What is the MSDN Academic Alliance Program.
The MSDN academic alliance program is annual membership program for technical departments in the area of Computer Science which gives access to Microsoft's platform, servers and developer software for instructional and research purposes (also on personal computers).
Who is eligible to download the software.
The faculty and students affiliated with the Computer Science Department are eligible to use the MS MSDNAA software - this includes download and receive activation keys.
As a general rule to be eligible to download the software students have to participate at least in one course offered and given by the Department of Computer Science. The faculty/staff should be duly engaged to teach or instruct students and/or conduct non-commercial research. The Department of Computer Science has signed an The Master End-User License Agreement and is bound by its terms.
How to create account on the Secure Internet Download center.
Users have to be created on Secure Internet Download center before
they can use the system. The only information provided by us to the
Secure Internet Download center about eligible users are their e-mail
addresses. E-mail addresses are used by the system as Login
names. Users are notified by e-mail with an individual password to the
system normally within 24 hours after creation.
Students
Students at CS will automatically be able to use their IST accounts – student.aau.dk - as login names for the Secure Internet Download center. These accounts will be created when they start, so you have to know your IST username and password to use the Self Service.
Students with the old cs.aau.dk accounts are advices to use this as the login. You have to know your CS username and password to use the Self Service. If you as a student experiences any problems with login please send a mail to your local support at Cs-it.
Employees
The faculty members may request MSDNAA account by sending e-mail to your local support at Cs-it. Please note that creating of users can not be entirely automated. We will do our best to run batch jobs once every working day.How software can be used.
As general rule the software may be used for educational/research purposes. It must not be used for commercial purposes or infrastructure purposes. You can find examples of acceptable and unacceptable usage in usage guidelines .
What to do in case of software installation problems.
Please note that you are on your own when installing software. Computer Science Department have no resources to help you. You may try to find solution to your problems on the Microsoft support center.
Which software may be downloaded.
You may inspect the list of Microsoft products covered by the MSDNAA program here.Please check the Secure Internet Download site to find out what packages are available for downloads. "Search by product title" software menu may contain more products than those shown on the software page by icons.
How to obtain and install software
You can obtain software only by using Secure Internet Download .If your product requires installation key, you will get this information as soon as your product has been registered as a genuine purchase. Information related installation keys can be found under "Your Account" and the "Order History" at secure download site. Please be aware that you are allowed to install your product only on one computer and product activation keys can not be reused (one time) . You will have to provide a valid reason for reissuing of a license key.
The IP address used by your computer must resolve (DNS) to a domain name which ends with the ".dk", otherwise you will not be able to download the software (you will get a "configuration error").
Please note that a small program - Download Installer Client - is downloaded first . This program is responsible for decrypting of the encrypted software packages and receives the "unlock" key only if download is initiated from the above stated link. This means that you have to use PC with Microsoft Windows OS for downloads.
Encrypted software packages are located on the server on the CS.AAU.DK domain. Before you commence the secure download please check whether you have sufficient disk space - the packages may have considerable size.
After installing of your product always check for security updates at www.microsoft.com and install them if available. You should check for security updates periodically.
What to do in case of MSDNAA account issues.
Many students experience that their MSDNAA account become locked by the end of January or July. The locking is the consequence of the fact that study-lines (studieordnings in STADS) are being closed after finishing semester activities and new study-lines are not opened during a summer. MSDNAA system is using study-lines for determining whether students are eligible for MSDNAA service or not. There is no other information in administrative systems (STADS) which may be used for this purpose. Accounts will be automatically reopened when eligible students enlist to new semester activities, provided that they have not deactivated their account using the self service. If you for some reason still experiences any problems with your MSDNAA account please Cs-it.
Not all products covered by MSDNAA program are available for downloads at the moment. We are working to provide most needed packages but the process requires considerable amount of time. Should you urgently need particular software for your project/research/education please Cs-it.
Please do not expect quick answers to e-mails sent to MSDNAA account administration at Computer Science Departmet. Normally e-mails are read and answered once a week. We urge you to read carefully this page before sending mails to us.