Cannot use my second activation

BACKGROUND: -

I fired up the laptop I haven't used for quite a while to put on the ver 15 trial so I could verify the squish workflow issue [trial having died on my main computer]

did this ok

ISSUE: -

when I tried to use ver 12 on the laptop it said that I needed to deactivate one usage to use it on the laptop - magix screen came up showing two activations which were both for the same computer! [the main one] - unfortunately I didn't grab this I just deactivated one of them - program open ok and I used it, it also installed an update that was pending

next time I try to open ver 12 I get this:

Attachment 119755

when I went into my account stills showed both activated for the same main computer - both for todays date !?:

Attachment 119756

I could now not access the ver 12 program on the laptop to deactivate it internally - and I had just used my once a month 30 days account deactivation for ver12, or so I thought, but on going to the account I was able to deactivate - but still I got the message number one above on the laptop - I rebooted the laptop, still message number one.. I went back to my account where it said I had deactivated, refreshed the page and then it said two activations on the same computer again as before - maybe the page refresh a mistake... so deactivated again logged off service centre and back on - yes now only the main computer activation showing.. progress? unfortunately no..

because... when trying to activate on the laptop still get message number one

so I have a spare activation but I cannot use it on the laptop - was accepting the update a mistake? if so it should not have been offered.. I think maybe this is the case because the laptop shows ver 12.8.1, wheras the main shows ver 12.6.2 presumably the point at which my ver 12 licence expired - if so then I repeat the update to ver 12 on the laptop should not have been offered

My friends, this has gone beyond hyperbole - this has now entered the realm of hard stares, not visible over the internet, but believe me they are there - not only are you breaking workflow in ver12, but your activation/update system appears in part at least broken - it should be way more robust than this

when I have time I may try restoring windows clean on the laptop - or if practical using a third computer

Meanwhile I can at least install and use use ver 11 on the laptop [I hope] - and I can try uninstalling ver 12 and reinstalling an earlier version and ignoring any update notifications - but they may persist and I really should not have to do this... and of course, it may not work...

all this is time wasted and no incentive to stick with Xara/magix whatsoever...

EDIT sorry about the mix up on description of grab two - I really wish I'd grabbed that first screen - but it does not obviate the issue about the update - :o

UPDATE

I uninstalled the ver 12 on the laptop and reinstalled version 12.4 now I get this:

Attachment 119758

in the account at least there is only the main computer activated:

Attachment 119760

but I still cannot use it on the laptop now.. without contacting support - but I have never installed the program on any computers other than these two - this is crap

just as well I don't currently need it on the laptop... guess I can contact support if I do, Xara was always good... magix,well.... we shall see

THOSE CONFUSED BY THE PREVIOUS POSTS [and that might include me looking at it again] MAY START HERE:

its an activation/update issue and this is what happened:

I fired up my laptop after a fair while of non-use ... somehow the system seems then to allow an update from ver 12.2 to ver 12.8 that goes beyond my licence period - so from then on it will not start and that I can understand... but why is it doing this?

I've verified this by restoring the laptop OS from backup image - all is well with xdpx ver12.2 until the offer of update comes along and is installed [just the one update] jumping it up to the version 12.8 that I am not entitled to, when understanderbly as said, it won't revalidate the licence activation

not right is it.. any chance you could, er... fix it ?

no rush I know you are busy, and I rarely use the laptop at the moment and when I do ver11 will probably suffice should I need xara... but it could be a problem for others...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by handrawn

THOSE CONFUSED BY THE PREVIOUS POSTS [and that might include me looking at it again] MAY START HERE:
its an activation/update issue and this is what happened:
I fired up my laptop after a fair while of non-use ... somehow the system seems then to allow an update from ver 12.2 to ver 12.8 that goes beyond my licence period - so from then on it will not start and that I can understand... but why is it doing this?
I've verified this by restoring the laptop OS from backup image - all is well with xdpx ver12.2 until the offer of update comes along and is installed [just the one update] jumping it up to the version 12.8 that I am not entitled to, when understanderbly as said, it won't revalidate the licence activation
not right is it.. any chance you could, er... fix it ?
no rush I know you are busy, and I rarely use the laptop at the moment and when I do ver11 will probably suffice should I need xara... but it could be a problem for others...

