Andrew, I've found that the only way of ensuring a truly unique - non-changing - machine ID was to generate a random value myself at install time (if it didn't already exist) and bury it somewhere in the Windows registry. The hard disk serial ends up being useless because it tends to be the same for a lab full of "ghosted" Windows machines and (as you've seen) get's even weirder on a RAID volume.
The problem was that every time IT would re-image a machine and re-install the software, the S/N would change, requiring me to send out a new Registration Code about once a year for every one of my users. I eventually (after nearly 10 years) gave up on the whole idea and went to a scheme that has no machine dependency whatsoever. Most of my customers are large electric utilities which may have something to do with it, but I haven't noticed any difference in unauthorized usage. Cheers. -bill k On Oct 5, 2012, at 12:31 PM, Andrew Voller <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi there, > > I am using the SystemInformationMBS.MachineID() as part of my licensing > system to lock the license to a particular computer. I have now seen a > situation where the MachineID changes frequently for the same computer under > WIndows OS (no reports on Mac OS). I have narrowed it down to the > HardDiscSerial value changing (as the MachineID is made up from several parts > which I have checked). Below is a sample taken showing the change each time > the routine is called on the same computer once a second (Windows 7 64x > Sophos Anti Virus). > > Key 1 = SystemInformationMBS.MacSerialNumber() > Key 2 = SystemInformationMBS.MacModel() > Key 3 = SystemInformationMBS.CPUBrandString() > Key 4 = SystemInformationMBS.HardDiscSerial() > > > // Sample #1 > Key 1 : > Key 2 : > Key 3 : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU X5560 @ 2.80GHz > Key 4 : _W > Machine ID : 676E517C002045593918E8B41C38CFD2 > > // Sample #2 > Key 1 : > Key 2 : > Key 3 : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU X5560 @ 2.80GHz > Key 4 : mš__ø€ÿÿ > Machine ID : 50B67375AF9731FF00987820166415A7 > > // Sample #3 > Key 1 : > Key 2 : > Key 3 : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU X5560 @ 2.80GHz > Key 4 : RAIDVOL > Machine ID : C59C1142FC0C43480E0392231F6B0C07 > > // Sample #4 > Key 1 : > Key 2 : > Key 3 : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU X5560 @ 2.80GHz > Key 4 : +a_vø€ÿÿ > Machine ID : 676E517C002045593918E8B41C38CFD2 > > // Sample #5 > Key 1 : > Key 2 : > Key 3 : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU X5560 @ 2.80GHz > Key 4 : RAIDVOL > Machine ID : 30CA1591EF9EB4ABF99FA886FBAA0C30 > > // Sample #6 > Key 1 : > Key 2 : > Key 3 : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU X5560 @ 2.80GHz > Key 4 : RAIDVOL > Machine ID : 676E517C002045593918E8B41C38CFD2 > > // Sample #7 > Key 1 : > Key 2 : > Key 3 : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU X5560 @ 2.80GHz > Key 4 : RAIDVOL > Machine ID : D749C4A00CA07CB3D50885F81091C476 > > // Sample #8 > Key 1 : > Key 2 : > Key 3 : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU X5560 @ 2.80GHz > Key 4 : RAIDVOL > Machine ID : 676E517C002045593918E8B41C38CFD2 > > // Sample #9 > Key 1 : > Key 2 : > Key 3 : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU X5560 @ 2.80GHz > Key 4 : RAIDVOL > Machine ID : 676E517C002045593918E8B41C38CFD2 > > // Sample #10 > Key 1 : > Key 2 : > Key 3 : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU X5560 @ 2.80GHz > Key 4 : ú€ÿÿ¥˜+Cú€ÿÿ§+Cú€ÿÿ > Machine ID : BED9AA0F5F4ADA191268BB0E05DF2FDA > > // Sample #11 > Key 1 : > Key 2 : > Key 3 : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU X5560 @ 2.80GHz > Key 4 : §+Cú€ÿÿ > Machine ID : 676E517C002045593918E8B41C38CFD2 > > // Sample #12 > Key 1 : > Key 2 : > Key 3 : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU X5560 @ 2.80GHz > Key 4 : RAIDVOL > Machine ID : 676E517C002045593918E8B41C38CFD2 > > > Any Ideas as to why this is happening ? > > Thanks, > > Andy > __________________________ > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mbsplugins_monkeybreadsoftware.info mailing list > [email protected] > https://ml01.ispgateway.de/mailman/listinfo/mbsplugins_monkeybreadsoftware.info _______________________________________________ Mbsplugins_monkeybreadsoftware.info mailing list [email protected] https://ml01.ispgateway.de/mailman/listinfo/mbsplugins_monkeybreadsoftware.info
