Feature Restricted Licensing - Online is a secure license activation method for users who require access to desktop software but are unable to use Named User Licensing due to the secure nature of their environments. Feature Restricted Licensing – Online requires a connection to the Internet to validate the license upon installation. However, it does not require that users log in to use the software.
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Acrobat Classic version can now be included in Feature Restricted Licensing packages for ETLA customers. VIP and VIP marketplace customers will need to purchase Acrobat Classic FRL separately. This will provide customers with a stable release version of Acrobat to deploy in secure environments. For more, see Document Cloud Product Tracks. |
As an admin, create a Feature Restricted Licensing - Online package from the Packages tab in the Admin Console, and deploy it on a user machine.
The Feature Restricted Licensing - Online option appears in your Admin Console only when Adobe entitles your organization to use this type of licensing. The option does not appear by default.
Launch the application on your computer. The license activates automatically.
When the application launches, it generates a license request that includes:
None of the information shared in the license request is device-identifiable.
The app sends the request, using the HTTP protocol, to an Adobe licensing server over the Internet. For extra security, your organization can control the Internet access by a firewall that intercepts and unpacks all Adobe network traffic to verify the content.
For Feature Restricted Licensing - Online licenses to activate successfully, the client computer must be able to reach the Adobe licensing server lcs-cops.adobe.io via HTTPS. Some administrators may require to open an endpoint on their firewall, and allow the endpoint lcs-cops.adobe.io. The client machine will attempt to reach the designated endpoint at random intervals to validate the license. However, if the endpoint cannot be reached, it will rely on the cached license on the client machine. After the initial activation, the client machine can be moved to a secure location. The license continues to work without further contact with the Adobe server until the license expiration date.
There are two options for license activation (in Step 8 of the following procedure):
The license expiration date is the customer's contract end date.
Starting December 2023, only packages aligned with Adobe's Enterprise & Teams support policy will be available on the Packages tab of the Admin Console.
This will help optimize the performance and load time of the Packages tab.
On the Packages tab, click Create a Package.
Choose Feature Restricted Licensing, and click Next.
Choose Online activation, and click Next.
On the Entitlements screen, select the required entitlements, and click Next.
On the Configure screen, select the required options and then click Next.
A package made for one operating system and architecture type, cannot be deployed on another.
On the Choose Apps screen, you can choose to create one of the following types of packages:
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How to... |
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Create this package if the client machines already have Creative Cloud apps installed. Later, you can simply license the installed apps. For example, apps were previously installed using another licensing method. And you want to now license those apps with a Feature Restricted Licensing - Isolated license. |
From Available Applications, add only the License File to Selected Applications. |
Description |
How to... |
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Create this package if the client machine is already licensed with a Feature Restricted Licensing - Isolated license. Then, install apps on the machine. |
From Available Applications, add only the License File to Selected Applications. |
Description |
How to... |
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Create a package containing apps and license. |
From Available Applications, add applications and the License File to Selected Applications. |
Click the plus icons next to the corresponding applications to include them in the package.
If you add a product that has dependent products, the dependent products are added automatically. For example, if you add Photoshop, the dependent products Camera Raw and Adobe Preview are added automatically.
Optionally, you can filter down the list of Available Applications to choose from.
Latest versions: Display the latest version of all available applications.
Long-term supported versions: Display Adobe's long-term supported versions. To know what versions are supported for your Creative Cloud plan, review the Creative Cloud Support policy.
Beta apps: Display available beta apps. Learn more.
Older versions: Display a list of previous versions of the apps. View versions that don't receive security or feature updates.
App Add-ons: Certain Adobe apps come with Add-ons. So, when you add an app that includes one or more Add-ons, you have the option to include the add-ons in the package you're creating. By default, Add-ons are not included in the package.
After you're done with your selections, click Next.
(Not currently available for Windows ARM devices) On the Choose Plugins screen, search and select plug-ins to include in the package, and click Next.
You can select the Show Compatible Plugins Only check box to display the plug-ins that are compatible with the apps in the package. This filter doesn't appear if you only have the Creative Cloud desktop app in your package.
To view the list of selected plug-ins, click Selected Plugins.
The plug-ins that you include in the package do not necessarily need the supporting application to be part of the same package. You can include plug-ins and extensions for apps that are previously installed on your users' computers. Also, if a computer does not have the targeted application for a plug-in, the plug-in is not installed on the computer.
Device identification options
Choose this option to allow Adobe to gather information about devices on which this package is installed. By enabling devices to send this information to Adobe, you can then manage and edit access based to these devices. For details, learn how to Manage devices.
This option is not available for selection by Education customers. This means that for Education customers, Adobe will collect this information, by default. So, as the Admin of an Educational institution, you can manage and edit access of your devices.
Choose how clients will send information to Adobe’s licensing servers
Authorize Adobe License server by DNS name(default): Allow traffic to pass through your firewall to https://lcs-cops.adobe.io.
Authorize Adobe License server by fixed IP address: Allow traffic to pass through your firewall to https://lcs-cops-proxy.adobe.com and the fixed IPs listed in the License activation options screen.
