The License Incident....*WARNING* Dont do this...what I did....

[seqoi]

To me this sounds like User Error. He "forgot" to de-authorize computer more then few times. I may be wrong but that's how i see it.

It's user responsibility to check system requirements.

Was there no any kind of info about de-authorizing computer or there is? EDIT: yes i've found it.

https://www.propellerheads.com/authorization

When i became Reason user and in one ticket i listed that question. What happens with my Reason license if my computer die or i am changing complete computer? Someone reported to me that i am safe, i can deauthorize my computer from my user profile and activate on another.

To me that system seems awesome.

[seqoi]

If this is a rule, shouldn’t they notify users?

It doesn't matter you did it 5 times or more or less. One time is enough.

It's there

https://www.propellerheads.com/authorization

Note: You can authorize one computer at a time. If you need to switch to another computer, don't forget to deauthorize the current one first! This is done by going to the same Authorize Computer and Keys page again, this time selecting Deauthorize.

Like i said i may be wrong though. Are you trying to tell me that there is actually LIMIT on how many times i can change computer and license Reason on it? Even if i de-authorize computer prior change? I am in some limit ? (i don't believe that this would be the case)

[kimothebeatmaker]

I am not talking about how many computers you can authorize. I’m talking about how many times you can report a computer as lost.

[guitfnky]

“How many times?”

I’d say at least 5, but this was in a short time span, so it can explain that I was doing it on the same computer as I was building it.

But that shouldn’t matter, I paid for my license, upgrades, and rack extensions. I received no warning, no where on their site does it say there is a report limit. This dude Craig is super condescending in his replies. I’m starting to get annoyed at the whole situation. I love Reason but their way of doing things doesn’t sit right with me.

If this is a rule, shouldn’t they notify users?

He also said, we can report the USB key as lost but not computers. So as long as I’m forming over 60 bucks for a usb dongle I can report those as lost. So I have to ask, What is the difference?

I’m with you on the “I paid for my license”. that’s why I think no matter what others may say, it’s not a great system.

but as others have pointed out, Props *did* document the requirement, so it’s not fair to say they haven’t notified users. Props/Reason doesn’t programmatically know that you’re reformatting or whatever, so it’s not like they can add some kind of warning that stops you from doing so beforehand.

[kimothebeatmaker]

If you can, please show me where they state the limit of how many times I can report a pc as lost.

I know they wouldn’t know that I was having system build issues, and I never knew there was a limit to reporting, hence why I kept using it. The issue here is, after I told them what happened, they still won’t help me. They flat out refused, and I can’t understand the reasoning behind it.

[MrFigg]

“How many times?”

I’d say at least 5, but this was in a short time span, so it can explain that I was doing it on the same computer as I was building it.

Just to make sure I'm understanding this correctly. Are you saying that you:-
1.Installed and authorized Reason on your machine.
2. Formatted/ changed harware then realised you hadn't deauthorized first.
3. Wrote to Propellerheads who marked your PC as lost thus allowing you to reauthorize on your newly formatted machine.
4. Did the same again and wrote to Propellerheads again.
5. And then did the same thing 3 more times?

[guitfnky]

as I recall, I saw the warning that you can only report lost/stolen a limited number of times when I went to reauthorize on the new computer/format. if the authorization is tied to the old computer/format, but you open the authorization page on the new comp/format, I think it gives you the warning because it doesn’t recognize the computer you’re using as the one that’s been authorized.

I definitely remember seeing it. if you’ve done it a few times, there’s a good chance you have too.

[sublunar]

If you can, please show me where they state the limit of how many times I can report a pc as lost.

I know they wouldn’t know that I was having system build issues, and I never knew there was a limit to reporting, hence why I kept using it. The issue here is, after I told them what happened, they still won’t help me. They flat out refused, and I can’t understand the reasoning behind it.

I'm willing to bet that you'll find this information inside at least one of your correspondences with support. I went through this one time and it was made clear to me that there's a limited number of times you can mark as lost.

[kimothebeatmaker]

No, it gives you the option to do it yourself l. So for the first few times, you can mark as lost yourself. That’s what I did, afterwards they say to contact support if you do it too many times. So here I am. If there was a warning telling me this is my final time, then ok, it’s my bad. If not, then they should add one. For future clients who are just as wreckless as your ole homie Kimo.

Still doesn’t make sense to me to lock a user out permanently. I would think after a year they would allow you to report one as lost.

[Ostermilk]

They never told me t here was a limit to how many times you can report the computer as "lost". So I said ok, that sucks...what do I do now? They said 'we will send you an ignition key', and I thanked them...now that's great customer support.

They sent you an ignition key gratis because they couldn't re-authorize your machine again? That does indeed sound like great customer support.

