Notes & articles

Licensing and activation FAQs

This page provides answers to questions you may have about licensing Red Gate products:

• I have sent my activation request by email. Why haven't I received a response?
• My trial has run out. Can I get an extension?
• How do I request additional activations for my serial number?
• How do I find my serial number?
• How do I change the serial number?
• How do I transfer a license from one computer to another?
• Tell me more about bundle serial numbers
• How do I license the SQL Comparison SDK?

For troubleshooting information, see Troubleshooting licensing and activation errors.

How do I change the serial number?

To re-activate products using a different serial number:

On the Help menu, click Enter Serial Number.

For SQL Backup:

Right-click the SQL Server you want to re-activate, and click Activate License.

For SQL Prompt and SQL Refactor:

On the SQL Prompt or SQL Refactor menu, click Enter License Key.

For older versions of Red Gate products:

On the Help menu, click About.

On the About dialog box, right-click the serial number, and then click Enter serial number.

How do I find my serial number?

To find out your serial numbers:

Go to http://www.red-gate.com/myserialnumbers and enter your email address and password.

The serial numbers for all the Red Gate products you have purchased are displayed.

You can also view the serial number for a product on the About dialog box:

On the Help menu, click About.

The serial number is displayed at the bottom of the About dialog box.

How do I request additional activations for my serial number?

If you want to activate a product using the same serial number, for example on a different computer or if you uninstalled the product, you deactivate the serial number and then re-activate it.

To request more activations, go to the Request Extra Activations page. You will need to provide your serial number and the reason why you want to reuse your serial number.

How do I transfer a license from one computer to another?

To transfer a license, you deactivate the serial number on the old computer, and then on the new computer you re-activate the product.

You deactivate a serial number using the deactivation tool; or, on the Help menu, click Deactivate Serial Numbers. Note that some products do not have this menu item.

Note that if you cannot deactivate the serial number, you can request more activations for your serial number. You will need to provide your serial number and the reason why you want to reuse your serial number.

I have sent my activation request by email. Why haven't I received a response?

If you are activating by email, you should receive a response within thirty minutes from the Red Gate activation server. However, in some circumstances this may not happen. This may be because:

• the email was in HTML format

  Copy the activation response again and send your email in plain text format.

  Alternatively, save the activation response to a text file and attach it to your email.

• there was more than one activation request per email

  Create a separate email for each activation request.

If you are experiencing problems with activating by email, we recommend you use the Manual Activation page of the Red Gate Web site. Paste your activation request into the box under Step 1 and click Get Activation Response. When you receive the activation response under Step 2, copy it. On the product activation dialog box, paste the response, and continue in the usual way.

My trial has run out. Can I get an extension?

Yes. Contact licensing@red-gate.com and tell us what product you are evaluating.

Tell me more about bundle serial numbers

When you purchase a bundle of Red Gate products, you will receive one serial number that activates all the products in the bundle. If you deactivate this serial number, for example to transfer the license to a different computer, all the products in the bundle will be deactivated.

To find out what products are in your bundle, you can look at the invoice you received when you purchased the bundle or go to the Bundle history page.

How do I license the SQL Comparison SDK?

To create licensed applications using the SQL Comparison SDK, you must:

• have a valid SQL Comparison SDK, or SQL Toolbelt serial number
• include a valid licenses.licx file in your .NET project

For more information, see Licensing the SQL Comparison SDK