[ericks]

Hi guys, i just received my UC300ETH and license file. I am having trouble with the license file. It has been copied to the UCCNC file but when i open UCCNC and check it shows no license installed...can anyone advise me on this please?

Many thanks
Erick

[ericks]

Oops...sorry guys, looks like it's working now not sure what happened before

[Bad Wolf]

Oops...sorry guys, looks like it's working now not sure what happened before

I've been having problems with my license files of late. I don't know if the later software has been played with, but the later versions of the software seem a little more prone to telling you that you don't have a valid license key.
I have both a UC100 and UC300ETH license keys (yet to install the UC300ETH in place of the UC100).
Since I have run so many previous versions of the software I copy a license key from one of the previous installs, and sometimes that works. So I don't know if the license key gets corrupted or what the heck is happening.
But I do know lately it has taken a few goes for it to pick it up properly.

[ericks]

I've been having problems with my license files of late. I don't know if the later software has been played with, but the later versions of the software seem a little more prone to telling you that you don't have a valid license key.
I have both a UC100 and UC300ETH license keys (yet to install the UC300ETH in place of the UC100).
Since I have run so many previous versions of the software I copy a license key from one of the previous installs, and sometimes that works. So I don't know if the license key gets corrupted or what the heck is happening.
But I do know lately it has taken a few goes for it to pick it up properly.

Sorry to hear about that. Mine seems to be just during installation....its been good since, however i have not really done much. Just trying to get everything sorted

[Bad Wolf]

Sorry to hear about that. Mine seems to be just during installation....its been good since, however i have not really done much. Just trying to get everything sorted

Most of the issues I have had have been during installation. Once in a blue moon it will have a hissy fit after install, but most issues have been at install time. Installed again today and had same problem, copied the license file from a different back up copy and it was happy again. The problem isn't a major one.

[ericks]

Will have to see how it goes....i have only experience with mach3 and the old printer port setup. Hopefully my new machine will be up and running by end February and i'll get to know the new software.

[Bad Wolf]

Now it's sorted you should be fine. At first I had a bit of a love / hate relationship with UCCNC, but I think over version after version we have come to a place of understanding. The people in the know seem to think it is a superior product to M3. You can run in demo mode without the machine connected to get familiar a check out the settings.

[ericks]

Thanks for the info

[ger21]

I've installed lots of different versions and have never had a license issue, But I always reinstall right over the previous versions, and have never re-copied the license file.

[Bad Wolf]

I've installed lots of different versions and have never had a license issue, But I always reinstall right over the previous versions, and have never re-copied the license file.

I think the issue revolves around the initial license lookup during installation. When you do a clean install the directory hasn't been created yet, therefore there is no way to put the license file in a folder which doesn't exist yet (unless you create C:\UCCNC first, or create a license file lookup option during the install process). Therefore if you launch UCCNC.exe at the end of the install process it won't find the license file, and will need to look for it after a reboot.

The software also checks for the license key every time, instead of just the once at install time. So this adds additional unnecessary complexity. The license text file is decrypted every single time, and compared against the statically (or dynamically) created key inside the software. All you need is a glitch in the reading of the file for it not to create the right match and throw an error.

[OlfCNC]

Why would be there a "glitch" in the file reading process? If computers were to have glitches like that then you could not safely CNC-machine with them, because then what would guarantee that reading your g-code files will not glitch?!

[Bad Wolf]

Why would be there a "glitch" in the file reading process? If computers were to have glitches like that then you could not safely CNC-machine with them, because then what would guarantee that reading your g-code files will not glitch?!

Same reason any file glitches, numerous reasons... they are sitting on a buggy OS, which has dodgy patch upon dodgy patch. A HDD that misses a beat. An underlying bit of software that doesn't perform the algorithm check properly. There could be a dozen reasons for a algorithm check to glitch.

Have you not ever opened a document or an image and it not open properly, or take a ridiculously long time to open because something hung or glitched, even though it has open perfectly a dozen times before?

