How do I transfer a license from one computer to another?
 

Hi LWD, I bought HL and installed it on my Mac running parallels and it runs great, only problem is it's a work laptop and I am getting a new one! How can I transfer the lic to the new laptop?

Thanks

Giddoen :?:

This is going to be one of my concerns too, and I think a concern for all your customers.

I'll be upgrading my computer in the next couple of months and would rather not have one of my licenses locked up on something I'm not using anymore.

I hope it's some fully automated process, where I just pop online, disable the old computer, and enable the new one.

I'm worried that it will be some more complex process of emailing and getting special permission. The problem with this is that you're not the only software I own. I've got iTunes and Final Draft and an increasing number of programs that all want special attention, making upgrade day a headache of emails and configurations.

How do I transfer a license from one computer to another?
 

I'm glad to hear HL is running nicely for you on a Mac under Parallels. That's what we do for our tradeshows, and it's a wonderfully convenient (and portable) solution. :-)

If the period between activating the license on one computer and then moving it to another computer is 120 days (4 months) or longer, all you need to do is run the license activation wizard on the new computer. The license will be automatically moved to the new computer. If you need to move the license to another computer less than 120 days after it was last activated on a new computer, then you'll need to submit a request to technical support (support at wolflair.com). Just be sure to include your license number and a brief explanation of what's going on (like you did below). We can get the waiting period waived and then you're good to go.

Note! The 120-day counter starts only when the product thinks it's been installed on a new computer. This means that updating the keyfile due to the release of a new product update will NOT normally restart the counter, unless HL thinks you've got a new computer.

The license mechanism allows the license to be re-assigned on a newly configured system effectively once every 4 months (i.e. 120 days from the initial activation or the last change). The average user upgrades or re-installs the operating system once every 18-24 months, so our system provides for about 5-6 times the norm. However, sometimes exceptional situations arise, and we can readily take care of things on this end when that happens.

The controls are an attempt at a balance between user convenience and protection against users sharing their licenses with all their friends. We'll never be able to find the "perfect" balance, since every user will be different, but it's rare that users make changes in less than the four-month period. We use the controls as a means to police against abuses, but it will take a pattern of potential abuse before we'll start questioning early requests.

Hope this helps,
Rob


At 08:29 AM 1/28/2007, you wrote:

AWESOME I already sent off a request to support.

Thanks,

Giddoen

That seems reasonable to me too.

Thanks

Well Rob I did as instructed and sent a post to support@wolflair.com and later last night a young lady replied with what to do and I am now running HL on my personal powerbook G4 running Virtual PC7 and it works great.

So again thanks for the quick response and uber customer service!

Now as soon as I get those Rifts data sets (oh I so hope and pray!) I will be ready for GenCon!

Giddoen

And then you have folks like me.. I GM and play. I use HL as both a GM and a player... when I am working on my campaign, I work on my desktop PC... when I am playing, I'm usually mobile.

So, I get to choose if I want HL on my PC *OR* my mobile surface. Which is not balancing my convenience at all.

Not when I think all you would really need to do on your activation server is create a new db field called something like "activation_count" and say "if activation count >2 then deny"

Again, not trying to be unreasonable. This is just how I see it.

HL comes with two licenses and its only $10 bucks for more up to max of 5.

I would recommend reading over the License FAQ page I wrote to see if that answers your ability to get the second license for your surface.

Ugh. The only thing worse than stupid people are stupid people who don't admit it. So, in the spirit of not being horrible... I was in fact, being stupid. It's okay to say it, when it is the truth. LoL.

Someone helped me through the process. Serves as a reminder that sometimes when we think a thing is out of reach, it is only because we lacked sufficient persistence and patience to realize the goal.

Sorry for sounding dopey. And thank you for the response and kindness.