Topic: Licensing Trouble (Trial Expiring Prematurely and Install Key Doesn't Work) (Read 9382 times)

ijung0 · « **on:** September 12, 2014, 12:06:38 am »

Thank you for your hard work.

I was able to install MC 20 for Mac and migrate my library from MC 19 successfully. But installing MC 20 to another PC using the Install Key is not working. I have correct version of MC installed on that PC, executed the Install Key by double clicking on it, and got the message "License for Media Center was successfully installed!". However when I open MC 20 it says the trial period has expired and insists to purchase or restore license again.

What should do I do?

JimH · « **Reply #1 on:** September 12, 2014, 07:09:57 am »

A Mac key won't work on a PC.

ijung0 · « **Reply #2 on:** September 12, 2014, 08:01:32 am »

Sorry for the miscommunication but I meant another Mac.

JimH · « **Reply #3 on:** September 12, 2014, 08:13:05 am »

Install MC20, then Restore or use the Install Key if it is less than 14 days old.

More here:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Restoring_a_License

ijung0 · « **Reply #4 on:** September 12, 2014, 09:16:58 am »

I did that, but didn't work.

JimH · « **Reply #5 on:** September 12, 2014, 09:20:54 am »

What didn't work?

jluk · « **Reply #6 on:** September 12, 2014, 06:19:57 pm »

Me too. After I successfully installed on my Macbook, I tried to install on my iMac and it shows "The trial period has expired."

glynor · « **Reply #7 on:** September 12, 2014, 10:21:51 pm »

Quote from: jluk on September 12, 2014, 06:19:57 pm

Me too. After I successfully installed on my Macbook, I tried to install on my iMac and it shows "The trial period has expired."

You need to restore the License on the iMac. If you restored the license on the Macbook less than 14 days ago (which you must have, since MC20 was released less 3 days ago), then you can just use the MJR file you got when you installed it on your Macbook. You can get the file when you do the restore, so you might already have it, but if not, they email it to you at that time too, so it'll be in your email.

After 14 days, you need to register it instead by Restoring the license. This is easy and you do it from within MC itself (or the splash screen that comes up when the trial is expired). For this, you just enter your Registration Code (the numbers they emailed you when you purchased it) into the program, and it generates a new license (and another MJR file you can use on other computers) then.

Quote from: JimH on September 12, 2014, 08:13:05 am

Install MC20, then Restore or use the Install Key if it is less than 14 days old.

More here:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Restoring_a_License

I don't know why it would say the trial has expired. That doesn't make much sense unless your system clock is all messed up. But, if you own MC20 anyway, it's really irrelevant. Just install the License.

glynor · « **Reply #8 on:** September 12, 2014, 10:39:03 pm »

Quote from: ijung0 on September 12, 2014, 12:06:38 am

the Install Key is not working. I have correct version of MC installed on that PC, executed the Install Key by double clicking on it, and got the message "License for Media Center was successfully installed!". However when I open MC 20 it says the trial period has expired and insists to purchase or restore license again.

First, make sure your system date and time are correct. If your system date is all messed up, it breaks the trial and licensing system (to try to stop people who think they're clever). If that isn't it...

I had another thought. Is MC19 installed on that iMac? Because if so, and you'd never actually ran MC20 before you tried to use the Install Key, it may have installed the License on your copy of MC19 (which is fine, because it'll work for both).

Might have also broken the trial mode, perhaps. Not sure. But either way, from that dialog you get that tells you the trial is expired, you can manually select the MJR Install Key from there, and that should fix you up. If not, just restore the License with your Registration Key like you did on the first copy of MC.

philoouu · « **Reply #9 on:** September 12, 2014, 11:24:44 pm »

Same problem here....
Actually even on my first mac when I go to Registration Information it says now UNREGISTERED Trial 30 days.... and I did restore license at the beginning with my permanent code. And I received the mail with the install Key.
Media Center 19 is still installed on both Macs and still registered properly to my name.
When I run the Install Key it will pop twice with License for Media Center Successfully installed but nothing is done. Still UNREGISTERED.
There is obviously something not working here with the license or with 19/20 at the same time being installed...

