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InstallAware Digital Rights Management
InstallAware includes DRM functionality beginning with InstallAware version 12.
To start the InstallAware tool, in the menu, in the group, select .
- Enter the full path to the application to wrap in the field. The specified file will be overwritten with the wrapped file.
- Enter a unique identifier for your application in the field. Once an application associated with a particular GUID has expired on a target system, installing a newer version of the same application that has been protected using the same GUID will not restart the trial period - the application will still remain expired.
- Enter the title of your application in the field.
- Enter the version of your application in the field. Be sure to use numeric values only. Decimal points are the only non-numeric characters permitted in this field.
- Enter the name of your company in the field.
- Enter the cost of your application, in USD, in the field. Be sure to use numeric values only. Decimal points are the only non-numeric characters permitted in this field.
- To expire the protected application without regard for actual live use, check the radio button, and choose from the following additional options (8-11).
- To expire the application after a certain number of launches, check the box, and specify the number of launches to allow.
- To expire the application after a certain number of days from the day of first run, check the box, choose the radio button, and specify the number of days to allow.
- To expire the application at a fixed date (such as a beta release product), check the box, choose the radio button, and specify the exact calendar date to expire on.
- You may combine a date based expiration limit together with a launch number limit.
- To expire the protected application based on actual live use, check the box, and specify the number of hours and minutes to allow for the protected application to run.
- Click the button to protect your application with InstallAware and convert it into trialware.
To wrap your applications using InstallAware outside of the InstallAware IDE, use this tool.
This tool offers additional manual control over the InstallAware IDE in wrapping your applications:
- The InstallAware IDE only permits you to wrap applications as part of a setup or patch build process; this tool permits you to wrap applications at any time (including from the command line).
- The InstallAware IDE does not directly update the application to wrap itself; but instead creates a temporary file for use as the wrapped application and includes that temporary file in the setup being created. This tool directly updates the application to wrap itself.
Using the InstallAware Digital Rights Management tool from the Command Line
You may also run the tool from the command line. Every field of the tool has corresponding command line parameters. When calling the tool from the command line, provide values for the fields as required for your wrapping mode (use the interactive version of the tool first, if you have any doubts about the parameters that are required). If any of your command line parameters include spaces, also remember to enclose them in double quote signs on the command line.
| Parameter | Meaning |
|---|---|
| EXE | The full path to the application binary. |
| GUID | The unique identifier of the application. |
| TITLE | The product name of the application. |
| VERSION | The application version. |
| COMPANY | The manufacturer of the application. |
| PRICE | The USD cost of the application. |
| ALWAYSEXPIRE | Corresponds to selecting the radio button. |
| BYLAUNCHES | Corresponds to checking the box. |
| LAUNCHES | Indicates the number of launches to allow as part of the trial duration. |
| BYDAYS | Corresponds to checking the box. |
| BYDAYRELATIVE | Corresponds to selecting the radio button. |
| DAYS | Indicates the number of days to allow as part of the trial duration. |
| BYDAYABSOLUTE | Corresponds to selecting the radio button. |
| YEAR | Indicates the absolute expiration year. |
| MONTH | Indicates the absolute expiration month. |
| DATE | Indicates the absolute expiration date. |
| REALUSE | Corresponds to selecting the radio button. |
| HOURS | Indicates the actual hours to allow as part of the trial duration. |
| MINUTES | Indicates the actual minutes to allow as part of the trial duration. |
| BUILD | Instructs the tool to perform the actual wrapping. Required. |
Examples:
pdrm.exe "/EXE=C:\output files\myapp.exe" /GUID={B7830C5A-D5BF-4544-B855-990BF09944D0} "/TITLE=My Application" /VERSION=12.00 "/COMPANY=My Company" /PRICE=29.95 /ALWAYSEXPIRE /BYLAUNCHES /LAUNCHES=10 /BYDAYS /BYDAYRELATIVE /DAYS=10
In the above example, the tool will prepare to wrap the executable at the location C:\output files\myapp.exe in mode with 10 runs and 10 days after installation allowed. Because the switch is not specified, the actual wrapping will not begin until end-user interaction.
pdrm.exe "/EXE=C:\output files\myapp.exe" /GUID={B7830C5A-D5BF-4544-B855-990BF09944D0} "/TITLE=My Application" /VERSION=12.00 "/COMPANY=My Company" /PRICE=29.95 /ALWAYSEXPIRE /BYDAYS /BYDAYABSOLUTE /YEAR=2011 /MONTH=8 /DATE=1 /BUILD
In the above example, the tool will immediately wrap the executable at the location C:\output files\myapp.exe in mode with a hard coded expiration on August 1st, 2011.
By using the tool from the command line, you will enable it to participate in unattended builds. When run from the command line, the wizard does not display any prompts or require any user interaction.
The tool returns the following codes to indicate success/failure:
- 0: Process completed successfully
- 1: Error during process