How to Activate NI LabVIEW Student Edition

In this document, learn how to activate LabVIEW Student Edition. This document assumes that you have already installed LabVIEW Student Edition as according to the tutorial How to Install LabVIEW Student Edition.

1. Locate Your Serial Number
2. Activate LabVIEW
3. Next Step
4. Related Links

Locate Your Serial Number

If you have purchased LabVIEW Student Edition or the Student Edition Software Suite, you should receive a serial number, which is used to license and activate the software. The serial number will be in the format of A##A#####, where A represents a letter of the alphabet and # represents a number from 0 through 9.

Depending on how you purchased LabVIEW Student Edition, you will find the serial number in a particular location:

• If you purchased and downloaded through a licensed distributor, you should receive the serial number in an email or purchase order.
• If you purchased a physical package, you should find the serial number on the package label or on a software registration card within the package.
• If you received the physical software in a textbook or from an NI event such as a trade show, recruiting event, or hands-on training seminar, the serial number should be printed on the DVD label.

To find out which software you should be able to activate, navigate to ni.com/labviewse to obtain more information about each version.

Activate LabVIEW

When launching LabVIEW for the first time, you are prompted that your software is currently in evaluation mode and can be used for free for limited amount of time, unless you activate the software. Navigate to Start»All Programs» National Instruments»LabVIEW 2012»LabVIEW 2012 to launch LabVIEW.

You will encounter one of the following two situations:

1. If this is the first time you have launched LabVIEW, the window below appears. Select Activate Products to proceed. You may skip the following. 
   
   

   

2. If you have already launched LabVIEW into evaluation mode, navigate within the LabVIEW environment to Help»Activate LabVIEW Components. A modal window appears.

   

   You may also navigate to Start»All Programs»National Instruments»NI License Manager to access the NI License Manager directly. With the NI License Manager, you can view and manage all of the licenses on your computer for NI software packages.

   Once within NI License Manager, you can expand the LabVIEW 2012 licenses until you locate the Student Edition license. Notice that it is a square, half-filled with yellow. This indicates that it is in evaluation mode, which is also reflected in the right window pane in the Status field.

   To begin the activation process, right-click the license and select Activate.

   

After you have selected to activate the software from one of the two options above, you are presented with the window below, allowing you to choose between three options for activating:

1. Automatically activate through a secure Internet connection.
2. Use a Web browser, email client, telephone, or fax machine to acquire an activation code.
3. Apply one or more 20-character activation codes previously acquired for this computer.
   

Option One (Recommended)

If you are connected to the Internet on the computer that you are activating, the best and easiest option is to choose Automatically activate through a secure Internet connection. It automates the process, and you only need to enter a valid serial number. The second and third options require you to acquire multiple pieces of information and relay this data along with activation codes between computers.

After choosing option one, select Next to continue. The following window appears, requiring you to enter the serial number for your products into the text field. After entering, select Next to proceed.

With the release of LabVIEW 2012, you can now directly link your software to your ni.com user profile. This gives you the ability to automatically register your product through ni.com/myproducts and also receive all of the entitlements that come with your software purchase.  

• If you have a user profile already, select Log in to your User Profile and enter your email address and password. Select Next to proceed.

• If you do not have a user profile, you can create one right now by selecting Create new User Profile and then selecting Next.　

• After you have entered in the information, select Next.

• You can choose agree to the terms and conditions and the privacy statement before selecting Next to continue, but it is not required to proceed.

• You have now created your NI user profile, which can be accessed online at ni.com. Select Next to proceed to activating your product.

Congratulations! You have now successfully activated your product, automatically, via the web. You can now launch LabVIEW and use the program for longer than the evaluation period.

After you have successfully activated LabVIEW Student Edition, you can return to NI License Manager to view the activated license. The box next to Student Edition now appears solid green to indicate an activated product.

Options Two and Three

To activate using options two and three, select either option and proceed through the following windows. Option three requires a 20-character activation code, which is obtained from one of four options from option two:

• Use a web browser on this or another computer (recommended).
• Send an email from this or another computer.
• Call National Instruments.
• Send a fax.

Activation through options two and three should be used only if you cannot successfully complete option one from above.

Next Step

The next step is to explore the Getting Started resources for students using LabVIEW, which you can find at ni.com/students/learnlabview. You will find videos, tutorials, quizzes, projects, and exams that help get you acquainted with the LabVIEW environment and basic programming techniques.

Related Links

• How to Install LabVIEW Student Edition
• LabVIEW 101: Getting Started Video Instruction for Students
• Product Page: LabVIEW Student Edition
• Product Page: NI myDAQ
• Product Page: Academic Site License
• NI Software Downloads
• Drivers and Updates

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