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Apply a licence

A new Profinity installation runs without a licence file. An unlicensed Desktop installation is limited to personal, non-commercial use. Other installations start a one-time 14-day local trial with the Server features, as described in Licensing. A commercial or evaluation licence from Prohelion removes those limits, and you apply it after installation in the same way on every platform.

You need three things:

  • The Security administration permission, which is needed to view or change the License page. On a Windows desktop installation the built-in account holds it.
  • The licence file, named license.yaml, which Prohelion signs for one installation and returns after receiving its fingerprint.
  • Access to the machine that runs Profinity, or to its artefacts directory, when the instance has no network access.

Who can sign in, by installation type

What you can sign in with depends on the type of installation and its licence.

Installation Licence Sign-in Other machines can open the web interface
Windows desktop application None, or a Desktop licence The built-in desktop user signs in automatically, with no password and no admin account No
Windows desktop application Server licence The desktop window still signs in automatically, and Profinity also creates the default admin account with the password password, which must be changed at first sign-in Yes, after a restart
Windows service, Linux, macOS, or Docker None, during the 14-day local trial admin with the password password, which must be changed at first sign-in Yes
Windows service, Linux, macOS, or Docker None, after the trial ends admin, with the password you set Yes, in restricted mode
Windows service, Linux, macOS, or Docker Server licence admin with the password password on a new installation, which must be changed at first sign-in Yes

When the 14-day trial ends, the admin account stays and Profinity stays reachable on the same address in restricted mode. In restricted mode, a user with the Security administration permission can sign in to apply a licence, and nothing else works until they do. User accounts and roles need the Server licensed feature, which the Server and Enterprise editions and the 14-day trial include. Refer to Licensing for the trial and for what each edition includes.

Apply a licence from the License page

  1. Select ADMIN in the side menu, then License.
  2. Copy the Fingerprint with the copy button beside it.
  3. Send the fingerprint to Prohelion through the usual sales or support channel. The fingerprint identifies this installation and is the only information Prohelion needs to issue a licence.
  4. When Prohelion returns the license.yaml file, return to the License page, select Update license file, and choose the file.
  5. Restart Profinity if the licence adds features, in particular a Server licence. Profinity sets the address that the web interface listens on when it starts.

Profinity checks the file's signature, its expiry, and that its fingerprint matches this installation before it applies the file. If any check fails, the upload is rejected and the existing licence, if there is one, stays in effect. The fingerprint and the returned file can travel by any route, such as email from another computer, a USB drive, or a secure file copy. The machine that runs Profinity does not need internet access.

Apply a licence without the web interface

For Docker, Linux services, and scripted deployments, copy the file into the artefacts directory instead.

  1. Copy license.yaml into the license folder of the artefacts directory, so that the file ends up at license/license.yaml.
  2. On Docker, place it in the mounted volume that holds the artefacts directory, so that it survives the container being recreated.
  3. Restart Profinity if the licence adds features, or if the License page still shows the previous state.

The licence must belong to the installation's own fingerprint, in the same way as one uploaded from the page. To read the fingerprint, open the License page from a browser on the same machine, or refer to the machine fingerprint.

Check that the licence has taken effect

Open ADMIN, then License, and check these three things:

  • State reads Valid, or Expiring when 30 days or fewer remain before the licence expires.
  • Expires, Customer, and Edition match the licence that Prohelion issued.
  • The Licensed features and Licensed component groups tables show the expected entries as licensed and available.

If the page still shows the previous state after you copied the file into the folder, restart Profinity and check again. Removing licensed features restarts Profinity automatically, and so does applying a licence to a server installation that was in restricted mode.

If the licence is rejected

What the page or message shows Likely cause What to do
The upload is rejected The file's signature, expiry, or fingerprint did not pass validation Check that the file is the unchanged license.yaml that Prohelion returned, and that it has not expired
WrongInstance as the State after a license.yaml is copied into the license folder The file was issued for a different machine Send Prohelion the fingerprint shown on this installation, and apply the file that is issued for it
Expired The licence's expiry date has passed Ask Prohelion for a renewal, and apply it in the same way. A server installation stays reachable in restricted mode, so you can still sign in and upload it

A file issued for a different machine is rejected with the message "License is not valid for this instance." and is not saved. A rejected upload never replaces a working licence, so it is safe to retry. For editions, features, and the 14-day local trial, refer to Licensing.