Information Technology & Computer Science | | Business Division

What is the Developer Academic Alliance?

The Developer (Microsoft) Academic Alliance Software Page is here.

The program was designed to allow students and faculty in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) programs access to Microsoft software on a free or very reduced cost basis. The software includes those programs typically used by developers, and does not include Word, PowerPoint, or Excel. The Information Technology and Computer Science department pays an annual membership for IT & CS faculty and students to participate. 

General Rules, Piracy, and other Administration

What are the rules/disclaimers?

• No technical support will be provided by the Lakeland Help Desk - please don't call them.
• No technical support will be provided by any faculty
• No technical support will be provided by the MSDNAA administrator.
• No technical support will be provided by any member of the library staff.
• Everyone should be aware of the hardware/software requirements before installing the software.
• All library rules apply - including those for late fees. If the software is lost or damaged, it may be that full cost will have to be paid to replace it!
• All Microsoft licensing rules apply This software is for ACADEMIC USE only. Using the software in a production environment is a violation of the rules, and may cause the program at Lakeland to be halted (in addition to any licensing violations Microsoft may choose to pursue).
• This software is not to be installed on any computer in any lab (open lab or classroom) or in the library. The Lakeland ITS staff will not support the software; it will be removed, and may cause the program at Lakeland to be halted.
• This software is only for students who are taking - for a grade - credit courses in the information systems department, and the faculty who teach those courses (Note that this means that students who are auditing courses are not permitted to check out the software). We are limited under a very strict licensing agreement - we cannot provide this software to students not in IT & CS courses, to community learning students, or to non-Lakeland students. The library has been asked to randomly check schedules to insure we are in compliance with the licensing agreement.
• Distance learning students have to check out the software from the library on the main campus, or download the ISO image if an account is set up by your instructor.
• All IT & CS faculty and students - regardless of status - will need their LCC ID to check out software.
• All IT & CS Students will need a copy of their current course schedule.
• Only instructors can request accounts
  • The instructor will determine if your course needs software that is part of the program. If your instructor choses not to enroll your class, there is no appeal. Sorry.
• No, we will not download and/or burn your CD or DVD for you. You will need to use your own computer for this. You can not use the lab or library computers. Period. You just can't.

This program is designed to provide you with the software you need in your classroom. According the EULA (excerpts):

You may use the software to :

1. to develop, support, conduct, or take the STEM courses, labs, or programs you offer;
2. in non-commercial STEM research on your behalf; or
3. to design, develop, test, and demonstrate software programs for the above purposes.

Restrictions. You may not use the software:

1. for commercial purposes;
2. or to develop and maintain your own administrative or IT systems.

Desktop operating systems. Some components of the software are operating system products. You may permit installation and use of such products on machines that do not have an operating system installed at the time of installation of our products, so long as the machines are owned or leased by you and/or students. You may also install such products in virtual machine environments so long as these virtual machines are (a) used according to these terms, and (b) run on machines owned or leased by you and/or students. All other circumstances require the prior purchase of an appropriate commercial license.

In addition, the operating system "it is not transferable and must be removed if the PC is transferred."

Who is eligible to participate?

Any student taking a LCC Information Technology & Computer Science (IT & CS) course for credit that uses specific Microsoft software. Students who are auditing or taking the course S/U are not - due to our licensing agreement with Microsoft - permitted to participate. Any part-time faculty member who is teaching a course that uses specific Microsoft software.

Important additional administrative topics:

• Because of some significant constraints on our licensing: the Academic Alliance is not available to ITIS 1000 and ITIS 1005 students.
• Class accounts will only be created and available for the semester/term that the course runs.
• Students can not request accounts.

What's available?

The software list changes on a regular basis.

Please note that Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) is not on this list. We don't have that license

Before you Start

There are a few things that will help make this process go much smoother for everyone.

1. Make sure your computer is "ready." Do you have the right amount of hard disk space and memory? Do you have the right operating system? Do you have a CD or DVD burner for software that needs to be burned to a disk? Do you have a CD/DVD player for software checked out of the library?
2. Do you have a stable network connection?
3. Do you have blank disks ready to go, if needed?

Help! I lost my password or deleted the introductory email!

