License Issues

**boobear** · 29 March 2009, 04:02 AM

As I mentioned in another thread, I had to rebuild my laptop earlier today.

Since I've already activated on my desktop PC at my office plus a laptop and desktop at home, I'm "tapped out" on activations.

My hard drive vol id (soft serial no) did not change, and of course my MAC address is the same. Even so, I can't reload on my laptop.

Is this aproblem??

I know I can contact support and they will probably help me out, but I hate to do that. I really don't NEED two computers at home, and I don't want to have Xara thinking I'm trying to STEAL their pretty cool product.

Just curious, since usually if the MAC addy and disk vol id are not changed, then most (many??) software packages will re-stall without raising too many red flags.

Thanks

Boo

**steve.ledger** · 29 March 2009, 05:04 AM

I know I can contact support and they will probably help me out, but I hate to do that.

I'm afraid this is what you will need to do. There is nothing we can do to help you out of this situation.

I am still waiting for an 'official' word from Xara who promised to get back to me (they have to talk with Magix as it's the Magix activation server that handles this)

However, I can tell you that so far only 2 people have contacted Xara since exceeding the 3 activation limit and Xara simply reset it for them so long as the reason they give is credibly within the terms of the EULA.

So contact Xara and they will help you out.

**boobear** · 30 March 2009, 01:59 AM

Originally Posted by sledger

I'm afraid this is what you will need to do. There is nothing we can do to help you out of this situation.

I am still waiting for an 'official' word from Xara who promised to get back to me (they have to talk with Magix as it's the Magix activation server that handles this)

However, I can tell you that so far only 2 people have contacted Xara since exceeding the 3 activation limit and Xara simply reset it for them so long as the reason they give is credibly within the terms of the EULA.

So contact Xara and they will help you out.

Thanks for the info. What I understood "early on" was that the reinstall program was smart enough to know if you had previously activated on the SAME computer; in which case an additional activation would not be "logged". I will contact support as you suggest.

Boo

**lisagriff** · 30 March 2009, 06:08 AM

Originally Posted by boobear

Thanks for the info. What I understood "early on" was that the reinstall program was smart enough to know if you had previously activated on the SAME computer; in which case an additional activation would not be "logged". I will contact support as you suggest.

Boo

This is what I was told by support when I asked about it because I had some problems with updating my original install and according to support's instructions had to uninstall and then re-install the newest updated version which then required me to activate again using up 2 of my activations within a matter of a couple of days.

Firstly i dont think reactivating the program multiple times on the same pc reduces yuor re-activation limit so there is no problem there.

Additionally if you had to install the software on multiple pc's and needed to install it on more than 3 pc's then you can inform us and the problem would be handled accordingly

So please do not worry about the activation

But it doesn't sound as if this support person had the correct information according to the problem in the previous posting.

Personally, I think limiting to 3 activations is not right by any means - not when you've purchased the right to use the program in the first place. Of course I understand only allowing a limited number of computers but then I agree that you should be able to activate as many times as needed on those computers without any hassles or contacting support. I'm sure they'll get it sorted out and in the meantime their support seems to be easy to deal with.

**ankhor** · 30 March 2009, 08:11 AM

The sad part is that cracked versions have these annoyances removed.
I have seen it so many times, where paying members had to deal with the hazzle(that was me

, while the pirated versions had no limitations, and the reason was to hamper those people who used the pirated versions.
This was already so in my amiga days, and it annoyed me a lot.

extra; And also frustrating was that the guys who only used the pirated versions , had money for the hardware. So the software makers catered for the newer hardware, that the pirates bought, because I didn`t
because I had no money left for the new hardware, and I didn`t need the new software because I didn`t have the new hardware. And so they lost out all together

**covoxer** · 30 March 2009, 08:15 AM

Steve, you are right (see following post).
[removed]

**steve.ledger** · 30 March 2009, 08:35 AM

There should be no mention of such things in the Xara forums at TG as the lively Googlebot and slurp spider will only direct the wrong type of user to our boards asking for free spinning things, how to remove the DEMO screen and please render this nude for me.

The most important point in Xara's favour is the software license is priced for everyones pocket. No-one is being disadvantaged by exorbitant pricing and abysmal support.

Thanks to John, Charles and the Xara team http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/icons/icon14.gif

**planetsquid** · 30 March 2009, 09:24 AM

Originally Posted by covoxer

On the other hand, if there were no pir**ed versions, protection would be lighter and legal users wouldn't suffer.
So all the blame is on pir**es.

I agree with you totally John - it's 100% the fault of the pirates. It's just frustrating when you're one of the good guys who pay their money, but get the hassle of restrictive product activation - and somewhere someone is using a cr*cked copy of the software without all of the hassle.

There was quite a bit of fuss on these forums when the Xara Xtreme 4 protection was unleashed (you can only install from the original CD), but I think I prefer it to the XWD protection.

What ever you do, don't go back to using dongles! I still have bad memories from my Artworks dongle. Every time I switched the computer off it sent my HP laserjet into an unprovoked printing frenzy.

Rich

**katemoir** · 30 March 2009, 11:16 AM

There is no limit on the number of activations on a single machine, the limit applies to activations on different computers. The Xara license permits this so long as you are the only user, however the Magix activation does limit it to 3 different machines, at which point you have to contact support for further activations. As Steve mentions we have had a couple of requests, we have reset it for another 3 without charge and that's what we will continue to do so long as it sounds like usage is within the license terms - so for example that would be a no if the software is being used across an office, or the payment has been reversed by a chargeback.

**w00dy** · 30 March 2009, 03:34 PM

That's good news! I use XWD on my desktop and on my school laptop, which I know is due for an imminent upgrade (lucky me!) but I'd be loathe to use my last activation on the new laptop if I thought I'd be scuppered when I upgrade my home machine. No-one else uses my machines but me.

What does get my goat is when somebody says "Oh, I've got that!" and you now very well it's a hooky copy of something that you paid good money for.