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I feel your pain. Xara seems to assume that bug fixes and updates can be lumped together and so the burden is on the Customer to download the correct version and ignore the offer of the "available" update. In the period you had paid for the service, you will have been allow to up-version and get free bug updates. Get out of service cover and you install the wrong version, you get caught in this quagmire.

I use Bullguard AV and this has restricted activations.
All is run from a logon to the site where I can see devices, activations and cover and I can disable, change and download appropriate versions at any time.

All rocket science,
Acorn

I believe the correct four-letter description of this situation has already been used in this thread....

so .. if I download ver12.4 from Xara and install it [or just stick with ver 12.2] I need to just ignore the update notices? pleas tell me there is a way to turn these off otherwise it's a joke gone too too far...

thanks acorn - it seems there are quite a few activation issues on the forum

a sensible outfit would make bug fixes separate patches - not much use to anyone who has got an activated program are they, but then that would mean different sets of bug fixes for different stages of the 365.... total pigs-ear isn't it [https://www.talkgraphics.com/showthr...99#post585099]

UPDATE

I did a clean install of win 10 ver 1709 [fall creators] on laptop after deleting drive partitions

Installed xdp ver 12 from downloaded installer for version 12.4 from Xara.com

activated - no problems

it notified me of an update - I installed it - I got the same problem as before it updated me to ver 12.8 and declined to activate

but... after a restart and a long wait to activate... it decided it was ok... I can now use it after all

version 12 came out on 4 july 2016 - I updated shortly after - the ver 12.8 is July 24 2017

Since the move to magix my original registration date is lost in my account

the activation key having been transferred to my 'password manager' the original email was archived in a place that life is to short for to go and there has been far too much time lost this weekend already

but at least it is working - all I have to do now is, keeping my fingers crossed, deactivate it and try activating it on a restore point image that has a just a tad more already installed...

Attachment 119803

Attachment 119804

Attachment 119805

Attachment 119806

no joy on the restored image updating to ver 12.8 it declines to activate, I shouldn't have it anyway I'm certain, the main machine has never tried to update beyond ver 12.6 - I'll stick with ver 12.4, tick the don't show again on the update dialog and leave it at that

good luck to anyone else who leaves their computer unused for a few months - we were assured that was not going to be a problem, that not making regular monthly checks back to the server would not upset anything.. but something is out of sync here surely

I'm not being glib when I say this, Steve, but perhaps this is Nature's way of telling you that it is time to move on from this ridiculous Xara-Magix lash up. I admire the tenacity you have shown in trying to sort it out but why not step back, reinstall an earlier iteration of the software and restore sanity and order. I believe you already have Affinity Designer in your armoury and possibly Affinity Photo, too. Nothing that Xara has added over the past few releases is worth the pain of pursuing this, surely?
Bob.

The most idiosyncratic thing about this is that older versions of Xara you install insist of updating to a version you're not entitled to for some reason... Same thing happened to me after my update service ran out.

It can't be that hard to implement a function to check if available updates are valid to the respective user and to only install those which are, can it?

I suppose one answer for those who would rather that Xara/Magix became less obtrusive would be to instruct one's firewall to prevent Xara having access...but then one wouldn't receive all the updates - tough choice! ;)
Bob.

Bob - you mean someone in the 'cloud' is dropping large hints? :eek: :)

I promised the good Rob that henceforth I would try to be constructive, and the only constructive thing I have to say about the update service is that in my instance it is not working properly on my laptop computer that [as a backup] is not used regularly - it may be because I restored earlier from an image with an earlier ver 12 number and it does not like this at the activation end, but I don't know

Certainly from my point of view the whole 365 model looks like a dogs breakfast, but, being constructive I am not a typical user in that I customise rebuild and change things around in the OS... is that relevant? I don't know.. but I don't think there is any excuse for offering an update to which the licence user is not entitled that will then lock their program - I can play around with things but Xara appear to be aiming for those who like things to work out of the box and stay that way... so sooner or later, if the system is flaky and not robust, it might well cause a lot of issues, headaches and heartache - but of course it is quite possible that for those who 'work out of the box' all is robust...

