Upgrading licenses

This section describes the license and product upgrade process including how to filter for licenses with available upgrades and how to use upgraded licenses in your XProtect VMS products.

To upgrade your Milestone product, you must have, or have had in the past, a valid Milestone Care Plus subscription. You can upgrade to a Milestone product that was released on or before the expiration date of your Milestone Care Plus subscription.

When you purchase a Milestone product, you receive a software license code (SLC) that is registered at point-of-purchase or through Milestone Customer Dashboard. When you upgrade a license, Milestone Customer Dashboard registers a new SLC and transfers all the installation and customer information to the new SLC.

After you upgrade a license, Milestone Customer Dashboard provides you with an upgraded software license (.lic) file. Use the upgraded software license (.lic) file to upgrade your XProtect VMS installation with the new product version and SLC.

You must have a computer that can access the internet. If your XProtect VMS installation cannot access the internet, you need a portable storage device, such as a USB flash drive, to transfer the product installer and upgraded software license (.lic) file to your XProtect VMS installation.

Filter by licenses with upgrades available

You can view only licenses that are eligible for upgrade in Milestone Customer Dashboard. This is useful if you manage multiple licenses.

To filter for licenses with available upgrades:

1. Log in to Milestone Customer Dashboard (https://online.milestonesys.com/).
2. Select Licenses in the main menu.

3. Select Filter , then in the Status dropdown list, select Upgrade available , then select OK .

   

All the licenses that are eligible for upgrade appear.

Upgrade a software license

When an upgrade is available for your XProtect VMS product, you will see a notification in Milestone Customer Dashboard prompting you to upgrade your software license and download the new product installer.

1. Log in to Milestone Customer Dashboard (https://online.milestonesys.com/).
2. Select Customers or Licenses in the main menu.
3. On the Customers tab, double-click a customer, then double-click an associated License (SLC). Alternatively, double-click an SLC from the Licenses tab.

4. If an upgrade is available for the license, an orange bar appears at the top of the page. To start the upgrade process, select Upgrade license or the Click here link in the orange bar.

   

5. The Upgrade license dialog box appears, detailing the license upgrade process. After a license is upgraded, a new software license code (SLC) will be registered with all associated installation and customer information.

   After you upgrade the software license, you can no longer use the previous license in your XProtect VMS installations.

   Select the I understand that once upgraded the current license (SLC) will be deactivated check box, then select Upgrade.

   

6. After the upgrade process finishes, a confirmation window shows the previous SLC for the license that you upgraded, and the new SLC for the upgraded license. You also receive an email with the new SLC and software license (.lic) file.

   

7. Select Continue.

After you have upgraded your license in Milestone Customer Dashboard, you are ready to upgrade your XProtect VMS installation with the upgraded software license (.lic) file. See Upgrade your XProtect VMS product.

Upgrade your XProtect VMS product

Before you upgrade your XProtect VMS product, you must upgrade the associated license in Milestone Customer Dashboard. For details, see Upgrade a software license.

To upgrade your XProtect VMS product:

1. Locate the email that contains the upgraded software license (.lic) file, or get the software license file in Milestone Customer Dashboard (see Get a software license (.lic) file in Milestone Customer Dashboard).

2. Download the XProtect VMS product installer from the download section (https://www.milestonesys.com/downloads/) of the Milestone website.
3. Optional: If the XProtect VMS system that you are upgrading cannot access the internet, download the software license file and the product installer on another computer, then transfer them to the system using a portable storage device, such as a USB flash drive.
4. Run the XProtect VMS product installer.

5. In the Select license file window, select Browse, locate the software license file, then select Continue.

   

   Make sure that you select the upgraded software license (.lic) file. If you install using the free XProtect® Essential+ license and then import the software license file, you may lose some video recordings.

6. Follow the steps in the installer to complete the installation.

After you upgraded your XProtect VMS product, you must activate the software license in Management Client. For instructions on how to activate software licenses, see Activating licenses.