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    For some advanced users, such as those installing bulk licensees, activating Photo Mechanic via a command-line interface and scripting may be more efficient than installing the software individually.

    These instructions allow you to activate Photo Mechanic by the command line. Photo Mechanic must not be running, and you will need an active internet connection. The same process can be used to activate Photo Mechanic Plus (Photo Mechanic Plus.exe or Photo Mechanic Plus.app).

On Windows

    First, make sure your script is running with its current directory being the directory that Photo Mechanic resides within and that you are using an Administrative Command Prompt or running your script from a Windows PowerShell script as System.

    To activate Photo Mechanic use the /activate switch. The /description parameter can contain any value. The /department parameter is optional.  If your names have spaces in them, quote the switch and the value as well. 

    To deactivate, use the /deactivate switch.

    To check whether a given system is activated, use the /activated switch.

On MacOS

    Activation and Deactivation both require elevated privileges. Either run from a shell with the ability to read/write to /Library/Preferences, or by using sudo.

    To activate Photo Mechanic use the --activate switch. The --department parameter is optional. If your names have spaces in them, either escape the spaces or quote the parameter and the value as well.

    To deactivate, use the --deactivate switch.

    --activated will return 1 for no activation present or for legacy registrations. --activated will return 0 when a valid activation is present.

    Output for all commands goes to stderr. The shell will get the application exit value in $?.