Get MAC Address & License Activation / Encryption A97

[Kahuna]

Hi Folks

I need to build an License activation module for my App. This module will
follow the structure:
=========================
1.Get MAC Address of Machine (if more than 1 MAC then take lowest).

2. Encrypt the MAC Address and present to user as a PC Fingerprint Code No.
_
(so user can move app to new machine if they can move the Ethernet
Card too).

3. Have user mail / Web link that Fingerprint to Company - and Company
return an Activation Code
(The Activation code will represent an encrypted _
string including the MAC Address and Trial Period of App if any).

4. User inputs String (which is stored in secure DB) and activates App.

5. String is compared to MAC Address and PC Date regularly to ensure App not
moved.
=========================
Or at least that's the plan. The module will run on W98 up and some machines
will not have NetBios loaded. I'd appreciate any pointers to sites /
documents or comments regarding:

a. Determining the MAC Address or the HD Drive ID
(BTW I have seen the use of IPCONFIG to create a _
txt file containing the MAC Address, and read it from there. _
This seems pretty untidy to me though! All other methods either
require _
NetBios be installed or a Lib that's available only on W2k and up.)

b. Encryption Protocols available for Access & VBA

c. Should the string be held in the Registry rather than a database? _
(and if so, is admin account access necessary to 'SaveSetting' a reg
setting from Access?)

d. Code or Libraries that would allow this functionality in A97 at a
sensible price.

I have reviewed several products that suggest they do something similar but
in each case they dont fit the bill! One I discovered that looked promising
was SerialShield from Ionworx, right price but they cant confirm it works in
A97 (may try their trial though).

Prefer to grow my own version if its possible, without getting into the
realms of cryptography!


Cheers

 

[Douglas J Steele]

Randy Birch has code to retrieve the MAC address(es) at
http://vbnet.mvps.org/code/network/netbiosenumlana.htm (Obligatory warning:
Randy's site is aimed at VB programmers. Because there are significant
differences in the Forms model between Access and VB, many of his examples
won't port directly to Access. This is one of those: he's using the .AddItem
method to add the results to the listbox, and that won't work in Access.
Hopefully, though, you can see how to get the results you need)

Afraid I have no comments on any of your remaining questions.

 

[Kahuna]

Thanks Doug - great stuff as ever - but afraid that one uses NetBIOS and I
need to steer clear of that since many users simply wont have it installed.

Cheers

 

[Douglas J. Steele]

Did you check the "Related:" links?
http://vbnet.mvps.org/code/network/macaddressremote.htm may work for you.

 

['69 Camaro]

Hi, Kahuna.

5. String is compared to MAC Address and PC Date regularly to ensure App
not moved.
=========================
Or at least that's the plan.

And you have a plan for cloned MAC addresses, too? It's possible for all
the other workstations in the organization to use the license authorized to
only one workstation. Granted, identical MAC address on multiple computers
in a network won't work, but a competent network administrator could set up
multiple subnets, and each subnet could have one computer with this MAC
address. Each non-networked computer could also use this MAC address with
impunity.

Without a plan to consider cloned MAC addresses, #5 could be applied on
multiple computers and all of them could come to the same "App has not
moved" conclusion when, in fact, it did.

HTH.

Gunny

See http://www.QBuilt.com for all your database needs.
See http://www.Access.QBuilt.com for Microsoft Access tips.

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Beware to those who use munged addresses: known newsgroup E-mail harvesters
for spammers are (e-mail address removed) and (e-mail address removed)

 

[Kahuna]

Thanks Camaro - had,nt thought of that. Though was hoping to collect the HD
ID also (where available) and use a combination.

Might have to go down the road of using a proprietary solution for this -
though none I have seen comes close to the data collection I wanted.

Cheers

 

[Kahuna]

Yep checked that one through too thanks Doug.

Cheers