[geeks] Adobe's Software Activation

[Michael-John Turner]

On Tue, Feb 22, 2005 at 06:20:15PM +0000, Lionel Peterson wrote:
> > From: Michael-John Turner <mj at turner.org.za>
> > Hmm... My guess is that they generate some form of unique 'machine ID'
> > based in part on MAC ID, HD firmware serial, etc. A low level format 
> > could possbily change the HD serial and make the Adobe software think 
> > it's a different machine?
> 
> I thought so too, but where would the "activation key" be after a system
> restore? It must be squirreling the key somewhere on the HD for retrieval
> after a system rebuild (without low-level format) - I can't imagine they
> have you save the key to a file/floppy...

My understanding is that when you activate, the vendor (Adobe, MS, etc)
stores your 'machine ID', your product serial number and the fact that
you've activated. When you rebuild your system and reinstall your app, 
you enter your serial number, the app calls home, sees that it's a
reinstall on a machine with the same machine ID and activates. This is why
reinstalls on the same hardware work - the machine ID algorithm results in
the same ID.

Urgh, and yes, I've had to activate a few Microsoft products on my
wife's machine - what a lame system.

-mj
-- 
Michael-John Turner | http://mj.turner.org.za/
mj at turner.org.za    | Open Source in WC ZA - http://www.clug.org.za/