This post is follow up from the second half of this post discussing the best way to set up free trials for Windows 11 (VM settings on by default). I'd like to get some advice on our planned approach to offering free trials with key questions in bold.
We would like to provide free trials to prospective users. Unfortunately the default verified free trials provided by LimeLm are not suitable for our needs. In too many instances the free trials will not start due to Windows 11 default hypervisor settings. This leads to an inability for prospective customers to try the software without lots of debugging steps, degrading trust in our software.
The solution decided in the linked post was to allow VM across the entire version. However, we've realised this is leading to ‘forever’ free trials (described here). To confirm, is it the case that free trials will reset following reboot on any windows computer with VM settings (e.g. hypervisor) enabled?
As such, we are planning to remove the free-trial capabilities. If we have many free trials currently in progress (both on VM and not), what will happen when i) free trial days are set to 0 ii) VM is turned off for the version? We basically want all free trials to stop (ideally after coming to the end of their pre-defined 30-day period).
To provide free trials, our solution will be to use the LimeLM API to send 30-day product keys to prospective customers after they provide their email. These keys will be VM allowed by default to ensure a smooth start for the prospective customer. However, for purchased, longer-period subscription keys we will turn VM off (at this stage, customers should be less averse to some debugging, and we can selectively turn on where necessary). This will lead to us paying more due to using more keys, but I cannot see any alternative. To confirm, it is the case that all activations (even those in VM, which may be duplicated) will be cancelled when the activation period runs out? (basically, we want to avoid providing 30-day activation keys that will work in-perpituity on VM).
Thanks for your help.
To confirm, is it the case that free trials will reset following reboot on any windows computer with VM settings (e.g. hypervisor) enabled?
It depends. Yes, sometimes. No, other times.
To confirm, it is the case that all activations (even those in VM, which may be duplicated) will be cancelled when the activation period runs out?
You have to delete them. LimeLM doesn't touch your data. If you created it stays there until you delete it. https://wyday.com/limelm/help/activations/#faq
Thanks, apologies I was not clear. We have a `license_expire_date` license field that in our program we use to deactivate the license when out of date (`ta.is_date_valid(ta.get_feature_value("license_expire_date")) is not True`). I presume this is unaffected by VM. i.e. when `ta.deactivate(True)` is called, the license will deactivate and will not be able to be reused, whether in a VM, duplicate instance etc. or not.
I have made more specific the questions on winding down the free trials. We have 30 day free trials that are currently in use on VM and non-VM platforms. We are using the below code to validate free trials (return `True` in the first result will proceed).
```
try:
ta.use_trial(verified=True)
days_remaining = ta.trial_days_remaining(verified=True)
if isinstance(days_remaining, int) and days_remaining > 0:
return True, days_remaining
else:
return False, False
except TurboActivateTrialExpiredError:
return False, False
```
I experimented with turning off VM in 'Version' > ‘Edit’, but my (already started) free trial continued. I guess this VM validation for the free trial is done during setup, but not on each call to `ta.use_trial(verified=True)`?
If we set the version trial days to 0 ('Version' > ‘Edit’ > ‘Trial length (in days)’, will `ta.trial_days_remaining` immediately return 0 for all currently used trials?
Many thanks.
I experimented with turning off VM in 'Version' > ‘Edit’, but my (already started) free trial continued. I guess this VM validation for the free trial is done during setup, but not on each call to `ta.use_trial(verified=True)`?
Correct.
If we set the version trial days to 0 ('Version' > ‘Edit’ > ‘Trial length (in days)’, will `ta.trial_days_remaining` immediately return 0 for all currently used trials?
No. Only for new trials.
