MSP430 Kickstart - IAR License needed !?

You have to go www.iar.com site and obtain Kickstart (size-limited) evaluation edition license for latest Workbench versions.

I have essentially the same problem.  Windows 7, 32-bit, home premium, new laptop, installed the same version of IAR Embedded Workbench Kickstart (code size limited), version 5.51.3 from TI and 5.51.5 from IAR, both fail to behave as the documentation says they should.

Specifically, the old versions used to just install and run.  The new version assembles (or compiles) for me -- but then, when I want to debug, it fails with a "no license found."

I dropped back to 5.50 (slac050aj or slac050ak, if you can find them -- the version that came with the launchpad on their dvd, I believe).

I have an information request in to IAR asking if it is indeed their intention not to allow debugging with Kickstart going forward.  No reply thus far.

i'm facing the very same problem for quiet few weeks , every time i rebuild the program it shows 17 errors and all those errors are license errors as mentioned earlier by other community members, its the very same error.......plz help

Rashmi ashok said:

i'm facing the very same problem

So just apply the very same solution!

I've installed kickstart several times before, and never had to "go to IAR to obtain a kickstart license" -- and in fact, the license manage you can pop up DOES NOT HAVE THAT AS AN OPTION.  Nor is there any obvious place on the IAR website for applying for such a license.  The only application I see is for an "evaluation" license.

There is a difference between an "evaluation" license and the kickstart installation.  If you get an evaluation license, you cannot then drop back to a kickstart license on that computer (unless you want to go through some pretty involved registry hacking).

So if you go to IAR and "request a license" you are likely not getting what you think you are getting, but rather an "evaluation" license -- and that's not a "solution".

If IAR has suddenly, and without warning, changed their licensing practices, they might document it somewhere.

I'm not applying this "solution" until I hear back from IAR, thank you very much.

IAR Systems has never answered my questions.  The following is what we have discovered by trial and error.

The new version of IAR Embedded Workbench Kickstart, 5.51, changes the way IAR licenses the free code-size limited version.  Unlike in the past, where the Kickstart required no license, the new versions requires a license (although some people can compile and assemble without a license) for at least some of the development process.

You download, unzip, and install the program.  Then, if you have an active network connection, the software installer will pop up a dialog asking you to enter your license.  You need to start the "license manager", which may pop up a web page requiring you to give all kinds of information, and allowing you to select a free license for the code size limited IDE.  This is NOT AN EVALUATION VERSION.  After you submit the information, IAR may send you a license file, which you can then copy and paste into the license dialog, which will then crunch on it for a while before, hopefully, installing the IDE.

Since this procedure marks a rather dramatic change from the way IAR licensed the Kickstart in the past, it would have been nice if it had been documented, rather than leaving the user to go through the multi-step process by instinct.

Charles Rennolet said:

IAR Systems has never answered my questions.

I did go on-line to register for a license. They asked for name, address, etc. No license fees involved (for limited code size version). Good for a long time (30 years or something like that) and good for feature updates.

But now I am on their mailing list :(