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Problems with Trial License Tied to a MAC Address

System information:

The issue lies in the fact that GraphPad associates a trial machine with a specific MAC address. Cloning the Fresh Start machine typically results in the same MAC address being assigned. This would normally not cause any trouble, but the application sees the licence as having already been used—just as it did on an earlier clone. The machine might be on a completely different server or datacenter, even on another continent, and the error will still surface. 

The workaround, then, is to change the MAC address. In Linux this is straightforward and well documented, but on Windows it’s not as simple.

If you try to change the MAC address inside Windows using the recommended methods, it won’t succeed because the qemu.conf file overrides that change. So even if you set a new MAC within Windows 10, by itself that won’t resolve the problem.

The reason is that qemu.conf contains a hard‑coded MAC address. You can modify that address to present a different MAC, which will let you use a new licence key. 

To make this work, you need to set ‘Network Isolation’ for each machine to ‘Disabled’; then the MAC address specified in qemu.conf will take effect.

If you encounter this issue, please contact DaDesktop Support for assistance.