Delphi Registration

[Philip Ostle 2]

3 hours ago, David Heffernan said:

They must be breaking their own licence terms. They'd probably back down very quickly if threatened with legal action. 

 

When I faced this problem, reassigning a licence from a retired developer to a new hire, I had to use my personal contacts with the senior developer team to get it resolved. I don't feel great about having had to do this.

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)

[David Heffernan 2345]

4 hours ago, Philip Ostle said:

Hi David

So yeah, I can't help you, I'm in the same boat as you

[rvk 33]

On 9/16/2022 at 5:50 PM, Philip Ostle said:

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

Hey, you have the .corrupted files there.

Have you tried copying the .corrupted files over the .cgb_license ones? (after securing the entire directory of course and after renaming the PC back to its original name)

 

Edited September 18, 2022 by rvk

[Attila Kovacs 629]

5 hours ago, Philip Ostle said:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/34451575/reinstalling-windows-without-re-registering-delphi

 

It's a really cool topic, especially the conversation between DH and KW :DDDD

 

Edited September 18, 2022 by Attila Kovacs

[Philip Ostle 2]

44 minutes ago, rvk said:

Hey, you have the .corrupted files there.

Have you tried copying the .corrupted files over the .cgb_license ones? (after securing the entire directory of course and after renaming the PC back to its original name)

 

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

[rvk 33]

On 9/17/2022 at 7:59 AM, Philip Ostle said:

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.

Like Lajos already mentioned... the license could also be bound to the username (on first run). Is your username also the same?

 

(If not, try it with the correct username and hostname and rename the .corrupted again. The .corrupted could be the ones from before Delphi tried it with the new hostname.)

 

 

[angusj 126]

9 hours ago, Attila Kovacs said:

It's a really cool topic, especially the conversation between DH and KW

Thanks. Interesting.

DH implied questioning re needing just a computer name would be something I'd be concerned about too, so KW's reply was reassuring there.

Nevertheless I was sad to see the flaming which to me was not cool.

Edited September 19, 2022 by angusj

[Philip Ostle 2]

14 hours ago, Philip Ostle said:

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

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.

[rvk 33]

38 minutes ago, Philip Ostle said:

every time that you try to register (and presumably, every time you run delphi), it deletes these '.corrupted' files and re-makes them

I was hoping it would only rename them on a succesful registration. Not on every failed registration. With a failed registration it would be useless to make a copy of an already non-working license-file.

 

Bummer 😞

 

(BTW it doesn't delete .corrupted on every run of Delphi. I suggested it here to someone and they got it working, probably also after trying several times.)

 

Edited September 19, 2022 by rvk

[Philip Ostle 2]

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.

 

[FPiette 382]

I would suggest that the next time you buy a new computer, you restore a backup from the previous one (A full backup or a disk image). You'd probably have to "repair" windows if the hardware has changed. This would work if Embarcadero do NOT check for hardware configuration when validating the license (No idea if they do).

[dummzeuch 1505]

Just thought I'd mention it: Embarcadero Germany has always been very helpful when any issues arose with some strange (if not to say illegal in Germany) policies from Embarcadero.

They also helped converting Named User licenses to Network Named User licenses, which is possible as long as you have got maintenance and solves the activation count issue once and for all, because you then host your licenses on premises and don't need Embarcadero's servers any more.

[Der schöne Günther 316]

On 9/20/2022 at 9:27 PM, Philip Ostle said:

I suppose that there is a lesson in this (apart from NEVER change the name of your computer)

After all their licensing stuff went south, we never installed Delphi IDEs on real machines anymore, just virtual ones. If licensing (or the IDE itself) breaks, just roll back the VM, and you're back in the game. The VM doesn't even need internet.

[Gary 18]

Once again Embarcadero's licensing policy causes pain!! 11.3 is out so I cleaned up the 2 computers I have Delphi installed, one with a complete reinstall of Windows, however something I have been wanting to do for some time is rename both from the stock unintelligible names. I did contact support about this in advance and since I'm on contract, they told me no problem. Took today off for this big install -- Registration limit exceeded!! I did email support for a bump but have a totally wasted day, and who knows how long it will take? BTW just paid ransom yesterday, expires on the 12th.

[programmerdelphi2k 237]

you can  install as TRIAL (14days or 30) and later register it?

[Patrick PREMARTIN 69]

On 3/2/2023 at 8:32 PM, programmerdelphi2k said:

you can  install as TRIAL (14days or 30) and later register it?

Yes, you only have to use the license manager available in Help menu or directly from the install folder.

But if you already have a 11.x release installed, the 11.3 will erase actual product. And if you already had a license installed on your computer, check if the trial license is compatible before installing (or you'll have to remove it from the license manager).

Edited March 4, 2023 by Patrick PREMARTIN

[programmerdelphi2k 237]

@Patrick PREMARTIN

I know about this...

my question was "if Phillip" would can and would like try it" until solve the last problem: wait support solution.