Altium 6 month  free viewer licence expired - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: ocset
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2019, 03:32:49 pm
content: Hi,Do you know if its possible to renew this free Altium viewer?Ours has just expired.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 09, 2019, 07:51:05 pm
content: Ask altium support.The free Summer 09 viewer that was available on their site appears to last forever.

author: julianhigginson
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2019, 05:41:21 am
content: You need to ask Altium support for the "free 6 month free 6 month viewer license extender license"Be warned though - next year you will need to ask them for the "free 6 month free 6 month free 6 month viewer license extender license extender license.And it only gets worse from there. I think that their business model is eventually you will get so confused, that you just end up paying the $10k for the full version to never have to ask for another level of extension again.

author: ddavidebor
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 15, 2019, 08:54:41 pm
content: Hello,You can pretty much download unlimited free licenses from the link the give you in the email.

author: zapzapouch
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 05, 2022, 05:19:40 pm
content: Quote from: ddavidebor on July 15, 2019, 08:54:41 pmWhen I click the link in the old "Your Viewer License Registration Details" email, it downloads a new .alf file, but if I import this as a standalone license, it says it "Expired" 6 months ago. Is there a trick to getting a new license that's not already expired?Quote from: julianhigginson on July 10, 2019, 05:41:21 amThat's my impression, too. Every time I need to view a .pcbdoc file, Altium says the viewer license has expired. I try to renew it athttps://www.altium.com/altium-designer-viewer,and it says "REGISTER FOR YOUR FREE 6-MONTH VIEWER LICENSE" but despite the page "loading" for several minutes, the registration form is a blank white space. If I reload the page, sometimes it appears. I try to fill it out, press Submit, and nothing happens. Eventually maybe it goes through.Or maybe I try to register an AltiumLive account and it says things like "An AltiumLive already exists for this email address but needs to be activated by clicking the link in the activation email." "Failed to send activation email" If I click an old activation email, it says "Insufficient privileges to enter this space". etc. etc. etc.After a lot of clicking and trying things, it inexplicably starts loading .pcbdoc files again. Then next time I go to use it, it has expired again.This doesn't make me want to pay $10k for the software though, it makes me want to demand that our factories never use their software or send us .pcbdoc files.Quote from: thm_w on July 09, 2019, 07:51:05 pmHow do you use this? I installed fromhttps://techdocs.altium.com/display/ALEG/Altium+Designer+Summer+09+-+Software+Updatesbut it says "You are not using a valid license. Click Sign in to retrieve the list of available licenses."It seems to just have the same licensing problems as the current version.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 05, 2022, 10:13:44 pm
content: Quote from: zapzapouch on January 05, 2022, 05:19:40 pmThats the full install. They used to have the viewer only download on their site, no license needed, seem to have removed it. I'll look around.There is also this:https://www.altium.com/viewer/edit: found a download here, virus scan seems okhttps://altium-designer-viewer-edition.software.informer.com/download/

author: zapzapouch
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2022, 03:37:25 pm
content: Same file ashttps://downloads.altium.com/altiumdesigner/AltiumDesignerViewerBuild9.3.0.19153.ziphttps://downloads.altium.com/has a list of files available

author: pointhi
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2022, 03:50:09 pm
content: If you need a quick offline viewer, try to use KiCad 6 to import the PcbDoc file. Depends on you actual use-case if that makes sense for you.

author: zapzapouch
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2022, 12:31:03 am
content: I tried Kicad but it doesn't work on my files.https://www.kicad.org/blog/2020/04/Development-Highlight-Altium-Pcb-Importer/I'll try the summer viewer next time my license expires

author: zapzapouch
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 10, 2022, 03:27:55 pm
content: The Summer 09 viewer works with no license hassles!The only issue is I can't press "OK" in configuration dialogs, like changing the layer colors or assigning "Ctrl+F" to "Flip board".The OK buttons are just grayed out. Maybe I can hack the registry to change these or something.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 10, 2022, 09:57:48 pm
content: I didn't even realize you could edit that shortcut.Colors might be in here: C:\Users\*username*\AppData\Roaming\AltiumDesignerSummer09_Viewer\ViewConfigurationsShortcuts are in here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Altium Designer S09 Viewer\System\AdvPcb.rcsQuote

author: zapzapouch
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 10, 2022, 10:15:16 pm
content: Quote from: thm_w on January 10, 2022, 09:57:48 pmThat works!