Check In Serial Numbers

SoftwareShield System Feature Guide > Serial Numbers > Check In Serial Numbers

## Check In Serial Numbers

Serial Numbers that have had Activations consumed in the CheckPoint server can be Checked In.

When a Serial Number Check-In operation successfully completes, the associated consumed count is decreased by one in the CheckPoint database and the ClientProtector makes a change to the local license on the users machine (see below). The business logic of the CheckPoint Server will not permit an Activation to be Checked-In if it had never been Activated in the first place. This then allows the customer to gain the use of that checked-in Activation on another machine at some later time while losing it on the current machine.

The most common use of the Check-In feature is for managing "license moves" via the Copy-Protection feature - although numerous other possibilities are possible.

Currently, Check-In can only be performed automatically over the internet using the CheckPoint License Server. You can not "manually" check-in a Serial Number.

When you want to Check-In a Serial Number, you can choose to "Check-In Copy-Protection", "Check-In a specific Serial Number", or you can "Check-In a specific Authorization Definition ID". In all cases, the Activated Authorization Definition is found that you want to Check-In (directly or indirectly) and it must have already been Activated and have a stored Serial Number before the operation can continue.

When an Serial Number is successfully Checked-In, the associated Authorization Definition is deactivated. This has different meanings depending on if the Authorization Definition is a Release Copy-Protection type or not:

### Checking-In a Serial Number for Release Copy-Protection

In the case of a Check-In for a Serial Number that activates a Release Copy-Protection Authorization Definition, the users machine FingerPrint is removed from the list of authorized machines stored inside the license. This effectively and completely reverses the Activation. In other words, the Copy-Protection will no longer be released for that machine. Additionally, the associated Authorization Definitions Activated state is set to false, and the stored Serial Number in that definition is cleared.

### Checking-In a Serial Number for Other Authorization Definitions

In all other cases, when a Check-In is performed, the associated Authorization Definitions Activated state is set to false, the stored Parameter Value is set to zero and the stored Serial Number in that definition is cleared. Note that this may not restore data which had been lost by the original Activation. For example, if a previous stored parameter value was present in the definition, or there was an expire date in effect for the license that the original Activation released - neither of these are restored because the original data is destroyed.

### More Information

For information on actually Checking-In Serial Numbers from your customers machines, see: SNCheckInByID, SNCheckInBySN, and SNCheckInCopyProtection.