Every site needs to have a license key in place, or a message will display at the bottom of the site and several features will be disabled:
"THIS SITE MAY BE RUNNING UNLICENSED ASPDOTNETSTOREFRONT.COM SOFTWARE! CLICK HERE TO ACTIVATE YOUR LICENSE"
The licensing check is based on the address that customers hit the site at. If a customer goes to www.someshop.com, the software will verify that the license file installed on the site is for www.someshop.com. If the URL displayed in the address bar doesn't match the URL in that license key (for example is www.someothershop.com, an IP address, etc) the 'unlicensed' message will be displayed.
Each license is allowed 3 keys: 1 for development, 1 for staging, and 1 for production. These keys can each only be generated once, so be very sure which domain name/IP address you wish to use for each before doing so!
Directions for generating and installing the key files are given below. A few things to keep in mind are:
- Be sure that the version you are generating the key for is the version you downloaded
- The key file needs to be for your domain, subfolders are not required (eg www.domain.com/shop would only need a license for www.domain.com)
- 'www' will be stripped off of the domain name before the licensing comparison is made, so customers can access the site at domain.com or www.domain.com
Generating a Key
1 - Log into https://www.aspdotnetstorefront.com/mylicenses.aspx with the account that was used for your original purchase.
2 - Click one of the 'Create' links, next to whichever type of key you wish to generate.
3 - Fill in the domain name in the 2 fields, and verify that the Version dropdown menu is set for the version of the software you're creating a key for.
4 - You will be prompted to verify the correct domain name was entered. If it is correct, click "Create License File." If not, click "Back to Licenses Page" and start the process again.
Installing the Key
Once the key is generated, you'll be back on the main Licenses page. You must now download the file and install it on your site. To do this:
1 - Click the 'Retrieve' link next to the license key you just generated. You will be prompted to save the file on your local machine.
2 - Use FTP or Windows Explorer to copy the file to where the software is installed. The license file must go in the {root}/images folder. Be sure to keep the .licx extension intact, the rest of the filename can be modified if necessary.
3 - Verify that the .NET user account (ASPNET for WindowsXP or NETWORK SERVICE for Windows Server/Vista) has read access to the license file.
4 - Restart the site through IIS or your host's control panel, or by 'touching' the web.config file.
