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Bootable Media unusable - says this is a trial version

Thread needs solution

Subject says it all.

I'm pretty sure I recreated my bootable media after I registered my ATI Home 2012 installation (is this necessary?>) in any case when I boot of the bootable media everything's fine until I press on the Proceed button when it refuses saying that this is a trial version of the s/w?

What do I need to do so that the bootable media works?

Note: In this case the bootable media was created on another machine (but both machines were registered with the same 3-pack license) but I've seen the same problem used on the same machine.

How does this checking work?
What "should" I be able to do with a licensed "bootable media"?

Thanks in advance,
Mike.

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Just one extra info: I'm using the US version of the software but have a "French 3-pack license".
Could that be a problem?
Thankfully the desktop version has no problem with this (I have 2 PCs in US and 1 in French).

Often the serial numbers for non English language versions are different to the English language ones, so this may well be where your problem lies, though in the past the software doesn't accept the serial number that isn't aimed at that build.

If you have registered your serial numbers not only will you be able to download the 2012 installer file for all builds there are, you will also be able to download an ISO version of the full recovery CD which can then be burnt to CD with the appropriate software.

So long as the 2012 doesn't have the word trial in your account you are good to go.

If you need to change your serial numbers from French to English versions you should either contact sales (after signing into your account and then selecting serial number problems) or contact one of the Acronis Moderators here.

Hi, thanks for your comments.

So as my 2012 is registered I downloaded the latest build 6131, and I wrote the build6131 (French) iso to a USB key (using netbootin).

Everything goes fine as usual until I press the "Proceed" button when it complains that this is a trial version of Acronis.

So what gives?
How does the live media determine that this is a licensed version or not?

It would really help to understand that.

I was amazed when Acronis added license checking into the bootable media, and I assumed they had some way of writing to the "battery backed BIOS memory" where the license key would be stored. Is this the case? I can't see any other way unless the registration key is included in the iso itself, in which case I'd have to recreate the iso myself ... from the French version, hoping that it uses only the license key and not the motherboard serial number aswell ...

I could try again cutting a CD, but I think this would be a waste of time.
If someone can explain why my attempts are failing this could be worth trying.

Anyone have an explanation of how license key enforcement is implemented on the bootable media?

Thx in advance.

If the bootable media is made from within True Image using Media Builder then I can understand how the recovery CD could be a trial version, but from the downloaded ISO it could only be - from a trial version or Acronis have mistakenly attached the trial ISO tor the full version.

The entries in your account don't have a trial entry as shown below? I'll download my ISO this afternoon and see what mine does.

Attachment Size
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No, my licenses are all registered:
Acronis True Image Home 2012 Family Pack (French) 1 license(s)
Acronis True Image 10.0 Home Upgrade (English) 1 license(s)
Acronis True Image 7.0 Upgrade (English) 1 license(s)

Maybe it's the "French" thing ... mmm that's annoying.

As the only machine with a French installation is my girlfriends, I'll try at some point creating an iso and seeing if I can use it on her machine, and then on the other "English" machines of the "Family Pack".
Life was so simple with Acronis 10 !

In the meantime I did the usual thing of taking my disk out, putting it in a USB drive and backing up from another machine under Windows ...

Unfortunately after putting the disk back in the original machine, and booting back to Win7 I can't restore anything as Acronis keeps blocking when I select the backup image to restore !
This was happening with the initial 2012 release, and now with the new 6136 build.

Hohum ...
I'll have to take the disk out again ... to restore my linux partition ...

Did you ever get a straight answer on the "This is a trial version" problem? I just ran into the same thing with both the pre-made ISO & program made ISO's. Of course I am using extracted contents to boot via USB multi-boot flash drive using syslinux vs. burning CD but all the guides I read say to do so since direct booting the .iso file does not work.

Can we get a straight answer from someone as to how the DRM works and/or it's just an issue that bootable media is only good for restores? Is there I license file I can copy to the ramdisk.dat to make this work as advertised?

Of course Acronis expects me to pay blood money to get an answer even though I never used any support time before all to deal with an obvious case of DRM fracking the customer yet again. I am well beyond not recommending Acronis to customers, you are not the company I initial bought from in 2004!

Joshua,

I understand your first sentence, but after that you've lost me.

Are you using the English or another language version of True Image?

I've just checked my English language version both the downloadable ISO and from Media Builder and don't have your problem. I understand it is possible for the MediaBuilder version to revert to trial mode, but can't see how this would apply to the ISO version in your Account.

I don't understand what you mean about booting ISO's, if you have installed GRUB4DOS or similar onto your USB stick, you cna then boot the ISO's, that is the way I boot my recovery environment.

As for DRM you've now confused me entirely.

Already solved Colin, let me clarify:

1. no, english version.

2. If you follow the extract ISO process for booting with PXELINUX or SYSLINUX something is missing (serial key AKA DRM) from the resulting kernel & initrd dat files leaving you in trial mode.

3. Grub4DOS is not my ISO boot method of choice, SYSLINUX w/ memdisk is and it out right failed to boot the ISO. After much searching I found the answer was you need both iso & raw options to boot the TIH2010 ISO where many ISO boot fine w/o raw.

Point being that Acronis is not real helpful about supplying this info, nor disseminating user found solutions to problems caused entirely by Digital Rights Managment which is the license key. They are more concerned with getting paid & telling us "tough" when things don't work.