The following instructions are for Sibelius|Ultimate Network multi-seat licences. If you have a ‘Stand-Alone’ multi-seat licence, please see these separate instructions. If you have a Sibelius 7.1 & 7.5 legacy network license, please visit this page instead.
Step 1
Download and install the Sibelius Licence Server from your school’s Avid Account), on a nominated Windows/Mac server machine or workstation (the machine must have a static IP address).
You must use the License server that matches your version of Sibelius, which will be as follows:
The latest Licence Server for Sibelius|Ultimate is: version 8.4.2 build 231
This is available for download in Windows and Mac format at the links below, or from within your Avid account on the ‘View My Products’ page:
Windows: http://cdn.avid.com/Sibelius/Sibelius_8/8.4.2/89D2DC06/Sibelius_Licence_Server_8.4.2_Win.zip
Mac: http://cdn.avid.com/Sibelius/Sibelius_8/8.4.2/89D2DC06/Sibelius_Licence_Server_8.4.2_Mac.dmg
Step 2
Download and install ‘Avid Link’ from the Avid account hosting your Sibelius|Ultimate network license. This will be available on the ‘Products’ page of your account, which you can access directly via the link below:
https://my.avid.com/products#MyProducts
Note: You should never ‘sign in’ to Avid link when working with a network or other Sibelius ‘multi-user’ license. It is not necessary to be ‘signed in’ to Avid Link in order to activate the Sibelius Licence Server, and it can cause data confusion leading to activation problems if you do. If you have ‘signed in’ initially, you can ‘sign out’ via the instructions at the following help page:
https://avid.secure.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/How_To/Avid-Link-Sign-In-and-Sign-out
Step 3
Search for and launch the Sibelius Licence Server Control Panel on the machine at this point and click the ‘Licences’ Tab, then click ‘Manage Licences’ at the bottom-left. The application called ‘Avid Link’ will launch.
In Avid Link, first find the Sibelius Licence Server in ‘Products’, then expand its menu on the far-right, as shown in the image below:
Now click ‘License’ from the drop-down menu:
Now Copy and paste in the System & Activation ID’s from your Avid account and click ‘Activate’:
Wait for the activation to complete (around 20 seconds):
When activation is complete, this message will be shown. You can close the Avid Link app at this point:
Note: If this fails due to Firewall restrictions in your schools network environment with the message: Activation Server Could Not Be Reached or Failed to Process Your Request, please use one of the options below to complete the activation instead:
- If you are a school network administrator, you can free up the internet port that’s being blocked via the information in the help page at the link below, then try again:
http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/troubleshooting/en436075
OR - If option 1 is not possible in your environment, please follow the indirect activation procedure detailed in the article from Avid support at the link below. Note that this article references ‘Sibelius’ as the product to be activated, but in your case the specific product will be referenced as ‘Sibelius Licence Server’. The process is exactly the same regardless:
https://avid.secure.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/how_to/Offline-Activation-of-Sibelius-using-Avid-Link
Once you’ve received the ‘activation successful’ message, return to the Sibelius Licence Server Control Panel and the information under the ‘Status’ and ‘Licence’ tabs will now update to reflect the Licence Server’s activation status and the relevant seat-count.
Note; if clicking ‘Refresh’ under the Licences Tab of the Sibelius Licence Server does not force it to update with the new seat count, it may be necessary to go to the ‘Status’ Tab of the Licence Server at this point and:
- Click the option to ‘stop the service’, wait 10 seconds for it to process,
- Then click ‘uninstall service’, wait another 10 seconds,
- Then click ‘install service’, which will reinstall and automatically restart the Sibelius Licence Server’s background service, and force it to pick up on the new licence information that’s been created for it to reference.
Note: if you’re using a Mac Server, which will not show these options under the Sibelius Licence Server’s ‘Status’ Tab, just reboot the server machine at this point if necessary and it will achieve the same end.
Step 4
You’re now ready to install Sibelius|Ultimate on your lab machines, BYOD’s and other devices via the current Sibelius|Ultimate version download available in the ‘My Products’ page of your Avid account, which you can access directly via the link below:
Step 5
When your Sibelius clients start for the first time, you can click the ‘Specify Licence Server’ option and enter the IP address of the machine hosting the Sibelius Licence Server Software, and they’ll then continue to operate as ‘network’ clients and get their authorisation to run directly from the Sibelius Licence Server Software.
*Please see the Sibelius Licence Server Reference Guide PDF in the Licence Server installation folder after installing, for more configuration options and other information if you need it.
Note that ‘silent’ installation is possible on Windows via the instructions at the link below:
Installing Sibelius 8+ silently on a Windows network
And for information on the ‘license check-out’ feature that allows Sibelius copies to run away from the school network, please see the following article:
