Ok i go through about 2 or 3 windows installs every 2 weeks or so. I test hardware regularly. It is getting annoying having to wait x amount of time for my unlock to become available. I have paid for a license i feel i should be able to unlock it as many times as i need.

Hmm if I was testing hardware as much as you say I surely would have more than one PC also cant you just back up the lfs installed folder and copy for it to retain unlock?

i wished it were that easy. Last time i changed the CPU and had to re-unlock LFS. Anytime the hardware is changed i have to re-unlock. except for video cards. I go through hardware like no other. I have a backup drive i could install LFS on but i still dont think even that would work.

i've backed up my whole LFS folder on a mobile harddisk, and it doesn't ask for an unlock after I restored it on my rig after a system cleanup.

I will try it. that is once i am allowed to unlock it again. I tried playing demo today and it was just plain stupid, getting rammed and kicked by demo users for no reason.

To be testing hardware on your main computer is madness. Much worse than unlocking LFS is trying to re-activate Windows many times. Although don't tell me, you don't bother and niether do you bother saving all your favourites or installing email clients etc.

Me thinks you have an ulterior motive pal !!

Go on the FBM-only servers, you'll find some good racing there if you survive the 1st corner

If you do that much with hardware setup a drive with your image on it so you don't have to reinstall windows and LFS. Surely someone that changes hardware this much has a extra hard drive hanging around and I'm sure you don't change the CPU more then once a week. And if you did change the CPU more then this surely it wouldn't be for a prolonged amount of time. Maybe you do. Perhaps there is way to edit the registry to manually change the CPU ID so that it appears to be the CPU you unlocked LFS with. Not even sure if that is possible, but everything that windows uses to reference and object tied to the OS is the registry.

Try this location Don't know what it will do. If you try and bit the big one it isn't my fault.
-->HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DESCRIPTION\System\CentralProcessor

Anyways. Thats my solution(s) to the problem at hand.

Get a VM app like VMWare or whatever other flavours exist these days

Changing the CPU or GPU doesn't mean you have to unlock again.

I don't like DRM but i'd rather LFS' system than "I must run all the time no matter what and bitch and moan that you dare to use Daemon Tools or have a DVD-RW drive" StarForce.

no motive going on here. and yes i do change harware that much. I've got new harware coming in the mail this coming up week so when that gets here i will install LFS on a spare 500gb hard drive i have and see if that works.

Build yourself a main pc and install lfs on it. You have no excuse not too.
The demo will be fine for testing the kit you get every week.

After all these years of LFS (and hardware testing/troubleshooting all along the way) I've only ever had to unlock upon a major LFS update, and even then only within the last few years of development.

There are more painless ways of doing things if you can sort it out.

I only asked for an unlock once...

Bad day...

FIRST! I switched from AMD to Intel so... I had to reformat and unlock again...

Then my G25 was having some weird problem.... which caused me to reformat...




NTM, you say 2 - 3 times every 2 weeks? If you're forced to change hardware 2-3 every 2 weeks, which in hand causes your windows to flop. I suggest not doing it anymore, just advice.


I change hardware a lot. Never had a hitch, never had to unlock LFS or reload windows. I've been through 8-9 video cards this month! And 6-7 CPU's.

From what the OP has said, i can't honestly think of many other people who will have this problem. Simply because nobody messes with their hardware and or OS as much as this. I have used 2 unlocks in one year.

Quote from white92talontsi :

Ok i go through about 2 or 3 windows installs every 2 weeks or so. I test hardware regularly. It is getting annoying having to wait x amount of time for my unlock to become available. I have paid for a license i feel i should be able to unlock it as many times as i need.

Do you actually use your PC or just play with hardware. The only reason I ask is that whenever I do an OS rebuild it takes many days to re-install my core software packages etc. There is no way you can ghost your setup because Windows will throw up with the hardware changes you talk about.

Don't you have enough bits kicking around to build an LFS PC, you must have loads of parts frolm the sounds of it. The demands are not that high, then just use your "main" PC to play lego with

edit: irrelevant.

Couldn't you simply save LFS to a USB stick / key, unlock it on there, then plug that into your PC then either run it straight off that or copy it over to the main PC drive?

Sorry if this is stupid, I really don't know much about PCs, but to me that seems like a logical option

Activating windows isn't a problem at all, just click on "activate on the internet", press OK and 2 seconds later it's activated. It is only a pain (really, REALLY a pain) if you are out of WINDOWS Unlocks (which as far as I know resets every year, and are about ~10 unlocks.)

Quote from Gunn :

After all these years of LFS (and hardware testing/troubleshooting all along the way) I've only ever had to unlock upon a major LFS update, and even then only within the last few years of development.

There are more painless ways of doing things if you can sort it out.

Agreed, I remember of this update
I mess with hardware so much too, and the only thing I have to do is to copy the whole LFS folder and paste on the new HD/other computer. Besides that update, I have never had to unlock it again.

@ white92talontsi : "UR DOIN IT WRONG!"
just kidding

well not sure what i did wrong then as i pulled out a QX6850 and put in a E8400 and had to re-unlock LFS.

I honestly mostly play with hardware and benchmark. Once i find something that i like i will stick to it for maybe a month tops. Right now I am waiting for my i7 parts to arrive. I will reinstall LFS on my backup drive and see what happens.

I also generally dont do backups either. i dont stay on a windows install long enough to accumulate stuff i need to save. I have a few thousand songs on my backup drive that i will install LFS too

Well wouldn't the thing most PC testers do is have one standard rig which is "yours", and a seperate one made up from the parts you'll be testing?

Those are my thoughts as well. Why not build yourself a fast gaming machine, and have another kind of 'bare bones' machine for testing new hardware, unless you are mainly using LFS to test the capabilities of the hardware.

The gaming machine is the test machine. I could build another rig for just LFS and buy some cheap harware to run it i guess. Or maybe LFS can be like every other game i have and let me install it and play it as many times as i want. Just install and enter my cd-key back in and done!

just buy more lfs licences

Quote from white92talontsi :

The gaming machine is the test machine. I could build another rig for just LFS and buy some cheap harware to run it i guess. Or maybe LFS can be like every other game i have and let me install it and play it as many times as i want. Just install and enter my cd-key back in and done!

Just copy the LFS folder and paste on the new rig... you'll never have to unlock again.

Quote from GeForz :

just buy more lfs licences

Good idea lol