STEP Tools License Keys

To request a key for a STEP Tools product, fill in the key request form at http://www.steptools.com/register Your request will be handled by our support staff and a key will be sent to you via electronic mail.

The request form asks for the following information:

Name and Organization (required)

These personal identifiers will appear in your license key.

Email Address (required)

Your key will be sent to you via electronic mail, so be sure that this is a valid mail address.

STEP Tools License Number

This six-digit number (#10xxxx) is on the cover letter included with your software and on invoices. We use this to connect your order to our records. If you do not provide this, we have to look it up and that could take some time.

Product (required)

The STEP Tools software that you are requesting a key for.

Host Type (required)

The type of computer that you are requesting a key for (Windows, Solaris, Linux, etc.) This is normally filled in for you if you use the "Request License Key" link on the Windows Start Menu.

Host Identifier (required)

This is the 8-digit hex string that identifies your computer. This is normally filled in for you if you use the "Request License Key" link on the Windows Start Menu. On other platforms, you can find it by running stshowkeys from the command line.

On the Windows Start Menu, you can also run the ST-License Key Browser. This tool displays the machine host identifier and any installed keys. If you do not have it for some reason, you can Download the Key Browser (440k) and install it separately.

E-mail lists

The st-announce mailing list is a low volume list for announcements from STEP Tools, Inc. We post a weekly newsletter containing items of interest to the STEP community, as well as information about major happenings such as product releases, new services, or improvements to our web site.

The st-users list is an open mailing list for discussion about the use of STEP Tools products. This is an unmoderated list open to anyone who uses or is interested in using any of the software tools that we provide. STEP Tools employees do monitor and participate in discussions on this list, although it is not an official support channel.

Installing License Keys on Windows Systems

On Windows, license keys are kept in the registry. The key is sent as a ".stkey" email attachment. Save the file and double-click on it to load it into the registry. You can also run the ST-License Key Browser and select the Load Key File button. Use the ST-License Key Browser to list all keys installed on your machine. Save your key file in case you ever need to re-install.

Since the stkey files are just registry settings, you could also load them on your machine by running regedit and loading the key file using the File | Import, or by changing the file extension to ".reg" and double clicking the file.

When using older products on 64bit Windows, use the following process to make sure that the key is entered in the 32bit view of the registry. This affects ST-Developer v12, ST-Viewer v5, and earlier versions. Run the ST-License Key Browser select Load Key File, and then choose the key file. The first time you do this, the program will fail, but Windows will apply compatibility settings. Restart the key browser and select Load Key File again. This time it will be entered into the correct place.

Installing License Keys on UNIX Systems

On MacOS and UNIX systems, the license keys for all STEP Tools products installed on your system are normally kept in the file $ROSE/license. If your system administrator prefers to rename or keep this file elsewhere, set the $ROSE_LICENSE environment variable to indicate the new location of the file:

    setenv ROSE_LICENSE   /usr/local/common/step_keys

Your key will be sent to you in the body of an email message. To install the key, use a text editor cut and paste the license key text into this file.

    # Sample STEP Tools license file
    # License keys are series of hex digits beginning with a $. 
    # Lines beginning with a hash are ignored.
    #
    $e2c6081885 e2030f93cc 0bcd8919e7 e3c68c120a a3dc8c296b d4a2b8354a
     d4f4bf2c02 d4ffb57e51 cef5bd7e49 82f2e82900 80ebb82042 d7d2cc176f
     e382ed6e53 86e6df707e 82a4e36c18 8dafef730f

After you have added the license, you may verify the license with the stshowkeys tool. With no arguments, the stshowkeys program looks for an installed key file. It can also be given a filename argument to check the contents of a specific file.

    % stshowkeys
    CPU identifier for this machine:
       Host type ..... Sun SPARC/Solaris
       Host ident .... 7234799f
     
    License Information ----------------
    User name ............ Dave Shabotnick
    User organization .... Foobar International
    Package .............. ST-Developer v9.0
    License serial ....... 17d4-7234799f-31fa4d1c-484
    License type ......... Single CPU/Node-locked
    Host CPU type ........ Sun SPARC
    Host identifier ...... 7234799f
    Usable on this host: YES