwrite" VW App's Library

and extend Settings (e.g. accessing your own File Templates and such)

 

But unfortunately, having a Workgroup Folder will not help to synchronize all your Settings !

 

As VW does

a) save all your Settings Changes and things you add, by default into the User Folder only

b) the "overwriting" of same Settings or library files has a certain priority

c) Unfortunately that priority goes "overwriting" :

    > User Folder overrides > Workspace Folder overrides > App Library Folder

 

Generally you may need to feed/maintain your Workspace Folder by manually copying

things over from User Folder or from scratch.

And if you would have e.g. a newer custom File Template version in Workgroup Folder,

but also an older Template with the same name on your machine,

VW will use/prioritize the older on that machine.

 

 

In case of having to change the main hard drive and do a clean install on the (same) OS, should one uninstall Vectorworks first and what other steps are required to remove the activation? Apart from the main hard drive, the rest of the hardware will remain the same. Will installing and activating Vectorworks after the clean install count as an extra activation?

Uninstalling does not change the number of Activations, so it really does not matter if you uninstall before changing the hard drive. 

Thank you. So, will changing the drive and doing a clean install of Windows result to a new machine activation?

Edited September 8, 2023 by kmousikos

 

22 minutes ago, kmousikos said:

So, will changing the drive and doing a clean install of Windows result to a new machine activation?

Yes, a new activation will be needed. All licenses have more than one activation, so you should be okay however, if you have an issue, don't hesitate to get in touch with technical support via https://customers.vectorworks.net/forms/support-request

I just ran into this issue and submitted a support request.

 

@JuanP Is there a license manager on the roadmap? To allow users to manage their activations, similar to how Maxon or Adobe function.