Testing Licensing & Removing add-on from LabVIEW dialog

[OlivierL]

I have played with licensing add-ons today and I ran the test described below to understand how the process works. I'm pretty happy thus far with the product and its capabilities but resulting from my tests, I have some "Invalid" Add-ons stuck in LabVIEW's memory always displayed in the "Third Party Add-ons" and my question is to know how I can remove the item from the list from the dialog?  Also, what is the best way to deal with this type of tests (licensing) since I assume that something has to be stored on disk to offer proper protection and obviously, I doubt you want to advertise publicly how to work around it and remove that history and added protection. What I mean is that there will be time when we want to test 30 days evaluation period, licensing certain features only, annual subscription, etc. Is the only realistic solution to use a virtual machine and continuously go back to a snapshot and re-install the add-on? Otherwise, I expect that we will run into a fair bit of conflicts and slowly create a mess in LabVIEW configuration.  Thanks,  Olivier  ---------- Detailed steps of what I did --------  (We do not intend to distribute the library through LVTN for the moment so I think we have to go with Protection Plus 4)   1 - I used the Simple Math API example provided by NI  2 - I created a license according to this tutorial (https://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-13906#Chapter_1_Introduction_and_Prerequisites) using Protection Plus 4.  3 - I installed the TPLAT in LV2011 using VIPM  4 - I created a licensed library using the Advanced Mode of "Add-on Licensing Tool"  5 - The license appeared (as "Invalid" if I recall correctly) automatically upon restarting LV2011  6 - I tried opening the LVLIB in LV2013 and an error (as expected) prevented the execution       At this point in time, the Add-on was NOT listed in the "Third Party Add-ons" window  7 - I closed LV201  8 - I copied the license file (SimpleMathAPI.lf) to "C:\ProgramData\National Instruments\Partners\SynSol\Licenses\"   9 - I Registered the license using LFEdit with the codes provided by LabVIEW  10 - I ran LV2013 and the "Third party Add-ons" window opened and display the Simple Math add-on as "Activated"  11 - Everything works fine and I can use my licensed lvlib in LV2013.  When I try deleting the entire structure "SynSol\Licenses\SimpleMathAPI.lf" from "C:\ProgramData\National Instruments\Partners\". As expected, the toolkit is now listed as "Invalid". However, I'd like to remove it from the list entirely. I assume that something has to remain on disk (or in the registry) to prevent people from simply re-using the same 30 days evaluation license continuously...However, can we remove the item from the dialog...

[David_L · Accepted solution]

Hi Olivier,

In order to test licensing, I would definitely recommend using a virtual machine.  The licensing technology is built in such a way to make it very difficult to revert back to the initial state.  This is intentional to add additional security and prevent people from trying to beat the system.

If you need more help with resetting your system for testing, you may also contact Concept Software who creates the underlying licensing technology.  They may have  other suggestions you can use for testing other than using a virtual machine.

In order to remove the "invalid" entries from LabVIEW, this can be done through two methods.  If the lvlib still exists on disk, you can use the RegisterAddon.exe with the -u flag to "Unregister" (RegisterAddon.exe -- -s -u -l “vi.lib\MyCompany\MyToolkit\MyToolkit.lvlib").

If this doesn't work, or the lvlib has already been deleted, you can manually delete the entries from the registry.  Note that by deleting these entries, this will only unregister the addon with LabVIEW.  It will not override the license file settings that are encrypted and protected.  As soon as the add-on is registered again, or when the VIs are opened in LabVIEW memory, they will be re-added to LabVIEW in the same state as they were when it was removed.  The registry key you should remove is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\National Instruments\LabVIEW\<LabVIEW Version>\PartnerAddons\<Company Name>\<Product Name>\<Version Name>

[OlivierL]

Thank you. This definitely works. I deleted directly from the registry and we will create a VM to test different use cases.