Need to transfer Flare to a different computer

[Judith]

I have two copies of Flare installed, one on my laptop and the other on a desktop. The laptop is broken beyond repair so I've ordered a new one. The desktop is on loan and has to be returned to qa when the laptop arrives.

Does anyone know how to deregister Flare on one machine and reregister it on another?

Judith

[Andrew]

I have two copies of Flare installed, one on my laptop and the other on a desktop. The laptop is broken beyond repair so I've ordered a new one. The desktop is on loan and has to be returned to qa when the laptop arrives.

Does anyone know how to deregister Flare on one machine and reregister it on another?

Judith

There's no deregistration. Simply install Flare on the new machine and register it normally. Should work just fine.

[ChoccieMuffin]

I can confirm that, having tripped over in my house and sent my laptop flying across the room. Result: one smashed screen (on a laptop that isn't cost-effective to repair).

I can also confirm that the Sales staff at Madcap were very helpful in tracing the email with the registration key, which was particularly helpful as my other emails were stored on the broken laptop!

[Judith]

The problem is that I already have two copies of Flare installed on different computers. One is dead, cooked motherboard. RIP. The other is on loan and Flare has to be removed when I give it back.

MadCap customer services have been very helpful - they asked me to send electronic copies of the license keys so that they can deregister. I can then install on two more machines if I want. Unfortunately, Dell have messed up the replacement so it's all on hold. QA want their machine back next week - could get tasty!!

On the side, Adobe have been equally good (shock) about reregistering Acorobat - we did it via the free support chat-line, being in the same time zone.

[Andrew]

Unless I missed something, there isn't really *any* "registration" to a computer (at least, not in the annoying-as-hell Adobe manner). You don't have to deregister Flare from one computer to install and use it on another. What you *can't* do is use (as in, have the product open) Flare with the same license on multiple PCs at the same time.

[helen]

Andrew is correct as far as I know. You can install Flare on a 100 computers if you want with the same key, just don't use more than 1 instance of it at the same time. There's no de-registration process... at least, I'm on my fourth or fifth Flare installation on PCs, that I use or have used and it's always been just fine.

[Judith]

Thanks - I'll give it a go and see what happens.

[Telemarker]

You can install Flare on a 100 computers if you want with the same key, just don't use more than 1 instance of it at the same time.

Can anyone confirm that this is still the case with Flare V8? (worked fine with V7) I work with a desktop at the office and on my laptop from home (never having Flare open on more than one machine at a time) and I get a "no more licenses for this domain" message when I try to register my laptop copy.

Thanks

[RamonS]

Best group to ask is really MadCap support.

[Telemarker]

Will do... thanks Ramon.

Just found this on the FAQ page:

The Software cannot be used and installed on more than one computer that shares the same domain as the primary license.

Which seems to be my case now that our IT department have changed our network organisation... not quite sure what I can do about that to work from home now!

[wbrisett]

You should be able to work from home because you would be on a different network. The idea according to the EULA, is that you get to install one copy on your work computer, one on your home computer, so you can work there. The new activation scheme enforces this rule. Are you working through a VPN when you're at home?

Wayne

[Telemarker]

Yes, I am on a VPN when I connect to the office and can use my desktop machine there. But even when working 'unconnected' the machine still uses my windows profile to connect to the same domain and hence the registration woes (AFAIK)...

[levihaynes]

Okay, so I had a similar issue with v8, only it wasn't a re-install. My work laptop fried its fan, so IT just popped my HDD into a new chassis, no sweat. Running Flare afterwards caused an error dialog to display that simply stated that Flare couldn't start, and only gave me an OK button. (Should have gotten a screen shot, but I didn't. Bad tech writer.)

A second attempt to open Flare resulted in going back to the screen where I could activate as a trial, purchase a key, or activate with a key I already possessed. When I chose the last option, my activation key was already present in the field. When going forward from there, it told me that the key was already in use.

After some digging around on Flare support, it was not immediately obvious what I needed to do at that point, but I ended up sending an email to CustomerService@MadCapSoftware.com from the email account from which I had initially registered Flare. Now, note that MadCap is on Pacific Time Zone. I received a reply from someone in MadCap's customer support about 5 minutes BEFORE 11am EST informing me that the activation key had been cleared, and that I could re-register Flare.

So, what to take away from this:

• If the chassis of your computer is changed (processorID, MAC address, some other hardware identifier?) or if you've had to reinstall on a fresh machine, then you will need to reregister Flare v8.
• You will want the previous registration to be cleared, even if you get the activation to work by going to another network.
• MadCap's customer service makes this pretty much painless, and are very responsive once they hit the office. Email is probably sufficient for a timely response.

This was the first place I looked after looking at the regular support section, so hopefully this sorts the issue out for anyone else in the same boat.

--Levi