Activating Software

• Activating an Individual License
• Activating Without an Internet Connection
• Assigning Products on a Group License
• Activating FLEXnet® Servers
• What happens to my information during activation?

Activating an Individual License

Activation of Individual licenses typically occurs by following the activation prompts immediately after MATLAB® installation. The entire online activation process should take just a few seconds.

During the installation and activation process, you are prompted to log in to or create your MathWorks Account. Your account is associated with your license number to ensure that you receive the product rights to which you are entitled. Licenses with the Stand-Alone Named User activation type require the licensed end user to be associated with a license. Licensed end user association is optional for all other standard license options.

You are also prompted to choose an activation type to determine the license rules for how many users and computers can run the software. Your choices are either Designated Computer, which allows software to be installed and activated on one computer for non-simultaneous use by multiple people, or Stand-Alone Named User, which allows software to be installed and activated on one or more computers for use by one user. On licenses with the Stand-Alone Named User activation type, the software runs only when the named user is logged in to the computer.

Activating Software without an Internet Connection

The computer on which you will run MathWorks software does not need to have an Internet connection. In this situation, you use the License Center to activate the software. After providing the necessary information for your activation type in the License Center, you either download or e-mail the License File for transfer to the computer where the software will run. If you do not have access to a computer with an Internet connection, contact Customer Support.

Assigning Products on a Group License

Activation and the License Center simplify many of the tasks of Group license administration. The manual process of creating subset passcodes and tracking product usage that were required prior to R2008a have been replaced by automated processes, resulting in reduced license management time and easier enforcement of license compliance.

For each MATLAB on a Group license, a unique Group Member license is created. Each Group Member license has its own product configuration and activation type. Administrators assign products from the Group license to each Group Member license prior to activation. The activation process for a Group Member license is identical to that for an Individual license. The Group license continues to serve as an aggregator of all Group Member licenses for reporting and maintenance quotes.

In R2008a, the process of activating Group Member licenses is identical to that of activating Individual licenses. This change eliminates the need to generate subset passcodes. Click on image to see enlarged view.

Activating FLEXnet® Servers

The process of activating Network Named User and Concurrent license options remains the same. These license options have always required the use of FLEXnet network license servers to manage software licenses from The MathWorks; you activate the license server by manually submitting the server host ID to The MathWorks and retrieving your License File through your MathWorks Account. The client machines that access the FLEXnet server do not require activation. For more information on using FLEXnet servers, see the FLEXnet Guide.

What happens to my information during activation?

When you activate your software immediately after installation, the installer encrypts and transmits data via the industry-standard Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to a secure activation server at The MathWorks. Transmitted data could include any of the following, depending on license option and activation type: software version number, computer MAC address, host ID, operating system, platform, or the operating system user name of the end user. The activation server at The MathWorks completes the activation by automatically installing a License File in the appropriate directory.

It is your right to know what information The MathWorks collects, how we use it, and what your options are for its use. For complete information, read the full privacy policy.