License reactivation request after latest upgrade

zarberg · January 10th, 2015, 10:58 AM

I opened Hero Lab today to prepare my characters for a gaming convention I am going to next weekend, and noticed there were updates to Hero Lab. After applying those updates, I got a license error saying my license was not active. I am now unable to use the many hundreds of dollars of upgrades I have paid for until this is resolved. This is also the second time this has happened, and in both instances I had made zero significant changes to my computer (I'm an IT professional, I know all about hardware signatures and significant changes in regard to licenses). It's quite frustrating to have a product which you have paid for be unavailable to you.

ShadowChemosh · January 10th, 2015, 11:30 AM

HERE is some FAQ about licenses that is worth reading. What happens 99% of the time someone posts this "issue" to the boards is they have multiple devices running HL. But they didn't go by the golden rule that EACH device gets it's own unique license.

In example you install Hero Lab on two computers which we will call Computer1 and Computer2. The license will actually initially work correctly. For Computer1 activates the license then when installed on Computer2 the license "Transfers" to this computer (which can be done every 120 days). But Computer1 does not "recheck" the license yet at this time so it continues to work. Then an update happens and Computer1 is upgraded first and the upgrade goes to check the license and BOOM finds that the license had been reassigned to Computer2.

The FAQ link above has info about getting a copy of all your licenses. You should be able to use your 2nd license to get you main computer back up and running.

If all the above is "false" or wrong. Then email support as nothing anyone on the forums can do about licenses.

zarberg · January 10th, 2015, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShadowChemosh

HERE is some FAQ about licenses that is worth reading. What happens 99% of the time someone posts this "issue" to the boards is they have multiple devices running HL. But they didn't go by the golden rule that EACH device gets it's own unique license.

In example you install Hero Lab on two computers which we will call Computer1 and Computer2. The license will actually initially work correctly. For Computer1 activates the license then when installed on Computer2 the license "Transfers" to this computer (which can be done every 120 days). But Computer1 does not "recheck" the license yet at this time so it continues to work. Then an update happens and Computer1 is upgraded first and the upgrade goes to check the license and BOOM finds that the license had been reassigned to Computer2.

The FAQ link above has info about getting a copy of all your licenses. You should be able to use your 2nd license to get you main computer back up and running.

If all the above is "false" or wrong. Then email support as nothing anyone on the forums can do about licenses.

I have purchased extra secondary licenses and both devices (iPad and laptop) have their own unique license.

I have already e-mailed support.

Farling · January 11th, 2015, 03:56 PM

As you mention it being a laptop, there is an issue if your laptop keeps changing its network interface's MAC address (e.g. on reboot)

liz · January 12th, 2015, 08:04 AM

zarberg, it looks like you were able to resolve the issue by obtaining your secondary license number. I'm glad you were able to get everything working!

EightBitz · January 14th, 2015, 05:34 PM

OK, I have this same issue right now. I have two laptops. On the newer one, it's working fine. On the older one, I just updated and had this issue. They both have different license numbers. If it is an issue with a changing MAC address, how do I fix this?

comfrk · January 14th, 2015, 06:12 PM

Also unable to register after newest update.

JDragon · January 14th, 2015, 07:15 PM

I'm having the same issue after the update to 6.1f.

BTW your MAC address should not be changing on your PC by its self, this is a unique* identifier to each piece of hardware that is used for network connections. It is possible to manuly change the MAC address on a connection, but not something the average person will be doing or even do accidentally.

That being said you IP address could be changing, but that should not impact the software.

I have contacted Support as well.

JD

EightBitz · January 14th, 2015, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDragon

BTW your MAC address should not be changing on your PC by its self, this is a unique* identifier to each piece of hardware that is used for network connections. It is possible to manuly change the MAC address on a connection, but not something the average person will be doing or even do accidentally.

That being said you IP address could be changing, but that should not impact the software.

I have contacted Support as well.

JD

I think the point was that if you have a laptop, you're likely to have two NICs. Wired and wireless. They each have their own MAC address. If you have a VPN connector, there's a third.

If you, in the course of using the same notebook at home or at work or when telecommuting, switch between wired, wireless and VPN, then yes, the MAC address of your active connection could easily be different than the one for your previous connection.

JDragon · January 14th, 2015, 08:02 PM

@EightBitz - Good point about the MAC you are using with the software changing as a result of a different connection being used. I did not get that from the post, but that could just be me. :-D

That would lead me to say, that setting the MAC address as one of the things the software checks for its verification process would be a bad choice by the programers.

JD

Farling Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Greater London, UK Posts: 2,623 January 11th, 2015, 03:56 PM	As you mention it being a laptop, there is an issue if your laptop keeps changing its network interface's MAC address (e.g. on reboot)
#4

liz Ex-Staff Lone Wolf Staff Join Date: Jul 2013 Posts: 961 January 12th, 2015, 08:04 AM	zarberg, it looks like you were able to resolve the issue by obtaining your secondary license number. I'm glad you were able to get everything working!
#5

EightBitz Senior Member Join Date: May 2013 Posts: 1,458 January 14th, 2015, 05:34 PM	OK, I have this same issue right now. I have two laptops. On the newer one, it's working fine. On the older one, I just updated and had this issue. They both have different license numbers. If it is an issue with a changing MAC address, how do I fix this?
#6

comfrk Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2012 Posts: 1 January 14th, 2015, 06:12 PM	Also unable to register after newest update.
#7

JDragon Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2014 Posts: 3 January 14th, 2015, 08:02 PM	@EightBitz - Good point about the MAC you are using with the software changing as a result of a different connection being used. I did not get that from the post, but that could just be me. :-D That would lead me to say, that setting the MAC address as one of the things the software checks for its verification process would be a bad choice by the programers. JD
#10