For me XDPX is one tool used in animation process - the Animation in done in Toon Boom Harmony - Toon Boom Harmony is a World Class animation program, very powerful and with a great animation oriented toolset, but asset creation and working out complicated keyframe posing is better done in Illustrator/Photoshop or equivalent program of choice - in my case XDPX, and Affinty Photo for some of the really raster-intense work where Xara's particular way of doing those things is not efficient to my workflow - I have Photoshop CS2 but it is getting very long in the tooth now and I cannot afford CC because Harmony costs are on a par and I cannot afford/justify adobe as well - at least Toon Boom allows you to buy a perpetual licence but they are not cheap and if you buy a perpetual licence, which I have, you still need to save for the next upgrade you can't be out of step with the latest features at this level of the proccess

Which brings me neatly back to xdpx - 'every little helps' as they [used to] say at Tesco and so if I don't upgrade Xara I have money to put towards Toon Boom; I have also reluctantly put the pause on Corel Painter, again because the feature set has all I need at present, and I frankly hardly have the time to use it now except for some rather neat tools like particle brushes that can be very useful on occasion

If it had not been for the ability to assign names to layers, and the PSD import/export layer/object options I would have stayed with ver 11 - I stlll have it installed because it has it's uses eg: as mike and others have said, ver 12 PDF export has some issues

I see no future in the drawing side of Xara down the line.... again, being constructive, this is a personal viewpoint, the way things are going I will have moved on by the time any happen to come through; online designer is an irrelevance to me... quite apart from the IPR constraints that prevent routine cloud usage, it would give me no advantage whatsoever and tie me to the internet - it's for networking design...

I think that might be quite enough for one post... to each their own and may you have success with it

cheers
steve

PS Bob - yes it is perfectly feasible to block Xara in a firewall, but that might cause the very issue I had, or similar, on system restore if the program is prevented from having access to the magix server for extended length of time... quite apart from any update issues

Steve, given the hassle you (and others) have experienced, I cannot see that there is any point in sticking with the 365 model, which is obviously flaky beyond belief. I would be inclined at this point to say, "OK, Xara, what else can you show me?" There is no hint of a roadmap, no clue as to which way forward (if any) is proposed. I don't see any point in sticking with the updates when it is palpably obvious that nothing is forthcoming. Xara/Magix really do not deserve the support of its customer base. I'd be inclined to say that at this point it is probably better to stick rather than twist. There is already more than enough proof of the way that things are going, vector drawing tools will probably never get any better than they are at present, and there seems to be either no will, or an inability to update existing tools (eg: Bitmap Tracer) because of coding issues. I am not saying that it is up to Xara/Magix to be up front about these issues, it is for the customer to decide when the flim-flammery is worthess and the reason to upgrade the software is pointless. That is where we and the company stand right now. It's a watershed moment.
Bob.

there are certainly advantages in using what other people use, which in my case is Illustrator - but is it worth the 20 GBP a month? - in a business sense yes it is, if it maximises income, but if I do that everything gets ported over

you see, sticking with a version of any program and not updating is only a short term option, medium at best.. because sooner or later as windows and graphics move on, something will break in a major way - I had a nasty shock with artefacts all over the place when drawing freehand in xdpx12 a while back - not sure what caused it, nvidia update maybe if not windows itself - on that occasion reinstalling Xara resolved the issue, but there is no guarantee that such an issue can always be fixed - if you do take the cost of adobe on as a business expense, then you 'forget' about it in the same way you 'forget' about other regular bills.. they just happen - and you can be confident that it will keep on truckin'

adobe does deliver.. and you are free of the time wasting analysis of whether to update or not - I'm not saying here that adobe is better value in any sense, but if you asked me which of the two companies would be most likely to still be here in 10 years time... well, you would already know the answer I would give... which is not to say they won't both be, but now it comes down to faith and trust

