Mathcad nightmare, from a 20-year user

[GrantThompson]

I have been using Mathcad since 1991, have purchased nearly every version of Mathcad since 3.0, and use Mathcad almost every day.  My agency paid for Mathcad 15 well over a year ago, but I still do not have it installed on my desktop machine, despite numerous phone calls and e-mails.

I finally got a disk which was supposed to install Mathcad 15 on my desktop computer (it was installed on my laptop computer just a little while ago).  When I tried to install v15 on my desktop computer, the program un-installed v14, then told me I had no more licenses.  After several back-and-forths with somebody at PTC, I learned that I can install v15 on only one machine, even if I am the only user.

This was very disappointing, but I thought, "Oh, well, I can just re-install v14 on my desktop machine, and I will be no worse off than I was before my agency paid all that money for a program that I cannot even use except on my laptop."  Unfortunately, when I tried to re-install v14, I got an error message saying that some files could not be copied, and that I should close all programs and try again.  I have done this several times, to no avail.

When I brought this problem to the attention of the person at PTC who had been helping me identify my licensing problem, he or she directed me to the knowledge database.  I have searched, but did not find a solution.

Can anyone help me, please?

Thank you,

Grant

[ValeryOchkov]

I know many Mathcad-users here in Russia who are buying a legal version of Mathcad, but then they put on their computer pirated version. They do so because of problems with the license.

[VladimirN]

Hello!

Provided that you have active maintance, to transfer the license to another computer, you should use the option "Reconfigure Software Licenses", here: http://www.ptc.com/appserver/lm/rsl/reconfig.jsp

P.S. What type of license you are using ("Locked" or "Floating")?

[Loris]

I think Mathcad license management is inspired from some Kafka book...

I discovered that (if I well remmeber):

- if you have a lock node license you don't need installing nothing you better go on the website licensing ang get your license key online.

- when it ask you CPU-ID it is your lan MAC address (thanks PTC to use 2 diffrent names for the same stuff!), you can retrieve it using    ipconfig/all     command from command prompt.

good luck.

I also suggest PTC to start LOOKING TO THE CONCURRENT SOFTWARES to start creating softwares from the CURRENT state of the art.

Just to say, license management in other calculus software (the name start with Mat and ends in Lab)  is composed of a couple of start-menu itemes (that are auto-created within the installation process), one is labeled  "activate" the other "deactivate".

You just click, activate put your codes and your program is active. If you want to use it on another pc, just deactivate from the first and activate on the other.

Is it so hard to do ??

Regards, Loris

[GrantThompson]

Hi, Vladimir,

Thank you very much for your suggestion.  I think I still have a couple of problems, though.

First, my support agreement (or whatever it is called) expired a couple of months ago.  At the time PTC notified me that it was about to expire, they still had not provided the software (Mathcad 15) that I had purchased more than a year prior, and I thought, "Why in the world would I agree to pay for another year of 'support,' when the 'support' that I have paid for throughout the past year has not even been sufficient to provide me with the software that I bought?"  So, I do not have an active support agreement.

Second, I agree that it appears to be possible to move my Mathcad 15 license from my laptop to my desktop, and I may wish to to this at some point, but I assume that I will then have the same problem of being unable to re-install v14 on my laptop, so I would still be without Mathcad on at least one of my computers.

Regarding your question about "locked" or "floating," I must confess that I probably do not know for sure, but my guess is "locked."

Thanks again for trying to help,

Grant

[GrantThompson]

Hi, Loris,

Thank you very much for your suggestion.  I may be missing something, though: Could you please explain in a bit more detail what you mean by, "You don't need installing nothing?"  I did attempt to get my license online.

Thank you for the tip about the CPU-ID.  I have not gotten that far yet, but I will keep your tip in mind if/when the time comes.

Thanks again,

Grant

[Loris]

There is also some kind of license manager that you can install together with M15 or Prime (in case you have also prime licensed, and you are thiking about installing it I suggest you to read trough the forum to see what it have (and DON't have) before spending your time on it. Just to say, it haven't 3d plot).

I think license manger is just unuseful if you have a single node license, of course you discover it after installed.

There is also a software that you can download to (virtually) genreate the license, I downloaded it because I had no information about how to compute cpu-id. The software didn't work for me, so I suggest you to use website.

Again, that software automatically detects the mac address, but it calls it mac address, not cpu id.

I found the tip about CPU id somewhere in the documentation of something (I spent a morning to install M15).

And first time I used it, website hung up instead sending me the license, so, in case, retry.

Loris

[GrantThompson]

Hi, Loris,

Thanks again.

My plan is to give up on Mathcad 15 and go back to Mathcad 14, but, as noted above, I cannot get Mathcad 14 to re-install.  If you (or anyone else) has an idea about how to re-install Mathcad 14, that would be great.

I did not purchase Mathcad Prime.

Cheers,

Grant

[Loris]

No idea, sorry.

I would suggest you to try again installing M15, it should be compatible with M14, I think.

Loris

[MikeArmstrong]

Without going through the whole thread, I assume that you have tried to contact the Mathcad and license Install team.

-.

Mike

[GrantThompson]

Hi, Mike,

Thank you for your reply.

My answer is, "I think so."  The person with whom I exchanged e-mails signed his or her e-mails, "License Management Representative."

He or she indicated that Mathcad's "specialized department that provides technical support on the installation and errors encountered" might be able to help, but that I would need to purchase another 1-year maintenance agreement before they would respond.

Grant

[VladimirN]

...I would suggest you to try again installing M15, it should be compatible with M14, I think...

No. A quote from "Mathcad 15.0 Administrator's Guide" (https://www.ptc.com/view?im_dbkey=113901):

[VladimirN]

1. The license type can be seen in a text file of the license.

2. For MAC-address definition use the utility which can be found here ("MAC adress Reader"): http://communities.ptc.com/blogs/vpalffy/2011/06/29/mac-adress-reader--unique-computer-identification

[Loris]

Sorry, I wrote something not clear.. I was meaning "compatible" as capable to read / write version M14 files, so, if he succede in installing 15 ( IF !), he can just use it, and don't need M14 anymore.

However, I think that PTC behaviour is undignified. You cannot ask money for assistance in INSTALLING a software that is paid.

Loris.

[GrantThompson]

Thanks again to everyone who tried to help.

As luck would have it, I recalled that I had an extra copy of Mathcad 14.  This one installed successfully (why the other copy I had would not, I still have no idea).

Anyway, I still do not have Mathcad 15 for my desktop computer, but Mathcad 14 is better than nothing.

Cheers,
Grant

[mzeftel]

Grant,

I'm sorry I didn't see the message earlier. Maintenance allows you to install two copies of the Mathcad software, so if you want to use Mathcad 14 or 15 on two different computers, you need to purchase maintenance.

However, you should have received assistance with installation issues for up to 30 days. If you post your email address, I can forward your issues to someone who can help you.

We are working to create a new licensing setup that will simplify things for our users.

Mona Zeftel