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Knox Fundamentals

Knox licenses

Samsung’s KPE extends beyond the core security and management functions embedded in the Android operating system. KPE protects Samsung devices with advanced security and management features that are more granular and unique. KPE licenses are designed to be activated and managed from within your existing unified endpoint management (UEM) infrastructure, and are also included as part of Samsung’s Knox Suite.

You need a Knox license to activate Knox services on a device. Samsung's Knox Platform for Enterprise (KPE) system manages the entire lifecycle of Knox licenses including ordering, license generation, activation tracking, validation, and quantity checking. Starting July 1, 2021, Samsung provides you with Knox Platform for Enterprise (KPE) Premium — also known as Commercial — licenses at no cost.

NOTE—Other Knox solutions such as Knox Dual Data-At-Rest (DualDAR) and Knox Universal Credential Management (UCM) are not affected by this policy change: they continue to be paid solutions.

What license do I need for my solution?

Solution License Type Standard or Premium
Enterprise Edition Devices Yearly Premium
Knox Configure Yearly Premium
Knox Deployment Program Not applicable Standard  
Knox E-FOTA Yearly Premium  
Knox Manage Monthly or yearly

Premium

Knox Mobile Enrollment Not applicable Standard
Knox MSP Program Yearly Premium (through the Knox Configure license)  
Knox Platform for Enterprise Two-yearly Standard and Premium
Knox Suite Monthly or yearly Premium  
Knox Capture Yearly Premium

Get a license

You can get a Knox Platform for Enterprise license in one of two ways:

  • Directly generating a free KPE Premium (Commercial) license key from the KPE Product page.
  • Purchasing a device and software bundle, and receiving a license when your device provider includes a Knox license key with your purchase. If you received such a bundle, contact your supported MDM or device reseller for more details.

Generate a free KPE Premium license key

To generate a free KPE Premium license key, complete the following steps:

  1. Open the KPE Product Page.
  2. Click GET STARTED.
  3. Enter a valid enterprise email address and click GET STARTED.
  4. Use your Samsung Account credentials to log in.
  5. When prompted, complete your SamsungKnox.com registration
  6. After you've successfully registered, the KP My Knox page opens to show a pending KCS application. The KME, KM, E-FOTA, or KAI Samsung Admin evaluates and approves your request.
  7. Once your request is approved for KCS, the KPE block on the KP My Knox page is enabled.
  8. Click the KPE block on the My Knox page to generate a KPE Premium (Commercial) key. You can see the generated KPE Premium key on the Licenses tab or by clicking the KPE block on the My Knox page.
    Note— If the user is rejected from a KCS application, KPE block is not enabled, and the user cannot generate a license key.

Activate a License

Once you have a Knox Platform for Enterprise license, you can activate it in your MDM.

NOTE—Your MDM may have already activated your Knox license key for you in your MDM profile upon purchase. Contact your MDM vendor to check if you need to input the license key manually.
  1. Open your MDM console.
  2. Register the Knox Platform for Enterprise license in your MDM console.

For example, the following image shows Knox Manage's license key page. If you use Knox Manage, this page is where you enter your license key.

Activate a license without an internet connection

If your enterprise is highly regulated and does not allow communication with external servers, you can request the Knox License On-Premise Server Software, which handles license verification within your firewall. Samsung charges an extra fee for this service. For more information, contact your Samsung representative or reseller, or Samsung Support, which requires a Samsung Knox Portal account.

Validate a license key

You can validate your license key as follows:

  1. Log into your Knox Portal My Knox page.
  2. Enter your license key in the check license key box.
  3. Click the blue arrow. The page refreshes to show the status of your license key.

FAQs

ClosedHow do I add more Knox seats (activations) to an existing Knox license key?

The KPE Premium license, available at no cost, includes 10,000,000 seats which expire in 2 years from date of activation.

If you need additional Knox seats (activations) over and above 10,000,000 seats, simply contact the Knox Reseller or your Samsung account representative. You do not need to get another Knox License key to enter into your MDM.

ClosedWhy do I lose a Knox license seat after factory resting my device?

If you factory reset a device without first unenrolling it from your MDM, your Knox license seat is lost. By design, the license seat is not returned automatically.

If you already wiped a device without unenrolling it from an MDM and want to restore its Knox license seat, you can do so manually as follows:

  1. Log in to the Knox portal with a Knox web account that has IT admin privileges and a Samsung Knox web account +*.
  2. Go to the Deactivate devices toolat https://www2.samsungknox.com/en/keep-remove-devices.
  3. Enter the license key and the IMEI number of the devices you have wiped. Use commas to separate each entry.
NOTE—This feature is only available to IT admins who upgrade to a Knox web account +. This upgrade is free and only requires a paid Knox license key. To upgrade your account do as follows:
  1. On the My Knox page, in the lower left corner of the page, look for the Upgrade to a web account+ tool-tip box.
  2. Click the Upgrade accountand enter your license key in the dialog box that opens.
ClosedWhat happens to the Work container if the license expires?

There is one type of Knox Workspace license: two-yearly, based on its billing period type. This license expires two years after its activation date. If the license is not extended with an extension order and expires, depending upon the device's OS, two kinds of user behaviors can happen:

  • Android R OS and higher — For devices running Android R OS and higher, the Work container can be used, but KPE APIs can no longer be called, causing IT admins’ inability to apply KPE policies until the license is activated again.
  • OS lower than Android R — For devices running an OS lower than Android R, the Work container gets locked and KPE APIs can no longer be called. But the data inside the container are not removed, and the user re-gains access to the container and data after license is extended or reactivated.
    NOTE — Some Q OS devices may exhibit user behavior similar to R OS devices.

Below are the limitations to the container when the license expires:

  • If a container exists, the container will be locked and inaccessible until the license is extended or reactivated in some Q OS devices and devices with an OS lower than Q OS.
  • You cannot push any Knox Workspace policies to devices.
  • All Knox Workspace policies set in the EMM admin console are maintained and can't be updated.