Editing individual keys

About editing keys

Keys are usually generated and stored automatically by a key generator. Sometimes, however, it may be necessary to make manual changes to the activation key.

The most common reason to edit a key is that the key generation is performed outside of the system. An administrator then logs in to use the new key to replace temporary placeholder text.

Editing a selected key

Displaying the Edit Key form

To edit a key, from the Other Actions list, select Edit Key.

Changing the key status

From the Status dropdown, set the status of the key.

Changing the key custom code value

Three custom code values can be associated with activation keys.

To change a key custom code, enter a new value in the form field.

After you save your changes, the new key custom code value displays on the View Certificate page.

Updating the key text for a non-binary key

If the key is not a binary key, then the current key text displays in the key text area. To update the key, type or paste the new key text into the text area.

You can also update the text in the text area by loading a non-binary file containing the new text. The loaded file must be smaller than 20KB. To select the file to upload, either type the file name into the Key file to load field, or use the Browse button to select the file to upload. To upload the selected file, click Load.

To clear the key text, click Clear.

Loading a file to replace a binary key

If the current key is binary, then the key text area does not display. To replace the key, you must upload a file containing the new key information.

1. To select a file to upload, either type the file name into the Key file to load field, or use the Browse button to select the file to upload.
2. If the file you are loading is binary, check the Loaded file is binary check box. This check box is automatically checked if the current key is binary.
3. To upload the selected file, click Load.

The content of the uploaded file is not stored in the database. The file is copied to the File Share, and the key record in the database is updated to point to that file.

The file name is set to filename_dateTimeStamp.extension, where:

• filename is the name of the file, without the extension, of the file that was uploaded
• dateTimeStamp is the date and time the key was uploaded, in the format YYYYMMDDHHMMSSMMM. For example, the time stamp 20070713173446953 means that the message was sent on July 13, 2007, at 5:34:46:593 PM.
• extension is the extension of the file that was uploaded, if an extension is provided

For example, if a user loads a file called NewKey.lic on July 13, 2007, at 5:34:46:593 PM, then the file is copied to the ActivationKeyFiles folder as NewKey_20070713173446953.lic.

If the binary key was previously stored in the database, the content of the key is removed.

Updating other information about the key

1. In the File name for key download field, type the name to use when the key is saved to a file. If there is no value for this field, when you upload a file to replace the key, the name of the loaded file is used to populate this field.
2. To search for and select the appropriate annotation for the key, click the Find link.
3. To search for and select the appropriate legal disclaimer for the key, click the Find link.
4. To search for and select the appropriate installation instructions for the key, click the Find link.
5. Provide any notes concerning the new key. Having notes for a transaction helps later users understand the reason for a change.