FT Activation & VMPlayer

Hi all,

Newish to Rockwell but very new to FT. I'm looking at getting my Rockwell VM set up with FT Activation to run some new software I got. I am a low level software user so i'm not sure how to accurately structure my request for assistance...

Until today, from within the XP VM I use master disk activated software and have been running the VM network configuration bridged to the host with the "replicate physical network connection state" check box ticked, I have RSLinx running inside the VM. I have succesfully run this way for a few months now using both DF1 and Ethernet communications.

Everything was working perfectly till I got Logix pro 8.4. Now I need to set up FT Activation. No big deal i'm hoping... But just need a little help.

So my VM can't get onto my works network as its not set up to be on the domain and never will be. So I figured I would install the FT Activation Manager on the host Win 7 PC, VPN into work (from home) and borrow the RS500P.exe license. Cool, that works.
Next I put the VM on the same subnet as the host, installed FT Activation Manager on my VM and browsed to the host PC to create the activation path where I thought it would find my borrowed license.

I cant see it.

Just to note, I can browse through to the hosts user folders from "my network places" inside the VM so I definately know that my network is working.

I read something about FT Client from a thread I searched on here but the information wasn't enough. Is that what I need on the VM???

Thanks for reading my long post.
Nathan

I'm not an expert at this either, but I have a similar situation.

When you are connected by VPN and are able to access the FT Activation Server, your VMWare should be able to see it too. It depends on how you have your virtual network adpater set up, mine is set up for NAT. If you stay connected, you can stop there and use Logix. If you need to disconnect from VPN and continue to use Logix, you should be able to borrow a liscense using the FT Activation client installed under VMWare.

I think the problem you are having is that you think you can set up FT Activation Server on the host and use the client from the VMWare. This may be possible, but you would have to load liscenses into the server. Borrowing a liscense is done with the FT Activation client, it does not make it available to a FT Activation server running on the same machine.

Another note:
You shouldn't have to join the domain to connect to the FTActivation server over the office network. You just need an IP address on the same subnet.

Thought i would sneak in a bump before the weekend hits... Cheers.

Solved.

Thanks Mellis, I re read your post and picked out that I would try NAT. I could access my works network over VPN hiding behind the host PC's domain account and IP. Cool I have the license I wanted now.

What wasn't helping was my home network was actually using some of the IP's that we use at work. So I changed the DHCP IP range of my router to avoid the collisions...

I dont want ANY bloat (Rockwell) software on my host so I will uninstall FT Act. on the host and switch my VM between NAT (for getting a license) and bridged (for direct access to the NIC) so I dont have to install RSLinx on the host.

We have lots of spare licenses to borrow so I won't need to swtich over to often.