If you lost your password, you will need to go to our site and follow the prompts for a lost password. No one at LCC can help you with this as the passwords are auto-generated. The introductory email from the system has your user ID, password, link to the web site, and other important information. Please don't delete it.

A few things to do before asking for another key or another download

It's pretty rare that we will just give out another key or download opportunity. They system is set up such that very little should go wrong, unless there was a case of "operator error."

If the CD or DVD burn doesn't work as intended, check the following:

1. You have a blank DVD in the burner
2. Your software supports DVD burning of ISO files
3. Nothing interrupts the download and/or burning process

If you are reporting a problem, we will be asking for the following:

1. Open a copy of MS Word. Save the file as "ProductNameInstallAttempt.doc" Please save as a Word 2003 format if you are using Word 2007. (note ProductName in the file name must be the name of the software you are attempting to install.
2. Restart the process of burning the ISO file. At *every step*, please take a copy of the screen using Print-Screen, the copy to your open Word file. Please make sure the images are easily readable. Make comments along the way if you like so that the file is self-explanatory. At this point, there is no such thing as too few details. Save the Word file often.
3. If you receive an error , we will need the following information:
   - Make & model of your computer
   - Name and version of your operating system (i.e. Win XP/SP2)
   - Amount of hard disk space
   - Amound of memory
   - Name and version of your DVD burning software

and, of course, the Word file you carefully crafted in steps 1 & 2.

Without all this information, it will be hard to help you, and we may not be able to offer any assistance.

Installation Problems

If you are having install problems, you'll need to solve those on your own as we simply do not have the resources to aid every student with every computer. Go slow and carefully read all the prompts. Make sure your computer is ready to handle the program (do you have the right amount of memory? hard drive space? )

I upgraded my computer, and now I can't reactivate my MSDN software, since the activation key no longer works. Help?

You have to contact Microsoft here. The FAQ on Microsoft Product Activation is at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;302878

Where is the cd-key / product serial number?

The cd-key / product serial number is included in the Purchase Confirmation email you receive and the packing slip webpage that displays after you begin the download.

Where's Microsoft Office, Word, PowerPoint, etc?

Those products are NOT included in the MSDNAA program. (They are NOT development applications).

I lost or forgot to print out my registration key when I selected my software. How can I get it back?

Please read everything that is presented to you in your download transactions. One of the first things that pops up when you order the software is a receipt with the registration key(s) on it. You should print this or save it to a file, or write it on a napkin if you are downloading at an internet cafe. If you fail to do so, you can still retrieve it by clicking the "MY PROFILE" button on the left side of the ELMS screen. Select the "My Software" option. Then click on the right column for anything you downloaded and the receipt screen for that product will be presented to you.

I have a CD I got from a friend for Windows XP but when I tried to use the registration key I got from ELMS, it wouldn't work.

The Registration keys you get for MSDNAA products at the ELMS site work only with the MSDNAA distribution kits you get from the ELMS site. (There may be some kits that work either way, but you are on your own if you want to go down that dark alley). Please download the MSDNAA kit from the ELMS site to use with the registration key you get from the ELMS site.

Other links to Microsoft's Piracy and Activation web pages are:

• http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/basics/activation/mpafaq.asp
• http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/basics/activation/

Can I have 2 or more copies of software?

No. You are allowed a SINGLE copy of software. Please see the MSDNAA Usage Agreement and EULA

And from the ELMS site FAQ:

How does ELMS handle MSDNAA Licensing Policies?

ELMS was designed with MSDNAA-specific licensing policies in mind. Every time a student or faculty member orders software through ELMS, they must agree to the standard EULA provided by Microsoft. Agreement to the EULA is recorded in one of the transaction reports (see below) available in ELMS. ELMS also restricts the number of times a student can order each MSDNAA software product. Each student/faculty is restricted to one order per MSDNAA product. Students can always request additional installs from their Program Administrator if required. ELMS includes a module which enables Program Administrators to issue additional installs to individuals as well as additional installation codes

Note that we will not grant additional installs, even though a procedure exists for it. You will need to contact Microsoft if you need to have your activation key changed.

Software At the Library

What information does the library need from me?

• All students: Your LCC ID card and a copy of your current schedule
• Students checking out copies of "special software": a printout of the email you receive from the system

What happens if I lose or break a disk?

The library rules apply. You will need to pay any fines the library may impose, and may also be responsible for the full replacement price of the software.

