Disk Image Restore Caused License Deactivation

[RonHarr]

I recently had to restore my system from a full backup disk image. When complete, Malwarebytes Premium (v3.71) was only operating in "Free" mode and when I tried entering the license key, it behaved as though I had exceeded my installation quota. Has anyone else experienced this problem?

Funnily enough, none of my other licensed programmes seem to interpret an image restore in the same way. (Even more oddly, I have had one episode where deactivation occurred after a restoration from Sleep Mode.)

Ron

[Malwarebytes]

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[Maurice Naggar]

Hi @RonHarr 

I understand the message you are seeing is Maximum activation reached.  

You just need to login to MyAccount  and Deactivate all licenses.
Then do a new Activation with the same Premium Key.

You login to MyAccount with the same Email address as you used at the purchase.
https://support.malwarebytes.com/docs/DOC-1032

[exile360]

Greetings,

If you haven't done so already, please sign up at My.Malwarebytes.com using the same email address you used when you originally purchased Malwarebytes (instructions on signing up can be found in this support article) and then deactivate any inactive devices/installations and that should free it up so that you may activate it on your current device/installation.  You can find more info on how to manage your licenses/devices in this support article and details on how to deactivate a license/device in this support article.

If you still have trouble or it doesn't work for some reason then please contact Malwarebytes Support directly by filling out the form on the bottom of this page and they will assist you via email to get the issue resolved.

Please let us know if there is anything else we might assist you with.

Thanks

[Firefox]

In addition to what others have posted....

Its always a good idea to deactivate your Malwarebytes before doing a system restore to avoid this issue with Malwarebytes.

[exile360]

5 minutes ago, Firefox said:

In addition to what others have posted....

Its always a good idea to deactivate your Malwarebytes before doing a system restore to avoid this issue with Malwarebytes.

This is true.  Malwarebytes synchronizes its config files/data with the actual date/time so when a system restore or reimage occurs that data is put out of sync between the real-time/actual data and the data on disk/in the registry resulting in the program discarding them as corrupt and requiring resynchronization (on top of the fact that it obviously counts against your installations; likely a result of the resynchronization).

[RonHarr]

Thanks to all who responded for your helpful and instructive comments. I will certainly remember them next time an emergency repair is needed. I do think, however, that there ought to be some way of linking the programme to the specific machine (as is done by my antivirus, and numerous other licensed software). 

Ron