Recurring ''Trial Account ...to expire...'' message even after removing 1 month ago

[kokobeef]

Good Day,

I use Vendor Licensing on NinjaTrader to manage the users of our NinjaTrader add-on. On registered users with valid Machine IDs I've seen instances where I remove a Machine ID (where the activated/official Machine ID registered on our App also appears different from the trial acct Machine ID) from the trial account list on vendor licensing, only to receive a message from the same user a month later that they are receiving the same ''trial account ...expiring...'' message with the SAME Machine ID on it. When I check vendor licensing, the Machine ID was apparently re-registered as a trial acct 1-2 days AFTER I deleted it (again, the trial acct MID shown is different from the MID registered in our App) ? What causes this re-activation/re-registration? Thanks in advance for your insight on this.

[NinjaTrader_ChristopherD]

Hello kokobeef,

Thank you for your post.

This is likely caused by Windows updates resetting clients' machine IDs. If the clients still had a free trial installed and then opened NinjaTrader, it would initiate another free trial period for the new machine ID.

[kokobeef]

Thanks ChristopherD! what if I uninstall Ninjatrader, then download Ninjatrader using the direct download link (where you need to put in the users License key) and install that?

[NinjaTrader_ChristopherD]

Hello kokobeef,

Uninstalling/reinstalling NinjaTrader will not affect client's machine ID or vendor licensing.

[kokobeef]

Hello kokobeef,

Thank you for your post.

This is likely caused by Windows updates resetting clients' machine IDs. If the clients still had a free trial installed and then opened NinjaTrader, it would initiate another free trial period for the new machine ID.

Sorry about the late reply. What the best way to check if the installed NT is a Free Trial ? Will downloading NT from the direct download link (https://ninjatrader.com/PlatformDirect) and using/placing his Fully paid license key, then installing it, ensure that the NT will now be a FULL version and hence prevent these messages from coming back ?

[NinjaTrader_ChristopherD]

Hello kokobeef,

There is no underlying software difference between a free version of NinjaTrader and a paid version of the platform. The only difference is the client's license key.

The "free trial" that I mentioned in my previous post was referring to free trial of a third-party indicator or strategy. Third-party indicators are licensed to a client's machine ID, not their NinjaTrader license key. Windows updates can reset client's the machine ID, which is used to license third-party indicators. If the client still has a free trial of a third-party indicator installed within NinjaTrader and their machine ID is reset, this will generate a new trial for that third-party indicator.

[kokobeef]

Hello again,

Sorry to bring up this thread again,

Since reporting that we have 1 user of our NT add on who is having an issue with persistent ''Trial account...expiring'' messages every month, we have now total 5 different users running into the same issue. (first reported while using NT 8.0.18 and now on 8.0.19)

This is what happens:

- new member subscribes to our NT add on, and instructed NOT to install our add on until their computer Machine ID is activated/registered.
- new member installs NT (but some users already has NT installed)
- new member submits their computer Machine ID (generated using the Control Center/Help/3rd pty licensing)
- we register the new members Machine ID using Vendor Licensing
- we also check if there is a trial account listed (by doing a search using just the Machine ID, not including the ''user defined ID''), and if found we remove it.
- user installs our add on
- then, after 1 month new user will get a ''trial account ...expiring'' pop up/message when launching NT and report it to us.
- we check the new menbers Machine ID and its the SAME, no change
- we check Vendor Licensing, and search using the SAME Machine ID (not including the ''user defined ID'') and we find it listed on Trial Accounts, again. And when we check the date when the trial account was created, it shows it was created a day after we removed the same Machine ID from the trial account list (which is a month ago)
- we remove the SAME machine ID from the trial account list
- we send apology email to the new user
- one month later the member will get another ''trial account...expiring'' message.. and so on...

Members who reported this are on Win10 computers, each using different anti-virus systems (but only one AV system installed on each). They did not uninstall and reinstall NT or our Add on at any time.

Any ideas on what might be causing this? Thanks in advance!

[NinjaTrader_ChristopherD]

Hello kokobeef,

Please check within the NinjaTrader vendor licensing window to ensure that the clients' machine ID has not generated a free trial. If a free trial product exists, you will need to remove this product and then create a regular product for the clients' machine ID.

[kokobeef]

Christopher D.

Please check the series of events I outlined:

This is what happens:

- new member subscribes to our NT add on, and instructed NOT to install our add on until their computer Machine ID is activated/registered.
- new member installs NT (but some users already has NT installed)
- new member submits their computer Machine ID (generated using the Control Center/Help/3rd pty licensing)
- we register the new members Machine ID using Vendor Licensing
- we also check if there is a trial account listed (by doing a search using just the Machine ID, not including the ''user defined ID''), and if found we remove it.
- user installs our add on
- then, after 1 month new user will get a ''trial account ...expiring'' pop up/message when launching NT and report it to us.
- we check the new members Machine ID and its the SAME, no change
- we check Vendor Licensing, and search using the SAME Machine ID (not including the ''user defined ID'') and we find it listed on Trial Accounts, again. And when we check the date when the trial account was created, it shows it was created a day after we removed the same Machine ID from the trial account list (which is a month ago)
- we remove the SAME machine ID from the trial account list
- we send apology email to the new user
- one month later the member will get another ''trial account...expiring'' message.. and so on...


In short, We do check for the SAME machine ID and remove it from the Trial Account list (using Vendor Licensing) every time. BUT, the same ''Trial acct ...expiring'' message pops up a month after, with NO change in the users Machine ID.

[NinjaTrader_ChristopherD]

Hello kokobeef,

If you have free trial days defined on your product, then it will generate a free trial when a new client installs the NinjaScript file. If this occurs, you will need to remove the free trial within the Vendor Licensing window and create a regular product for this client. If this does not resolve the behavior, then please send an email to vendorsupport[AT]ninjatrader[DOT]com so I can troubleshoot this further.

If you no longer want to offer a free trial period for your products, then you can edit the product within the Vendor Licensing window to set the free trial days to 0.

[eDanny]

I don't believe you should ever reset the free trial for a given machine ID. It probably starts a new trial period for all matching machine ID's under that product. The documentation says a trial is available only once and if a machine ID has already used the free trial you must instead create a temporary period using the customer created ID.

[kokobeef]

Ok thanks! I'll email you at the address you specified.