Software with Special Instructions (Downloads & PINs)

What's the "special instructions"?

Available in this PDF file. (opens in new window)

What information does the library need from me?

• Your LCC ID card and a copy of your current schedule
• A printout of the email you receive from the system

What is ELMS?

ELMS is a web-based software distribution and management system. Microsoft products under MSDNAA are being distributed under the ELMS program, namely e-academy. More info can be found at: ELMS for MSDNAA

How do I obtain access to the ELMS system for MSDNAA software?

You have access to ELMS system for MSDNAA software if you (a) A for-credit student (not audit or community learning) in specified IT & CS courses. Our department policy is that (a) your instructor must request an account for your entire class, and (b) your instructor needs to determine if your course needs software that is part of the program. For example, ITCS 1810 (Visual Basic I) students will have no need for software other than Visual Studio.NET, which is available from the library without an ELMS account.

Some files are downloadable. What do I do?

The answers are in this PDF File (opens in new window). The MSDNAA software downloads as an ISO file, this is a self contained image of the CD or DVD and is used as the source to burn a CD/DVD.... you do not burn the ISO file onto a CD/DVD, instead you open the ISO file with your favorite burning software and follow the prompts.

I downloaded some software, and it was really fast! Is that right?

When you choose a download delivery, what you receive from the ELMS site is not actually the chosen product but a special Download Handler application which knows how to decrypt the encrypted image. The encrypted image is known as a Secure Digital Container (SDC).. The downloader knows where this file is located, downloads it, decrypts it, and then leaves it on your hard drive.

The downloader is smart and will resume a download in progress that was interrupted, if you run it again (from the disk).

I am having trouble with the download.  May I download again?

To download again, you should remove not only the downloaded IMG or ISO files, but also the Downloader program as well. You can use the Windows Explorer to search for the proper *.img or *.iso file, and for the downloader file. After that, request the downloader again from the web site and restart your download.

Re-execute the downloader (Again, make sure that you have deleted the previously downloaded "downloader" and IMG or ISO images)

I'm on a [Macintosh/UNIX/Linux] platform and the downloaded file is not runnable

Yep, that's an unfortunate mis-feature of the ELMS digital delivery system. If your ISO burning station isn't on your Windows system, you can't get the image file. You will need to be on a Windows machine in order to get the downloaded ISO images

I'm left with a .IMG file, what do I do with that?

Some Products that are pre-wrapped into SDCs by the ELMS site decrypt into .IMG files, not .ISO. All you need to do is simply rename the file as .ISO. If Windows gives you some grief about "changing a file's extension, the file may become unusable" Say "YES".

What are ISO image files and how do I use them?

Many products are posted as ISO-9660 image files. An ISO-9660 image file is an exact representation of a CD or DVD, including the content and the logical format. The most common use of an image file is to write it to a blank CD-R or DVD-R, resulting in an identical copy of the original disc including file name and volume label information. ISO image files may also be opened and their contents copied to a local folder, much like ZIP files. ISO files may also be virtually mounted and accessed as a device. These three methods of using ISO images are described below. Note: You may have to rename the file extension from .IMG or .UDF to .ISO, depending on your software.

• Writing ISO files to CD-R or DVD-R
  • Most CD-R/DVD-R writing software includes a feature to create a disc from an image file. Note: you must use the special "copy image to CD" or "burn image" functionality. See your software’s Help for detailed information.
  • The Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit includes the DVDBURN.EXE command line tool.
• Testing CD-Rs and DVD-Rs
  After a CD/DVD-R has been written, you can use the CRC tool to verify that the file was successfully written.
  • The CRC305.exe tool can be downloaded from MSDN Subscriber Downloads in the Tools, SDKs, DDKs folder.
  • From a command prompt, run CRC305 filename (where filename is the image file name).
  • Run CRC305 x (where x is the drive letter of the drive containing the CD/DVD-R). The CRC values should match.

Alternatively, there are many freeware programs available for calculating an SHA-1 hash value that is provided on each download page on MSDN Subscriber Downloads. Use your favorite Internet search engine to look for sha1 hash to find them.

