2. SecuROM™ Product Activation: License information - Activation/Revocation

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2.1     What is SecuROM™ Product Activation?
2.2     What is SecuROM™ sending to the Product Activation Server?
2.3     What is SecuROM™ storing on my PC after a successful online activation?
2.4     What happens if I change my hardware (e.g. I bought a new graphics card)?
2.5     What is revoking?
2.6     How can I revoke my application?
2.7     I have formatted my PC without revoking the application before, does that mean I have lost an activation?
2.8     How do I activate my program manually? (aka: I get the error message: 'No proper connection could be
         made with the activation server.')

2.9     How do I revoke a previous game activation? (aka: I get the error message: 'Too many activations on
         different PCs or too many reactivations on the same PC have been performed...')

2.10   I get the error message: 'The activation key was not found in the database', what do I do?
2.11   I get the error message: 'Too many activations on different PCs or too many reactivations on the same PC
         have been performed...', what do I do?

2.12   I have formatted my PC and could not revoke my license, is my activation lost?
2.13   I have changed my hardware without revoking my license before, what can I do?
2.14   How does SecuROM™ interact with the Internet?
2.15   Does SecuROM™ open ports on my PC, so that my PC becomes accessible from the internet or from other networks?
2.16   Can I re-sell a SecuROM™ protected application, or would the limited numbers of activations prevent such a re-sell?
2.17   Does SecuROM™ periodically compare game data with the transmitted license values?
2.18   What is the license information, and why can't it simply be removed from my PC?
2.19   Why can my game only be played in a preset region?
2.20   I have lost my game manual (or the email with the activation code) but I need the serial number for activation?

2.1 What is SecuROM™ Product Activation?

SecuROM™ Product Activation is a solution to authenticating your legitimate application at an online Product Activation Server.
Usually this is only required at first launch of the application.


2.2 What is SecuROM™ sending to the Product Activation Server?

SecuROM™ sends the entered serial number and a hardware ID to the Product Activation Server.
The hardware ID consists of hash values calculated from different hardware components in your PC. This is needed to determine if an activation is being performed from the same or a different PC.

Note: This procedure has been certified to be a trusted procedure by TÜV, evaluated after the strict German data privacy laws.
         Read the full story here.


2.3 What is SecuROM™ storing on my PC after a successful online activation?

SecuROM™ has to store a successful online activation on a PC system so reactivation isn't prompted during subsequent launches.

The data of the online activation (aka. SecuROM™ User Data) is stored on two places on you PC:

    1) In the Windows Registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SecuROM
    2) In the logged in Windows User's APPDATA folder:
        Windows Vista/7:               C:\Users\‹USER›\AppData\Roaming\SecuROM\UserData
        Windows 2000/XP:             C:\Documents and Settings\‹USER›\Application data\SecuROM\UserData
        Windows 98SE/ME:             C:\WINDOWS\Profiles\‹USER›\Applicationdata\SecuROM\UserData


2.4 What happens if I change my hardware (e.g. I bought a new graphics card)?

In most cases, your SecuROM™ protected application should run just fine, as long as you do not change too many hardware components.
SecuROM™ checks offline on every start of the application if the hardware has changed between the stored hardware ID in the SecuROM™ User Data and a recalculation of the current hardware.

There is flexibility (set by the publisher, but defaults to 60%) of allowed hardware changes before a new activation is required.

A re-activation is necessary, after re-formatting a HDD and new Windows setup, as well as after creating a new Windows User account. For software changes, the SecuROM™ User Data are stored on two positions (Windows registry and the user APPDATA folder).

Note: The Product Activation servers differentiate between activations on same and different PCs.

We highly suggest revoking your license before changing the hardware and to re-activate your application afterwards.


2.5 What is revoking?

Revocation (sometimes also called De-Authentication) is the process of giving back a used license to the Product Activation server. The precondition to successful revocation is that the application in question was activated on the PC before and the SecuROM™ User Data are intact.

Example: Your application has a limit of 4 simultaneous activations. After an online activation on the Product Activation server, the application can be used on this PC and three activations are left for this serial number.
In case this active license is revoked, the application cannot be used on this PC any longer (until a new online activation), leaving four activations for this serial number to be used on different PCs.