I only use my ignition key which came with R5/Record for authorization as I 'lost' my computer once during a beta test, and decided to steer clear from computer authorization since I was told there was a limit to how many times I could be reactivated after a lost computer scenario so I got my warning then. I've not had to have a new key since I got my original one so it's a bit of a stretch to use up all your computer authorisations AND trash an ignition key. Lets hope that doesn't happen.

Keys rule if you've got one.

[EnochLight]

No, it gives you the option to do it yourself l. So for the first few times, you can mark as lost yourself. That’s what I did

Wait... you reported your computer as lost... five times??!

[MrFigg]

No, it gives you the option to do it yourself l. So for the first few times, you can mark as lost yourself. That’s what I did, afterwards they say to contact support if you do it too many times. So here I am. If there was a warning telling me this is my final time, then ok, it’s my bad. If not, then they should add one. For future clients who are just as wreckless as your ole homie Kimo.

Still doesn’t make sense to me to lock a user out permanently. I would think after a year they would allow you to report one as lost.

I have to ask. Why, when you knew that, when doing a reformat or whatever, you had to deauthorize your pc did you fail to to it so many times? You said it was all within a short time span. How many times did you actually get them to reset it? I get it can happen once or twice but five times? I don’t understand. Maybe I’m missing something.

[EnochLight]

I have to ask. Why, when you knew that, when doing a reformat or whatever, you had to deauthorize your pc did you fail to to it so many times? You said it was all within a short time span. How many times did you actually get them to reset it? I get it can happen once or twice but five times? I don’t understand. Maybe I’m missing something.

Same.

[ScuzzyEye]

I only use my ignition key which came with R5/Record for authorization as I 'lost' my computer once during a beta test, and decided to steer clear from computer authorization since I was told there was a limit to how many times I could be reactivated after a lost computer scenario so I got my warning then. I've not had to have a new key since I got my original one so it's a bit of a stretch to use up all your computer authorisations AND trash an ignition key. Lets hope that doesn't happen.

Pretty much the same for me. I had a motherboard fail from bad capacitors, and couldn't deactivate it. I've just used Internet and Ignition Key authorization since then, and haven't even reported my computer lost, because I knew it was a very limited number of times I could do that.

[kimothebeatmaker]

I’m sure it was more than five times. But I know for sure at least 5 times. Not sure how many exactly. And I just mark the computer as lost via the button link in your account page. Doing this, it gives you a warning before you have to contact support. It never tells you it’s permanent, only that you have to contact support for them to report it. But they flat out refuse to report it.

[MrFigg]

I’m sure it was more than five times. But I know for sure at least 5 times. Not sure how many exactly. And I just mark the computer as lost via the button link in your account page. Doing this, it gives you a warning before you have to contact support. It never tells you it’s permanent, only that you have to contact support for them to report it. But they flat out refuse to report it.

Again...why didn’t you just deauthorize your pc after you learned the first or second time that it was something you were supposed to do? I mean it takes about 30s to click the deauthorize button before embarking on a new build.
I don’t understand. I guess there’s no point in me asking you again.

[joeyluck]

To be fair, if you can report your computer lost an infinite amount of times, it would defeat much of the purpose of the piracy protection and the whole authorization process. Certainly not insinuating anything in this case.

But if a user has reported their computer lost at least 5 times, whether they might have forgotten to deauthorize before formatting, or the computer was lost or stolen... but for all a company might know, that license and Reason could be alive and well on that many computers not actually lost. Again, not insinuating that (as I don't think you'd be raising a fuss) and not saying that's what they think in this case, but they have to draw the line somewhere in order to have a policy in place. You might have already been given special privileges beyond what they allow?

[kimothebeatmaker]

To be fair, if you can report your computer lost an infinite amount of times, it would defeat much of the purpose of the piracy protection and the whole authorization process. Certainly not insinuating anything in this case.

But if a user has reported their computer lost at least 5 times, whether they might have forgotten to deauthorize before formatting, or the computer was lost or stolen... but for all a company might know, that license and Reason could be alive and well on that many computers not actually lost. Again, not insinuating that (as I don't think you'd be raising a fuss) and not saying that's what they think in this case, but they have to draw the line somewhere in order to have a policy in place. You might have already been given special privileges beyond what they allow?

Yeah thats a dilemma, and I understand that. That's why we have authorizations in the first place, but shouldn't they take it as a case by case basis? I've been part of Reason for years, bought multiple RE, updated versions and have a good history of updates with them. I can prove who I am, and this is infact the same and only computer I have. Is there a way that codemeter could identify the actual system and not the OS install? Also, I am not asking for infinite or saying there should be, but atleast I know now and I hope all of you know now that, there is a finite number of times you can report a PC as lost. So after this enlightenment from support, I just asked for another chance, which wasn't granted, again understandable. Just wish there was more information on what can happen if such things were to happen.

