OOPS! How to Change ATI 2011 Serial Number w/o Remove and Reinstall?
Last year when I purchased my upgrade to ATI 2010, I also purchased upgrade protection ... and apparently promptly forgot about it. Two days ago, I purchased an upgrade to ATI 2011. I promptly upgraded my ATI installation and registered the serial number. All was well.
Today, however, I received an email from Acronis reminding me I'm entitled to a free upgrade to ATI 2011, as I purchased upgrade protection last year. So ... I emailed customer service and asked for a refund of $29.99. They're in the process of processing my refund, but they've asked that I completely uninstall ATI 2011 (with the paid for & registered serial number) and reinstall using the serial number I received with my free upgrade.
Yes, I can export my settings, uninstall, reinstall and import my backed up settings. But ... surely there must be a way to simply change the serial number without going through all those gyrations?
Can anyone help please?
TIA!
The simple way would be for Acronis to just let you keep your existing serial number. Why can't they just deactivate the new key instead?
Personally, I think unnecessary uninstalls/reinstalls of software is just asking for problems
**** end of MudCrab's comments ****
For some reason, the "[/quote]" is getting ignored in your response.
Yes, I would prefer to do it that way, but unfortunately customer service seems to want to keep the respective order and serial numbers matched as they were on the original orders.
Plenty of other software allows the user to change the serial number/install key or whatever they call it. It would be nice if Acronis' software had this feature. At the same time, it's probably possible to modify or delete a few registry keys to make my installed copy of ATI2011 revert to "trial mode." Then I should be able to enter the new serial number they want me to use.
That said, both serial numbers are registered now, but my installed ATI 2011 is installed using the first serial number (that matches the order in the process of being refunded). With the hopes of avoiding a potential mess, I'm going to do nothing until I get a solution from Acronis.
Had Acronis gotten their "free upgrade" message out earlier (or if my memory were better in this case), I wouldn't even have this problem. :-(
Thanks for your response, MudCrab.
I sent you a PM.
I have the same problem. Why not post the response publically??
Kevin Layer,
There were actually several problems involved here. It would be more helpful if you posted your problem specifically so we could see if it's really the same. I'm guessing that you just want to change the serial number for TI without having to uninstall and reinstall.
The solution was not posted here because it contained information that was private. In addition, the complete solution was not provided by me. It was a combination of my help and Acronis Support.
Yes, I want to change the serial number without a reinstall.
I asked the question of tech support, but they answered a completely different question, as they do 9 times out of 10 when I contact them.
Thanks.
Try clearing the saved serial number data in the registry. TI should revert to trial mode and allow you to to reactivate it with the new key. If the Plus Pack is installed, you may need to uninstall it and reinstall it to get it working again.
In Windows x64, the key is located at: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Acronis\TrueImage
In Windows x86, the key is located at: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Acronis\TrueImage
Clear the data for the standard value.
OK, thanks. What about the Plus Pack? Is there a fix for that, too?
Nevermind, I see your comment about the plus pack now.
I don't see a way to uninstall the Plus Pack. So, I clicked on the uninstall for TIH 2011, hoping to get a dialog to allow me to uninstall just the Plus Pack.... uninstalled everything.
Guess I don't need the hack for Plus Pack now. :(
Hello all,
Thank you for your posts and your kind help Mudcrab.
Kevin, just in case, the Plus Pack can be uninstalled from Windows add/remove programs, however, in that menu it is called Plus Pack and not Acronis Plus Pack. Please check the screenshot for additional information. If you have a lot of programs, the main Acronis program will be on top and the Plus Pack towards the bottom making it difficult to find sometimes. Our Development team is aware of this inconvenience and we will address it in a future update.
Please let me know if you have additional questions.
Thank you.
