Philip Ostle

A sad tale, The issue of registration of running Delphi has change markedly over the past few years. I have been using Delphi since Delphi 1 and dip in every few years or so to upgrade. Always using a Named User Licence and only occasionally installed it on different machines, so a Named Network User licence was not really needed. I bought Delphi 10.4 early last year and it came with a 1 year maintanance, which expired in March. My main Laptop died (or is in the last thros of death) so I bought a new one and sucessfully installed it on the new machine and started the process of transferring all the stuff I needed to the new machine. Ok, so I renamed the old laptop to '....Old' and renamed my new laptop to something more appropriate but .... when I tried to run Delphi... it wanted to be registerEd again. I though nothing of it so ... I did on the old machine but when I tried on the new machine , I was informed that I had run out of install licences (apparently it is 3 now, it used to be way way more!). I re-named my new laptop back to what it was so at least it would work and ... It needs to register again and won't as I have used up all 3 slots. I read that the number of installs can easily be bumped up so I e-mailed Embarcadero and explained "exactly" what had happened. They refused on the grounds that while they could do it, I needed an active subscription. (see Registrationn Limits below) They pointed out that it was already registered to run on 3 machines. I pointed out that they were the same machines and only the Machine Name had changed... No joy They then tried the "it's a subscription only license and has expired" , but a copy of my licence clearely states "perpetual"...registered to me etc etc. Nowhere does it say anything about being restriced to a machine name. After many lengthy e-mails to Embarcadero, nothing has been resolved. I said 'delete all the previous' .. nope I said increase the counter ... nope I have a working copy on my old laptop (which used up 2x licences due to re-naming) which will be dead soon and I cannot install it on my new laptop even though it has been installed and registered on that machine before. They have said that if I pay for a maintainance, they will happily increase the counter. Is this now ransomware? possibly. Is it counter to the terms and spirit of the lscence agreement? yes. Is it Illegal? probably. This whole issue is due to the licence being registered to the "Machine Name", and not to me ... Or so it seams and it does not keep account of the previous names that the machine had so it can check before it wipes everything out. I do not think it unreasonobale to expect people to rename their computers. people do it all the time. from Embarcadero’s Atanas Popov https://blogs.embarcadero.com/from-the-gm-new-updates-and-changes-to-the-registration-bumps-policy/ Registration Limits We have noticed compliance issues and increased Support efforts related to registration limit increases for customers on older product versions, who are no longer on Update Subscription. It is a standard industry practice to provide support to the most recent versions and to customers who have extended maintenance. We updated our processes and now route all issues raised from users who are not on Update Subscription to Sales and Renewals. We realize this is a change to previous operations and to reduce the impact to development projects, we issued a one-time registration limit increase for all customers who are close to hitting their registration count limit. This should address issues with re-installs of your licensed software on existing or new machines. Further, we will continue to look for options to make this more seamless through automation. Apparently, I have a previous version because I do not have an update subscription. Nor do I want one.! Apparently, they have found no "options to make this seamless" after an extensive search. Be warned DO NOT RENAME YOUR MACHINE I may have to bight the bullet and hand over some cash

Some News.. I chivvied Grey Matter along as I had not heard anything other than an acknowledgement, and informed them (as an aside) that I had been in contact with legal departments both governmental and private and had been advised that my first course of action should be to try and resolve it with the supplier (i.e. them). (Both of these statements are true, but not necessarily connected!!) I have to say that they were verging on excellent and said that they would sort it and get my registration count bumped up (but to wait a few days). I just tried and voila, re-registered and back in. I suppose that there is a lesson in this (apart from NEVER change the name of your computer) in that buying directly from Embarcadero gives you no protection or clout. As an individual you are just a name on a list and fair game for a maintenance scam. The supplying agent has far more influence. I don't know about the US, but in the UK, the seller is accountable for anything sold that is not 'of merchantable quality' and I would be entitled to redress, irrespective of whether they were just a third party. They are still liable (as is AMEX who I bought it through). The redress could have been in the form of a full refund, and probably would have been (I feel) if all else had failed. If I had gone down that road, I would have immediately bought Delphi again but now with an extra 12 months maintenance. Alternatively, Grey Matter could have simply given me a new licence (claiming back from Embarcadero I supose) and yea, 12 months maintenance again. In all of this painful experience, Embarcadero get 'nil point' and Grey Matter a good 8 (they would have got 10 if they had acted without the 'by the way' mention of legal action) Quite how Embarcadero think this will benefit them I can't fathom. It pisses off every independent developer, gives them (Embarcadero) a god awful name and can only result in them falling further and further back in the good product category. If this was introduced by someone in middle management who thought it was a good idea they should be sacked. If it was brought in by someone at a more senior level, they should resign. I don't know how much it was bumped up as I am too wary to try.