I have been losing faith these last couple of years because the drawing side is effectively stagnant.. there have been a couple of ripples on the surface but nothing else. Xara can promise what they like for only so long before it starts to sound like Aesop's Boy and the Wolf only this time the problem is the promised wolf ain't anywhere in sight...

and I have to say, the squish issue has severely dented trust.. it would not be constructive to say that Xara don't really know what they are doing anymore and beside, they almost certainly do within their own lights... just it suddenly does not seem that they do to me anymore in the areas in which I use their software

so there is always the 'what next?' hanging in the air

you could be right about watershed, at least for me...

the xara guys we deal with on this forum are all good people, and genuine I am sure.. but they have to follow the company line and the company like you say is very secretive.. I could speculate on reasons for that, but speculation is not constructive.. it's just such a shame it 'has' to be that way...

and now version 11 is freezing at the activation stage:

Attachment 119817

despite above ruminations I am not really intending to abandon 11/12 at the moment because the workflow is just too darn good for the current project work

but this is really becoming very tiresome....

My machine had a serious issue that required me to reinstall Windows 10 but deleting all my software.
Having done so, I downloaded XDPX and installed it.
I went to the activation page, downloading the serial/activation code by logging in to Xara's site.
This code wouldn't be recognised so I'm stuck using the trial until support sorts this out.
This should be simple, but Xara/Magix seems to making it a total dogs dinner.

it was fine until magix took it over - it appears the transfer could have been done better shall we say

I managed to fix version 11 by going to my account deactivating version 11 for that computer and then trying again whn it reactivated ok

never ever had to do this before, I've been swapping between windows and linux on the computer for years - some programs want you to re-enter the activation key, some don't; I have no objections to re-entering the activation key if it works just so long as it dioes not reset all my config which deactivating first does, no other program I have does that on simple reactivation of what is in reality a backup image....

Support gave me a different activation code other than the one on My Products page so I'm still somewhat baffled what went on :rolleyes: Anyway, all sorted now until the next time.

glad you got it sorted - it does sound like there was/is a problemm with porting the accoiunts over from xara to magix... :(

Here is a link to a new (to me) software that might suit you, Steve, as it lets one use raster and vector "it seamlessly integrates vector and raster editing" and "imports Photoshop Brush and Shape Library files"...worth a look. Link - https://thebloomapp.com/features/ $50.00 one off fee. Optional $25.00 annual fee for updates, bug fixes and support.
Bob.

well thanks bob - I shall take a weekend stroll in that direction...

Quote:

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Industry-first truly non-destructive, procedural workflow, no matter what you do

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no matter what eh? :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by iamtheblues

Here is a link to a new (to me) software that might suit you, Steve, as it lets one use raster and vector "it seamlessly integrates vector and raster editing" and "imports Photoshop Brush and Shape Library files"...worth a look. Link - https://thebloomapp.com/features/ $50.00 one off fee. Optional $25.00 annual fee for updates, bug fixes and support.
Bob.

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I see its Blog is Blooming.

Acorn

humm.. well it's an interesting concept, but I'm not sure I'm up to it..... plus it does not seem to import/export vector PDF gave me raster

I'm sorry it's not suitable for your workflow, but I'm sure you have your eye on something that is.
Bob.

my options are open :)

having got my activation sorted then [until such time as I change computers maybe] all is good with v11/12 for the time being - and if xara, windows or nvidia or anyone else causes conflicts in the future I can always run designer in a virtual sandbox - and I can run it clean in a virtual sandbox rolling the OS over every 7 days without ever having to activate XDPX, I don't need the licence only fluff; don't want to have to do that, but I would if that was the only way to keep using the progarm - I have an OS licence to do that, doesn't need conecting to the internet once the guest OS is clean installed, activated, imaged and ready for the install of the progarm - ok a bit hypothetical, as were my musings re Illy.... but options are certainly there