Readynas Surveillance License Code Will Not Activate

[yoban]

Hi there

I have fallen in to the trap of not being able to reactivate my readynas surveillance 4 camera license. This has come about from needing to rebuild the NAS and in the process did not transfer/deactivate the license code - was actual not aware I needed to, to be honest. I have attached a screenshot of the error message I get.

I have tried the offline tool, but get similar result - no DLL file created.

Having dug around in the forums, this would seem to be a very common issue, yet no real clear simple solution.

I spent 15mins on the phone to support trying to explain all I wanted was the license code to be reset in the system, but would not budge without initiating a extended support contract (NAS bought in 2014) requiring me to pay money.

Posted on this ReadyNAS-Surveillance-Cannot-Activate-License thread and hoped @sotrack would share how they achieved reactivation, but nothing yet.

Appreciate some guidance and assistance team.

[yoban · Accepted solution]

---

@JennC wrote:

I think it has been reset now. Could you check please?

---

Thanks for that! Got the email from Support indicating this. Have been successful in reapplying my license code.

Did not get a chnace to test the other NIC, but believe this was nto the issue. Also did not get a chance to use the Offline Tool, but would have felt that it would have worked now that the license has been reset.

Thanks to all the provided assistance. Could I ask that either yourself, @JennC, or @mdgm-ntgr or fellow moderators have a chat to Support (level 1) to clarify that there is no need for a support contract and as such, this would reduce the workload on yourselves. This would mean phoning support would work or having an online mechanism.

Thanks to @mdgm-ntgr for the reset and confirmation on support contract requirement (none).

[JennC]

Hello yoban,

You have mentioned "reactivate", may I ask why you need to reactivate the licenses? Please provide more info such as if this license has been activated on an old unit and that you are using it on the new unit, if so, what happened to the old unit.

I checked your profile and found that you have contacted support but there was no enough information.

Regards,

[yoban]

Hi there

Thanks for the response.

I had to rebuild my NAS via a factory reset. Once this was completed, I reinstalled (was working fine prior to rebuild) Surveillance App and when I enetered my license code to activate my 4 cameras, I got the error in the screenshot posted in the original post.

The phrase of "reactivate" is meaning to have the Netgear system think that the license code I have is not assigned to a NAS, so that it can be - if that makes sense.

I then phoned support after reading all the similar posts on the forum and was asked to sign up for extended support as all support had expired on my NAS due to purchased in 2014. I explained to her that I did not need technical support, all I needed was to have my license code reset on the Netgear server.

There is no new NAS - just original NAS restored to factory default and apps reinstalled.

Hope you can assist.

Paul

[JennC]

Hello yoban,

I see. Can you tell me what happened exactly when you tried the offline activation? I also suggest to try using another NIC of the NAS. Sorry that may sound unusual but I just found it from this discussion. Please PM me the license key that needs to be reset.

Regards,

[yoban]

Thanks for that!

• I saw that thread too and will have another read - seems odd that swapping NICs would resolve the issue, unless when the license code is validated on the Netgear server, it captures some hardware information. I will try this when I get home.
• With regards to the offline tool approach, I will capture some screenshots when I get home as well. Basically, once I have entered the license code and click on the button (cannot remember what it is called - submit/activate/??), it prompts me for a location to save the DLL file, once I have selected a path, and press OK, it woudl seem to have created the file, but it does not exist.
• PM is on its way to you (Thanks).

As a thought, would you like me to try the above again before you "wave a magic wand" on the license code?

Paul

[JennC]

Hello yoban,

Yes, since I will also wait for someone to answer me about the reactivation of the license key. What I know is support contract is not needed when you just need to reactivate the license key. I need to verify that.

Regards,

[yoban]

---

@JennC wrote:

I also suggest to try using another NIC of the NAS.

---

Just a note on this - the NIC (eth0) that is in use is the same NIC since the machine was originally setup back in 2014 when I got the Surveillance license key originally activated via the online method with no issue. I will try switching NICs though on the off chance it solves issue.

[mdgm-ntgr]

Support has submitted the licence reset request. This might take a business day or two to get processed.

It's important that you deactivate the licence where possible before doing a factory reset.

[JennC]

Hello yoban,

I think it has been reset now. Could you check please?

Regards,

[yoban]

@mdgm wrote:

Support has submitted the licence reset request. This might take a business day or two to get processed.

---

Thanks very much for that! Certainly need to let Support know that a support contract is not needed for this type of activity.

@mdgm wrote:
It's important that you deactivate the licence where possible before doing a factory reset.

Yes, if I had realised/knowed about it. I was also limited to accessing NAS via SSH only as documented in this thread. I used the SSH commands to do the reset - was going to initially do OS install first, but ended up resetting. Good example of becareful.

[yoban · Accepted solution]

---

@JennC wrote:

I think it has been reset now. Could you check please?

---

Thanks for that! Got the email from Support indicating this. Have been successful in reapplying my license code.

Did not get a chnace to test the other NIC, but believe this was nto the issue. Also did not get a chance to use the Offline Tool, but would have felt that it would have worked now that the license has been reset.

Thanks to all the provided assistance. Could I ask that either yourself, @JennC, or @mdgm-ntgr or fellow moderators have a chat to Support (level 1) to clarify that there is no need for a support contract and as such, this would reduce the workload on yourselves. This would mean phoning support would work or having an online mechanism.

Thanks to @mdgm-ntgr for the reset and confirmation on support contract requirement (none).