Activation after update not working

[antic81 57]

Hi there,

 

i have opened a ticket and had a response from Paul on this one, but sadly it did not seem to work.

I have P3D 4.1 installed with both the NGX base package and the 747 QOTS II installed, all were fine until the other day when windows did its fall creators update. I tried to fire up the QOTS II and it asked to be activated, I assume this is due to the large Windows update. I go through the update process by entering my License code... it gets up to polling for response, very briefly says done and then opens the box asking for the code again.

Paul told me it seems that it is not getting through to their server and it could be my AV software, I tried disabling it as well as the windows firewall and still no joy.

This happens for both the NGX and QOTS II, has anyone got any ideas of what else I can try?

I am running Windows 10 64 Bit with the Creators update.

 

Any help greatly appreciated!

 

Many thanks,

 

Anthony  

[Nighthwk 566]

Might be a silly question but are you running P3D as administrator?

[downscc 1,327]

6 hours ago, antic81 said:

i have opened a ticket and had a response from Paul on this one, but sadly it did not seem to work.

I recommend you reply to Paul, whom without doubt is the most qualified around here.  You also neglected to tell us (us as in here in the user forum) what Paul recommended that didn't work.  My first guess is that your AV is blocking FlexNet services.  Check to see that FlexNet is running.

[rsrandazzo 6,353]

Anthony,

I had a similar experience when the Fall Creator's Update was installed on all of the machines in the PMDG Sim Center last month.  (Incidentally, this is the most poorly named piece of software in history... it has destroyed more progress than it has created- but I digress....  )

 

To resolve the issue, I had to uninstall and reinstall the PMDG software.  I suspect that when the creators update gets installed, it destroys the records within the Windows Trusted Storage arena, and thus the hooks that allow the validation and verification process to run.  Doing a complete un/reinstall seemed to get the proper bits reinstalled to their proper place- and then activation ran normally and "stuck."

I hope that helps-

(Dan:  Stop telling people Paul is qualified...  We are supposed to keep Paul beaten down, remember?!  )

 

[antic81 57]

Hi guys,

Many thanks for all your tips to try, I am away from my PC now until late tomorrow night, so will give all the new ideas a go when I am back!

Thanks Rob, I did actually try the uninstall/reinstall option before I raised the ticket, however I only uninstalled the QOTS on that occasion, I'll give uninstalling everything a try!

Also Chris fromTech Support has also suggested checking FlexNET Licensing Service on Windows - so I will look at that too when I am home tomorrow night!

I was tempted to simply disable Windows updates going forward, do you chaps think that is a good idea? I'd read that this one was a nightmare, I wonder what else its broken...

Many thanks again for all the help, will be sure to let you know how I get on in the hopes that it helps someone else going through a similar issue.

Anthony

[rsrandazzo 6,353]

Anthony,

Generally speaking, I do not recommend disabling the updates.  They (MS) have made a few errors of late- but the updates do bring value and added security  I have hurled my share of epithets at the ceiling and wished horrible things on Steve Balmer (I blame him for most everything at MS, as he set much of it in motion) but the updates do provide needed fixes.

 

[antic81 57]

Hi all,

Just a quick update to say that we got it figured out in the end! 

Many thanks to Chris Makris in tech support without whom I'd never have gotten anywhere! (I've promised him payment in booze!)

So the solution for anyone who has this happen to them in the future is to do the following (directly quoting Chris's email to me) :

1. Uninstall your PMDG 747 QOTSII, 777 737 and J41 products from Control Panel\Programs and Features. (the older 747-400X and MD-11 products do not use the FLEXnet activation system and are not applicable to this problem)

2. Go to your C:\Program Data\FLEXnet folder. (this is a hidden folder, if you can't see it, enable the option "Show hidden files, folders and drives," in the Windows folder options)

3. Delete any files in this folder with PMDG in their names. Be extra careful not to delete any non-PMDG files here, other applications such as the Adobe products use FLEXnet activation as well.

4. Reinstall your aircraft from your installers and see if you're able to activate.

 

Hopefully that helps anyone else in a similar predicament!

Many thanks also to Rob, Dan and John for your ideas - I was getting ready to throw the PC out the window at one stage which may not have helped solve the issue but certainly would have made me feel a lot better! 

 

 

 

[Olympic260 415]

Anthony,

A pint of Guinness please :)

Unfortunately I have to say that this solution is not a global one, It works for some users but for other thinks are most complicated. I would suggest before doing any such actions if a user has an issue to contact us through a ticket.