Altium The License Manager Was Not Able To Renew Your License

[Gabelo Camphire]

Installationof any software application should be straightforward, intuitive, and, perhaps above all, fast. Furthermore, when you have the software installed, you want to be able to update it as and when you deem necessary, and in a streamlined fashion.

The installation itself is streamlined and expedient. This allows you to get the software installed and up and running in the quickest time possible. Once installed, you can further refine your installation in terms of available features and functionality.

Altium Designer includes a streamlined licensing system that enables you to get licensed and up and running with your Altium Designer Software in a timely and efficient manner. The system offers various licensing types to suit your licensing needs.

Facilitating the ability to enhance your Altium Designer instance, customization of the software is made possible through the concept of Extensions. This is a key concept of the system to understand. An extension is effectively an add-on to the software that provides extended features and functionality. A core set of features and functions are installed and handled transparently as part of the initial installation, referred to as System Resources. In addition, Optional Extensions are available, which are packets of functionality that are optionally installed or removed by the user as required. It is the extension concept that enables the installation to be handcrafted in accordance with design needs.

Customization of an Altium Designer installation essentially boils down to management of the available extensions. Install, update, or remove available extensions as and when you need to. Many extensions are available from Altium for use with Altium Designer. In addition, and with the Altium Developer extension, you can extend the functionality of Altium Designer through use of the Altium Designer SDK (Software Development Kit) by creating your own extensions for the software.

And inherent to the Altium Developer extension is the dedicated Developer Interface, which is the user interface for managing custom extensions. Part of this interface is a publishing feature that enables you to share those extensions securely with a wider audience through release to a global repository of extensions (a global extensions gallery, if you will). This is a cloud-based Altium repository and opens up the possibility for third-party developers to offer and trade extensions for Altium Designer through secure distribution, licensing, and installation of the extensions they craft.

Within Altium Designer, management of extensions for the software is performed from within the dedicated Extensions and Updates view, which is accessed by clicking on the control at the top-right of the design space then choosing the Extensions and Updates command from the menu.

We all can appreciate using examples to get us going with specific aspects of software. At times, such examples showcase a feature or set of features that make the learning curve a little less steep. In a similar fashion, we like to have access to a pre-developed set of libraries, giving us a boost in the choice of components we can use 'out-of-the-box'.

A selection of example designs is installed as part of the initial installation. In a standard default installation of the software, these can be found in the \Users\Public\Documents\Altium\AD24\Examples folder of the installation. Some sample projects, components, and other design content are available when connecting to a Workspace (if you opted to include the sample data during activation/installation of the Workspace). Also, components equipped with domain models (symbol, footprint, simulation model) can be found using the Manufacturer Part Search panel.

Once the base version of Altium Designer is installed on a computer (e.g., 24.0.x), you can either update to a subsequent version (e.g., 24.0.x +1), or that subsequent version can be installed as a fresh and distinct instance. The installation system supports the concurrent installation of different instances of the software. The beauty of installing different version instances is that it enables you to quickly access a previous version directly and independently, whereas an update effectively replaces the earlier version with the later one.

When running the installer for a subsequent version of Altium Designer, an additional page of the Altium Designer Installer wizard will be available called Installation Mode. This page gives you the choice of either updating an existing version instance of Altium Designer or installing as a separate new version instance. Choose the New installation option to maintain separate version instances of the software on the same computer. Remember to specify different destination folders for the new instance later in the wizard.

For the main program installation and shared documents folders, you have the ability to give those folders meaningful names, which can come in very handy for a machine containing multiple different version instances of the software. But for other folders, they are only distinguished by their GUID. Being able to tell that you have the right folder for the right version instance suddenly becomes more difficult. However, help is at hand. By using the Preferences dialog, you can quickly identify the GUID used for the currently open instance of the software and, armed with that knowledge, you can pick the right folder through Windows Explorer.

During initial installation of Altium Designer, you have a choice over the core design functionality you want to be installed. This choice is not 'set in stone', however, and can be modified at any time after installation. This can be performed in two places:

Click the button at the top-right of the Platform region. This accesses the Configure Platform page, which presents the core feature set for the software including platform extensions and is identical in content to that found on the Select Design Functionality page of the Altium Designer Installer.

Access the Programs and Features page through the Windows Control Panel then right-click on the entry for Altium Designer and use the Change command from the context menu.

The Altium Designer Installer wizard will be presented. Log in through the Account Log In pop-up window, and you will be taken to the Select Design Functionality page. Make changes to the installed core feature set as required then click Next.

The Ready To Modify page will be presented. At this point, the Installer has all the information it requires to proceed with modification of the installation. If you need to change anything, click the Back button. If you want to cancel the install, click Cancel. To proceed with the modification, click Next. The page will change to Modifying Altium Designer, and the files required to implement the change will be downloaded and installed.

The page presents all Altium Designer platform updates that are available, arranged in chronological order, to provide a historical view of platform changes since the last update. The most recent version build incorporates the changes from all previous updates. To view further information on any platform update, click on the name to open a detailed view. In most cases, this will provide an expanded description of the update's function and Release Notes that summarize its changes over the previous version.

Follow the installation process using the Altium Designer Installer for the new version. After agreeing to the End-User License Agreement, you will be presented with the Installation Mode page. This page gives you the choice of either updating an existing version instance of Altium Designer or installing it as a separate new version instance. Choose the Update existing version option then use the drop-down field to select the specific instance of the software you want to update. The Programs and Documents install locations will be summarized based on the chosen instance.

Login through the Account Log In pop-up window. Once this is done, the page will change to Updating Altium Designer and the files required to implement the update will be downloaded and then installed.

Uninstalling Altium Designer is performed using the Altium Designer Uninstaller. This wizard-based uninstaller is accessed from the standard Programs and Features page (accessed from the Control Panel in Windows 7 and above). Right-click on the entry for Altium Designer and use the Uninstall command from the context menu.

Choose the uninstall action required. If you want to cancel out of the uninstall, click Cancel. To proceed with the uninstall, click Next. The page will change to Uninstalling Altium Designer and the chosen action will be processed. Once the uninstall is complete, click Finish on the Uninstallation Complete page of the Uninstaller.

Yes, Altium Designer provides you with the ability to send a crash report through to the Altium Developers, should you encounter an error in the software. In the error/exception dialog that appears, simply click the Send Report button and add a description of what you were doing at the time of the error. The more information, the better the chance of the cause of the crash being reproduced and addressed.

For the main program installation and shared documents folders, you have the ability to give those folders meaningful names, which can come in very handy for a machine containing multiple different version instances of the software. But for other folders, they are only distinguished by their GUID. Being able to tell you have the right folder for the right version instance suddenly becomes more difficult. However, help is at hand. By using the Preferences dialog, you can quickly identify the GUID used for the currently open instance of the software and, armed with that knowledge, can pick the right folder through Windows Explorer.

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