Activating NI Software Products

• How can I activate different software products within NI Developer Suite?
• How can I activate my NI Software products if my computer is offline without an internet connection?
• I am attempting to install and activate LabVIEW and other NI software on a computer. I have the media but cannot seem to find the key to activate the software. I have a serial number and also the purchase order (PO) number for this set of software.
• How can I activate my LabVIEW toolkits and modules?
• I have a patch version of NI Software. Can I use the same Serial Number/Activation Code as the main version to activate the patch as well? 
• Is it possible for me to install NI software without activating it at the same time? I'd like to activate it after the installation is complete.
• A red exclamation point shows up whenever I try to activate my software.
• My computer is not connected to the internet and is asking for an activation code. When I enter my serial number, it says that the serial number is invalid. What do I do?
• LabVIEW is activated. However, one of my add-ons is not. How do I activate the add-ons?
• I want to transfer a LabVIEW license to a new computer. How do I generate an activation code for LabVIEW?
• If I reinstall LabVIEW, do I need new activation codes?
• I am trying to activate LabVIEW but don’t have a serial number. My University provided the software.

You require your serial number (also referred as a license number) in order to activate NI software. You can find out your serial number by contacting your software admin. 
​You can activate your NI software by the following two ways: by using your serial number as long as your computer requiring activation has internet access OR by generating an activation code if your computer requiring activation does not have internet access.

Note: For NI License Manager 4.5 and later, a computer with an active network connection will open a screen requiring an NI.com sign in. To activate offline, remove the computer from the network or disable the WiFi and move to the section on activation without internet access below.

If your computer requiring activation has internet access

Activate your NI software products using the associated serial numbers for the product. Follow the steps below based on which version of NI License Manager you have installed. The version of NI License Manager is visible in the uppermost part of the window.

Note: Before using this method ensure your computer is connected to the network and you have logged in to your NI user account in the License Manager.

NI License Manager versions 4.0 and later

1. The following screen should appear when you open or launch an NI Product that is not yet activated.

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2. Click Activate on this screen to open the LabVIEW Licensing Wizard.

 

3. The products on this page should reflect the software installed on your machine that is not activated. Once you put your serial number in for each product and click Activate, the activation of each product will then automatically complete the next time it is launched without requiring additional activation steps via the LabVIEW Licensing Wizard.

Other Options: If you already generated activation code, you may also activate your product by directly entering your activation code.  

1. Open NI License Manager and click Activate Software.
2. Click Enter Activation Codes in the NI Licensing Wizard window.
3. Enter the activation codes that were generated in the steps above and click Activate.
   • The wizard may require you to login to NI user account, however, you could avoid this requirement by temporarily turning off all internet connection from your computer. 

NI License Manager versions 3.7 and previous

1. Open or launch an NI Product that is not yet activated. Click Activate Products on this screen to open the NI Activation Wizard. 
2. Select the Automatically activate through a secure Internet connection option to activate using your serial number(s).
3. The products on this page should reflect the software installed on your machine that is not activated. Note: there may be multiple pages of products if you have a lot of software installed.
4. Once you put your serial number in for each product, the activation of each product will then automatically complete the next time it is launched without requiring additional activation steps via the NI Activation Wizard.​

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Generate an activation code if your computer requiring activation does not have internet access 

1. You will need to activate via a 20-character activation code specific to your computer if you do not have internet access. There are two ways of generating a 20-character activation code which are listed below. Note: If you activate a product such as LabVIEW Professional, the add-ons that are included with this product may remain inactive. If this occurs, generate and enter activation codes specific to each add-on.
   • Go to the NI Product Activation page on a device that has internet connection and generate a 20-character activation code specific to the computer. You will need to find the computer ID of the computer that needs activation and use your serial number to generate the activation code. 
   • Reach out to NI and provide us with your serial number as well as the computer ID of the computer needing activation. We will generate a 20-character activation code specific to the computer in question.
2. Once you have obtained the activation code, follow the steps below based on which version of NI License Manager you have installed. The version of NI License Manager is visible in the uppermost part of the window. Note: When you generate an activation code, the codes will be sent to your email. You can parse the activation codes from the email to allow you to easily copy and paste the codes into NI License Manager.

NI License Manager versions 4.0 and later

3. Open NI License Manager and click Activate Software.

4. Click Enter Activation Codes in the NI Licensing Wizard window.

5. Enter the activation codes that were generated in the steps above and click Activate.

NI License Manager versions 3.7 and previous

3. The following screen should appear when you open or launch an NI Product that is not yet activated. Click Activate Products on this screen to open the NI Activation Wizard. 

4. Select the Apply one or more 20-character activation codes previously acquired for this computer option to activate using your activation code(s).  

5.  Enter the activation codes and click Next to activate.

 

Additional Information

• If the Activation Wizard does not appear when you open or launch an NI product that is not yet activated visit Activating Your Software. You should launch the corresponding application, which will typically have a .exe extension, for the Activation Wizard to launch 
• If activation errors occur when using the 20-digit activation code: 
  • Visit the version of the software that you have installed on your computer, and verify that the code you are creating matches that version. For example, a code generated for LabVIEW Professional Development System 2018 will not activate an installation of LabVIEW 2018 SP1 as the codes are version specific.
  • Upgrade NI License Manager to the latest version of the software.
• If you have a patch version of your software, you can use the same Serial Number/Activation Code as the main version to activate it.
• If red exclamation points continue to appear, it is possible that it is associated with a Volume License Agreement (VLA). If this is the case, your company will have a dedicated Software Administrator (admin) who handles granting licenses to users. Try contacting the software admin prior to contacting NI. If your organization has a VLA and you would like to apply it to an offline computer, follow these instructions on how to install a disconnected license .
• If you get the following error, "An error occurred when trying to activate your product, use an alternate method or try again later" verify you are using the correct Computer ID and recreate a new 20-digit activation code. If you are in NI License Manager 4.5, remove the computer from the network and activate again. This time, you will see an offline option instead of the sign in screen.
• If you have the same product, on the same computer, and all you did was uninstall and reinstall a non-expired product, the same activation codes will work when you are prompted to reinstall.
• If you still get a message to activate your software products even after activated from a disconnected license file with NI Volume License Manager (VLM), you may ignore the message. 
• Expiring activation codes will only work in client versions with NI License Manager 3.7 or higher.

Activating Products Without Serial Numbers

Non-serialized products, such as LabVIEW Community Edition and LabVIEW NXG Community Edition, use identity-based activation. After you have installed these products, follow the default settings in NI License Manager 4.6 or later to activate your software using your user account. Note that you cannot use serial number activation or activation codes for these products.