ENABLE_NETWORK_ADAPTERS errorAnswered

Hi,

One of my customers is getting this error when trying to activate his license. Previous version worked correctly for him.They are not running any 3rd party antivirus (I've asked them to disable it) and they tried running the application as admin.

Can you provide some instructions of how to enable all network adapters on the system for purposes of LimeLM from the customer point of view? They tried right clicking on things in device manager->network adpaters but it seems everything is enabled there (and LimeLM should be able to enable them anyway if run in Admin mode).

Btw, I feel this is a bit arrogant to state:

"While it's best practices to keep network adapters enabled at all times, even if there isn't an active internet connection, customers aren't forced to use these best practices. In other words, customers can disable the network adapters after TurboActivate successfully reads them, and TurboActivate will remember them for a while. This way customers won't be prompted to enable the network adapters every time they run your application.

Of course, the solution to never be prompted is to leave the network adapters enabled all of the time. If a customer is disabling network adapters in an effort to shut off the internet there are better and more secure ways to do it:"

As you do in the help page here:https://wyday.com/limelm/help/faq/#disabled-adapters

99.9% of computer users never do anything to Network Adapters themselves. They just use their computer. It's default Windows behavior that some of the adapters get disabled for w/e reason (maybe power management, maybe something else). You are blaming computer users here while they did nothing. It's not "best practice" to keep network adapters enabled all the time. Disabling them is how Windows behaves and the licensing system should work with that instead of requiring unrealistic behavior from the end user (should they go to network adapters every morning and make sure to enable all of them?).

At the very least LimeLM could list the specific adapter it couldn't enable. That will go a very long way helping to solve real life problems. At least it would help more than condescending message suggesting someone is not following "best practices" when they doesn't even know what network adapter is and have never manipulated any of them.

I am ranting here but the issue is frustrating. Readable error messages would help a long way with this and other problems as well.

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Answer

On modern versions of Windows (i.e. Windows 8 and newer) the end-user can do whatever they want. Disable it, enable it, whatever. TurboActivate will just work.

On older and soon to be deprecated-by-Microsoft versions of Windows (7 and below), the customer will need to enable the network adapters once in a while. Or they can just run TurboActivate.exe or your app as admin and it will briefly enable the disabled network adapters, read their details, and then put them back in the state they were in previously.

Long story short,

Use the latest version of TA and it will only be a pain for customers on old versions of Windows (and for customers who don't use best practices -- no, Windows doesn't disable network adapters for power management, at least it doesn't disable them in a way that TurboActivate can't read them -- only end-user's can put them in that state).

Use the latest version of Windows. And the customer won't see any problems at all no matter what they do.

This is all described in-detail in the FAQ: https://wyday.com/limelm/help/faq/#disabled-adapters

After some investigation it turns out Windows 10 sometimes acts like this:

1)There is an inactive network adapter (it doesn't work properly)2)You can't activate it (because it doesn't work properly)3)You can't remove it (for w/e reason)

This happened to our user with his Ethernet adapter. He is using his computer normally because he just uses Wi-Fi.I am guessing LimeLM iterates over all network adapters and sadly that causes the problematic situation. Would it be possible to provide information about registry entry that contains the list LimeLM is using so we can alter it manually to exclude that adapter? Anything else we can ask the customer to do so the license works on his machine?

What version of TurboActivate are you using? If it's not the latest, upgrade to the latest before doing anything else, have them try again, and if it's still causing problems with this customer we'll happily dig into it further to see what's up.

Hi,

I am sorry for delays, I am travellng right now and have limited access to computer (and no access to my main machine).We are using the version which was available in September 2017. That's surely 4.0 as we updated the licensing system for our users then. Were there any revisions since then? Can I get an exact version number from the API?

For now I've sent the user older version of the software (which is using previous TurboActivate version) and it works correctly for them.

Thanks for your help!

We've just added this FAQ: https://wyday.com/limelm/help/faq/#latest-libs

Hi,

Sadly I've got another customer having this problem (one of the network adapters is probably damaged, Windows doesn't allow activating it but it doesn't allow removing it either). Sadly the customer is from non-English speaking country and not very computer savvy so the situation is quite hopeless.

Would it be possible for LimeLM to attempt to activate Network Adapters but give-up when it's not possible and continue instead of returning the error? I understand that attempt to read the adapters so the licensing system is not triggered when new ones are suddenly active but it's painful that the licensing system just refuses to activate on systems where something goes wrong. The old version, while having its own problems at least activated and the customers could use the software.

I feel being as strict here goes against the principle that the licensing system should first of all prevent casual piracy but not stand in the way.

Thank you for considering it.

>> "I feel being as strict here goes against the principle that the licensing system should first of all prevent casual piracy but not stand in the way."

TA 3.x and lower were more lenient on network adapters and that became a basket of troubles (tons of false positives and false negatives). TA 4.x (especially the latest version, 4.0.9.6) solves all those false positives and false negatives and on modern versions of Windows can even read the network adapters when the customer has disabled them.

See: https://wyday.com/limelm/help/faq/#disabled-adapters

The customer should uninstall the drivers for that network adapter (do it in device manager), and let Windows install the correct drivers. If Windows can't find them, they can find them manually online. If it's an ancient computer and/or the network adapter is made be some fly-by-night company, then they can just leave the drivers uninstalled and let Windows see it as an unidentified hardware components. Then things will work.

To recap:

1. They must update their version of Windows and use supported versions of Windows. (7 and above -- preferably 10).

2. They should attempt to update their drivers.

3. You should be using the latest version of TurboActivate.

4. If updating Windows and updating the drivers didn't work correctly, have them uninstall the drivers for that component.

Thank you. The problem with that is that our customers are not corporations nor (in general) tech savvy people. We can't afford spending hours on Skype screensharing with every individual customer and the steps you described are beyond capabilities of 99% of computer users (or off-putting enough for them which results in equivalent outcome).

Additionally, for one customer they had damaged network card on the mainboard which was still recognized by Windows but couldn't be turn on. No amount of driving reinstalling will fix this sadly.

I understand LimeLM wants the list of Network Adapters but I don't understand why it can't just read available ones (either those already turned on or those it can temporarily turn on). Those things change often enough anyway (people install various VPN services which act like Network Adapaters, change internet providers etc.). It's just sort of all sort of trouble when using LimeLM for software facing customers. It would be different with corporate customer for sure.

Hi

we are encountering the same issue. 

Windows 10
latest Turbo Active version (4.4.4)
all network adapters are enabled and functioning ok

what can do be the problem?

I've asked the client to restart his PC and try again

https://storage.googleapis.com/installtionfiles/1.png
https://storage.googleapis.com/installtionfiles/2.png
 

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Answer

Follow the FAQ. Update the drivers, update the OS, update TA.

The FAQ isn’t to brush people off. It’s to explain a frequently asked question in a deep and consistent way.

If you’re still having problems, provide enough information. Again, the FAQ tells you exactly what to do (versions, code, etc.).

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