ShadowProtect - Activation

You can still activate ShadowProtect without an internet connection. But maybe this is not what you are referring to when you mention your off-line snapshot. Sorry, I'm not well versed in the lingo of FD-ISR.

 

Oh, okay, well in that case I believe (although may I'm wrong) that he can still activate ShadowProtect in that off-line snapshot. He'll have to use another computer that IS online in order to access the storagecraft website and punch in his product key to obtain his activation key, but that's it.

 

That's the problem, I don't have a second computer at home. My new computer replaced my old computer, because my old computer was broke.
Several hardware components didn't work anymore : no cooling anymore, no CD-ROM, no DVD-reader anymore, the start-button of the tower was gone. Worned out completely.
StorageCraft doesn't know that of course and assumed I was installing SP2 on another computer.

A quote of an email from StorageCraft's support :

Within a few days, I will try another experiment and not with FDISR-snapshots this time, but on the SAME computer without FDISR. If the activation fails again, I have to email support again to reset my activation.

 

Well, at least your are lucky they have already reset your activation one! As I am concern, when they say they allow us to install SP as many times as we want on the same machine until proven otherwise (with or without FD-ISR) this is just Bullsh*t

I can't wait to see if they are gonna reactivate your license when you get your new computer Erik, keep us inform!

Best regards,
Atomas31

 

You misunderstood my post. I have a new computer since March 2006 and I still have that computer. I don't want a second computer.

My experiment is a test to see if StorageCraft is speaking the truth about their activation or not. I prepared my test very carefully, one part is done, the next part will be done in a few days.
I will post the results and the full description of my test.

 

Erik, I wonder how are you convince them to reactivate your license if it is not the same ID machine? Won't you have the same problem that I have with manually installing SP on different snapshots on my one and only machine? If that's the case, you should received the same kind of answer that they send me and they will consider you a "security risk" and simply refuse to reactivate your license...

 

StorageCraft blames FDISR for my activation problems and they don't know anything about FDISR.
That's why I do my testing WITHOUT FDISR, because they claim, I can re-install SP as many times I want on the same machine without any activation problems.
Well we will see about that in the next few days. I have my theory of the final results and I would be surprised if I'm wrong.

 

And what is your theory on the final results? I hope it is a positive one!

 

In the past I was also talking about my theories at Wilders and they blamed me for it, because it was not tested. So I keep my mouth shut this time.

 

Fair enough! If I remember well is about the way Storagecraft identifie a machine on wich they base their decision on reactivating or not. If that's the case and you are right than you might have difficulty to make them reactivate your license, won't you?

 

Feel free to blame me for the misunderstandings regarding activation. I tell it how I understand it, and sometimes I don't understand the full picture. ShadowProtect will allow you to re-activate many times on the same OS volume on the same machine. I'm sorry that I misinformed you earlier. I try my best, but hey, I'm human, and sometimes I screw up.

You may also want to take my comments with a grain or two of salt as they're not StorageCraft's corporate stance. They're just my own opinions/thoughts/etc. And obviously sometimes I'm wrong about things.

 

That's what StorageCraft's support said :

So if my experiment ends up in an activation problem, I have a good excuse for a reset of my activation, based on misinformation from StorageCraft.

PS.: grnxnm, I don't blame you anything. You even helped me personally with my serial number and later on with my activation. I never forget this.
I separate people from software, because they are not the same.
There is ShadowProtect and there is grnxnm. Two different things.

 

My test is done and my experience matches with Atomas's experience.

1. I installed SP in image WINXPPRO-1 with Machine ID "AAAA-AAAA" and Activation = 0K.
2. I un-installed SP in image WINXPPRO-1
3. I re-installed SP in image WINXPPRO-2 with Machine ID "BBBB-BBBB" and Activation = OK.
The second activation surprised me, which means that StorageCraft allows 2 activations with different Machine ID's

Atomas did this :
1. He installed SP in snapshot-1 and Activation = 0K
2. He installed SP in snapshot-2 and Activation = OK
3. He installed SP in snapshot-3 and Activation = failed.
My guess is that Atomas had 3 different Machine-ID's on the same machine and that was probably too much.
So the 3th activation seems to be the trouble.
If I re-install SP in image WINXPPRO-3, my activation will probably fail.