Should I restore ?

Thanks
philoouu

JimH · « **Reply #10 on:** September 13, 2014, 07:30:10 am »

A Windows license won't work on a Mac and vice versa.

An Install Key won't work after 14 days. You need to do a restore again.

Please read the wiki topic called "Restoring a License".

philoouu · « **Reply #11 on:** September 13, 2014, 07:38:12 am »

Quote from: JimH on September 13, 2014, 07:30:10 am

A Windows license won't work on a Mac and vice versa.

An Install Key won't work after 14 days. You need to do a restore again.

Please read the wiki topic called "Restoring a License".

I have only Mac computers. I downloaded Media Center 20 this morning and input the registration code into Help/Install License.
Then I got a mail with the Install Key.
Right now my 2 Media Center on my 2 Macs are still unregistered. If I run the Install Key it will tell me registered successfully (with 2 pop-up may be one for MC19 and one for MC20 ?) but if I do Help/Registration Info it says unregistered trial 30 days.
What should I do ? Restore/Input my registration code into Help/Install License again but I will probably not change anything.
Thanks for your help
philoouu

JimH · « **Reply #12 on:** September 13, 2014, 07:46:43 am »

You may be installing the license in MC19. Make sure you have the MC20 license and then go to the Help menu in MC20. There you can install it.

glynor · « **Reply #13 on:** September 13, 2014, 11:06:31 am »

Quote from: philoouu on September 13, 2014, 07:38:12 am

I have only Mac computers. I downloaded Media Center 20 this morning and input the registration code into Help/Install License.
Then I got a mail with the Install Key.

Right now my 2 Media Center on my 2 Macs are still unregistered.

When you installed MC20, did you drag it into your Applications folder? Or are you running it from the DMG that you downloaded? Because you have to copy it over to your computer first.

Otherwise, it is possible you could have permissions issues on your system disk. Try running the Permissions Repair.

philoouu · « **Reply #14 on:** September 13, 2014, 07:23:09 pm »

Quote from: JimH on September 13, 2014, 07:46:43 am

You may be installing the license in MC19. Make sure you have the MC20 license and then go to the Help menu in MC20. There you can install it.

Thanks for your mail and your support !
This morning I restored the one for Media Center 20 and my number of license went from 10 to 9 which makes sense the first you install it.
The mail I received was called
Temporary Install Key for JRiver, Inc. Media Center 20 Mac‏ and the Install Key file was called Media Center20 Mac-xxxxx.jmr
Everything was put in the App folder

So basically should I try again with putting the registration code in Help/Install Licence ? And then my remaining licenses will be 8.
Then I will get a mail with another Install Key file and run this install key on my second Mac....
That is exactly what I did this morning...

Thanks in advance

JimH · « **Reply #15 on:** September 13, 2014, 07:41:50 pm »

Yes, but install MC20 first.

philoouu · « **Reply #16 on:** September 13, 2014, 07:47:55 pm »

What do you mean by "Install MC20 first".
MC20 was installed before I did anything.
Using technically as a 30 days version as of now... I want to know why it did not get registered.
Just open it now Pop Up for restoring license appear so I guess I will have to restore. Loosing one more "restore right" is not so much an issue...

6233638 · « **Reply #17 on:** September 14, 2014, 06:14:49 am »

For what it's worth, I had to remove MC19 from my Mac before MC20 would register.
Double-clicking the MJR file said that the license was successfully installed, but MC20 claimed that my trial had expired.
Only after deleting MC19 would it work with MC20.

ijung0 · « **Reply #18 on:** September 14, 2014, 08:10:11 am »

Solved. Thanks a lot, 6233638!

glynor · « **Reply #19 on:** September 14, 2014, 09:45:20 am »

Quote from: 6233638 on September 14, 2014, 06:14:49 am

For what it's worth, I had to remove MC19 from my Mac before MC20 would register.
Double-clicking the MJR file said that the license was successfully installed, but MC20 claimed that my trial had expired.
Only after deleting MC19 would it work with MC20.

Interesting. It worked fine for me on my Mini. I'll try my Macbook now and report back.

glynor · « **Reply #20 on:** September 14, 2014, 10:18:55 am »

Ok. I was able to reproduce some stuff. There's something borked in there.

MC19 has been long installed on this Macbook. Before I started anything, I opened it up. It showed up as an expired trial. I know I'd licensed this copy before, so I'm not sure what happened there.

However... I did swap my computer out a while back (I had a memory slot go bad, so I swapped my hard drive into another, nearly-identical model of the same Macbook). I'm pretty sure I've used MC19 Mac on this since then, but I use the Windows version in my VM more often, so it is possible that was the cause. I had to re-license some other stuff. But I swear I've used the Mac version on my laptop since, but I can't really be sure.

Anyhow, I loaded (by double-clicking it) the MJR Install Key and it licensed MC19 without drama, and it now opens up fine and shows up licensed. Then, I downloaded and installed MC20. I did NOT launch it.

Then, I double-clicked the MJR file again from the Finder. It did the same thing and showed the PackageInstaller successful message and the web page.

Then I launched MC20 for the first time ever on this machine. And I got the Trial Period has expired splash. So I cannot, and never have successfully run the MC20 app on this computer.

Then, closed the dialog and tried the MJR file again. Same result, it shows the "success" message and web page, but it must have re-licensed MC19 because when I opened MC20 again, it still showed the Trial Expired splash. I can re-test in my VM in a bit to see if, had I launched MC20 at least once first before running the MJR, if I'd have gotten the trial. For this computer though, I get no trial at all of any kind. So, sorry guys, something is badly borked there.

I was able to install the license from this state in MC20 without uninstalling MC19 however. You just have to use up one of your restores. From the Trial Expired splash screen, I hit the Register License button (or whatever it is called) and put in my Registration Code. This worked. It showed the same success message, launched MC20, and it is licensed now for me.

glynor · « **Reply #21 on:** September 14, 2014, 10:33:19 am »

Same results on my VM.

In this case, I'd just installed MC19. It was running in trial mode (I'd just installed it the other day, and never licensed it), and the trial was still working. In this case, I restored the license by typing my old MC19 Registration Code into the program. That worked, and it is now licensed.

Then, I downloaded and installed MC20 for the first time. I immediately launched it (didn't do anything else) in between, and MC20's Trial is Expired.

I'm booting the same VM again (reverted back to previous state) now to see if I can get the MC20 trial to work if I don't mess with MC19's trial at all first.

6233638 · « **Reply #22 on:** September 14, 2014, 10:36:13 am »

That's basically the same set of things that happened here.

Quote from: glynor on September 14, 2014, 10:18:55 am

MC19 has been long installed on this Macbook. Before I started anything, I opened it up. It showed up as an expired trial. I know I'd licensed this copy before, so I'm not sure what happened there.

However... I did swap my computer out a while back (I had a memory slot go bad, so I swapped my hard drive into another, nearly-identical model of the same Macbook). I'm pretty sure I've used MC19 Mac on this since then, but I use the Windows version in my VM more often, so it is possible that was the cause. I had to re-license some other stuff. But I swear I've used the Mac version on my laptop since, but I can't really be sure.

I've had this happen twice now, and I've no idea what the cause could be. I haven't changed the hardware in any way on the MacBook. I think it happened in close enough succession that I was able to use the same MJR file before it expired.

Quote from: glynor on September 14, 2014, 10:18:55 am

Then I launched MC20 for the first time ever on this machine. And I got the Trial Period has expired splash. So I cannot, and never have successfully run the MC20 app on this computer.

Yes, same thing here.

I'm puzzled as to why a fresh install of MC20 would come up as "Trial Expired" since it hasn't even been out 30 days yet! (at least not publicly - perhaps there were earlier betas)

Quote from: glynor on September 14, 2014, 10:18:55 am

Then, closed the dialog and tried the MJR file again. Same result, it shows the "success" message and web page, but it must have re-licensed MC19 because when I opened MC20 again, it still showed the Trial Expired splash. I can re-test in my VM in a bit to see if, had I launched MC20 at least once first before running the MJR, if I'd have gotten the trial. For this computer though, I get no trial at all of any kind. So, sorry guys, something is badly borked there.

