VISTA Warning! - With the use of Windows Vista UAC Nalpeiron customers must change the way they run our services, please see this important note on a simple change to your installation routine.

IMPORTANT: Please ensure you never mix the Filechck.dll (your custom copy protection dll) created with another version of License Controller i.e. Always check that the custom dll is used with the SAME version of the license controller that it was created with. **

You also need to ensure that your Installer shortcuts have the 'working directory' tab completed to the correct location for the License Manager and Controller as they are location specific and look for files in the same directory (such as license.txt). See screenshot.

When calling the Control Activation.exe file always ensure you do this from the installed files AFTER install using a function such as "Execute from Destination" as this sets a 'working directory' for the file too. See screenshot.

IMPORTANT NEWS!

As from December 2007, Wise Installation Studio is integrated with Nalpeiron Copy Protection.

If you use Wise products you will find a full page of simple choices that will install PRO-Tector directly into your installation with a few clicks. To learn more about this great partnership visit the Wise Site.

A section explaining the use of wise with PRO-Tector is in the developer manual.

Working with Wise/Altiris Installations (Wise Installation Studio 7+)

About Nalpeiron Support:

Adding Nalpeiron support consists of adding required Nalpeiron files to the installation. Windows Installer Editor simplifies this process:

WARNING: NEVER MIX FILECHK DLLS MADE WITH OLDER LICENSE CONTROLLER VERSIONS AND NALPEIRON SUPPORT FILES, YOU MUST ALWAYS USE THE CORRECT SUPPORT FILES AND FILECHK.DLL OR YOU WILL HAVE MAJOR PROBLEMS.

1. Use the Nalpeiron PRO-Tector SDK to create the FILECHK.DLL file that is required to copy-protect the application. Save this file into a folder and add in the essential support files provided by Nalpeiron for your version of PRO-Tector SDK (i.e. NTDLL.DLL, ASTDLL.DLL etc) and then select this folder in both the FILECHK and Essential file source folders in the Nalpeiron Licensing Support page in Wise Installation Studio. It is important that both the filechk.dll and the support files are in the same folder for the Wise actions to work correctly.
2. Place the ASTSRV.EXE Windows service into the same Essential file source folder and select that too.
3. Place all your own application files into another folder to keep the components defined. This is fine as the install itself will combine them for you into the directory you have chosen in program files under windows for your app.
4. The configuration file, Nalpeiron.nlp, is installed with Wise Installation Studio. It stores the paths to the required Nalpeiron files. These paths are based on the default installation directory of the SDK.
5. Then choose if you want to use our License Manager and Control Activation (optional) utilities they will be added for you with any associated support files.
6. You may also choose to include Windows 9x support but be aware that Nalpeiron no longer offers technical support for Windows 9x.
7. On the Nalpeiron Licensing Support page, specify the configuration file, which provides defaults for most of the paths on the page. Specify the remaining information on the Nalpeiron Licensing Support page.
   The files that are specified on the Nalpeiron Licensing Support page are added to the appropriate directories and features on the Files page. Do not delete Nalpeiron files from the Files page. If you delete a required Nalpeiron file, then all Nalpeiron-related files are deleted and the Nalpeiron support is disabled.

NOTE: Wise Installation Studio also includes a feature that will automatically 'de-activate' any licenses at your End Users when they use the uninstall feature. This is very useful as it will prevent end users from 'losing' their licenses/activations if they dispose of the PC they had installed on.

See page 119 of the Wise User Manual for full details on how to implement trials with Wise Installer (pdf 3.6 Mb)

Details on how to hack the Altiris NLP file "Nalpeiron Config File Format"

Nalpeiron Config files are used to drive the inclusion of files from Nalpeiron licensing system SDK’s into an MSI installation. These config files are standard XML files with the file extension .NLP. Below is a sample of the contents of an .NLP file

• See the notes (word 37k)
• NLP file sample (2k)

Creating your scripts.

To create your setup scripts, you will need re-distributable components as below.

Files to include in the system32 folder (NT/2000/XP/Server 2003) - This is an essential file:

Windows 95/98/Me are not required to place ANY files in a system folder, although it is useful to place the astsrv.exe file in the system32 folder in case the end user updates to 2000/XP.

The files below must be included in the ***same folder*** as your copy protected application:

SDK Included files (* = essential):

Flash Included Files: (These files are different to the SDK)

• Dll9x.dll
• USBDLL.9X.dll
• Dllnt.dll
• Dll16.dll
• Dll32.dll
• Filechck.dll (your custom copy protection dll)**
• USBLicenseManager.exe
• Flash-help-manager.chm
• Astdll.dll
• check_internet.dll (V4 replaces the older Serial.dll/check_serial.dll)

NOTE: When you create the shortcut for your application, under All Programs, YourApp, the windows default folder (set directory) must be your program’s main folder.  Failure to do this, results in the copy protection being unable to find any of the DLLs and the protection to display a ‘License Error’ message box.

The copy protection installs a Windows Service on the host PC and on first installation the PC needs to be in admin mode as recommended by Microsoft best practice. Subsequent usage can be at any permission level. If the end user machine is NOT in admin mode they will get an error screen.

Necessary support files for testing and your installer -- SDK V3.6

• Flash Support DLLs and files
• SDK Support DLLs and files
• License Manager only

Necessary support files for testing and your installer -- SDK V4.1 **ONLY**

From V4 License Manager comes in two versions, one for NON-Registration use with the New Nalpeiron Hosted Activation Service and one that collects registration data. Both versions now have end to end 128 bit encryption and a proxy server access option. You **must** always use the new check_internet.dll (found in the zip files) in place of the older internet.dll when using these new file managers.

These files will ONLY work with the NEW Nalpeiron Hosted Activation Service and V4 SDK.

• V4.1 SDK Support DLLs and files (Inc. both license manager types below)
• V4.1 License Manager and License Manager for use with Registration
  • The registration version captures registration data when configured on the server end. Pls ensure you rename this to "license manager.exe"

Necessary support files for testing and your installer -- SDK V4.2 **ONLY**

Version 4.2 is a major upgrade. You must not mix the older files above with these files under any circumstances.

The license manager and 4.2 uses a **new service**.   For a 4.2 protected program to work, the **new service must be installed**.  The new service is backwards compatible with older versions of the product.  To upgrade to 4.2, the following files must be installed:
 
- The new service
- The new astdll.dll
- The new ntdll.dll
- The new license manager
- A new custom dll created by the 4.2

This requires your action to create a new DLL using the V4.2 License Controller.

• V4.2 Essential support files inc latest License Manager

Editing and creating your own Control Activation utility

To modify the 'control activation' file that is called by your installer to run the Activation routines with our Hosted Activation Service, please edit the C source code below:

• Control Activation source code
• Control Activation file only