Activation issues

[phantomflyer]

Hello all,

I'm getting random "fsdt PHNL (and all other fsdt products purchased) is installed properly, but is not activated, do you wish to activate it now?" Well, it was already active until I went into FS9 again! But the last tinme, it said I needed to manually activate it because the reg key was missing! Well, I did it and it activated OK, but the reg key that it said was backed up to the FSDT folder is NOT THERE. All the others I have (Geneva, KLAS, ZurichX, KJFK, Chicago) are there. All I have is a "manual activationPHNL" entry.. What is going on, and why does this problem present itself randomly (every few flights or so, I am asked to activate an already active airport?).. I'm now wondering if I will have problems re-activating PHNL without the back-up reg key if/when this happens again (and it is certain it will happen some time). I also have many Cloud9 products that do this from time to time - their back-up reg keys are intact. All except PHNL.

Windows Vista(user accounts disabled from day one), Core2Quad Extreme, 4Gb DDR3, NVidia GTX295

Regards,
Bill

[virtuali]

Nobody reported random activation loss and/or serial number loss. It seems you have issues with your registry.

If you lose you Serial Number registry key, the scenery will go in Trial mode, and you need to select "Register Serial" to put the Serial back in.

If, instead, you lose you Activation registry key, the scenery will ask "Do you want to activate?", but there will be no need to type the serial, because is still there.

So, they are two different issues, both related to the registry, and both might happen if running registry cleaners that remove those keys, mistakenly identifying them as not needed.

Note that, the ONLY place where the Serial number registry key is ever written by our software, it's one and one only: when you manually select the "Register Serial" option from the Addon Manager menu. If you haven't done that unintentionally, it's just not possible it's a software bug because, nowhere else the registry is written, apart from that place, is all handled by Windows itself.

but the reg key that it said was backed up to the FSDT folder is NOT THERE

Nowhere the message says the backup registry key is in the FSDT folder. That wouldn't be very smart, since you could lose it by uninstalling the scenery.

The message says the registry key is stored in *your* Home folder, which is the folder that has the same name as your user account, that usually contains the Documents, Pictures, folders.

In any case, even if you lose your keys, if you haven't changed your hardware, those activations will not count as an activation. The registry is only used as a convenience, so you don't have to be connected to the internet each time you launch Flight Sim, but activations are not consumed, even if you go online each time to confirm them, supposing you keep losing the registry keys.

You might try to activate at least once with Flight Sim being run "As Administrator". This might help. However, the fact you lose your keys randomly is not normal, even if running Flight Sim as admin would eventually fix it.

[phantomflyer]

OK thanks - I looked for the backup registration keys and they are not in user/documents. They are in the main FS9 folder. But, I'm still missing the PHNL one. All the other (as I said earlier) are in there. I was wrong saying they'd be backed up in the FSDT folder. What I don't understand is why I intermittently am asked to "activate" the FSDT scenery. It always works because the keys are found, but the last incident (only with PHNL and after AES was updated to 2.6 so the gates would work - I used AES credits and a scenery data-base was built afer installing the newest AES) said I needed to manually do it becuase "my configuration" was not correst (or words to that effect). I then had to go the  the virtually site where the activation key was automatically entered. I then copied and pasted it to activate the scenery and had the option to email it to myself. I didn't do that because I decided to paste it to notepad. I have not changed any hardware at all - looking at my specs, I see no need to as FS9 and X both run beautifully.

This problem seems to happen after a re-boot or power failure which sometimes forces me into the BIOS where I have to set up all over again (why this happens I don't know)  in order to get Vista running again. I have another hard drive with Windows XP on it, but have it disabled in the BIOS, but I have reason to believe my machine gets "confused" (even with the BIOS disabling that drive) and doesn't know which system to boot into. I am going to physically disconnect the Windows XP drive and reboot to see if this fixes things.

What I am a bit worried about is the fact that why the PHNL back-up registry key is not along-side the other FSDT (and Cloud9) registry entries in the main FS9 folder.

As far as running in "admin mode" this was always the way I did things from day one (after which I got sick and tired of Vista always asking me for approval - I then turned off user accounts for good). I also have no "registry cleaner" tools in this PC....I just don't get it.
Maybe time to get rid of Vista?? It really is a lousy system! If I go to Windows7, I will lose all activation rights from virtuali - is that correct?

**EDIT** I just found a folder in C:\users\bill\roaming\appdata\Virtuali and there is a .DLL in there named "key mapping". I cannot find anything else from fsdt or cloud9 anywhere else except the main fs9 folder.
Regards,
Bill

[virtuali]

OK thanks - I looked for the backup registration keys and they are not in user/documents. They are in the main FS9 folder. But, I'm still missing the PHNL one. All the other (as I said earlier) are in there. I was wrong saying they'd be backed up in the FSDT folder.

You have some backup registry files, because older versions of the Addon Manager used to backup there. More recent version use your HOME FOLDER, which is more compliant with Vista, since it's normally not allowed to write into something that is installed into C:\Program Files, which is the default for Flight sim.

The Home folder is in C:\Users\YOURNAME

Registry backup files that has been created with a fairly recent version of the Addon Manager, are in your HOME folder. Registry keys made with older version, are in the FS root folder.

Note that, they are created AFTER a successfully activation, but you can also command their creation by using the "Backup RegKey" option on the Addon Manager.

Note that, those files don't do anything special: their absence or presence doesn't have anything to do with the activation, which is NOT dependend by those files, and is stored only in the registry. The one and only purpose of those files, is to save you to manually type your Serial Number. If you lose them all, the only thing that will happen in that case, is that you need to select "Register Serial" and type the Serial Number manuallly.

What I don't understand is why I intermittently am asked to "activate" the FSDT scenery.

