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Topic starter
I renewed my subscription with Softraid and for reasons unknown when I entered the serial number to activate I kept getting the message "Softraid License Activation Error. I went back and forth with tech support over several days to resolve the issue. As hard as they tried they did not succeed. So despite having a registered Software application on my Mac I am unable to activate it. We tried completely uninstalling. Running First Aid from Disk Utility. I sent tech support a System Report. Everything they suggested failed to work. The last thing tech support sent me was this quote, "Thank you for your email. I reviewed the new system report. SoftRAID was not deleted and I came across many instances of applications and software that are duplicated or quadrupled on your system. There may be some issues with permissions on the Mac. Because this is beyond our scope of support. We recommend contacting a local certified Apple technician. They may be able to assist on cleaning up the system. What I will do on my end is extend the new license expiration to an additional month as a courtesy."
Keep in mind I have used Softraid for several years with no problems at all. Until now.
I am at a total loss as what to do here. I am paying for software that is not activated and can't be. Any help with this would be most appreciated.
Posted : 09/04/2025 10:11 am
Sorry for this, that is an inaccurate response.
There is possibly a problem with your system, however. Or some anti malware or IT management app, that is blocking the network.
I would first try:
use your phone as a hot spot. Connect to it and try to activate. Does that work? (tests the theory that the SoftRAID Monitor cannot access the network.)
If that does not work, unplug ethernet, disable wifi, then try to activate. use the "off line activation process" that will guide you through.
Posted : 09/04/2025 5:07 pm
Topic starter
Sorry for this, that is an inaccurate response.
There is possibly a problem with your system, however. Or some anti malware or IT management app, that is blocking the network.I would first try:
use your phone as a hot spot. Connect to it and try to activate. Does that work? (tests the theory that the SoftRAID Monitor cannot access the network.)If that does not work, unplug ethernet, disable wifi, then try to activate. use the "off line activation process" that will guide you through.
I followed the steps you posted above. The "use your phone as a hotspot" activation attempt did not work. Then I unplugged the ethernet, disabled wifi like you requested. Then I tried to active but got the window that always pops up in this situation. At that point you stated I should "use the offline activation process" that will guide me through. I did not see that process. I do not know how to initiate that "offline activation" process.
I am very grateful for your assistance. If I you could please let me know what steps to take to activate offline I would be thrilled.
Thank you very much.
Posted : 10/04/2025 10:53 am
When yoi disable wifi and ethernet, try quitting SoftRAID and relaunching, then activate. You should get a dialog box about offline activation. Are you seeing that?
Posted : 10/04/2025 10:59 am
Topic starter
When yoi disable wifi and ethernet, try quitting SoftRAID and relaunching, then activate. You should get a dialog box about offline activation. Are you seeing that?
No. I enter the activation number and I get the attached screen capture.
Posted : 10/04/2025 11:28 am
There must still be some network access. If you disable wifi and disconnect the ethernet cable, and enter your license, you will get a dialog that starts with "Activate Serial Number Offline". It has help text and a link to get you activating off line. That is what you should be seeing, so perhaps there is some network access still on that computer?
Posted : 10/04/2025 1:04 pm
Topic starter
There must still be some network access. If you disable wifi and disconnect the ethernet cable, and enter your license, you will get a dialog that starts with "Activate Serial Number Offline". It has help text and a link to get you activating off line. That is what you should be seeing, so perhaps there is some network access still on that computer?
I 100% guarantee there is no network access. I pulled out the ethernet cord, turned off wifi. Double checked everything. Zero network connection. I pasted in the serial number and no "help text and link to get me activated off line" appears anywhere.
Posted : 10/04/2025 1:46 pm
There is a bug somewhere, either in your OS, or SoftRAID. Can you post a support file saved while network was disabled. I tested this today to be sure it works as intended. thanks!
Posted : 10/04/2025 7:00 pm
Topic starter
Posting support file now.There is a bug somewhere, either in your OS, or SoftRAID. Can you post a support file saved while network was disabled. I tested this today to be sure it works as intended. thanks!
Posted : 10/04/2025 7:24 pm
Lets try this next.
Keep wifi/eithernet off.
"uninstall SoftRAID" from utilities menu.
restart.
Launch SoftRAID
install and try to activate.
what happens?
Posted : 10/04/2025 11:39 pm
Topic starter
Lets try this next.
Keep wifi/eithernet off.
"uninstall SoftRAID" from utilities menu.
restart.
Launch SoftRAID
install and try to activate.
what happens?
I just followed your instructions above. I get the same error message. No window pops up to register off line. I will attach the error message and the way the Softraid menu appears when I click it. Activate is greyed out.
Posted : 10/04/2025 11:55 pm
Topic starter
@softraid-support One thing I forgot to add to my post above was in the Applications window under "DATE MODIFIED" it says April 1, 2025 even though I just downloaded it today (April 11) after installing it as you said I should do.
Posted : 11/04/2025 12:14 am
Note: you did not need to re-download the app.
It appears the SoftRAID mechanism that checks for license server thinks the network is still active somehow. We carefully designed this to support off line systems, particularly with video companies, and others, that have systems that cannot be connected to the internet. There are no known bugs in that check. (this could indicate one, I have no idea at this point.)
Just to confirm that you physically disconnected the ethernet cable from the computer, correct? (not for example, the wall)
In trial mode, which you are now, you have 100% access to all features. So outside of this being very annoying, everything will be working as Premium for you.
This post was modified 1 year ago by SoftRAID Support
Posted : 11/04/2025 3:24 am
Topic starter
@softraid-support Yes. I physically pulled the Ethernet cord out of the back of the Mac. The wifi was off. Absolutely zero connection to the internet. How should I proceed from this point. I will be buying a third Thunderbay unit probably next month that’s close to $3000 dollars and not having Softraid activated is giving me a very uneasy feeling. As far as I can tell there are no other software options on the market to do raid 5 on my Mac. Besides the fact that I love Softraid and have had it for I believe 10 years. Will it work in trial mode permanently? Here is something interesting. The first day it say trial mode 30 days left. The second day it says 29 days left. Then 28, 27 as it counts down. When I uninstall it and then reinstall it goes back to saying 30 days left on trial. That seems odd.
Posted : 11/04/2025 9:21 am
@nomatterhowgood
Thanks for confirming that. I had to have this confirmation in order to escalate this.
We have many thousands of users, and this is only the second such case. Let me see if I can schedule some engineering time later today for some brainstorming .....
If you don't mind, do a second system install. It does not affect anything, only takes up about 30GB of space, is easy to create, and I bet it works as far as licensing SoftRAID. Maybe you can get to this at the end of the day, as this takes an hour, probably...
Run Disk Utility
Click on your internal startup drive
Click + volume
Name/save your volume
Shut down
Startup in recovery mode (hold the power button)
Select Options
Select "reinstall MacOS"
Point the installer to your new volume, and install
Use the same Admin name.
Do NOT migrate data, etc. when done.
install SoftRAID.
try to activate.
(you can do this with an external drive also, but the internal is so much faster)
Posted : 11/04/2025 10:15 am
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