Issues with Trial Licences when linked to a MAC address

Machine details:

• Windows 10

• GraphPad was installed, which needs a trial key

The core issue is that GraphPad associates a trial machine's usage with a specific MAC address. When you clone a machine using Fresh Start, the clone typically keeps the same MAC address. Ordinarily this wouldn't be a problem, but in this scenario the application reports the licence as already being in use—as it was on a previously cloned machine. The machine might sit on a completely different server or in a datacentre on another continent the UK, and it will still flag this error.

The workaround, therefore, is to change the MAC address. In Linux, this is straightforward and well documented, but with Windows it’s less so.

Attempting to change the MAC address inside Windows via the usually recommended methods won't work, as the machine's qemu.conf file will override any MAC change made within the operating system. You can alter the MAC address in Windows 10, but on its own this still won't resolve the situation.

This happens because the qemu.conf file has a MAC address configured to work with it. You can modify this address to supply a different MAC and consequently permit the use of a different licence key.

To make this operational, however, 'Network Isolation' on each machine must be set to 'Disabled'; the MAC address set in the qemu.conf will then take effect.

Please contact DaDesktop Support for assistance with this if you encounter this problem.