Problem with licensing and getting add-ons

[rwglaub]

I have just installed HeroLabs from a CD and bought the Pathfinder system with add-ons. Whenever I start HL, I get a message that I am running in demo mode (I completed the licensing process) and I cannot acess my add-ons. What can I do?

[rwglaub]

How the hell do I get out of demo mode? I've sent an email to tech support and have received no answer.

[cryptoknight]

Have you activated your license?

If not, once you get into Hero Lab, click on License -> Activate License

If you have activated your license, then try License -> Re-Activate License, which should pull an update of the licenses you're entitled to.

[rwglaub]

I've tried that. It doesn't work. It keeps telling me about early license reassignment, and I just installed the program yesterday.

[rob]

Since you provided your real name, I was able to check your license details on our server. Your license shows as having been properly activated already, so you were successful activating the license on one computer already. My guess is that you are now trying to activate the *same* license number on a *second* computer. If so, then you will need a separate license number for the second computer. You can obtain a *free* secondary license by going to the License menu and selecting "Obtain Secondary License". Then you can activate the new license number on the second computer.

Hope this helps....

[rwglaub]

I am not using a second computer. The damn thing won't work and I don't know why. I followed the instructions and the damned program just will not accept the fact that I have a proper license. Stop assuming that the user is always at fault.

I just tried it again, and I keep getting the same result. The program tells me I'm running in demo mode and tells me to buy the data I've already bought.

BTW, I sent you guys at techsupport an email message about my problem and I have yet to get an answer.

[rob]

I'll start with the last item first. Your first post here was at 6pm Saturday night. Based on that, I'm going to assume that you sent the email to support no more than 24 hours before your post here. That means you sent the email to support after close of business on Friday. Like the vast majority of companies in the world, our primary business hours are Monday through Friday. So an email to support over the weekend generally won't receive a response until the next business day, which is Monday (tomorrow). I happened to be working this weekend and saw your post, so I figured I would try to help.

As for why I guessed at the reason for the problem, about 98% of our users who encounter your problem immediately after purchasing the product have made the exact mistake I outlined. Given that our server shows you have successfully activated your license, it was the most likely source of the problem. Apparently, you're in the other 2%.

The first thing to do is verify that there are no programs on your computer interfering with Hero Lab's access to the internet. Start by loading any game system into Hero Lab - demo mode is fine. Once that's done, please go to the Tools menu, then the Diagnostics sub-menu, and select "Check Internet Connection". If this reports any issues, please copy and paste them into an email to support (or you can post them here in this thread).

The second thing to verify is that the key file sent back by our server during the licensing process is successfully getting saved into place. This key file is how the product gets unlocked. Go to the Tools menu, then the Explore Folders sub-menu, and select "Program Data Folder". This will launch Windows Explorer and load up the location where the key file is saved. You should see a file with the name "HPKey.lic" and it should be about 3KB in size. If you don't see the file, something on your computer is interfering with this file being properly saved, so we'll need to figure that out. If you *do* see the file, delete it. Once you delete it, try running the license activation wizard again. It's possible that the file was corrupted somehow during the download, so this should retrieve it again.

If there is nothing interfering with your internet connection and the key file is being successfully downloaded, I'll need to brainstorm other ideas for what could be going wrong. Give the above tests a try and let me know if they uncover anything. Be sure to provide me with any error messages that may be appearing, since they will be extremely helpful in trying to figure out what's going sideways with your computer.

[rwglaub]

Originally Posted by rob

I'll start with the last item first. Your first post here was at 6pm Saturday night. Based on that, I'm going to assume that you sent the email to support no more than 24 hours before your post here. That means you sent the email to support after close of business on Friday. Like the vast majority of companies in the world, our primary business hours are Monday through Friday. So an email to support over the weekend generally won't receive a response until the next business day, which is Monday (tomorrow). I happened to be working this weekend and saw your post, so I figured I would try to help.

As for why I guessed at the reason for the problem, about 98% of our users who encounter your problem immediately after purchasing the product have made the exact mistake I outlined. Given that our server shows you have successfully activated your license, it was the most likely source of the problem. Apparently, you're in the other 2%.

The first thing to do is verify that there are no programs on your computer interfering with Hero Lab's access to the internet. Start by loading any game system into Hero Lab - demo mode is fine. Once that's done, please go to the Tools menu, then the Diagnostics sub-menu, and select "Check Internet Connection". If this reports any issues, please copy and paste them into an email to support (or you can post them here in this thread).

The second thing to verify is that the key file sent back by our server during the licensing process is successfully getting saved into place. This key file is how the product gets unlocked. Go to the Tools menu, then the Explore Folders sub-menu, and select "Program Data Folder". This will launch Windows Explorer and load up the location where the key file is saved. You should see a file with the name "HPKey.lic" and it should be about 3KB in size. If you don't see the file, something on your computer is interfering with this file being properly saved, so we'll need to figure that out. If you *do* see the file, delete it. Once you delete it, try running the license activation wizard again. It's possible that the file was corrupted somehow during the download, so this should retrieve it again.

If there is nothing interfering with your internet connection and the key file is being successfully downloaded, I'll need to brainstorm other ideas for what could be going wrong. Give the above tests a try and let me know if they uncover anything. Be sure to provide me with any error messages that may be appearing, since they will be extremely helpful in trying to figure out what's going sideways with your computer.

My internet connection works.

The key file was there, I deleted it, ran the license activation again. No key file.

Every time I start the program, it does not recognize the fact that it's been updated to 3.9a. It always tells me to update the program before it goes any farther. When 3.9a is installed, it will not place an icon on the desk top. After I finally get into Pathfinder, I'm always in demo mode. I have two HeroLabs directories in Program Files (x86). One is mostly empty, except for docs and product directories and some miscellaneous files. The second one, apparently formed during the update, has the full program. BTW, I found the key file here and not in Program Data. Now there is no key file. I am not getting any error messages except the one when I try to activate my product about early reassignment.

[Colen]

Hi Robert,

Please email me at colen@wolflair.com and we'll figure out what's going on.

[rwglaub]

Thanks for you help! I'm working now. I think I found the problem. The update was trying to install to the directory Hero Lab rather than the correct directory HeroLab.