Hello I know this might sound unethical, but at the end I will also explain my reasons, plus this is really driving me crazy curious! I have installed a software with a trial period of 15 days, after that time I cannot start it anymore saying the time is over. So I installed it on a virtual machine on the same PC (on VirtualBox) the v. machine was never connected to the internet and after passing the setup file via USB I installed it, but again, it recognised it was already installed and that the trial was over! How can this happen? It cannot check my registry or the files on my real PC and cannot access the web. Plus the installer had been downloaded again (so it's not the same of my first installation, for what it's worth!). How can a software inside a Virtual Machine go outside the machine itself (inception), or whatever is happening here?? If I formatted my PC it should work, so why not on a Virtual Machine then? Thanks for any useful comment! EXPLANATION This software is needed for my thesis, it costs 7000€ and I'm a poor student. The university is applying to buy it but this will take a long time and my deadline is very soon. I'm not willing to steal for anybody, it's just research and no commercial use (and maybe it's even publicity for the software itself!). I'm a part-time developer and I perfectly understand this is not a good thing but at this point probably I will not be able to "trick" the trial anyway, too complicated!
It can not behave the way you say, as VM is just "another" PC Give the name of the software, so it can be checked
Thanks, if you could try it out as well it would be awesome! Name is Solibri Model Checker and a valid link should still be: https:// ssl.solibri.com/trial/download.php?key=8686393a1d3fa3c748a78cc7180f3365 (mind the space!) I have also tried many other solutions using Revo Uninstaller and similar, but no way!
I have some updates: Made a test on a PC on wich the sotware was never installed - first on a VM, and it said "trial expired" - then and the PC itself without VM, IT WORKED! So actually, the only thing I've come up to is that the software shows by default the "license expired" when running from a virtual machine. Is this possible? How can it realise it's a virtual box and not a real pc? Thanks
Well, not difficult at all to know that the OS is running on a VM. So they check for it. Purely, so you do not carry on using it on disposable VM 15 days & then another 15 days etc Simple check & instantly expired shows up
Some parameters reported by VirtualBox for the guest can be modified (see manual), but you can NEVER completely hide the fact it's a VM. Many software titles have checks for VM existence, and refuse to run in that case, exactly for the reason @sebus mentioned - to prevent perpetual trials. I don't judge you and I understand your reasons, but, sadly it just won't work that way. Since the software is very expensive, maybe there is a chance to rent it instead of buying it? Especially because you won't need it forever?
You could always try it on a separate PC for which you have an image BEFORE trial & just re-image it after 15 days sebus