Activate Fully Offline with Trigger Codes (No Request / Response File)
When a machine has no Internet access and you cannot transfer a license file to it, you can still activate it by exchanging only short numeric codes over any channel (phone, email, or by reading them aloud). This is trigger code activation — the approach to use when a machine has no Internet connectivity and you cannot use online or manual (file Request / Response) activation. The offline machine never needs to connect to anything. Note that the standard online and manual activation processes are more robust and are recommended whenever they are possible; trigger codes are the fallback for fully disconnected machines.
How it works
On the activation dialog your application shows two user codes:
- User Code 1 is a randomized session value that makes each activation attempt unique, so an activation code cannot be reused.
- User Code 2 is a Computer ID derived from the machine, which locks the resulting code to that one computer.
You exchange those two user codes for one or two activation codes that the customer types back into the dialog:
- Activation Code 1 carries a Trigger Code Number (1 to 50) that selects a pre-programmed license action you defined.
- Activation Code 2 is optional and carries a single small value (up to 14 bits, 0 to 16383), for example a number of days.
Because that payload is tiny, it cannot deliver a full license file on its own. So you can optionally pair trigger codes with a Downloadable License with Trigger Code Validation setup: you include a customer-specific read-only license file (the full license data) with your installer or download, and trigger code validation then activates a separate writable, machine-bound license on that computer.
Note: In the Downloadable License with Trigger Code Validation flow specifically, User Code 1 must be set to the License ID (not a random session value), so the activation binds the writable license to that License ID. The "randomized session value" description above applies to plain telephone/trigger-code activation.
Steps
1. Configure the product option - SOLO Server
Create a Product Option of type Downloadable License with Trigger Code Validation. Define the Trigger Code Number(s) your application will act on. This is only supported with Protection PLUS 5 SDK. For Instant Protection PLUS 3, it is build into the standard activation options and enabled in the wizard Application Options.
2. Bundle the read-only license file - your installer
Include the read-only downloadable license with your installer or download so the full license data is already on the offline machine (PLUSManaged, PLUSNative).
3. Implement the offline activation exchange - your application
Show User Code 1 and User Code 2, accept the activation code(s) the customer enters, and apply them. See Using Trigger Codes for Telephone Activations.
4. Generate activation codes - three options
- Customer self-service: from any Internet-connected device via the Customer License Portal (enable under Configure / Customer License Portal Options, "Allow customers to activate manually").
- Staff: in the SOLO Server author interface (Customers / Generate Activation Codes).
- Offline: with the License Manager app included with the Protection PLUS 5 SDK (Tools / Generate Trigger Codes, or F2).
More secure: Encrypted Trigger Code Activation
Classic trigger codes are the least secure activation method, because the short codes can be reverse-engineered. For stronger offline security, use Encrypted Trigger Code Activation, which encrypts both activation codes into a single 31-character alphanumeric key, via the product option type DownloadableLicenseWithEncryptedTriggerCodeValidation.
Note: the encrypted variant is currently available only in PLUSManaged (.NET). PLUSNative (C/C++) supports the standard downloadable license with trigger code validation, but not the encrypted option.