License requirements

What is required to install RPM and have the license work correctly?

From our point of view, this is what you need to run RPM:

  • Ethernet and Wi-Fi network cards with one or more stable MAC addresses
  • Stable, well-running installation of Windows 7 or above
  • Administrator permissions to install not only the software but to configure and launch a Windows system service
  • Adequate disk to spool print jobs, and maintain the RPM database (only you know how much disk is enough)
  • Adequate memory and CPU to run a program with dozens of tasks

From the licensing perspective, the first item is the most vital. You have to have one or more stable MAC addresses. The license software uses that, plus a product code associated with the edition of RPM you are using, to generate a serial number.

If it seems to the license software that you are running RPM on a machine it has not run on before, it will generate a new serial number. We run into this most often with virtual machines or cloud services where the MAC addresses are not static. RPM is exactly like a myriad of other Windows applications: it needs a stable environment.

When you install RPM and run it for the first time, the license starts a 21 day countdown. Some functions of RPM may be degraded during the trial period.

If 21 days pass and the license has not been activated, RPM will enter a “trial expired” mode and will not function until the license is activated.

More events which trigger a serial number change

I hope it's obvious that moving a license to a new virtual machine will change the serial number. However, there are more mundane events which would also trigger a new serial number, including:

  • disabling one or more network adapters
  • adding a network adapter
  • removing a network adapter