Venable Software Licensing and Activation

By Ford Mays - January 17, 2023

Venable Instruments provides different software tools (e.g., Stability Analysis Software, ESTiView, System Identification, Analysis and Design) that require a license to operate, and this blog addresses some of the questions and issues that have arisen in the past. There are permanent and temporary licenses available, where permanent licenses are provided for purchased Venable products and temporary (timed) licenses are provided with demo or rented products. We will discuss both in this blog.

Permanent Licenses

All Venable software products use the same licensing system which requires a Software Serial Number (SSN) to generate a permanent software license. SSNs are 16 hexadecimal characters (e.g., 4000-123456789ABC-D) and are supplied with the instrument. They are found at the front of the hard copy manual provided. Permanent licenses are generated by the user via the Venable License Wizard.

There are three methods that the License Wizard can use to create a software license, by Internet (preferred), by Email and by Phone. The Internet option allows the license wizard to interact with the Venable License Server to create and install a license. By Email also requires an internet connection, and the user must provide a valid email address. The Phone option is for customers that have extensive security protocols that prevent the use of the first two methods.

Contact information

Temporary Licenses

Temporary licenses are generated by Venable Instruments and emailed to customers. The customer will use the License Wizard to activate the software by cutting and pasting the software license from the email into the License Wizard (very much like the Email option for permanent Licenses).

Detailed instructions for the License Wizard and software activation are found in the Venable License Manual.

Permanent Licenses are node locked to the PC upon which the Venable software is activated. Since PCs have the life span of a fruit fly compared to lab instruments, we can reset SSNs for re-use when a PC is decommissioned, re-imaged, or just dies. Please contact Venable for help with resetting a SSN or other licensing or activation issues.