As I've said, it's not normal, unless something in your hardware changes.

It always works because the keys are found, but the last incident (only with PHNL and after AES was updated to 2.6 so the gates would work - I used AES credits and a scenery data-base was built afer installing the newest AES) said I needed to manually do it becuase "my configuration" was not correst (or words to that effect).

There's no way AES would have triggered a lost activation. It must have been something else, with AES installation just being a coincidence.

I then had to go the  the virtually site where the activation key was automatically entered. I then copied and pasted it to activate the scenery and had the option to email it to myself.

You mean the Esellerate website. Are you refering to the MANUAL ACTIVATION web page ( http://activate.esellerate.net ), or the normal page that is used to email a SERIAL number, if you lost your receipt ( http://store.esellerate.net/support ) ?

Because, if it was the Manual Activation page, that's an entirely different issue, and it happens only if your internet connection doesn't work during the activation.

This problem seems to happen after a re-boot or power failure which sometimes forces me into the BIOS where I have to set up all over again (why this happens I don't know)  in order to get Vista running again.

This MIGHT be a problem, if resetting the BIOS option changes the hardware ID, it can trigger a reactivation request. However, it's probably seen as a minor hardware change so, it asks for a confirmation, but it doesn't consume activations, because the hardware hasn't really changed.

I also have no "registry cleaner" tools in this PC....I just don't get it.

I said that registry cleaners might be a problem, only because you haven't said from the start you had to go to the BIOS after a power failure, and then notice a reactivation request. I don't think the issue is registry cleaners, but most probably the BIOS.

If I go to Windows7, I will lose all activation rights from virtuali - is that correct?

Who said that ? You have 6 AUTOMATIC activations, in case you have any problem and exceed this number, we'll gladly reactivate it manually. Nowhere we say you lose activation rights, just by reinstalling the OS.

[phantomflyer]

If I go to Windows7, I will lose all activation rights from virtuali - is that correct?

Who said that ? You have 6 AUTOMATIC activations, in case you have any problem and exceed this number, we'll gladly reactivate it manually. Nowhere we say you lose activation rights, just by reinstalling the OS.

Above answers my question completely. Thank you. I've had 6 automatic activations due to the BIOS having to be re-set that many times either after a power failure, or a Vista update commands me to re-boot. ( I must say that I keep my computer asleep, rather than turn it off anymore so I don't have this frustrating problem come up so much). So, what happened last time was a 7th activation which took me to the esselorate site (forgive my error there, but I wasn't very aware where I actually connected to - all I wanted was to activate and fly).

I just detached the power lead and the SATA cable from my Windows XP hard drive and did a re-boot to see if this happened again, but it started up perfectly in Vista, so it seems that was the whole problem. However, it's nice to know I still have a manual re-activation available if I do go to Windows 7 (and hopefully will get one if I decide to get an i7 CPU down the track).

Also, I checked the last PHNL activation key, and it is the only one of FSDT in C:\users\my name - all the others are in the root FS9 folder. I guess they haven't all reached the magic number 6 yet (and since I got that WinXP hard drive physically off, it hopefully won't have to).

I appreciate your helpful feedback here.
Best regards,
Bill

[virtuali]

I fear you are still haven't fully grasped how activation works:

in case you have any problem and exceed this number, we'll gladly reactivate it manually

It doesn't mean the first 6 activations are automatic, and on the 7th you need to go to the Esellerate website to activate manually!

If you really consumed all your 6 activations AND less than 90 days are passed since the last time you got the last one, you need to contact us via email, so we can reactivate you manually.

As I've said in the previous message, if you were requested to go to the Esellerate activation website to do a manual activation, it was only because you had no internet connection working during the activation. It doesn't have anything to do with how many activations you get.

If you consumed your activations, and less than 90 days passed since the last one, you would have seen a very clear message about having used too many activations.

In any case, just to be sure, I've checked your order status (BTW, I see you are a very loyal customer...) and, exactly as I've tought, you only used 2 activation for each order. Since the first one is used when purchasing, it means only 1 hardware change was detected, and all your reactivation requests, were just related to your issues with power losses, but they didn't "count" as an hardware change, which should be expected.

In any case, if you experience frequence power losses, I strongly recommend using an UPS unit. If the power goes down abruptly while the hard-drive is writing, there's a risk the drive heads hitting the hdd surface, and damaging it, together with the data on it.

[phantomflyer]

Thanks Umberto,

I have now (finally  ) grasped how the activation process works. I love your products and will certainly continue to purchase more from you.
In the mean-time, I'm going to my local computer shop to get an UPS. It's something well overdue as we get a lot of winter time lightening storms here in Western Australia. They don't call it the "thunder down under" for nothing!

I guess this concludes this topic once and for all. I do appreciate your patience and prompt replies.

Best regards

[TRIGGER2010]

hi am trying to active my fs honolulu but keep getting error 25001 SERIAL NOT FOUND
 but i got a e-mail with this code

[virtuali]

hi am trying to active my fs honolulu but keep getting error 25001 SERIAL NOT FOUND

This means you inserted it wrong.

but i got a e-mail with this code

Check better:

- Don't put extra speces or other characters at the start or at the end of the code.

- Don't confuse the letter O with the number 0

- Don't change the upper/case of the letters, insert exactly as they are on your email

- Don't forget to type the hyphens ( the - sign ) between the code

- Be sure you have selected PHNL, and not another product from the list, before selecting the Register Serial function.

[TRIGGER2010]

ok ill try again
but what i dont is copy it form e-mail and then put it on the reg key

[virtuali]

but what i dont is copy it form e-mail and then put it on the reg key

Which might just created that issue because, when using copying&pasting from an email, it's easy to overlook that extra spaces might be added at the start or at the end of the code.