Login Register

Issues with Trial Licence when linked to a MAC address

Machine specs:

The snag is that GraphPad ties its trial usage to a MAC address. When a Fresh Start machine is cloned, it normally uses the same MAC address. Usually this isn't a problem, but here the application reports the licence has already been used, as it would on a previously cloned machine. The machine could be on a different server, or in a datacentre in Australia or even on another continent, and it will still throw this error. 

So the workaround is to change the MAC address. On Linux this is straightforward and well documented, but it's a bit trickier on Windows.

The usual methods of changing the MAC address within Windows won't do the job, because the machine's qemu.conf file will override the internal MAC change. So while you can alter the MAC address in Windows 10, doing so on its own still won't sort it out.

This is because the qemu.conf file contains a MAC address already configured for the machine. Modifying this address provides a different MAC, thereby allowing a new licence key. 

However, for this to take effect, you'll need to set 'Network Isolation' on each machine to 'Disabled', so that the MAC address defined in qemu.conf is actually used.

If you're experiencing this issue, please reach out to DaDesktop Support for assistance.