[two shoes]

ANY policy that punishes paying customers in any way for forgetting to jump through the hoops you've set out to move a license from one piece of hardware to another is foolish and customer hostile in the extreme. Forcing them to buy your stupid dongle to continue using softare they've paid for when you have no compelling reason to believe they aren't who they say they are is beyond asinine.

Just trying to get my licenses written to an ignition key i got for free when I bought a license to an older version of Reason then upgraded forced me to deactivate my main pc multiple times AND report it as lost and Props support never once mentioned to me any kind of limit on reporting a machine as lost - they simply presented is as the only way to fix a bungled situation they clearly did not understand where neither my ignition key nor my licensed pc were being recognized by Reason as authorized.

If changing hard drives counts as a new pc I change about once a year on average when you include desktop and laptop and I have thousands of USD now invested in my Props acct - just hearing that this is even a thing boils my blood. all the other bs we put up with from Props and they actually have the arrogance to debate the few paying customers they have left and try to force their stupid dongle on them for not complying with a policy that they were never informed of in the first place?? are you f'ing kidding me?

[michael.jaye]

I mistakenly reported my computer lost one time when I merely should've de-authorised it. I think when I contacted support is when they told me there is a limit on how many times you can report as lost. It was a long time ago, I thought the limit was 3 times.

[joeyluck]

To be fair, if you can report your computer lost an infinite amount of times, it would defeat much of the purpose of the piracy protection and the whole authorization process. Certainly not insinuating anything in this case.

But if a user has reported their computer lost at least 5 times, whether they might have forgotten to deauthorize before formatting, or the computer was lost or stolen... but for all a company might know, that license and Reason could be alive and well on that many computers not actually lost. Again, not insinuating that (as I don't think you'd be raising a fuss) and not saying that's what they think in this case, but they have to draw the line somewhere in order to have a policy in place. You might have already been given special privileges beyond what they allow?

Is there a way that codemeter could identify the actual system and not the OS install?

I'm not sure.

So I finally got around to buying McDSP's SA-2 recently when they started allowing iLok cloud authorization. I do not have an iLok dongle, and don't care to have one with my laptop. McDSP and others still do not allow computer authorization. So for some companies, it's either an iLok dongle or iLok cloud authorization; they simply don't trust computer authorizations enough to even allow them (and iLok even tells them it's not as secure).

I remember when Reason required the dongle/online authentication and there was no computer authorization. So they had at least added support for it. Sorry you are having to deal with this though.

[Boombastix]

Well, sounds like a complex situation, not sure if I got all the nuances. But if PH suspects this account may have been spread to several computers then I can understand if they would want put a lock on the HD key. They cannot really tell the difference can they?
But if they already sent you a free ignition key, I think it sounds fair that they tell you to buy the second key so you can keep going. Considering the background, I don't think the $50 is much to argue about.

However, they do not have a mobile phone authentication that some companies introduce as an extra layer of safety and identification. Perhaps that would be an idea to implement if identifying a user becomes important.
Not sure how PH support is structured, but the few times I have contacted them I have a feeling that I usually get polite answers from Sweden, but less than stellar from the US? Do they have two support locations?

[joeyluck]

Well, sounds like a complex situation, not sure if I got all the nuances. But if PH suspects this account may have been spread to several computers then I can understand if they would want put a lock on the HD key. They cannot really tell the difference can they?
But if they already sent you a free ignition key, I think it sounds fair that they tell you to buy the second key so you can keep going. Considering the background, I don't think the $50 is much to argue about.

However, they do not have a mobile phone authentication that some companies introduce as an extra layer of safety and identification. Perhaps that would be an idea to implement if identifying a user becomes important.
Not sure how PH support is structured, but the few times I have contacted them I have a feeling that I usually get polite answers from Sweden, but less than stellar from the US? Do they have two support locations?

Oh I totally missed this part. So a free ignition key was given after the multiple lost computer resets? I must've misread something and thought that a key was promised, but then he was told he would have to buy it. But perhaps that would be the second ignition key, in the hypothetical case that the first one that was given would be lost?

[reggie1979]

I'm totally confused by this thread. Not that is matters, but I still do not understand how this happened. (just really checking so that I don't run into something)

[Loque]

I'm totally confused by this thread. Not that is matters, but I still do not understand how this happened. (just really checking so that I don't run into something)

Always try to de-authorize your computer before you change hardware. If you missed that you can mark your old authorization as lost, but only 5 times at all.

That means 3 HD crashes and 2 times just forgotten and that's it. More or less...

Btw: 1 HD crash and you lose your Windows license and bound iLok licenses...