If you monitor the ' C:\ProgramData\Embarcadero ' folder, every time that you try to register (and presumably, every time you run delphi), it deletes these '.corrupted' files and re-makes them so it might have worked if you had a copy of the files when it was still working, but any attempt thereafter wipes it out and repacs with an invalid copy.

yes ... and no, it doesn't work. Not for me anyway

Hi David I read the post on https://stackoverflow.com/questions/34451575/reinstalling-windows-without-re-registering-delphi which you commented on. Im not sure how https://stackoverflow.com/users/62576/ken-white managed to copy the .slp files, change the name of the new machine and everything was Hunky Dory. It does not work (for me). Maybe it did then, or maybe there was something else going on. I have been been repeatedly changing the name of my new laptop in my attempts to get something to work by checking the Windows log (for the exact date and time that the computer name was changed) , which is all UPPER case but checking that against the other logs where the case has been preserved to ensure that the computer name is an exact match for when I previously sucessfully managed to register. It does not matter. That registration has gone into the wind. I did the same for my old laptop with the same result. EMB keep saying that " We are working to provide a more automated way to facilitate this service in the future or eliminate the need for it altogether. " but from Jan to September of this year, nothing has changed. If I had access to my registration enties, I could delete those that no longer apply and get back to the (now set in stone) 3x permitted 'active' registrations. It would not be difficult and not unreasonable to check for a valid registration (say up to 30 days) and if not found as being valid, then kick in the "you have no licence" palava. I do wonder why a paid so much for Delphi when Lazarus would probably work just as well for what I do (slower I know)

That's exatly it. They will quite happily bump up the count ONLY if I pay up. Many many other users have had this problem and walked away. I my case, its installig it on the same machine that it was already installed on! I'm not quite sure who it should be bumped up to. All roads lead to the subscription department and they have clearely been instructed not to offer any assistance to anyone on any matter if there isn't a maintainance contract running. On the contrary, I think (but I am guessing) they have been instructed to sell maintainance at all costs and bugger the customer (in both senses of the phrase) I am not quite ready to quit yet.

You mean this one.... Hello Philip, We received your request to increase the registration limit for your serial number xxxx-xxxxxx-xxxxxx-xxxx Unfortunately, there is not an active support and maintenance agreement for this license. Historically, Support provided limited support for activities such as changing registration limits as a courtesy. Going forward registration limit changes will need the approval of your Account Management Team (renewals@idera.com). We are working to provide a more automated way to facilitate this service in the future or eliminate the need for it altogether. Please, be advised that we will close this case #00963229. Sincerely, xxxxxxx Technical Support Engineer ref:_00D30HwR._5005a2E0Qog:ref So I did and renewals@idero.com sent it back to Embarcardero and I got this... Hello Philip, How are you? I hope you are well. I am really sorry to inform you that your subscription for license has expired on 3/23/2022 and that's the reason you can't install it. In order to get the full access and use it on all of your machines, you need to renew it and I can help with that. If you are willing to renew then please let me know I will provide you with a renewal quote. Have a great time! xxxxxxx Senior Customer Retention Specialist ----------------------------------------------------------------------- However, It is not a "subscription" licence as I pointed out in my next one back to them, with invoice to prove it!. I will look into copying an old .slp file from the other machine and re-naming. You never know, that might work. As long as I can remember what it was called. I have e-mailed the UK "office of fair trading" to see what they say and have e-mailed a few other organsations that might be interested in this disgraceful practice. I wouldn't mind so much if I had tried to install on 4 different machines but they were the same machines, twice.

Not quite the encouragement I was hoping for! As I bought this through AMEX corporate Platinum, it comes with full legal cover. Under British law, the sale of goods act 1979 (merchanatble quality and all that) and the joint and several liability that is inherent with all card purchases, I will pursue that option as well, however.. Is payment of a ransom demand illegal? It is not currently illegal to pay a ransom demand in the UK which may surprise some considering the payment of a bribe, which is akin to a ransom payment, is illegal, as is making a payment to terrorists and other prescribed groups. Equally, those falling victim to an attack in the UK are not required by law to report it, although law enforcement bodies strongly recommend reporting it at the earliest opportunity to seek their assistance and expertise to maximise opportunities and to mitigate the threat. https://www.penningtonslaw.com/news-publications/latest-news/2021/directors-beware-the-civil-penalties-for-ransomware Hmmmm I'll soldier on.

Obviously I agree but getting through to 'none sales related' Embarcadero staff is problematic. As I bought this through 'Grey Matter' and not directly with Embarcadero, they may have more clout as under english law, they are liable, as is the credit card company, for any 'Faulty' products they sell. I Have D7 on the old machine and that works (for registration) no problem but D7 has problems with the compiler using generics, x64 code amongs other thngsc. so was hoping to have a clean install with Alexandria. I dont want this new machine clogged up with relics. I upgrade for the compiler enhancements and have little interest in the components.

I've been through that with all the .slp files using both the new and old computer names (in upper and lower case). No joy. It says "Active information does not apply to current user/host machine or is no longer valid for this product. Please register" I contacted the supplier (Grey Matter) as part of my campaign.

I don't have any of those I only have these .slp Files (but have no idea what to do with them, or whether I should even try) C:\ProgramData\Embarcadero .2026_50.1661798390517.slp .2026_50.1661868971833.slp .2026_50.1662218526007.slp .cgb_license .cgb_license.corrupted /.Licenses .cg_license .cg_license.corrupted license-manager.ini /deleted .4024_17.1662424776925.slp

I have just posted on the https://blogs.embarcadero.com/from-the-gm-new-updates-and-changes-to-the-registration-bumps-policy/ With an edited version of the story. I will be persistent, dogged in fact. I am approaching it from as many directions as I can. I will post if I get a reply.

That it is tied to a machine "name" and not the macine itsel?