I was able to install the license from this state in MC20 without uninstalling MC19 however. You just have to use up one of your restores. From the Trial Expired splash screen, I hit the Register License button (or whatever it is called) and put in my Registration Code. This worked. It showed the same success message, launched MC20, and it is licensed now for me.

I think that if you had removed MC19 - even just put it in the trash - you may have been able to register MC20 with the existing MJR file rather than using up a restore.
It's been long enough between when I purchased MC20 and the time it took for the first build to be released that my file had expired - but it did appear that MC20 was trying to use it once I removed MC19.

It would be nice if MC20 offered to use a restore if you try to use an expired MJR file. I rarely use the MacBook so it's kind of a pain to get my key or an MJR file on there. (sharing files over the network to/from Macs has always been really spotty for me)

glynor · « **Reply #23 on:** September 14, 2014, 10:45:13 am »

Yeah. I don't care about using up restores. They'll reset them if I get low.

I just tested again on the same VM, after reverting to a snapshot. For what it's worth, the VM I've been using is Yosemite's current beta (but the behavior matches the behavior of my Macbook, which is on 10.9.5, so I suspect that has little to do with it). MC19 is installed and working in trial mode. I didn't touch it except to launch it and verify that state, after which I closed it. The date and time on my VM is accurate.

I then downloaded and installed MC20. Immediately opened it. Cursed when I got the can't run because it is unsigned message, and did the right-click-Open-Yes trick to open it. The trial is expired. MC19's trial is still working.

So... Trial isn't working in some cases, maybe related to MC19, maybe not. If anyone thinks it is worth trying, I can set up a fresh VM with nothing on it at all and try MC20, but I think we've demonstrated enough cases of broken here to not bother.

philoouu · « **Reply #24 on:** September 14, 2014, 01:10:58 pm »

Quote from: philoouu on September 13, 2014, 07:47:55 pm

What do you mean by "Install MC20 first".
MC20 was installed before I did anything.
Using technically as a 30 days version as of now... I want to know why it did not get registered.
Just open it now Pop Up for restoring license appear so I guess I will have to restore. Loosing one more "restore right" is not so much an issue...

Finally had to restore licence on each Mac (used 2 licenses).
Intall Key is not working although it says "successful registration", need to restore from the menu Help/Install License on each Mac.
I have both MC19 and MC20 installed... May be this is the issue ?

Bachiano · « **Reply #25 on:** September 14, 2014, 01:56:07 pm »

Quote from: philoouu on September 14, 2014, 01:10:58 pm

Finally had to restore licence on each Mac (used 2 licenses).
Intall Key is not working although it says "successful registration", need to restore from the menu Help/Install License on each Mac.
I have both MC19 and MC20 installed... May be this is the issue ?

I'm having the same problem :-(
Confused :-/
Had to restore because got the The trial is expired message.
then got this email:
"You have recently restored a licence for Media Center 20 Mac. There are 10 restores available in each 12 month period. There are 9 restores remaining at this time.
"
Don't understand why I got the trial expired message when I just put my registration code into JRiver 20, two days ago and got the "successful registration" message ?
Do I need to delete jriver 19 to make this stop ?
I'm only running on one Mac - OS 10.9.4

philoouu · « **Reply #26 on:** September 14, 2014, 08:13:20 pm »

Quote from: Bachiano on September 14, 2014, 01:56:07 pm

I'm having the same problem :-(
Confused :-/
Had to restore because got the The trial is expired message.
then got this email:
"You have recently restored a licence for Media Center 20 Mac. There are 10 restores available in each 12 month period. There are 9 restores remaining at this time.
"
Don't understand why I got the trial expired message when I just put my registration code into JRiver 20, two days ago and got the "successful registration" message ?
Do I need to delete jriver 19 to make this stop ?
I'm only running on one Mac - OS 10.9.4

This is an issue even with one Mac! nothing to do with 2 macs.
Basically the first restore was not working and none of the install key are working either.
Or maybe running the install key is doing something wrong...

