Hi, 

First post, don't shoot. :) As far as I read, there are a lot of activation questions and many of them are related to proxy settings. This is a common problem with Windows domains where individual user accounts are restricted for security purposes. 

DraftSight seems to keep its proxy settings file under the "All Users"[1] directory (for Windows XP).  This directory may not be writable for everyone (again, for security purposes). When a user needs to activate the product and proxy server information is not yet available, DraftSight asks for that information. After that, it tries to write the information into the ProxyServerConfig.xml file, but it fails if the user who started the DraftSight process does not have write permissions to the directory this file is in. 

Nowadays, this is the main reason we can not move to DraftSight in the office. I'm talking about 100+ users and some of them use CATIA as well. . :) 

Suggestions:

1. ProxyServerConfig.xml file should be saved under the users' home directories, separately for each user. Everyone needs to register individually anyway.  This will improve security as well; the ProxyServerConfig.xml file includes hashes for usernames and passwords and while improbable, it is possible that this info could be dangerous in third parties' hands. 

2. DraftSight should provide an Activation link *inside* the program menus, the Help menu for instance. This way, a user without write permissions on All Users directory could still activate the product using live proxy information; in theory at least.

Currently I'm working on a workaround for this. Will notify if I find one, but I think Dassault should check this out. 

Cheers,

 ED 

[1] Full path is: C:\\Documents and Settings\\All Users\\Dassault Systemes\\DraftSight