To find standalone revoke tools for your application, please look in the popular titles section and for EA Games at the EA Support Website.


2.6 How can I revoke my application?

SecuROM™ provides several possibilities to revoke an application, however, it is up to publisher / studio releasing an application which one to provide.
    - Revoke during uninstall: Please consult the publisher's support team if this feature is available.
    - Revoke shortcut: Please consult the publisher's support team if this feature is available.
    - Standalone revoke tool: To find standalone revoke tools for your application please look in the
      popular titles section and for EA Games at the EA Support Website.
    - Command line instructions (for tech persons): Call the applications executable with the parameter "/revoke".


2.7 I have formatted my PC without revoking the application before, does that mean I have lost an activation?

No, you did not lose an activation due to formatting your hard disc.
After formatting your hard disk, the SecuROM™ User Data is deleted as well, thereby requiring online activation again. However, the Product Activation servers recognize that the request is coming from the same PC (with matching hardware ID), meaning you did not lose an activation (the activation limit on different PCs is not changed on the Product Activation servers).


2.8 How do I activate my program manually? (aka: I get the error message: 'No proper connection could be made with the activation server.')

If you are having problems activating your game you can also visit our manual unlock website (https://support.securom.com/PAunlock/?c=1000) to generate an unlock code yourself and activate your game manually.

Note: In case this does not work, please contact your point of purchase (e.g. this is common for online retailers and EA Games).


2.9 How do I revoke a previous game activation? (aka: I get the error message: 'Too many activations on different PCs or too many reactivations on the same PC have been performed...')

You can either use the title specific revokation tool (the program has to support this feature, please consult the software publisher regarding such a tool) or you can also visit our manual revoke website (https://support.securom.com/PAunlock/?c=1400) to revoke your activation manually.


2.10 I get the error message: 'The activation key was not found in the database', what do I do?

Please double-check the spelling of the serial number that you have sent us.

To help identify each character of the serial number correctly, please see common misinterpretations:

    - Digit 'Zero' and 'O' (like 'Oscar')
    - Digit 'One' and 'I' (like 'India')
    - Digit 'Two' and 'Z' (like 'Zulu')
    - Digit 'Eight' and 'B' (like 'Bravo')
    - Include all hyphen ('-') as shown in the serial number

If this does not solve your issue, please send us a picture of your serial number.


2.11 I get the error message: 'Too many activations on different PCs or too many reactivations on the same PC have been performed...', what do I do?

Please run the revoke tool (the program has to support this feature, please consult the software publisher regarding such a tool) on the PC where you have activated your program before. You can also visit our manual revoke website (https://support.securom.com/PAunlock/?c=1400) to revoke your activation manually.

I need my activation limit increased because I have changed to many PC components without revoking my license, what can I do?
If you have bought the game online, e.g. from Direct2Drive, please contact your point of purchase regarding your activation limit.

If you have this issue with a game of EA Games, please contact EA Games regarding your activation limit. This is their official support website: http://support.ea.com/.

Otherwise, please supply us with your Serial Number (also called Activation Code, usually from the back of the manual or from your point of purchase if purchased online) and the Unlock Request Code (from the activation dialog).


2.12 I have formatted my PC and could not revoke my license, is my activation lost?

No, your activation is not lost. You can format your PC, install the same operating system (and service pack) again and activate your program again with the same activation.


2.13 I have changed my hardware without revoking my license before, what can I do?

That's no problem. You can still revoke your application even after the hardware change. If you want to play the game again, you have to activate your game again (or you can install and activate the application on another PC).


2.14 How does SecuROM™ interact with the Internet?

SecuROM™ is available in two formats: disc-based and online activation-based. The disc version does not use any Internet connectivity for operation. The online activation-based system, SecuROM™ Product Activation, uses an Internet connection to request a license for the desired application. No personal information is collected, stored, or transmitted during this or any SecuROM™ process.

Both the disc-based system and SecuROM™ Product Activation technologies can be combined. Different configuration options are available to the publisher.


