This is the most important question. The Siemens Industry Support forum has a direct thread asking exactly this: “Sim EKB Install is illegal or not?”. One community response framed it with an analogy:
Once transferred, the license should appear "Green" (Active) in the list. If it is red or crossed out, the software cannot see it. simatic ekb install
The tool is distributed through uncontrolled channels: Baidu Pan, CSDN downloads, Google Drive links, and blog attachments. These sources are not vetted. Malicious actors have embedded trojans, cryptocurrency miners, and ransomware in “updated” versions of Sim_EKB_Install. Even if the core tool is clean, the download site may serve poisoned versions. This is the most important question
If you have purchased a legitimate license but the key is lost or corrupted, do not turn to piracy. Siemens Technical Support can recover your license through the License Key Recovery Wizard. You will need your license’s KHE serial number (found on the original yellow or red license disk or certificate). If it is red or crossed out, the software cannot see it
Beyond legality, the tool poses severe cybersecurity and operational threats.