Day 12. My new daily routine:

0. Open Trados Studio.
1. Enter the licence key.

A. If activation is unsuccessful (last day's deactivation unsuccessful, or Trados Studio did not shut down as it should, or my phone had to restart unexpectedly, or we're still trying to figure out why...):

2. Delete the Studio.lic file.
3. Is it a weekday? No: take a break. Else...
4. Is this happening during working hours? No: read a book. Else...
5. Request a licence reset (for some reason, I do not have access to the "Force Return" link although I have now used all of my licences...). Shoutout and kudos to all the great support guys.
6. Activate licence.
7. Work.
8. Close all files and projects. Go to Welcome screen.
9. Restart Studio.
10. Deactivate licence.

B. If activation is successful (deactivation successful...):

2. Dry my tears of joy. Praise Saint Rita.
3. Work.
4. Close all files and projects. Go to Welcome screen.
5. Restart Studio.
6. Deactivate licence.
7. Hope everything will be OK.

Hope this helps someone.

Hi Hugues Marianne

You have said that using your phone as a mobile hotspot wirelessly is unreliable, but have you tried just starting up Studio via mobile hotspot then once it's going OK, plug the usb in??? I guess the break in connectivity would trigger the license problem but if you haven't tried it, it would be worth finding out...

Paul is it possible to chase Monica at Support, if she still hasn't replied to Marianne on this???

All the best,

Ali

Hi Hugues Marianne

You have said that using your phone as a mobile hotspot wirelessly is unreliable, but have you tried just starting up Studio via mobile hotspot then once it's going OK, plug the usb in??? I guess the break in connectivity would trigger the license problem but if you haven't tried it, it would be worth finding out...

Paul is it possible to chase Monica at Support, if she still hasn't replied to Marianne on this???

All the best,

Ali

Thank you, Alison Field. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth unfortunately do not work for me. However, I did receive an answer from the help desk:

Hello,

When a Safenet license (versions 2015, 2017 2019) is activated, an installation Id is created based on the Disk ID and the Ethernet Address, if any of these two changes, then the license will not be recognized anymore by Studio.

Maybe if you find an IT person that deals with network configurations, they would be able to help you in order to set a static MAC address (Ethernet address) so you would not have to deactivate the Studio license each time.

This is how the licensing system works and indeed sometimes it is not helpful for this type of work setup and connections, however it is not something we can change.

We have had users who managed to set a static MAC address with the help of a netwrok engineer or IT person, but this is something that needs to be dealt with according to your own configuration.

ME: Can you please confirm that setting a static MAC address is possible over USB mobile tethering?

Hello,

Your license was deactivated/reactivated on 9, 10, 11, 13th of July, each time, the license has a different installation ID, meaning, the Ethernet address has changed each time, so yes, you need a static Ethernet/MAC address.

Installation IDs from the mentioned days:

July 9th *1EV 28DR 7D2R SKE4
July 10th *1WS 46KH QZLM 4ABD
July 11th *1HR UWKS QHPM 2KHQ
July 13th *16M G9PH X8BE EFKK

There is an expression for this in French: un dialogue de sourds... 

Hi Hugues Marianne

Oui, je comprends - en anglais ça se traduit par 'talking at cross purposes'

Tu as compris leur réponse ? Je sais que l'adresse MAC d'un PC est toujours statique alors je crois qu'il s'agit d'assigner une adresse fixe pour la connexion spécifique mais je ne sais pas comment. Ils te demandent de trouver quelqu'un qui est capable de le faire pour toi...

, do you understand the instructions given by support? I've been searching this online and can't find instructions on how to set a static installation ID...

All the best,

Ali

Alison Field said:

I've been searching this online and can't find instructions on how to set a static installation ID...

Alison Field

On your windows machine like this:

https://www.howtogeek.com/192173/how-and-why-to-change-your-mac-address-on-windows-linux-and-mac/

On a phone for mobile tethering... probably depends on the phone but something like this:

https://www.quora.com/If-Im-using-the-internet-on-my-laptop-by-using-a-smartphone-as-a-hotspot-what-can-be-the-IP-address-of-the-laptop-Can-we-change-the-laptops-IP-or-Mac-address-manually

Paul

I did see the first link among others but wasn't sure if it was appropriate. The second one looks right.

Hugues Marianne, here's a similar set of instructions in French...

http://www.prodigemobile.com/tutoriel/attribuer-ip-statique-android/

All the best,

Ali

Hi Alison Field, Hi Paul,

Thank you very much for trying to solve the issue with me. I feel privileged.

Alison Field said:

www.prodigemobile.com/.../quote]

This method works for Wi-Fi, unfortunately not for USB tethering.

Paul said:

www.howtogeek.com/.../quote]

This is a good introduction to MAC spoofing. I find this WikiHow article more thorough while remaining accessible. It has been translated into several languages and there are also a number of related articles worth reading.

Paul said:

www.quora.com/.../quote]

TMAC is probably a great tool for anyone using a router. It is free and open source and automates reading/writing to registry. I thought that I had found a solution when I originally came across the software. Unfortunately, it does not work for USB tethering. Anyone trying to set a fix MAC address on a PC should nevertheless give it a try.

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Hi Hugues Marianne

Thanks for sharing that!

All the best,

Ali