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PUBLISHED
26 April 2022

MODIFIED
28 September 2024

Alternate MachineID

When activating a license it is locked to a MachineID of the PC it is installed on (Or the server in the case of an SBS license), this is based around the MAC address of the PC.

If the PC has multiple network adaptors or if using a virtual server (In the case of SBS licenses) then the MAC address can change causing the license to become invalid.

There are two solutions for these situations:

  1. Use a USB license dongle which will act as the MachineID (May not work on virtual servers)

  2. Use an alternate method of generating the MachineID that is not based on the MAC address

Below is a link to a utility that will generate a MachineID based around the HDD ID of the windows installation, this should not change unless you reinstall Windows.

MachineIDExchange

When you run this utility it will give you a MachineID starting with 4-xxxxx.

(4-xxxxx = HDD ID, 10-xxxxx = MAC Address, 80-xxxxx = Dongle)

You can then click here and enter your license details along with this new MachineID.

Once activated this will give you a license file to download, download this and save it to your PC.

Now run and choose to activate CardExchange again and this time choose the advanced option and browse to the downloaded file.

This should stop any issues related to the MAC address of the PC changing.