RailMaster activation.

[mrsmiffffy]

Hi

I am new to model railways, just planning my first setup. I opted to go for the eLink and RailMaster kit. There doesn't seem to be much for sale but managed to buy one from Ebay, only to find that when trying to activate the software, I find its not transferable. Is there any way out of this for me, or do I have to buy RailMaster new.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Pete

[96RAF]

Welcome to the forum. You are not the first and likely not the last to be caught by the pre-activated licence scenario. I would take your case back to eBay and look towards a full refund. It is clear in the licence conditions that it is not transferable so unless the vendor made this crystal clear then they are at fault.

If you can negotiate keeping the eLink in addition to getting a refund, then you can simply buy the licence from within RM.

Second hand eLinks can also be found very cheap on account of the licence restriction.

[Chrissaf]

Last time I checked, buying the complete RailMaster / eLink bundle from Hornby [in stock when checked day before yesterday] is about £110

Keeping / sourcing a second hand eLink controller interface and buying just the RM software on its own as a within RM online purchase is about £80 with the purchase price going to HRMS, not Hornby.

Therefore in my view it is worth the additional £30 to get a brand new eLink controller interface which of course will have a 12 month Warranty.

As you have found out, the RM Activation Key is not transferable from one previous owner to a new one. This key validity is extremely robustly policed by HRMS [the software company who own and support RM and are not part of Hornby Hobbies] and there is no workaround for this HRMS key policing.

If you should buy the eLink & RM bundle from Hornby, then I advise that you only use the Key provided on the RM CD disk. The version on the CD will be out of date. Download the very latest version from this website [see sticky post at top of RM forum]. At the time of writing, the very latest version is 1.74.5

Right click the downloaded installer file and choose "Run as administrator" when installing RM. Before running the installer [if not done already], connect the eLink controller and let Windows find and install the driver. The driver included on the CD is a legacy driver for Winows Vista & XP only. Windows 7, 8, 10 & 11 uses a Microsoft Windows driver download and installed from the MS servers.

Once the correct driver is showing in Windows Device Manager, leave the eLink connected and powered up when running the RM installer. For guidance on installing the Windows driver see the first part of FAQ1 located in the "RailMaster FAQ Index" sticky thread.

Note that Windows report the RM installer download as being "untrusted", this is a 'false positive' trigger because the Windows Security Certificate has expired. The download from the links on this forum website are perfectly safe.

This is a very long reply. Please reply using the "Reply Text Box" at the bottom of the page and ignore the within post blue button. Thank you for your cooperation.

[mrsmiffffy]

Thanks for the replies, I feel very foolish for falling into this trap. I have been trying to buy a new eLink but with no joy. Hattons told me that they think it may have been discontinued, or maybe they meant that none are being produced at the moment. I will take your advice and get back in touch with Ebay and see if they can sort it out. Once again thanks for the advice. I will let you know how it turns out.

Pete

[Fishmanoz]

Hi mrsmiffffy, you’ve just done what you were asked not to do and used the blue button. All you’ve achieved is reposting Chris’s reply. A mod will soon come along and delete it, or you could do so yourself.

Please use the text box and green button at the bottom of the page.

Chris has given you a comprehensive reply. The short answer to your question is you will have to buy your own copy of RM which you can do from within the program. You won’t have to uninstall what you’ve already installed but do make sure you have the latest version by installing it over the top of what you have.

PS. You posted a real reply while I was typing.

[Chrissaf]

Pete [mrsmifffy]

My opening paragraph stated that the eLink RM bundle is in stock and available from the Hornby online shop. Should you have difficulty finding it, here is a direct link.

https://uk.hornby.com/products/elink-railmaster-software-r8312

The product has recently been out of stock, i.e. just sold out not discontinued, hence the lack of stocks with retailers such as Hattons. But has recently come back into stock with Hornby direct.

[mrsmiffffy]

Hi Chris

Thanks for the help. I have returned the second hand one for a full refund and have just ordered a new one from Hornby.