[RESOLVED] Store the license key

[anna7]

Hi,

where is the best location to store the license key? Now I store it into registry, but I have seen that is very easy to found and change it.

regards

[Kasracer]

What exactly does the license key do and what are the license restrictions (i.e. 1 license per person, per computer, per cpu, etc?)?

Also, if you're storing it on the client but you want to prevent someone from accessing it... well, that's impossible. The only way to make it not accessable to the user is if it's stored remotely which presents its own challenges.

Tell us what you want to accomplish.

[Hack]

Are you at least encrypting the key if you are storing it locally?

[anna7]

Hi,

I want to use QLM (Quick License Manager) to create and manage licenses keys. But I need to store/retrieve the license key that I will create with QLM but I don't know which is the best location.

My app will has two types of licenses: permanent and limited by time. Normally, first the user download the demo version (limited by time). When the user buys the app, I will send to him the permanent license key. Only he must enter the permanent license key.

1 license for Computer.

Are you at least encrypting the key if you are storing it locally?

Yes, I want to encrypt these data. (I encrypt using SHA256Managed Class)

regards

Edit:

And I'm thinking that I must bound the license with CPU id (for example) because otherwise the user can copy folder's to nº unlimited of computers. But is it very troublesome for the end user?

[Hack]

And I'm thinking that I must bound the license with CPU id (for example) because otherwise the user can copy folder's to nº unlimited of computers. But is it very troublesome for the end user?

Any type of restriction is troublesome for the end user.

However, if you are using a local machine based license key then even if they copy the entire application over to another machine it won't (or, at least shouldn't) run because that machine won't have the key installed.

[anna7]

Hi hack,

but I must say to the end-user that his license key is bounded with his computer?

regards

[Hack]

Well, if you are storing the key in the registry, doesn't it make it that way?

[anna7]

Finally I don't store the key in the registry because is not confidential. I send the key to the user and he must read it. I store the key in the license file.

If the user deletes or modifies the file of the license, the program will not leave him to continue using the program.

I generate license keys based on CPU ID. Every computer will have a different key and it cannot be used in another PC.

Regards

[Jenner]

Cool, that works. I've also had to write software with a hardware ID lock. Start the software after install, it creates a code based on a couple key hardware IDs (motherboard, on-board MAC address and CPU) then instructs you to call our sales with the challenge code. A generator program over here then creates the response code. They type it in, it saves it to a Config.XML file, all is well.

It works well, especially since most of the systems this software is installed on are never networked since they're industrial machines on the shop floor, we have a very limited, specialized customer base, and very special computer hardware is required for the software to operate so 19 times out of 20 we're buying a new machine from Dell and National Instruments and pre-installing everything here.

[Hack]

Finally I don't store the key in the registry because is not confidential. I send the key to the user and he must read it. I store the key in the license file.

If the user deletes or modifies the file of the license, the program will not leave him to continue using the program.

I generate license keys based on CPU ID. Every computer will have a different key and it cannot be used in another PC.

Regards

Well, then it seems as though you have answered you own question, right?