I don't think this is a P3D problem per se, nor do I think it is a Carenado problem, so have  posted here because it is related to P3D and I cannot find any place else to air my problem and seek help. I have purchased many addons for both FSX and P3Dv2.x as downloads and successfully installed them - from Carenado, A2A. Milviz, RealAir, Flysimware, Flight Replicas, Aerosoft, SimMarket, FlightSim Store...and others. A few months ago I bought Carenado's PA31 Navajo, installed it in P3Dv2.4 Flew it awhile and was happy with it. After P3Dv2.5 came out I decided to do a clean install, so deleted P3D completely and started anew. I set about re-installing addons. I had saved the install exe and serial for the PA 31, so I attempted to install it, but Carenado's server returned an error: "The specified serial is not valid."  I tried the usual fixes: made sure my security and firewall were not blocking anything and ensured that I had not accidentally copied a space into the serial no. I also re-downloaded the exe file from Carenado. Everything OK. Tried again; no luck. Contacted Carenado support. They suggested I go through the steps I had already gone through. I did it all again, several times, and still same error message. I thought that maybe since I had purchased the PA31 that for some reason the serial was no longer good, and asked Carenado to issue a new one. They refused to do this, but offered as compensation another Carenado product. I opted for the Seneca V HD, feared I would get the same error, but surprise, it worked.

 

I have flown the Seneca V for a couple of weeks now (in P3Dv2.5 and v3) with minor issues, but decided I really wanted the Navajo, so I thought I would purchase it from a reseller, assuming the installation would be verified through their server rather than Carenado's. I bought it from the Flight Sim Store. However, when I went to install it it was through the Carenado server. I had a new serial number now and still was confident it would work. But to my surprise and disappointment I got the same error message.

 

As I have not seen any other postings on Avsim or other flight sim sites I monitor anyone mentioning such an issue, I am assuming the problem must be in my system. Has anyone else ever experienced this? Can anyone help?

 

Thanks

Mike

Hi Mike,

that's really a weird problem.

The first thing I would try is to launch the installer on another computer to see if I can get past the validation process. Ideally a computer with a different IP address e.g. the computer of a friend or at work.

 

 

As I have not seen any other postings on Avsim or other flight sim sites I monitor anyone mentioning such an issue, I am assuming the problem must be in my system. Has anyone else ever experienced this? Can anyone help?

 

Have you solved th eproblem? I got the same now...

Have you solved th eproblem? I got the same now...

 

 

Yes, have solved it. The problem was my windows firewall setting. I had windows 7 then and have updated to 10 and don't remember the exact details of what I did, but basically you need to go into your windows firewall settings and make sure that your firewall is not blocking the Carenado installer. As I recall I had to set a temporary exception for the Carenado aircraft I was trying to install. Then the installer recognized the serial number and it installed OK. Once it is installed you can go back into windows firewall and set it the way you want. 

 

What I don't know is why I never had this problem with a Carenado install before. I suppose Carenado has increased their install protection to try to avoid piracy. However, for me It was such a hassle I have avoided buying any more Carenado aircraft since then.

 

Good luck!