Railmaster install on new computer...problem

[Bruce Foster]

Hi,

This is the first time I've posted anything on the forum.

Apart from Hornby abandoning Railmaster, which I find bad marketing, I have no complaints. 

However I've tried 4 hours to reinstall Railmaster on another computer without success. 

I used the built in request email to transfer to another computer.

Here's a copy of the reply I received...

.....We found the RailMaster key you specified () however the  you provided did not match the details used to register the program.  We are therefore unable to reset your RailMaster key.  If you obtained your RailMaster pack from somebody second hand, perhaps from Ebay, then you should refer to them.  RailMaster is not transferable and this is stated in the guide, when installing and also when activating....

If you believe that you made a mistake on the key request form then you can try again in a few days however please ensure that the details you enter match those when you activated.....

I find this over the top for a software key.!

I bought the E-Link last year....from Hornby with Railmaster..!

If this is support, then Hornby need to take responsibility for this.

If it cant be resolved with Railmaster, then surely at the time of purchase it's still Hornby's responsibility to sort this or give me a refund?

With Kind Regards 

[Chrissaf]

Hornby do not read this part of the forum ... you are wasting your breath raising your complaint here. If you want to pursue your complaint you will need to take it up directly with Hornby Customer Services [i suggest by phone]. I suspect that they will only refer you back to HRMS [Hornby RailMaster Support] which is where your quoted response originated from.

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Many users successfully transfer the product key from an old to new PC if they follow the guidance in the manual. But to do so, requires your old PC to be in a working bootable state [you haven't given any information on why you are trying to transfer the license i.e has your old PC completely failed and won't boot up].

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Others with failed PC's have eventually got their keys reset. But that does require [as HRMS have advised] that the information you provide on the 'pro-forma' matches exactly the information originally provided at the time of the original key activation. This requirement has been mentioned quite a few times (usually by me) in previous forum posted queries pertaining to the same issue you currently have. It is true that this requirement to 'keep a record' of what you originally submitted is not mentioned in the RailMaster documentation. You could perhaps use that argument with your next round of dialogue with HRMS. As long as you can prove you are the original purchaser from new, then with perseverance you should be able to overcome this hurdle.

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The supported method [when the old PC is working] is documented on pages 131 to 132 of the current RailMaster manual.

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TIP: As a newbie poster on the forum, just be aware that the 'Blue Button with the White Arrow' is not a 'Reply to this post' button. If you want to reply to any of the posts, scroll down and write your reply in the reply text box at the bottom of the page and click the Green 'Reply' button.

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See also – further TIPs on how to get the best user experience from this forum.

https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/tips-on-using-the-forum/

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[Chrissaf]

Bruce ignored my request not to use the blue button and duplicated my original reply in its entirety. I have therefore removed his reply as published, but copied the useful info he posted in it below:

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Bruce wrote:

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I'm pleased to say, I have succeeded in transferring RailMaster to my new Laptop.

 

The original activation data is a file called Activate.dat in the RailMaster folder.

 

RailMaster said try again in a few days because the original data I submitted was incorrect. 

 

They didn't say what part.

 

If anyone gets the same problem try this.

 

When installing on another PC , copy the old original activate.dat file to the new pc.

 

Worked for me.

[Augustus Caesar]

This works every time and the beauty of the process is that it can be done on the same PC after a fresh install but with RM either closed, or, open and running in evaluation mode.

Simply copy the file to the RM folder as stated earlier, open the activation window as normal and tick the small tick box lower left and then the big green tick to the right and there you are.

No more typos and the reg data is always the same so no more misfiring activations when you misspell your address or whatever.

Same detail as above really but with the added info that RM can be open already before you copy the file into place. It also doesn't matter how many times you deactivate the software on one machine it never fails to reactivate. You still, however, need the connection to the web as the .dat file is a container file only.

[Yelrow]

Well, then, there tou have it.. Hornby, have  never abandoned Railmaster. They have, as Chris said, a specialised team, devoted to problem solving, HRMS. Never known them beaten.

[TrainDriverJ]

So can I take it that if we take a back up of the file and keep it safe somewhere, then we can avoid all that faffing around should we experience a malfunction or change computer? 

[Chrissaf]

Put it this way John,

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I have done just that a few minutes ago. Taken a copy of the file on my RailMaster Laptop and stored it on my main desktop tower PC in a folder that is also backed up on an external drive. So I also have a backup of the backup as well. I looked at the content of 'activate.dat' and was rather surprised to find that it is not encrypted and contains raw readable ASCII text. In my case, it contains all the information that I originally inputted into the 'activation screen' such as name, postal address, email address, key code, plus info on where the product was purchased etc.

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It does not however, resolve an issue where the activation is being blocked by the PC anti-virus or other Internet communication issue. Backing up this file, just overcomes the issue of when someone has not remembered what information they originally submitted on the 'activation' page in RailMaster. Once you have copied this file onto the new PC, you still have to go through the online 'activation' process within RM.

[TrainDriverJ]

Okay Chrissaf. Understood. Thanks for the clarification..