• Copying the contents of ISO files
  The contents of image files may be accessed directly using third-party tools. Using this method you can extract the files from an image file to a temporary folder on your hard drive, then run setup. The following tools offer such image file support:
  • IsoBuster
  • CDmage
  • Daemon Tools
  • ISO Recorder

The products listed above have been known to work. Other products that can manipulate ISO files may work, but have not been tested.

Common utilities for writing an ISO file to recordable media such as CD-R include ISORecorder, Nero, and Roxio. The contents of images files can be extracted to hard drive using utilities such as ISObuster or DaemonTools. Image files can be mounted locally using the Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel for Windows XP. For more information about image files, please visit the MSDN FAQ

This video, courtesy of the University of Washington, provides step by step instructions for downloading and then burning an image. http://www.projectstreamer.com/users/myvbprof/msdnaa/msdnaa.html

I downloaded the kit, and I have ISO (or IMG) files, but no CD or DVD Burner, what now?

You will have to find an environment in which you can temporarily use a system that meets the requirements, or if you want to be adventurous, you can try out one of the ISO handler applications for Windows.
Here's a list:

ZipGenius and WinRAR can also handle ISO files. You'll need to explore how to do this.

As a reminder - No technical support will be given. You'll need to puzzle out the help files and other directions for (a) the CD/DVD burning software, (b) your CD or DVD (the device must be able to write to disks. If it is a reader only, you'll need a new piece of hardware!), and (c) your computer.

I deleted the ISO download after installation, but the application is now asking for the CD to add components, what do I do?

DO NOT DELETE THE DOWNLOADED IMAGES! Burn them to CD or leave them on your hard disk.

I was trying to download software, and it failed with error: SDC00400. What is this?

If you start a download through ELMS and get an error code of SDC00400 (No Connection), this probably means the server is busy at the moment or you Internet connection was temporarily lost. Try restarting the download at a later time. If you still have trouble with the download, it may be related to personal firewall software on your computer.

Installation Questions & Issues

Make certain you are an administrator on your machine before starting VS.NET install

You must have IIS installed before installing VS.NET

You will need administrative privileges to install VS.NET and IIS

BROKEN VS.NET INSTALL?

Q: YY is having trouble with installing VS 2003 (full installation cd). When he starts up VS and tries to create a project, he gets a message about
"The application for project 'c:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\VC#\VC#Wizards\defaultwebproject.csproj is not installed. Make sure the application for the project type (.csproj) is installed."

When he starts up VS, the splash screen apparently only shows VB and Crystal Reports as being installed. He's uninstalled and reinstalled but no change.

A: Try follow these steps: http://www.dotnet247.com/247reference/msgs/50/251462.aspx

ASP.NET USER DELETED? INSTALLING .NET BEFORE IIS

Q: A student obtained and installed WinXP Pro w/SP2, VS.NET 2003, and SQL Server 2000, and deleted the ASP.NET user account. That student's description of the symptom and problem is:

"I was finally able to connect to the Northwind database, and establish the connection string. But when I run the project, and push the load button, I get the following error. Login failed for user 'MyComputerName\ASPNET' I deleted the ASP.NET user account when I installed Visual Studio, so it's not there anymore."

Several attempts to uninstall and reinstall related software seems to be getting nowhere. I would think reinstalling VS.NET and the framework would re-create that user account, but apparently not.

A: Using aspnet_regiis is a very important thing to know. A problem that crops up all the time is installing VS.NET before installing IIS. Don't do that! Install IIS first. Otherwise, unless you run asp_regiis you can't run asp.net. An important thing that this program does is to set up all the file extensions, e.g., .aspx, to invoke the appropriate DLL.

( http://www.dotnet247.com/247reference/msgs/45/226503.aspx, http://search.microsoft.com/search/results.aspx?st=b&na=88&View=en-us&qu=aspnet_regiis )

SUPPORT ALTERNATIVES

Q: What support alternatives are available for students using MSDNAA products?

A: The free ones include: reading the documentation, buying a book, or visiting the Microsoft knowledge base ( http://support.microsoft.com/ )

Some External Links

Here are some external web sites that may be useful to you. Note please, these are external sites and Lakeland Community College has no control over any of the content. Surf carefully.

Microsoft's Channel 9 Community (more professionals are here): http://channel9.msdn.com/

Microsoft's Channel 8 Community (a lot of students are here): http://channel8.msdn.com/

Microsoft Developer Network: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx

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