2.15 Does SecuROM™ open ports on my PC, so that my PC becomes accessible from the internet or from other networks?

No, SecuROM™ does not open any ports. SecuROM™ online activation connects to the license server via encrypted HTTP (port 443) by default and regular or outgoing HTTP (port 80). No backdoor or network port is opened on your PC.


2.16 Can I re-sell a SecuROM™ protected application, or would the limited numbers of activations prevent such a re-sell?

SecuROM™ supports an activation "revoke" process which makes your previous license available to another user. However, each publisher must decide whether or not to include the "revoke" feature in its application.


2.17 Does SecuROM™ periodically compare game data with the transmitted license values, or does this comparison only happen once upon the first online activation?

We should distinguish between

   (a) the online request for a license and the retrieval of such a license during the online activation process, and
   (b) the verification of the license at each application start.

Typically, step (a) is performed only once, while step (b) happens at every start. However, publishers can configure SecuROM™ to request an online license periodically. This would mean that after the online activation, you can use the application for the time period selected by the publisher. If you start the application after that period, you would be requested to re-obtain the license. SecuROM™ itself is configurable and supports both cases (initial activation only or periodic re-activation).


2.18 What is the license information, and why can't it simply be removed from my PC?

DRM license information stores the usage rights of DRM protected applications. License information is not executable code. SecuROM™ does not install or invoke any other code, EXE, DLL, service, or driver along with this license information. License information does not contain any information related to the execution of additional code. It only contains relevant usage rights configuration information (e.g., how many days are left for a free trial period of an application) so that SecuROM™ can accomplish its DRM functionality.

The stored information depends on the respective protection settings used for a specific application. SecuROM™ supports many different configurations. Some typical examples follow.

Note: All values (number of launches, minutes of playtime, etc.) given below are mere example values. These values can be configured in the SecuROM™ protection tool by the publisher.

Protection setting Information stored in the DRM license information
Online activation required Unlock code received after online activation. If SecuROM™ finds that information, it knows that the application has already been successfully activated.
Further information stored here is the serial code as input by the user.
Allow only a certain number of launches Launch counter. SecuROM™ will refuse to launch the application if the launch counter has exceeded the maximum number of launches as configured in the application (EXE) during protection by the publisher.
Time Limit (for example, the publisher can set the application to run for only 60 minutes) SecuROM™ stores the minutes of playtime that have passed. Once the time limit, has been reached, the application will stop running.
Day Limit (for example, the publisher can set the application to to run for only 10 days after the first launch) SecuROM™ stores the date and time of the first launch. In each subsequent launch (e.g., some days later), SecuROM™ will verify whether this launch is still within the allowed timeframe.

Other protection options supported by SecuROM™ are to check for an original disc only the first time, every nth launch, every nth day, etc. Other similar protection options are also available.

Launch count information, activation information, consumed playtime information, allowed timeframe, etc. are all stored within these registry keys. Note that this information is stored in an encrypted manner for obvious reasons, as otherwise it would be easily possible to cheat the DRM system.

Why is this information protected against deletion?
Allowing for the easy deletion of this information would essentially remove the copy protection from the application, allowing easy copying of the publisher's intellectual property. Deleting this information also impacts SecuROM™'s DRM functionality. Some examples to illustrate this:

Protection setting Consequence if DRM license information is deleted
Online activation required Imagine that someone first correctly activates (unlocks) an application and then deletes the DRM license information.
SecuROM™ would then believe that the application has not yet been unlocked and would ask for a new activation. This would result in the user “losing” an activation.
Allow up to only 10 launches of an application Imagine that someone launches such an application 10 times, and then deletes the DRM license information.
SecuROM™ would then believe that the application has not yet been launched and would again permit 10 additional launches.

Obviously, this is not in the interest of the rights owner.


2.19 Why can my game only be played in a preset region?

Certain games are restricted to the country of purchase and hence cannot be played in other regions - similar to DVD-Videos. This feature prevents grey market imports.


2.20 I have lost my game manual (or the email with the activation code) but I need the serial number for activation?

If you have the disc based version of the game, please contact the software publisher to solve this issue.
If you own an digital download version, please contact your point of purchase.



If this section has not answered your question, or if you need further assistance, please contact us.

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