NT 8.0.102 purchased version is not longer "registered" since installing trial of TCMD 15.

[Jus]

I have a purchased and registered copy of 4NT 8.0.102 running on Windows 7 x64. All was fine until I installed the trial version of TCMD 15. I have uninstalled TCMD 15, but now 4NT thinks that it's a trial version if I run it without admin rights (not elevated). If I run it as administrator then it does run registered.

I've tried uninstalling it and reinstalling it. I've reinstalled the license key. But I have the same issue. It will not run as a registered version unless I run it with administrator rights.

How do I fix this so I can run it without admin rights?

- Jus

 

[rconn]

This doesn't have anything to do with installing v15.

Because of a number of API changes that Microsoft made in Vista and Windows 7, we do not support 4NT v8 in a Windows 7 environment.

However, if you're determined to run it (and willing to accept the risks involved), you can get the 4NT v8 registration working in Windows 7. 4NT v8 (written for Windows XP) stores its registration information in the Windows HKLM registry tree. Windows Vista (and Windows 7 & 8) changed the rules to not normally allow access to that tree, so in order to register v8 you’ll have to right click on the 4NT icon and select “run as administrator”. Run OPTION, enter your registration info, save it, and close the 4NT window. Subsequent 4NT sessions should start up registered.


(v9 and later versions write to HKCU, so they don’t have this problem.)

 

[vefatica]

However, if you're determined to run it (and willing to accept the risks involved), you can get the 4NT v7 registration working in Windows 7. 4NT v8 (written for Windows XP) stores its registration information in the Windows HKLM registry tree. Windows Vista (and Windows 7 & 8) changed the rules to not normally allow access to that tree, so in order to register v8 you’ll have to right click on the 4NT icon and select “run as administrator”. Run OPTION, enter your registration info, save it, and close the 4NT window. Subsequent 4NT sessions should start up registered.

I had v8 hanging around on a drive copied from my previous computer ... never formally installed on Win7. I managed to find my registration info and I can verify that Rex's suggestion works.

 

[Jus]

I've tried the suggested solution, but it does not solve the problem. It's clear that the registration information is being stored. If I run as administrator again, it shows up registered. So it's saving it in the registry. But if I run without 'run as administrator' then it still says it's in trial mode. I even tried removing the registration using the 'option' button on the registration tab and filling it back it (while 'run as administrator'). Same issue when I don't run as administrator

Any other suggestions?

- Jus

 

[vefatica]

As I said, it worked for me. When I run it as myself (an admin, but not elevated) I see

4NT  8.02.106  Windows Vista [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright 1988-2007  Rex Conn & JP Software Inc.  All Rights Reserved
Registered to Vincent Fatica - 5 System License

But, oddly, all instances in the registry of "5 System License" are in keys named for later versions of JPSoft products. So where is the registration info stored?

 

[Charles Dye]

I don't believe there ever was a version of 4NT 8 for 64-bit Windows....?

You might try updating to the latest build, 8.02.106; then copy the file 4NT802_INIKEY.EXE (from the FTP site) over the 4NT.EXE in your program directory, and try to register again.

 

[Jus]

Charles - you got it. I was running 8.02.102 already, but the FTP site had 8.02.106. So I downloaded and installed that. Then I replaced 4nt.exe with the 4NT802_INIKEY.EXE and reregistered and now it works without having to "Run as Administrator". I searched the registry for '1 System License' and did not find it in the registry anywhere. But it must be there somewhere or it would not have worked when I ran it as administrator. Oh well. Problem Solved! Thank you all for the help.

- Jus

 

[Charles Dye]

Charles - you got it. I was running 8.02.102 already, but the FTP site had 8.02.106. So I downloaded and installed that. Then I replaced 4nt.exe with the 4NT802_INIKEY.EXE and reregistered and now it works without having to "Run as Administrator". I searched the registry for '1 System License' and did not find it in the registry anywhere. But it must be there somewhere or it would not have worked when I ran it as administrator.

If you use that INIkey version, the registration info goes into an .INI file in the program directory, not the registry. (Or maybe it's a .KEY file -- it's been a while, I don't recall the details.) I think that variant was really meant for portable use, like on a flash stick or a CD-ROM. But it seems like it would also be a good workaround for the intricacies of multiuser licensing and x64 registry redirection. Glad it's working for you, anyway!

 

[vefatica]

So where did the registration data go when I successfully tried Rex's suggestion? I can't find it in the registry, in 4NTv8's home directory, or anywhere in my profile tree. Yet it's registered.

 

[Dan Glynhampton]

So where did the registration data go when I successfully tried Rex's suggestion? I can't find it in the registry, in 4NTv8's home directory, or anywhere in my profile tree. Yet it's registered.

Is it possible that it's obfuscated in the registry in some way? If it was easy to find the registration data in the registry then presumably it would be easier to find a way to bypass the registration process, but encrypting and hiding it provides a layer of protection against that.

 

[vefatica]

Obfuscated ... in way. It uses the older way of storing registration information. As the result of my following Rex's instructions, I got the following.

v:\> regfind "4nt8"
HKLM\SOFTWARE\ASProtect\Key
 
->      Value: 4NT8Key

And, as I said before, that was enough to allow me to run it as vefatica, an admin, unelevated. The license specifics are, no doubt, encoded in that value's (rather long) binary data.