How licensing works

MD Automation uses a simple model: you buy a perpetual license once. This page explains the concepts; the activation guide shows the actual clicks.

All MD plugins share one License Manager (MDLICENSEMANAGER): buy several plugins, manage them in one place.

License types

There are three license types. Standalone is the only one sold today: the other two are built into the product but not currently offered.

• Standalone: what you buy. A perpetual license (Standalone type) is a signed key, bound to one computer and verified on it. Once activated, it works offline, with no account or sign-in. See moving to a new computer and activation for the steps.
• Single-user (Not currently offered): one user across several of their own machines, through an online account sign-in.
• Floating (Not currently offered): a team shares a pool of seats: any machine can use a seat and release it when done, and the server enforces the cap.

Why single-user and floating aren’t available

Both are online types managed through a hosted license server, which carries a monthly subscription to operate. They may be offered later; for now, every purchase is a Standalone license.

Moving the license to a new computer

The license is bound to one computer. To move it, send a license request from the new computer, then remove the license from the old one (License Manager → Licenses → Release or Remove) no later than when you activate the new key.

Two limits

A license can move to a new computer once per 12-month period, and it cannot be transferred to another person.

Free trial

Every plugin includes a 15-day free trial: no account, no payment. The trial is bound to your machine and can only be started once per machine (it can’t be reset). When it ends, buy a perpetual license to keep going. The steps, with screenshots, are on activate your license.

What the plugin does day to day

When you run a licensed command, the plugin checks its cached license state: no network call on every command. A perpetual license is a signed key the plugin verifies locally on every load, so once activated it works offline, with no account or sign-in (see offline activation).

The online types (single-user and floating) instead re-confirm periodically with the license server, and keep working through a 3-day offline grace window if the machine is temporarily offline.

License states you might see

The License Manager shows a badge beside each product name, and the two tabs answer different questions.

On the Plugins tab, the badge says whether that plugin’s commands will run:

Badge	Meaning
Licensed	A license is active on this machine: commands run normally. Expiry reads Perpetual for a Standalone key.
Trial	The free trial is running, and Expiry is the day it ends.
Expired	The trial’s 15 days are over: commands are blocked until a license is activated.
Inactive	Installed, with no trial and no license: commands are blocked.
Not installed	The plugin isn’t installed in this AutoCAD® installation, so Expiry reads N/A.

Temporarily offline

An online license riding out the 3-day offline grace window still reads Licensed: the badge tells you whether commands run, not whether the server was reachable.

On the Licenses tab, the badge says whether this machine is using the license on that row:

Badge	Meaning
Activated	This machine holds a seat. A Standalone key always reads Activated on the machine it was issued for.
Deactivated	The license exists but this machine holds no seat.

When a command is blocked, it tells you why on the command line, for example:

MDALIGN unavailable: no active license — run MDLICENSEMANAGER to request and/or activate a license.

The wording changes with the cause: a license term that ended, a suspended license, or, on a floating pool, every seat in use, which you clear by releasing a seat on another machine and retrying.

Refunds and warranty

See the Terms, s. 6 and the License Agreement, ss. 8 and 9.

Privacy

Activation and trials use the computer fingerprint: an irreversible hash of the identifier Windows assigns to your installation. It reveals neither your name nor anything on your computer. When linked to a purchase, we treat it as personal information. The License Manager shows it as your Machine ID.

What is sent: to start a trial, the fingerprint and product ID; for a license request, the form’s information; to check for updates, nothing that identifies you (a public version list is downloaded). No drawing content and no file names ever leave your computer.

Pseudonymous usage statistics are optional and off by default. They are linked to a random installation ID, never to your name, email, license or fingerprint.

Opting out, whenever you want

You can withdraw at any time, and it takes one click. Open the License Manager (MDLICENSEMANAGER), expand the Privacy section at the bottom of the window, and untick Allow the collection of pseudonymous usage statistics. Nothing else about your license changes. Details: Privacy Policy, s. 3.6.

1. 1Untick to stop collection. It is off until you tick it.
2. 2Delete my data erases what was collected under your ID.
3. 3The random ID your usage data is filed under.

Erasing and stopping are two different things

Delete my data, in the same section, erases what has already been collected for this installation. It does not switch collection off, so new events would start again under the same id. If you want both, untick the box as well.