• A Valid License requires a Certificate of Authenticity or a blanket manufacturer (OEM) license - if you don't have a Certificate of Authenticity, you don't have a valid license UNLESS it is licensed through a manufacturer - if you believe you paid for a license, and don't have a Certificate of Authenticity, please contact the listed company in the Contact Information provided in the IMG License Manager - see the "Licensing Information" Icon in the Program Group. (NOTE: For certain licenses, IMG may not be able to assist you directly).
• What does a Certificate of Authenticity look like?
• To verify the license, run the "Licensing Information" Icon in the Program Group - it will say "This is a Licensed and registered Version..." if properly licensed. If you are asked to enter License Key & Serial # information, then the product is not properly licensed. Refer to the Contact Information for manufacturer contact information.
• If the software was provided on a system, but is not licensed, you should contact the vendor / manufacturer for further information. Some bundle (provide license with equipment), some offer (can license on request), and others simply include a demo version. Please note that just because you find IMG software does not necessarily mean that it is licensed for your use.

Original ID: IL800270

• This information only relates to licenses with Certificates/License Key and Serial number. For Build-A-Board.com licenses, refer to the License Manager Tab | Manage Licenses when logged into your Build-A-Board.com Account.

• A major system change, or moving to a different system requires a license transfer.
• Three items are required:
• 1. Serial # (from original Certificate of Authenticity)
• 2. License Key (from original Certificate of Authenticity)
• 3. System ID (from IMG License Manager on New System)
• Important Notes:
• If you have transferred the license before, you MUST use the most recent serial # / license key pair! Once a license has been transferred, the serial #/license key used to transfer will no longer be allowed for future transfers. Be sure to safely record your most recent license information.
• A hard disk re-format, or Operating System Upgrade / Re-install will generally cause the System ID to change. After these changes, re-install the IMG software and refer to the IMG License Manager to obtain the New System's System ID
• The software must be installed from the original media / original download
• To obtain the New System's System ID, run the IMG License Manager ("Licensing Information" icon)
• The software MUST be the same product / same version as the original license.
• Click here to Transfer a License. Be sure to have the 3 items indicated above.
• If you have copied (or restored from backup), it may be helpful to "reset" the license. For versions prior to 1.78, you can delete the license file (LICENSE.LIC) (use Windows Explorer, go into the Installation Directory, find the file LICENSE.LIC, then delete it), then run the License Manager twice, e.g. Start Menu | Programs | [Product] | Licensing Information - click Register later the first time (which will create an empty LICENSE.LIC file), then obtain the System ID the SECOND time you run the License Manager, and use this to perform the transfer. In the 1.78, there is an option to delete the LICENSE.LIC file from the Web License portion (within the License Manager).
• Other Notes:
• The License Manager updates the file LICENSE.LIC in the installation folder. In general, you want to be an Administrator (or privileged user) that can write to this file. Additionally, this file cannot be Read-Only (which can happen if it is copied or moved from a CD).
• There have been issues where the LICENSE.LIC file is corrupt, or if edited manually, it is saved as Unicode (it must be ANSI / single byte characters). The options are to do a re-install, or delete the file & recreate it by running the License Manager (you must run the License Manager twice for software released prior to 2007).

Original ID: IL800271

Please check the following:

• Certificate of Authenticity's must be used with the CD they were delivered with - if you are trying to license a downloaded version, or a different version number, the license will not be accepted. Contact IMG Customer Service to help resolve the situation.
• If Product and Version and software all match, but you cannot license, then Reset the License file - from the IMG License Manager, click on "Additional License Options / Support", then click on "Delete (Reset) License File" - This will copy LICENSE.ORG to LICENSE.LIC, and ensure that the correct (original) License File is in use.
• Certificate of Authenticity's must be used with the CD they were delivered with - if you have multiple CD's, you may need to match the Certificate's with the CD - contact IMG Customer Service to help resolve the situation.
• For version tracking, IMG does include a date with many licenses - if the date embedded in the license file has passed, the licensing step will fail. This is not a major limitation, since the system date can be set back to a date that is valid, the software can be licensed, and the date can be reset to the current date. Once licensed, the license will be valid as long as the hard drive is not reformatted, or Windows is not re-installed. To see if this is the case, you can open the LICENSE.LIC in a text editor (e.g. Notepad) - the FEATURE INSTALL line will have a date (e.g. 16-Jan-2005). If this date has passed, then you will want to set your system date to a date prior to this date, install/license the software, then reset your date to the current date.

Original ID: IL800272

Here are some items that have occurred that may help you resolve this issue...

