Documentation forWeb Help Desk
Important security updates are available for WHD. SolarWinds recommends you upgrade to version 12.8.3 Hotfix 3.

Activate the license

When your evaluation license expires, your single admin or tech account remains active. However, all advanced features are disabled. When you purchase and activate a commercial license, you can access all advanced features and additional tech seats based on your purchase.

To activate the license: 

  1. Purchase a Web Help Desk license.
  2. Create a standard access account
  3. Retrieve your license or activation key.
  4. Activate your license.
  5. Review the license settings.
  6. If you plan to migrate your installation to another server, deactivate your license on the original server before you activate your license on the new server.

You cannot activate your Web Help Desk license using the SolarWinds License Manager.

Purchase a license

You can purchase a Web Help Desk license by:

You will receive an email with your SolarWinds customer ID (SWID) and password along with your invoice (if purchased directly). After you apply a commercial license key to your Web Help Desk software, you cannot change the license back to a trial or free single-seat license.

Create a standard access account

After you purchase a license, create a standard access account on the SolarWinds Customer Portal to retrieve your activation key.

  1. Locate the SolarWinds SWID in your purchase confirmation email.
  2. Go to the Customer Portal.
  3. Under the Register tab, enter your SWID (customer ID) and password.
  4. Click Log in.
  5. Review the information and click Continue.
  6. Complete the fields in the page to create your individual user account (IUA).
  7. Click Create Individual Profile.
  8. Access your email account and follow the directions in the email to verify your account.
  9. Click Continue to Customer Portal.
  10. Log out of the Customer Portal.
  11. In the Login and Password fields, enter the email address and password you entered in your individual profile.

    12. You can now access the Customer Portal using your email address.

Retrieve your license or activation key

After you purchase a license and create a standard access account, log in to the SolarWinds Customer Portal and retrieve your license key.

  1. In the Customer Portal, click License > Manage Licenses.
  2. Above the product list, click the View drop-down menu and select Web Help Desk.

  3. In the Your Selections menu, locate your product version.

  4. Under License Activation Information, locate the activation key.

  5. Copy the Activation Key.

Apply the activation key

After you obtain your license key from the Customer Portal, apply the license key to Web Help Desk.

If you plan to migrate your installation to another server, deactivate your license on the original server before you activate your license on the new server.

Apply the activation key online

If your Web Help Desk server is connected to the Internet and can access the SolarWinds website, use this procedure to apply the activation key.

  1. Verify that your Web Help Desk server can access the Internet.

  2. Click Setup.

  3. On the General panel, click License.

  4. Click the padlock to edit the license settings.

  5. Enter the Activation Key, and click Activate.

    The Web Help Desk license is activated.

Apply the activation key offline

If your Web Help Desk server is not connected to the Internet, use this procedure to apply the activation key.

  1. Click Setup.

  2. On the General panel, click License.

  3. Click the padlock to edit the license settings.

  4. Copy the unique Machine ID code in the Machine ID field to a text file.

  5. Transfer the file to another computer with Internet access.
  6. Using the computer with Internet access, log in to the Customer Portal.
  7. Click Licenses > Manage Licenses.
  8. Above the product table, click the View drop-down menu and select Web Help Desk.

  9. In the License Activation Information column, locate your Web Help Desk license and click Activate license manually.

  10. In the Activate license screen, generate a license key file.

    1. Enter your name, email address, phone number, and the computer name.

    2. Paste the unique machine ID code from your computer into the Unique Machine ID box.

      The Customer Portal validates the code. If the code is valid, a validation message displays.

  11. Click Generate License File.
  12. Follow the prompts on your screen to download the license file.
  13. Transfer the file to your Web Help Desk server.

  14. Return to License Settings in Web Help Desk.

  15. Click Choose file and select the license file.

  16. Click Activate.

    The Web Help Desk license is activated.

Review the license settings

After you activate the license, the license details are available in the administrator console.

  1. Log in to WHD as an administrator.

  2. Click Setup > General > Licenses.

  3. Review the information in the License Settings window.

    Setting Description
    License To

    Displays the name assigned to your WHD license.

    If you do not apply a license key within the 14-day trial period, all tech seats are deactivated.

    Click the padlock icon to edit your license.

    Enable Automatic License Update

    Automatically updates your existing license when a newer license is available in the Customer Portal.

    Select the checkbox to enable this option.

    Tech Licensing

    Lists the active tech accounts in your deployment.

    If you have more tech accounts than your license allows, deselect the active techs or upgrade your license.

  4. Make any needed changes, and then click Save.

Migrate the installation to a different server

If you plan to migrate your installation to another server, deactivate your license on the original server. Otherwise, you cannot activate the license on the new server. Your SolarWinds Web Help Desk license can only be active on one server. You can deactivate your license online or offline.

If you are running SolarWinds Web Help Desk in a clustered deployment, activate your license only when the primary node is migrated to a new node.

Deactivate the license online

  1. Log in to Web Help Desk as an administrator.
  2. In the user interface, click Setup > General > License.
  3. Click the Lock icon.
  4. Click Deactivate.

    5. Your license is deactivated.

Deactivate the license offline

To deactivate your license offline, contact SolarWinds Support through the Customer Portal. If your server is not connected to the Internet, a support technician can manually deactivate your license.

If you lost your previous license, contact SolarWinds Support for assistance.

Reinstall a license on the same server

Servers running Microsoft Windows Server or Apple OS X will usually preserve your Web Help Desk license when the software is uninstalled and reinstalled on the same server. However, when you uninstall the software on a system running Linux, your license is deleted.

The safest method to uninstall and reinstall Web Help Desk is to deactivate your license before you uninstall the software. When completed, reactivate your license after you install the software on the new server.

Change the Java bit version on Microsoft Windows servers

If you are running Web Help Desk 32-bit and you update your software to Web Help Desk 64-bit, the software may appear to run with a Demo license. To update your Java software to the corresponding bit version, deactivate your license, install the new Web Help Desk software, and then reactive your license.

If you lose your previous Web Help Desk license, contact Customer Support through the SolarWinds Customer Portal to deactivate your license offline.

Activate the license in a clustered deployment

In a clustered deployment, your license is bound to the primary node in the cluster. Ensure that the primary node is always available to activate or deactivate your license.

For new installations, install the primary node and activate your license before you configure your load balancer or deploy your secondary nodes.

For an existing deployment, take all secondary nodes offline and upgrade the primary node. Be aware that if the primary node is down for longer than a week, the secondary nodes are deactivated.

If you cannot activate or deactivate your license, you may have an issue with your network connection between the primary and secondary nodes—for example, network communications are blocked or the primary node port(s) are configured incorrectly. Try to connect directly to your primary node through your Web browser (bypassing the load balancer) and manipulate the license in this location. For further assistance, contact SolarWinds Customer Support.