Instructions for Silent License Activation – Version 6

Note: this document applies to SuperLab 6; similar instructions for SuperLab 5 can be found here.

IT personnel are often tasked with wiping computers periodically, e.g. every semester or year, and reinstalling a fresh “image” that includes the operating system and all programs. This operation is usually referred to as “ghosting”.

When a fresh image that includes SuperLab has been copied onto a computer, SuperLab needs to be activated. Cedrus has improved its licensing engine to make this task fairly seamless during ghosting operations by offering an automatic and “silent license activation”. This page describes the steps that need to be followed to take advantage of this feature.

Prior to Creating the Disk Image

Before you begin, you should have received a “silent activation file” issued by Cedrus, a text file about 4KB in size.

• On Windows

• Install the latest version of SuperLab 6 for Windows.
• Download a special plug-in; this links work only with the latest version of SuperLab.
• Place a copy of that DLL inside the sub-folder named “plug-ins” under the SuperLab installation folder. For example, If you installed to “C:\Program Files\SuperLab 6\”, then place the DLL in “C:\Program Files\SuperLab 6\plug-ins\”.
• Create a folder named “Data” in this location:
  C:\ProgramData\Cedrus\Data\

• On Macintosh

Mac OS no longer allows a user to add a file into an application.

• Download this special build of SuperLab 6.5.2.
• Create a folder named “Data” in this location:
  /Users/Shared/Cedrus/Data/

• On All Computers

• Place the Cedrus silent activation file in the “Data” folder and make sure they both have the correct permissions. Both the “Data” folder and the ghost file should be readable and writable by all users.
• Make sure the computer is connected to the Internet and that no firewall or other software would prevent SuperLab from establishing a secure (SSL) connection with activation.cedrus.com:5972
• Launch SuperLab. You might notice a small pop-up appear briefly with the title “Activating SuperLab”. Do not close this window if you see it. In most cases it should open and close by itself just before the SuperLab splash screen appears.
• Verify that the silent, automatic activation of SuperLab has completed successfully. SuperLab should launch fully, i.e. without asking you to register the software or telling you that it’s running as a demo. In addition, near the bottom of the experiment window, look for the “Registered To” label; it should display the number of days left on the activation, e.g. “SuperLab (XX days left)”.
• Exit SuperLab. Verify that the “ghost file” is still in the “Data” folder.

Now you are ready to create the disk image; make sure that it includes the SuperLab installation folder (or app on the Mac) and the “Data” folder with the Cedrus ghost file inside it. When you copy the disk image onto another computer, SuperLab will launch and silently activate on any computer – as long as the computer can connect to activation.cedrus.com:5972.

Troubleshooting

If all of the above steps were followed correctly and yet the verification in Step D is not indicating success, you might find these troubleshooting steps helpful.

Part One (only attempt this if steps A through D failed): Create a new text file (with extension “txt”) in the “Data” folder. Type in it “this is a test file for troubleshooting SuperLab”; anything will do as long as the file size is not zero.

Part Two (only attempt this if steps A through D failed): Set the following environment variable: CEDRUS_OBTRUSIVE_DIAGNOSTIC_LOGGING=1, and then try launching SuperLab again. This might cause certain pop-up messages to appear. Please note these messages to report them to Cedrus.

Part Three: In the “Data” folder, look for a file named “cedrus_license_error_log.txt”. If present, review its contents to see if its error messages can help you. Alternatively, you can email the file to Cedrus along with any pertinent information and we will troubleshoot it on our end.