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Activating Fotoware software using the command line in Windows (legacy)
30. April 2025
Table of Contents
Note: The Fotoware Application Activation Wizard has been superseded by the fwlicensetool for managing activations. For information on how to obtain this tool and use it to manage software activation from the command prompt, see Command line activation of Fotoware applications using fwlicensetool.
About the Fotoware activation utility
All Fotoware software that is installed comes with a utility that lets you activate and deactivate the software, repair an activation, and dump activation information into a text file. This executable file, fwappactwiz.exe (or Fotoware Application Activation Wizard), is located in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Fotoware\Application Wizard 1.0. This file can also be run on every single workstation or server where Fotoware software is installed by choosing Run on the Start menu and specifying additional parameters as outlined below.
When rolling out a number of FotoStation Clients in a network environment it is often useful to automate the activation of the license on each computer using a logon script. This can be done by creating a logon script that runs on every computer where FotoStation has been installed.
The FotoStation installation can also be automated using, for example, Active Directory deployment, in which case activation is automated in the installation routine by setting activation parameters directly in the .MSI file.
For information about creating a logon script, see Microsoft Windows documentation.
Command-line parameters
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fwappactwiz |
Displays the activation dialog where you can enter a product key to activate.
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fwappactwiz -activate <product key> |
Activates the software with the specified product key.
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fwappactwiz -deactivate |
Displays a dialog of activated product keys where you can select the keys you want to deactivate.
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fwappactwiz -deactivate<product key> |
Deactivates the software with the specified product key.
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fwappactwiz -repair <product key> |
Used to repair a damaged, activated license. This may be necessary if hardware has been added to or removed from the computer. For more information, see Repairing a broken license.
"Silent" activation
To suppress the receipt message saying that the activation was successful, a -silent argument can be added to the activation string, as follows:
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fwappactwiz -activate <product key> -silent |
Defining proxy settings
In environments where a proxy server is used for outgoing internet access, you must define the proxy setting as well. The proxy server is defined using an environment variable using the SET command. The two commands in the example below set the proxy server and run the activation.
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set FW_ACTIVATION_PROXY=user:pwd@host:port
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fwappactwiz -activate <product key> |
Additional command-line parameters for fwappactwiz.exe
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fwappactwiz -list |
Lists all currently activated products on the machine.
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fwappactwiz -dump all |
Allows the user to store a text file with information about the activated features on the machine. This is typically something Fotoware support may request when troubleshooting activation issues.