The default domain has a non-static IP behind it, while the new domain will point to one among the list of static IPs in the License activation options screen. The second option provides more control to the customer in managing outgoing network traffic.
Feature flag retrieval via a network call: Adobe desktop app periodically fetch feature flags from the Adobe servers to provide you with the most up-to-date features and improvements. This process allows us to update certain features dynamically without requiring a full app update. Note that this involves a periodic network call to retrieve the latest feature configurations. Disable this feature, using the Adobe Licensing toolkit run the following commands.
For Windows
adobe-licensing-toolkit.exe --writeconfig --key DisableFeatureFlags --value 1
Short form:
adobe-licensing-toolkit.exe -j -k DisableFeatureFlags -y 1
For macOS
sudo ./adobe-licensing-toolkit --writeconfig --key DisableFeatureFlags --value 1
Short form:
sudo ./adobe-licensing-toolkit -j -k DisableFeatureFlags -y 1
For help on how to run the above commands, see How to use the Adobe Licensing toolkit.
For detailed instructions on how to set up and configure a reverse proxy, see the Feature Restricted Online reverse proxy user guide.
On the Finalize screen, specify the following:
Package name: Enter the name of the package.
Create flat package: If you have chosen a macOS platform, you have the option to create flat packages. This option is selected by default. For more details, see Creating flat packages.
Review the included applications and configuration for this package before building the package.
Click Create package.
If you are creating macOS packages, the Adobe Package Downloader is downloaded to your computer. Open and run to complete download process. For further details, see Adobe Package Downloader.
You are returned to the package list when the package creation process begins.
If the package is built successfully, you are prompted to download the package.
Also, the Download link is available in the Actions column of the corresponding package row. So you can download the package later.
A package is available in the Admin Console for up to three days. To check the time remaining to download a package, click 
to the right of the package name.
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Caution |
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If the package that you've created, contains one or more apps that have been rolled back owing to a bug or issue which needs to be fixed, this package displays as Revoked. You will be unable to download this package. Also, if you have previously downloaded a package that contains a revoked app, you should not deploy it. You should create and deploy a new package with a non-revoked version of the app. 
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The package that you download, contains a Packageinfo.txt file. This file has the information such as the following about that package:
The PackageInfo.txt file is for informational purposes only.
After you create the feature restricted license package, set up the end-user machines with the license:
For details on troubleshooting Creative Cloud apps installation and uninstallation errors, see this document.
If your organization has renewed their contract, you need not deploy a new package or license-only package to relicense your users. The user computer just requires to reach the Adobe Licensing Server through the Internet to get the updated license.
To update the apps on a user machine at any stage, create a package containing the latest apps, and deploy to the user machine. You can either create a package, or update a previous package, by performing the following steps:
You can remove a license from a computer in the following scenarios:
Use Adobe's Licensing Toolkit to remove a license. Adobe Licensing Toolkit is a command-line utility that is used to activate or uninstall licenses. It is available in the licensing package that you download from the Admin Console. Alternatively, you can download it directly from the Admin Console under Packages > Tools.
To remove a license, run the following commands with admin privileges:
Windows:
adobe-licensing-toolkit.exe --precondition --uninstall --filePath <absolute path of the .json file>
macOS:
sudo ./adobe-licensing-toolkit --precondition --uninstall --filePath <absolute path of the .json file>
For more information, see these steps.
The .json file can be found within the package that was downloaded from the Admin Console and deployed to the user machine. The file contains the licensing information.
In the scenario where multiple licenses have been installed on a single machine, run the following commands with admin privileges to remove the licenses:
Windows:
adobe-licensing-toolkit.exe --precondition --uninstall --all
macOS:
sudo ./adobe-licensing-toolkit --precondition --uninstall --all
For more information, see these steps.
Instead of removing licenses from a user's computer, you can uninstall the license and the products. By using the Feature Restricted Licensing packages, themselves.
Read the details on how to uninstall packages from a user's computer.
Every package is bundled with a license file. To create a license-only package, skip adding any applications to the package.
Create license-only packages to deploy on client computers where applications are already deployed but without licenses or with trial licenses.
To deploy a package using Microsoft's System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM), you need to create an install / uninstall program from the SCCM console. The steps to create the install / uninstall program are given in this section of the Deploy Adobe packages with SCCM article.
Use the above procedure to create and deploy the package using SCCM, with the following exception:
In Step 2 of the procedure:
If required, to download the Adobe licensing toolkit (adobe-licensing-toolkit.exe) file for Windows:
Only the following information is shared with Adobe through the license request from the user computer:
Here is a sample licensing request, including the information transmitted:
“npdId”: “ID of NGL Preconditioning Data”,
“npdPrecedence”: “Precedence of NGL preconditioning data”,
“asnpTemplateId”: “ASNP Template ID”,
“deviceDetails”: {
“deviceId”: “Device ID”,
“osName”: “OS Name”,
“osVersion”: “OS Version”,
“currentDate”: 1510649774873
},
“appDetails”: {
“nglAppId”: “NGL App ID”,
“nglAppVersion”: “NGL App version”,
“nglLibVersion”: “NGL Lib version”,
“currentAsnpId”: “Current ASNP Id”,
“locale”: “en_US”
}
In response, the Adobe licensing server transmits the signed license specific to device ID.
