Symptoms

When trying to activate a volume Per Seat license of FineReader PDF on a workstation (local installation), the license cannot be activated with the error message:

Activation failed.

Cause

The issue may appear when a workstation receives a license assigned to another workstation. The computer that is experiencing the issue was cloned.

It may appear 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, the computers will be identified as the same computer and will receive the same license.

Resolution

It is recommended to use the Sysprep Microsoft utility for cloning computers. This will help avoid cloning errors that create identical computers.

If additional questions arise, please submit a request to our Customer Support team.