Even accidentally opening and closing the license key text file (a miss placed double click) could accidentally corrupt the contents and cause it not to be decrypted properly. Windows can auto save when you don't want it to, and often add null characters into the format (depending on what it is opened with).

A space or null not intended to be there could easily stop the string being read in properly resulting in it not being translated into a match. Then you have Windows just being Windows.

Once a file is open like a G-Code text file, the chances of it being misread is highly unlikely unless there is a problem in the program code itself like parsing in the data wrong, or the file is being read over a network and loses connection. Other than that very little chance.

[OlfCNC]

Oh so you have your license key on a network?
No, I do not remember a single case when I had a corrupted document or image load like that. If the file was corrupted then it was premanently corrupted, the file damaged, I've never seen a document to once load BAD and the next time load OK.

[Bad Wolf]

Oh so you have your license key on a network?
No, I do not remember a single case when I had a corrupted document or image load like that. If the file was corrupted then it was premanently corrupted, the file damaged, I've never seen a document to once load BAD and the next time load OK.

No I always copy mine to the UCCNC folder.
Hmm so your never had something take longer to read than it should or fail like a CD or DVD, then it read the next time, or never had something not read right like on bad hard drive?
I wish I could say I had never lost a file to corruption, or just not able to be read it again.

[OlfCNC]

As I said, I of course had file reading problem, but I've never seen a file once read bad and the next time reads OK. If it reads bad then it is corrupted and is always read bad afterwards.
You suggested that the file read badly and afterwards it reads OK which I have never seen in my life while working with Windows.

[OlfCNC]

In other words you sad that the file got magically corrected which I don't think can happen.

[ericks]

In my case it was most likely me that did something wrong....never been great with computers

[Bad Wolf]

In other words you sad that the file got magically corrected which I don't think can happen.

Have you never open a document and it be blank, closed it and reopen for it to open fine, not corrupted but not read?
A document doesn't need to be full blown corrupted for it to not read data in properly. Only needs the slightest thing to go wrong anywhere along the path from the HDD to the software for it to go wrong.

[Bad Wolf]

In my case it was most likely me that did something wrong....never been great with computers

I've been in IT for 20 years and writing programs for just as long. As much as we would like to think it is always the end users fault, there are sometimes unknown forces at work which are not easily explained. The problem is software is written by people who and often under time pressure. And you have software sitting on top of software on top of software on top of software. All you need is a mistake on any of the underlying levels for something to go pear shape.

I do my best to make my applications error proof, but it is virtually impossible regardless of the amount of time you throw at it. And you're writing that program with another program which has it's own issues. Sitting on an OS with it's own problems. Microsoft don't just write an OS and leave it they constantly publish updates to correct previous mistakes, it's the nature of the beast.

Just because something doesn't work exactly as expected that doesn't mean that problem is caused by the person writing the program you are using, but it is likely to be caused by someone who has written a program somewhere along the lines that the program calls, even if it was someone who failed to write the code properly that dealt with a low power voltage situation.

[ericks]

I've been in IT for 20 years and writing programs for just as long. As much as we would like to think it is always the end users fault, there are sometimes unknown forces at work which are not easily explained. The problem is software is written by people who and often under time pressure. And you have software sitting on top of software on top of software on top of software. All you need is a mistake on any of the underlying levels for something to go pear shape.

I do my best to make my applications error proof, but it is virtually impossible regardless of the amount of time you throw at it. And you're writing that program with another program which has it's own issues. Sitting on an OS with it's own problems. Microsoft don't just write an OS and leave it they constantly publish updates to correct previous mistakes, it's the nature of the beast.

Just because something doesn't work exactly as expected that doesn't mean that problem is caused by the person writing the program you are using, but it is likely to be caused by someone who has written a program somewhere along the lines that the program calls, even if it was someone who failed to write the code properly that dealt with a low power voltage situation.

I also do a bit of programming on and off but it's just microcontroller stuff....with that there is also risk of code "faults'. After many years of doing this i am no expert but i usually get satisfactory results. Our machines here at work have various plc programming issues, but due to the complexity of them we just work around it