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For Feature Restricted Licensing - Online licenses to activate, the client computer must be able to reach the Adobe licensing server over the Internet. Some administrators may require to open an endpoint on their firewall and allow the endpoint https://lcs-cops.adobe.io or https://lcs-cops-proxy.adobe.com.
The services included in various Adobe apps may attempt to connect to Adobe servers. However, if a connection is not possible, the calls will fail in the background. For licensing, either of the two endpoints, https://lcs-cops.adobe.io or https://lcs-cops-proxy.adobe.com are required.
The computer attempts to reach the designated endpoint at random intervals to validate the license. However, if the endpoint cannot be reached, it will rely on the cached license. In other words, after the initial activation, if the computer is moved to a remote or secure location, the license continues to work until the license expiration date.
When the admin deactivates a feature restricted license for online activation package, the license count displayed on the Admin Console is decremented. However, the client computer must be able to connect with the Adobe licensing service at https://lcs-cops.adobe.io or https://lcs-cops-proxy.adobe.com.
Following a contract renewal, the user machine simply requires to be online to receive the updated license. There is no requirement to deploy a license-only package or update package.
Users will retain access to available Adobe apps for 99-days beginning with the Post-Grace Period, but no new packages can be created during that time. Learn more about contract expiration phases.
Adobe provides this 99-day grace at its sole discretion to facilitate the deployment of renewed licenses, and it is liable to change.
Adobe does not support the use of Creative Cloud applications in virtualized environments.
Acrobat versions that support activation via Feature Restricted Licensing - Online will work in supported virtualized environments (Citrix XenApp, WTS, App-V, VMWare Horizon) across both persistent and non-persistent environments.
If a machine is out of service and the Adobe Licensing Toolkit cannot run to remove the license, the Admin Console license count will not update. Notify your account manager or declare this fact to Adobe at the time of their contract renewal.
Currently, TechComm products support three methods of licensing - NUD (Named User Deployment); FRL - Online; and in exceptional scenarios, an offline deployment for which you should reach out to your Adobe Account Manager.
Captivate and Presenter are using older licensing technology, so for the time being, you would need to deploy them using the serial number approach. Contact your Adobe Account Manager for deploying Captivate and Presenter. In the near future, these products would also be available along with other three products and then a separate serial number deployment for Captivate and Presenter would not be required.
For the two server products – FrameMaker Publishing Server and RoboHelp Server, we highly recommend using Admin Console only to create the licensing package for Feature Restricted Licensing. You should not select the option of using both – deployment and licensing package.
For both these server products, there are many pre-requisites that need to be fulfilled alongside the scaling requirements, which makes it hard to deploy them out-of-the-box. In such as case, do review the system requirements for these server products:
Additionally, you can also watch this YouTube video demonstrating the FrameMaker Publishing Server installation process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2deelyM5VA8
To download the server products, use the following links (instead of downloading from Admin Console):
In the Create packages procedure described above, choose Contact Adobe through a reverse proxy.
This option enables license activation via a reverse proxy. The client machines will look to the entered endpoint to activate their licenses. You must ensure that you have pointed your reverse proxy to the correct endpoint for license activation to complete successfully.
For detailed instructions on how to set up and configure a reverse proxy, see the Feature Restricted Online reverse proxy user guide.
The Adobe License Decoder is a command-line tool that tells you about all the feature restricted licenses on a computer. This tool examines globally-installed license files and provides the following information:
Use the Github repository to download the tool and for detailed documentation.
To identify the activated packages on a client computer, follow these steps.
This command displays the licensing information for all the apps installed on a computer.
SAMPLE OUTPUT:
Adobe Licensing Toolkit (0.1.5.57) License Details NpdId : MWVjZGNlMzMtZGU2Yi00ZmNlLTkzZTktY2MxMjBhZmFiZjg1 AppId : Photoshop1 DeploymentMode : FRL_ONLINE, FRL CacheExpiry : 03/06/19 20:01:56 India Standard Time LicenseId : 511F26523959D15EBD9B LicenseExpiry : 03/06/21 20:01:56 India Standard Time NpdId : YjZiOGU0ZTItYTkxNy00NTFlLWFkOTItZTljNTc2M2U2OTgx AppId : Animate1 DeploymentMode : FRL_CONNECTED Operation Successfully Completed
Sign into the Admin Console and go to the Packages tab.
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In the filtered list of packages, click the package. The details of that package are displayed on the right. The Package License ID on the Admin Console corresponds to the NpdId on the Licensing Toolkit command, above. Use this to identity the packages installed on a client computer. |
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The Package License ID is only available for packages created on or after 7/24/2021.
Yes. Adobe XD is available as part of the Creative Cloud All Apps Feature Restricted Licensing plan purchased through an ETLA contract. However, there are differences in the XD interface, features and workflows compared to XD in a Named User Licensing environment.
For details on the differences, see Adobe XD with Feature Restricted Licensing.