Trying to change SOFTWARE_TYPE on computers that already have ArcGIS Installed

[Jesse_Albers]

I am trying to audit how many users in my environment need all the capabilities of an ArcGIS Professional License, I was planning to edit the registry key SOFTWARE_CLASS in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\ESRI\ArcGISPro\Licensing from "Professional" to "Viewer" and then grant the "Professional" and "Editor" licenses as needed. ArcGIS Pro does not respond to changing the SOFTWARE_CLASS registry value during testing. If anyone has any experience doing this, I'd greatly appreciate any advice.

Thanks 

[ThomasHoman]

I get what you are trying to do but suspect that your licensing source (ArcGIS Online, Enterprise, ...) is updating the registry setting every time the user logs in and overwriting your intent. Would it make more sense to manage the license changes at the source and let Pro handle the necessary configuration updates under its own power.

Respectfully,

Tom

[Jesse_Albers]

Our license server manages 90% of our licenses, and the majority of those users have per-machine installs. I attempted to change Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ESRI\ArcGISPro\Licensing SOFTWARE_CLASS_FN to "Viewer", but it still opens as Professional.

[BryanMc]

On my install it changes HKCU. Not sure if since I had opened software before (as there also settings in HKLM), but the Current user did the trick for me.

[BryanMc]

If you change using the GUI you can see that it changes "SOFTWARE_CLASS_FN" and not SOFTWARE_CLASS. Although maybe changing both is best just in case?! Hope this helps.