Off-site use of Sibelius
We have a limited number of licences available for staff and students to 'borrow' copies of Sibelius for use on their own personal computers, while off-site. Licences can be 'checked-out' for a maximum of 14 days at a time.
Please read this page fully, and follow all the instructions as directed, before asking the IT department for help. If you have followed these instructions completely, but are still having difficulties, then you may call into IT to ask for assistance.
To get started, these are the initial steps you need to follow:
- Request access to use Sibelius remotely
We will modify the permissions on your college IT account so you are able to complete the following steps. - Install Sibelius
Download Sibelius by clicking on one of the following links:
Sibelius for Windows
Sibelius for Mac
(N.B you must be logged in to Moodle to download Sibelius)
Note: If you already have a trial copy of Sibelius installed, you must uninstall it first, otherwise you will not be able to complete this process. In addition, fast internet is required to download Sibelius or Sibelius software could be corrupted.
We have found that connections from Charles Grove Halls may be getting blocked by their WiFi to our Sibelius licence server. Please try creating a hotspot on your phone and connecting to that while you borrow the licence. Alternatively you can come to college and connect to RNCM-General or Eduroam wifi networks. We do not recommend using 'The Cloud' Wifi network for this.
Once you have done this, you are ready to connect to our license server, and validate Sibelius over the network.
First, ensure that your computer has an active internet connection. This could be at halls, at home, or on the college WiFi.
Next, open a web browser, and go to https://ident.rncm.ac.uk/ (note the s in https://).
Enter your normal college username. Select an Authentication of 15 minutes, and click Login.
Enter your normal college password, and click OK.
You should receive a message that authentication was successful. At this point a temporary connection has been opened between your computer, and the college's Sibelius license server.
Open Sibelius.
If this is the first time you have used Sibelius on this machine, you will receive a window similar to the following:
IMPORTANT - Click Specify License Server.
Enter sibelius.rncm.ac.uk then click OK.
As Sibelius starts, depending on your settings you may receive prompts for Sibelius to make changes to your computer, or for Sibelius to check for updates.
If the Quick Start window appears, dismiss this by selecting one of the scores (eg Brass Band), then clicking Create.
You will then have the main Sibelius window, looking something like the following:
Click on File, then click on Help, then Check Out License.
In the Check Out License window, select how many days you would like to borrow a license for, then click OK.
You will then receive a message that your copy of Sibelius is running with a checked out license. You can then use Sibelius on your machine until the license runs out, even if you are not connected to the internet.
You do not need to re-authenticate to the college's system every time you wish to use Sibelius - only if you need to check out a license again.
The use of this service is monitored to prevent abuse and to make sure it does not impact on other users.
We may adjust the number of licenses that can be checked out at any given time, and also the number of days a license may be checked out for, in order to ensure a fair service for all students and staff, both on and off site.