Basically if you go into into Help/License and restore now it should be OK. The code appears automatically in the box as if it remembers something...
You will lose a licence no big deal. And do not run install key, that may be the issue...

glynor · « **Reply #27 on:** September 14, 2014, 09:10:18 pm »

Yes. It seems to be broken in certain circumstances, even with single installations. Right now, we're not entirely sure what causes it.

Quote from: philoouu on September 14, 2014, 08:13:20 pm

Basically if you go into into Help/License and restore now it should be OK. The code appears automatically in the box as if it remembers something...
You will lose a licence no big deal.

Correct. It auto-fills the box if the license key is on your computer's clipboard.

And don't worry about losing a Restore. You get 10 of these per year, and they can be reset by JRiver if they get low (one of the devs might even come along and reset us all since we've found this broken bit). But even if not, if you run out, just come here to Interact and post and someone will help you out.

Quote from: philoouu on September 14, 2014, 08:13:20 pm

And do not run install key, that may be the issue...

In my testing, running the Installation Key doesn't cause any trouble. It either happens or it doesn't. Not sure why, right now.

All I can say for sure is that it DID work for me just fine on my Mac Mini (OSX 10.9.5, though it might have still been 10.9.4 when I did the install). It did not work correctly on:

1. Macbook Pro - OSX 10.9.5
2. VM (fusion) - OSX 10.10 (Preview 7)

Pedalvet · « **Reply #28 on:** September 15, 2014, 09:54:12 pm »

I downloaded MC 19 for Mac a few weeks ago. Played with it for 1/2 hour before realizing it didn't support CD ripping, at which point I gave up on it. Saw today that MC 20 supports ripping, and wanted to try it again. Downloaded MC 20, and it gave me a "trial expired" error. Clicked the link to extend the trial, got the email, cut and pasted the code, but it wouldn't open. Uninstalled both MC 19 and MC 20, reinstalled MC 20, still no love. It still says trial expired, and my only options are to purchase or restore license. It sounds like JRiver MC 20 may be the program I need, but I'm reluctant to plunk down my cash without trying it out.

JimH · « **Reply #29 on:** September 16, 2014, 06:59:02 am »

You could try it on another machine if you have access to one.

glynor · « **Reply #30 on:** September 16, 2014, 08:08:42 am »

Quote from: JimH on September 16, 2014, 06:59:02 am

You could try it on another machine if you have access to one.

Or wait for them to fix the issue.

Jim, since MC20 hasn't been out for 30 days (and I was able to reproduce this issue multiple times) there is obviously something gone awry with your trial/licensing system.

JimH · « **Reply #31 on:** September 16, 2014, 09:02:01 am »

Builds of 19 downloaded after July 1 used an MC20 license. That may be all it is.

glynor · « **Reply #32 on:** September 16, 2014, 04:56:38 pm »

Quote from: JimH on September 16, 2014, 09:02:01 am

Builds of 19 downloaded after July 1 used an MC20 license. That may be all it is.

Hmmm... Not sure how that's relevant.

If you read above, I tried with a brand new VM (only 1 week old) that has a still-this-moment valid free trial of MC19 (never licensed, never tried to license, trial still running). The first run ever of MC20 on that machine, it wouldn't give me a trial.

In other cases I encountered above, it had an installed, licensed copy of MC19 that was (and is) working fine, and that trial was expired.

And, you don't want having MC19 installed to "count" as a trial for MC20, do you? That would kind of kill your upgrade revenue down the line, and prevents people from re-trying the new version...

It is pretty clearly broken if you read all of my test cases above. It isn't broken in every case (as I said, I originally had no issues at all on my Mac Mini), but something is making it go haywire.

leofrucht · « **Reply #33 on:** October 17, 2014, 07:38:51 am »

bought the upgrade MC20 for Mac but can't run it.