I wonder if SC also records each un-install.
If the Machine ID stored at SC matches with the Machine ID of the user,
it means that the user is un-installing SP on the same machine and then SC could RESET the activation to allow a second re-install and so on.

I wonder how it works in SP3, because there have been changes regarding activation.

I have one big improvement now, I catched SP and its Machine ID in an image and that means I can create an archive and restore that archive in any snapshot of my choice. So no activation problems anymore, if my theory is right.

 

Well, I suppose it does pay to be a squeaky wheel.

As promised, today we discussed this activation issue (particular to FD-ISR users who are activating on multiple FD-ISR snapshots on the same machine) and I believe, based on our conversation, that we will be making some accommodations for you FD-ISR users which, for the most part, should resolve these issues automatically (no need for you to download anything new). I'm not promising this, and have to wait on the final word from our CTO when he get back into town tomorrow, but personally I think it'll happen.

Erik, I did discover that for the off-line activation, which you perform for one of your volumes, we may not support multiple activations. I'll see if I can find out more about this.

 

I never used the off-line activation, always the on-line activation of SP.
I changed my Off-line snapshot into an On/Off-line snapshot. It's only on-line for upgrading and activation of softwares, after that it's back off-line.
My frozen on-line snapshot remains the same.

If everything goes right, I don't need to activate ShadowProtect and a few other softwares, including WinXPproSP2 anymore and FDISR won't be a problem anymore either. If nobody fixes it, I have to do it myself as usual.

Software companies make it impossible for me to do a complete off-line installation of my computer, they still think that internet is safe.

 

We've made some accommodations for FD-ISR users. I can't really describe how it's done as it's somewhat confidential, but FD-ISR users will now have some room to breath as far as activating ShadowProtect on multiple FD-ISR snapshots/volumes within the same machine goes.

 

Thank's Grnxnm for that good news

Now, do I have to do something special or can I reinstall and activate SP 3.0 on my third snapshot without doing anything special and be able to activate my SP?

 

As long as you do an online activation when you install SP 3.0 in your third snapshot, it should activate without any problems. Let me know if you experience any problems. I don't think it will work though if you try to activate off line.

 

That is great news. Doesnt matter how it works. It was not a big issue for me, but I find it so cool that SC chose to listen to customers.

 

I'm sorry you guys, I have been following this thread with interest ( although I get a liitle confused : senior moments dontchaknow ) and would like a couple of clarifications please:

- if I have SP installed into my primary and copy/update to another FDISR snap, will the SP still be fully functional?( I can see the use of that.)

- has the problem been reinstalling into a fresh snap of an OS or a new install of an OS on the same machine which then requires reactivating? Can you effectively then have several concurrent installs of SP in the different snaps?
I an see the use of that.

- as Pete points out Having multiple instances of SP in differently composed snaps may be a bit counter productive?

Could E-A and Atomas31 give some detail as to how they are implementing their combo of SP and FDISR
( as long as it's not too commercially sensitive )

Very nice
So who is/might be phoning home then?



regards.

 

In theory you can copy/update from snapshot/archive (with SP) to another snapshot/archive and SP will work in both snapshots, because copy/update is not the same as install.
I didn't try it yet in practice, but I will in the near future.
Keep in mind that copy/update isn't always possible for FDISR-users, sometimes they have to install SP more than once in different snapshots.

There is one big problem : if you want to test SP's activation thoroughly, you can lose your activation due to these tests and then you have to beg for a reset. One test is not enough.

My assumption until now is that you can install and activate only TWO times with a different "Machine ID" without troubles.
So if you want to be a pirate, install SP 3 times and the third installation will have an activation problem IMO.
Atomas and me could install and activate SP2 two times, Atomas tried a third one and he had an activation problem. Based on Atomas's experience, I didn't try a third one.

That Activation Engineer of StorageCraft considers me already as a pirate with two stripes.
That engineer can't chase and punish crack writers and he can't chase and punish the users who installed a cracked version of SP and didn't pay, either, because they don't send "Machine IDs" to him.
But somebody has to be chased and punished and the most easy prey is : the good guys, who pay and send "Machine IDs".

If StorageCraft starts with secrets, me too.

 

Sorry Eric I don't follow. I do have FD-ISR on one machine and although I rarely have much use for FD-ISR I have had no problems making a copy snapshot or updating.