Suggestions of writng product license key in Win Vista

[=?Utf-8?B?TWlrZTk5MDA=?=]

Hello,

We would like to write the license key in a file and write it in System32 of
Windows Vista, but the permission is denied. What directory do you suggest
to write the file in without any security protection?
--
Mike

[Mr. Arnold]

"Mike9900" <Mi******@discussions.microsoft.comwrote in message
news:E1**********************************@microsof t.com...

Hello,

We would like to write the license key in a file and write it in System32
of
Windows Vista, but the permission is denied. What directory do you
suggest
to write the file in without any security protection?

Once again, you need to post to a Vista NG so that you can get help in those
NG(s).

Even with me being Admin on this Vista computer, if I wanted to use Notepad
to create a file and save the file in System32, then Notepad has to be
started using Run As Administrator to escalate NotePad's privileges to write
the file to the System32 directory.

Again, the Vista UAC Manifest might have to come into play for you.

[Ben Voigt [C++ MVP]]

"Mike9900" <Mi******@discussions.microsoft.comwrote in message
news:E1**********************************@microsof t.com...

Hello,

We would like to write the license key in a file and write it in System32
of
Windows Vista, but the permission is denied. What directory do you
suggest
to write the file in without any security protection?

The same directory you install your executables to. The onus is then on the
user to give you a writable directory to install into.

--
Mike

[=?Utf-8?B?TWlrZTk5MDA=?=]

That would not help, because the user would uninstall the software and
deletes the file with the directory. So the app can run again for another 30
times. I want the app to get expired after 30 uses.
--
Mike
"Ben Voigt [C++ MVP]" wrote:

>
"Mike9900" <Mi******@discussions.microsoft.comwrote in message
news:E1**********************************@microsof t.com...

Hello,

We would like to write the license key in a file and write it in System32
of
Windows Vista, but the permission is denied. What directory do you
suggest
to write the file in without any security protection?

The same directory you install your executables to. The onus is then on the
user to give you a writable directory to install into.

--
Mike

[Grant Frisken]

On Aug 3, 7:03 am, Peter Duniho <[e-mail]:

Mike9900 wrote:

That would not help, because the user would uninstall the software and
deletes the file with the directory. So the app can run again for another 30
times. I want the app to get expired after 30 uses.

The first thing you need to understand is that there is _no_ way for you
to absolutely prevent a user from running your application more than 30
times. The real question is how much effort do you want to put into it,
and how annoyed do you want your legitimate users to be?

Peter is right - there is no 100% foolproof way of doing this. It
can take quite a lot of work to do a reasonable job. Whatever method
you use it is generally better to impose some other restrictions
during as a trial period that will encourage users to purchase even if
they do discover how to get around your trial period. Ideally these
limitations should still enable the user to fully evaluate your
product. A common method for applications that product printed or
other graphic output is to watermark the output if there is no
license.

If you are open to a reasonable priced commercial solution then
Infralution's Licensing System allows you to do evaluations using
either of the two approaches Peter suggested. You can use the
EvaluationMonitor class to store the information in an obscure (and
semi-random) location in the registry or you can issue license keys
which have the evaluation end date embedded in them. You can get
more information and download a trial version from:

www.infralution.com/licensing.html

Regards
Grant Frisken
Infralution

[John Vottero]

"Mike9900" <Mi******@discussions.microsoft.comwrote in message
news:E1**********************************@microsof t.com...

Hello,

We would like to write the license key in a file and write it in System32
of
Windows Vista, but the permission is denied. What directory do you
suggest
to write the file in without any security protection?

Use machine scoped isolated storage. See System.IO.IsolatedStorage.