• The license is actually valid, but the license manager was already running unbeknownst to you. Restart your system & run Licensing Information directly (without running the product).
• You did not copy the entire license information correctly. Between the ( ===== . . . ======) lines actually means all the information between the 2 lines, including carriage returns (i.e. blank lines) If you end the license file prematurely by not including any trailing carriage returns (i.e. the trailing blank lines), the verification will fail.
• You saved the file directly to the LICENSE.LIC file, but it is in Unicode format (rather than ANSI). From Notepad, try a File | Save As. . . and verify the encoding is ANSI. For newer license files, it is the opposite - it must be in UNICODE format, not ANSI. As a reference, if the file contains "# This is an Authenticated License File" then it should be ANSI. If it does not have that line, it is UNICODE.
• The file was modified from DOS Text (carriage return/line feed) line breaks to UNIX text (line feed) line breaks - Use WordPad, and and Save As Text (MS-DOS/Text).
• You have extensions hidden, and you saved the file as a .txt file, so even though you see LICENSE.LIC, the file is named LICENSE.LIC.txt, and this (no matter what you actually see) is not actually a file named LICENSE.LIC (which is what the IMG License Manager is looking for). Refer to the Command prompt (Run | CMD) or turn off the "hide extensions of known types" in Folder Options.
• The product and/or version is not an exact match. It must be to license.

The IMG Personal License is a system based license tied to a unique identifier. The IMG Personal License is a low-cost, limited support license that gives individuals access to IMG software. You may manage this type of license with your Build-A-Board.com account. You can logon to your account here: Build-A-Board.com/Accounts
Refer the IMG License Manager Help available in the product or options available within your Build-A-Board.com account. For additional information on the IMG Personal License, you can refer to this page: http://www.imgpresents.com/support/personallicense.htm

The IMG License Manager has multiple sources for validating licenses. Typically the Serial Number and License key displayed are embedded in the LICENSE.LIC file, and for a normal install, followed by a license entering the License Key and Serial Number from the Certificate of Authenticity, the Licensed display will indicate the certificate values.

Important Note: There are an infinite number of valid license keys for any serial number due to various algorithms used to validate the license and what criteria is used for a specific system. There are also overrides and fall-back options used internally, so it is not a cause for concern if the displayed license key does not match the certificate license key - as long as you see the "This is a Licensed and Registered version". Also note that only releases post 1.78 Release 3 (and other products circa 2009) actually displayed a license key. The display is informational only, it is not a critical aspect of the license - the license is based on LICENSE.LIC, and often multiple keys are used (e.g. to lock to the hard drive and ethernet Mac ID). The specific key shown will typically be the Certificate key, but it is not a requirement of the software.

If the Serial Number does match the certificate, but the License Key does not, yet that is what you wish, attempt the following:

1. Manually copy \Program Files\[PRODUCT DIRECTORY]\LICENSE.ORG to \Program Files\[PRODUCT DIRECTORY]\LICENSE.LIC.
2. As an Administrator, Run LICENSE.EXE (Licensing Information Icon)
3. Enter License Key and Serial Number and some text in Customer, then Finish & verify license
4. Re-Run LICENSE.EXE (Licensing Information Icon) and verify display

Check overrides - delete any 4 character entry in registry at [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE]\Software\Innovation Management Group\Windows, e.g. T178=pddQRmEEEEEE::0tTyYQwWeE - these could be from an evaluation license and may affect display.
Verify you are not running the software from a USB - the USB based license will not act like a system based license.
Verify there is not a section in LICENSE.LIC with a [License] Key=ABCD12340987 entry (it is recommended to use steps above to revert to original license file).
Verify you are installing and working with software from an IMG Product Disc or downloaded from imgpresents.com - there are custom, OEM, and special releases that may act differently due to special use cases.

If the display is a requirement, refer to the IMG Software Check utility http://www.imgpresents.com/imgfaq.htm?keyword=PI0113120711 and run to clear off all IMG software. Then perform an install from a known valid retail version of the Product and Version matching your certificate. Install and license using Certificate Keys.

First reported after Windows 10 update in November 2015, determined that the "highestAvailable" manifested exe required to properly communicate with License process. Steps required to resolve issue:

1. (SmartClick as example) - Use Windows Explorer, browse to \Program Files\SmartClick (or \Program Files (x86)\SmartClick).
2. Find SmartClick.highestAvailable.exe and SmartClick.exe. Rename SmartClick.exe to SmartClick.original.exe and then copy SmartClick.highestAvailable.exe to SmartClick.exe (or copy/paste, then rename)
3. Test and verify SmartClick runs without DEMO display at opening Splash screen

Notes: The SmartClick process launches and communicates with the LICENSE2.exe process to validate the license on the system. Apparently there were internal security changes to the Windows update that resulted in the communication that previously worked no longer did. By using the higher permissions version, the communication that was not working now works again. This may have to do with permissions of the user/user setup and other security / local policy settings. Also note there is also a "requireAdministrator" exe that could be used if the "highestAvailable" exe does not resolve the issue.

1. Run IMG License Manager (Licensing Information icon / LICENSE.EXE)
2. Click on "Additional License Options / Support" button (blue)
3. Click on "Delete (Reset) License File (LICENSE.LIC)" & confirm Yes/Yes - this makes sure any other license or expired license is cleared on your system
4. Enter License Key as provided (be sure to verify entry)
5. Enter Serial Number as provided (be sure to verify entry)
6. Optionally enter Customer/Company, then flick on Finish, and do final Confirmation

Notes:

• Depending on product, release version, OS version, and specific technical issue, some tech items are very specific, and some may span to other products/versions
• Downloadable files can also be accessed by anonymous FTP at ftp://downloads.imgpresents.com
• Older files are moved into a separate archive location - see notes/details/new location in *.archived.txt text file

• Return to Technical Support

As seen in ...