Symptoms

When FineReader is started on a workstation the following error occurs:

"The license <serial_number> is already in use by the user <username> on the workstation <computer_name>"

Cause

The error message appears when a single license was assigned to several workstations.

This may occur when errors were made during computer cloning, creating several computers that are virtually identical. When licenses are issued, computers are identified using their SIDs and checksums of their names. If the first part of the SID of several computers and the checksum of their names are the same, they will be identified as the same computer and will receive the same license.

Resolution

We recommend using Sysprep Microsoft utility for cloning computers. This will help you avoid cloning errors that create identical computers.

Additional information

For the local installation please consult the following articles: 

• During activation process of FineReader the error occurs: The serial number is already in use

• ABBYY FineReader PDF 15 will be terminated. The license is already in use