Solved Two Macrium Reflect licenses; two PCs: Registration problems.

Wisewiz · Dec 23, 2023

I had two successfully registered licensed v.8 Home installations. Removed the license from the retiring PC, leaving one Licensed PC. Configured the new PC and restored an image from the other active one. All successful ( reported in another thread here), but now I try "updating license" on each PC with one license code on one; one license code on the other. Both warn me that registering this license will exceed the number of valid registrations for this license. Wait, 1 doesn't exceed 1.

I've submitted a ticket to MR, and I'm sure they'll respond with a fix, but it's Saturday of a very long weekend in the UK (Xmas eve, Xmas, Boxing Day, day after boxing day, ...), so I thought I'd try the experts here to see whether you know a way to fix this. Experts?

Wisewiz · Dec 23, 2023

I'm thinking MR will say "Remove both licenses. Uninstall both MRs, but not the support files; re-install, and use one license on each. Should work." But then I think my shortcuts and .xml files will be goners, and all of my "advanced" settings will be gone, too.
Oh, bother.

Ghot · Dec 23, 2023

Wisewiz · Dec 23, 2023

@Ghot

Thank you for providing that, but it's Christmas weekend, and I'll bet nobody's in at the office until Wednesday.

Ghot · Dec 23, 2023

Wisewiz said:
@Ghot

Thank you for providing that, but it's Christmas weekend, and I'll bet nobody's in at the office until Wednesday.

Unfortunately, there's not much else you can do.

Wisewiz · Dec 23, 2023

Interestingly, both are working just fine, and both show my name in Help, About. But both show the same license number, even though I've tried the obvious.

Wisewiz · Dec 23, 2023

Okay, I removed the licenses on both machines, then opened MR and clicked Enter License Key, and entered one on Sytem 1, and the other on System 2. It gave me the same "exceed" warning on both, but now both are showing my registered name, both are showing the current version of 8.1, and each reports its own key. So long as they're both working, I think I'll just wait patiently for the MR reply on or about next Wednesday.

Thanks, and Happy (whatever you celebrate at this time of year)!

Bree · Dec 23, 2023

Wisewiz said:
I'm thinking MR will say "Remove both licenses. Uninstall both MRs, but not the support files; re-install, and use one license on each. Should work." But then I think my shortcuts and .xml files will be goners, and all of my "advanced" settings will be gone, too.
Oh, bother.

No, your .xml definition files will survive the uninstall of Reflect and be there for you to use again on reinstalling Reflect. Just make sure you don't tick any boxes to remove 'user data' during the uninstall.

Porthos · Dec 23, 2023

Should have done this first Removing your License key when Upgrading your PC - Knowledgebase 8.0 - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

Wisewiz · Dec 23, 2023

@Bree

Per post #7 above, I've got a working pair of installations now. Gonna leave it that way until MR responds.

@Porthos

I killed the license on the old machine before I took it offline. Unfortunately (ofc), I couldn't image that machine without the license, so I put the license back, imaged, and then removed the license. When I restored the image to the newer machine, of course it was still registered, so I de-registered and tried (after changing the PC name) to re-register.

Problems ensued and I have a ticket in. It'll all work out, and for now, both machines have working copies of 8 Home. So long as I have two valid licenses, MR will take care of the fix.

Wisewiz · Dec 23, 2023

It didn't occur to me then, but it should have, that I could have de-registered the license on that PC, installed Free, imaged with that (Free), and used that image for the transfer. Hindsight, oh, hindsight, how rich you are, and how sarcastic.

Porthos · Dec 23, 2023

Wisewiz said:
I couldn't image that machine without the license

Could have used the boot USB.
Again hindsight strikes again.

Wisewiz · Dec 23, 2023

Porthos said:
Again hindsight strikes again.

That was redundant. But then again, so is hindsight, usually.

Bree · Dec 23, 2023

Wisewiz said:
I killed the license on the old machine before I took it offline. Unfortunately (ofc), I couldn't image that machine without the license, so I put the license back, imaged, and then removed the license. When I restored the image to the newer machine, of course it was still registered, so I de-registered and tried (after changing the PC name) to re-register.

When I got a supported device as my new my System One to replace my old 'main machine' ahead of the release of Windows 11, the first thing I did was to restore the Windows 10 system image of my old unsupported device and upgrade it to the Insider 22000.51 W11 build as a test. I ended up with two identical machines, both with an (apparently) licensed copy of Reflect - but both sharing the same licence key. I didn't dare unregister either of them for fear of disabling the key permanently.

When 11 was due to be released I wiped this test install and made sure that I removed the licence key from the old machine before making the final transfer image. This was back when Reflect was on v8.0, and that version would revert to Reflect Free if the key was removed without uninstalling Reflect, so I could still make its image. Starting with v8.1 it now reverts to a 'restore only' version.

Faced with the same situation today there are two options I could use after removing the key and uninstalling Reflect. Either boot from a Reflect rescue USB and use that to make the image, or install Reflect Free v8.0.

Wisewiz · Dec 23, 2023

Wisewiz said:
It didn't occur to me then, but it should have, that I could have de-registered the license on that PC, installed Free, imaged with that (Free), and used that image for the transfer. Hindsight, oh, hindsight, how rich you are, and how sarcastic.

Quoting myself and Porthos just to let you know, Bree, that we've been there; done that. But I thank you sincerely, anyway.

Porthos said:
Could have used the boot USB.

Bree · Dec 23, 2023

Wisewiz said:
Quoting myself and Porthos just to let you know, Bree, that we've been there; done that. But I thank you sincerely, anyway.

My fault for not reading the whole thread before replying :wink:

As you wisely say a bit later on....

Wisewiz said:
Hindsight, oh, hindsight, how rich you are, and how sarcastic.

Wisewiz · Dec 26, 2023

Macrium responded today, "Your installation/PC count has been reset. Please retry your installation again." That phrasing reminds me of the famous Yogi Berra line, "It's deja vu all over again!"

But I did re-register both my keys, one on each of my office PCs, and was successful this time. All's well.

Mitch · Dec 26, 2023

I have a paid 4 pack of Reflect. Before doing a clean install of W11 I removed the licence and did the prompted uninstall of Reflect. When I reinstalled Reflect with the same Key and clicked "Existing Backups" it showed no backups (Ext HDD was connected). Have I missed a step in configuring the backups? Thanks.

Wisewiz · Dec 26, 2023

Your Show Existing Backups window should look like this. If not, use the Browse for images button.

Wisewiz · Dec 26, 2023

With a new installation, you may have to create an image first, and be sure to save it to the same folder you've stored your previous images in. Then close MR and reopen it and try the Existing Backups tab.