When i try to open it I get the message:

CAN NOT OPEN BECAUSE IT IS FROM UNIDENTIFIED DEVELOPER

Please help

JohnT · « **Reply #34 on:** October 18, 2014, 10:28:09 am »

Quote from: leofrucht on October 17, 2014, 07:38:51 am

bought the upgrade MC20 for Mac but can't run it.

When i try to open it I get the message:

CAN NOT OPEN BECAUSE IT IS FROM UNIDENTIFIED DEVELOPER

Please help

Sorry for the troubles. Please try the latest build just posted (20.0.24). Hopefully this resolves your app. signing issue.

Bisiar · « **Reply #35 on:** October 26, 2014, 11:02:07 am »

Quote from: glynor on September 16, 2014, 08:08:42 am

Or wait for them to fix the issue.

Jim, since MC20 hasn't been out for 30 days (and I was able to reproduce this issue multiple times) there is obviously something gone awry with your trial/licensing system.

I've had to restore my license 4 times as it keeps coming unregistered. Please fix this issue or don't decrement the restore count.
James

JohnT · « **Reply #36 on:** October 29, 2014, 06:29:48 pm »

There seem to be three different issues in this thread:

1. Many people with both MC19 and MC20 installed are having trouble using an MJR file to register MC20. I have to admit, I never use an MJR file since we added the option to just paste a registration code into the restore dialog. Sure it uses up a restore, but they're unlimited for registered users so who cares. You get at least 10 restores per year and if you run out, we'll reset it for you. I think the problem must have to do with the MJR file type still being associated with MC19 when you go to register MC20. There also seems to be some bug in the way we handle the fact that people received MC20 licenses when purchasing MC19 after July 1. That might also be screwing up the trial period of MC20. We'll try to get this fixed, but in the meantime just please use the restore license process and if you run low, let us know.

2. One person (leofrucht) is getting errors when installing MC20. This is due to Apple's tighter restrictions on App signing and I think we've finally got this fixed in build 20.0.28 and greater. Please try the latest build.

3. Another person (Bisiar) is having MC20 come unregistered multiple times. I can't think how this would happen unless something is uninstalling the app or removing or modifying files in JRiver's Application Support folder. Is this still happening for you?

glynor · « **Reply #37 on:** October 29, 2014, 07:39:56 pm »

No. There's another issue. I can reproduce it at will on VMs, or at least I could when I posted above. I can try it again if you want.

When I install a new copy of MC20, with an existing MC19 installation (whether in trial mode or registered), and I launch the MC20 install for the first time ever (right after install), the trial is expired.

I get no trials, in almost all circumstances where MC19 is already present, of MC20.

thefabulousganache · « **Reply #38 on:** November 03, 2014, 10:18:31 am »

My trial for MC19 on Mac expired, and I wanted to try MC20 before finally purchasing the software. I would like to try MC20 first before I purchase it, and I think I may be encountering the same issues as reported in this thread. I've uninstalled 19 and an older version of 20 and re-installed the latest version of 20. Please help.

Bisiar · « **Reply #39 on:** November 14, 2014, 02:07:16 pm »

It is not happening for me anymore.

Quote from: JohnT on October 29, 2014, 06:29:48 pm

There seem to be three different issues in this thread:

1. Many people with both MC19 and MC20 installed are having trouble using an MJR file to register ...

2. One person (leofrucht) is getting errors when installing MC20. This is due to Apple's tighter ...

3. Another person (Bisiar) is having MC20 come unregistered multiple times. I can't think how this would happen unless something is uninstalling the app or removing or modifying files in JRiver's Application Support folder. Is this still happening for you?

Bisiar · « **Reply #40 on:** November 18, 2014, 07:33:31 am »

It happened to me again today. Right before it happened I updated my hackintosh to 10.10.1 as well as installed the 20.0.38 update for media center. Not sure which caused my license to no longer be valid but either of these actions shouldn't make media center prompt me for a new license.

Next time i will perform the actions one at a time to try to identify the cause.

INTERACT FORUM

Author Topic: Licensing Trouble (Trial Expiring Prematurely and Install Key Doesn't Work) (Read 9382 times)