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I am currently working on a software solution written in C# .NET 4.5. The software uses a licensing system that is based on hardware IDs (for example MAC address or CPU ID). One user now reported that he has issues with the licensing when using the software with Microsoft App-V. He mentioned that every time a new User wants to use the software the application complains that the license is not valid (due to a change in the hardware). This also happens if a previously registered user uses the Software on a different client. My question now is, when running an application via App-V, what does the following snipped of code return, the Mac address of the client or of the server where to application is actually running. If the first is true, is there a way to get the same information from the server too, using some functionality in .NET?

private static string getMAC() {
    ManagementClass oMClass = new ManagementClass("Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration");
    ManagementObjectCollection MOCol = oMClass.GetInstances();

    string mac = "";
    foreach (ManagementObject MO in MOCol) {
       if (MO != null) {
          if (MO["MacAddress"] != null) {
             mac = MO["MacAddress"].ToString().Replace(":", "");

             if (mac != string.Empty) {
                break;
             }             
        }
    }

    return mac;
}
Oliver Bernhardt
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  • I realize this is an old question, but I just wanted to clarify something about how App-V works: the application is only run on a "server" at the first stage of preparation for App-V, called sequencing. This is how an IT admin can generate packages that clients can run with App-V. However, from the moment the application is deployed to a client machine, all the code executes locally on that machine. – peter Apr 30 '15 at 23:11

1 Answers1

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Next-to-last bullet in the Limitations section in App-V's Wikipedia article fits your problem exactly:

  • Licensing Policies: Applications with licensing enforcement tied to the machine, e.g. the license is tied to the system’s MAC address or harddisk serial number. This type of application should not be sequenced if the activation can not be done by the user at the first launch of sequenced application, manually or by script.

You'll need to tell your customer that you cannot support App-V if you verify the license on each individual run of the app instead of just once at app install time. If that means that you'll lose a valuable customer then quickly get rid of this scheme, a business decision we cannot make for you.

Peter O.
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Hans Passant
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  • So the software is registered on first start-up. But on every sequential start-up the software checks whether the license file has not been tampered with (or copied to a new computer) and still matches the machine initially registered. I feared that would be the final answer... I guess I had just a little bit of hope left that there would be an easy fix to that problem. Thank you very much. – Oliver Bernhardt Oct 31 '14 at 12:46