Dipl.-Ing. Martin Haller Software-Engineering & EDV-Beratung

As a simple copy protection mechanism the license of the registered version of some HMSE programs will be bound to the serial number of a volume (disk) of your computer. When ordering the license you tell us the serial number of the volume of your choice and the matching drive letter on your computer. Each time the application is started, it checks the drive to contain this volume.

• How to choose a suitable volume for copy protection
• How to find out the serial number of the volume of your choice
• What to do after reorganization of the drive letters of your computer
• What to do on damage of the bound volume or when buying a new computer

How to choose a suitable volume for copy protection

As bound volume (= volume for copy protection) you can choose one of the hard disks of your computer or one of your 3.5" disks or CD-ROM's, DVD's, and so on.

However, when choosing your bound volume consider the following:

• Only local volumes/drives are possible. Server volumes, network drives and RAM disks are not allowed.
• Virtual volumes/drives which are logical partitions of a hard disk are allowed, but notice, they have a virtual serial number which may change on repartitioning the hard disk whereby the license would become invalid. Therefore, always choose the serial number of those partition which corresponds to the physical hard disk.
• If you choose a fixed mounted volume/disk (e.g. the hard disk of your computer with drive letter 'C:') you will have the advantage of an easy startup of the application at any time without having to insert the bound volume in a drive before. Moreover, hard disks have a higher duration of life than a removable volume/disk (3.5" disk, CD-ROM, other removable disk, ...).

Therefore we recommend to choose a fixed mounted volume/disk (the hard disk of your computer with drive letter 'C:' is best) as bound volume. Please also notice the chapter Damage of the bound volume or buying a new computer.

How to find out the serial number of the volume of your choice

The serial number of a volume is a multi-digit hexadecimal number (containing digits from 0 to 9 and letters from a to f, e.g. 45e78fa2). Note down the hexadecimal number without any special characters like spaces, hyphens, etc.

To find out the serial number of the volume of your choice:

1. If the volume is a removable volume/disk insert the volume into the correct drive.
2. In Windows open a command line dialog window using the command sequence 'Start » All Programs » Accessories » Command Prompt'
3. In the command line dialog window enter the command 'vol C:' (complete with ENTER), then the serial number of drive 'C:' is displayed. Note: In the previously mentioned command you have to replace the drive letter 'C:' by the letter of the drive containing the bound volume you have choosen, if necessary.
4. In the command line dialog window enter the command 'exit' to close the dialog window.

What to do after reorganization of the drive letters of your computer

Please notice, the license is bound only to the serial number of the volume and not to the drive letter. Therefore, you can reorganize the assignment of the drive letters of your system to the volumes/drives of your computer at any time.

After reorganization you merely have to enter the new drive letter of the bound volume into the input field 'Drive letter' of the 'License Activation' dialog of the HMSE application and then repeat the license activation to ensure that the license remains valid.

What to do on damage of the bound volume or when buying a new computer

On damage or lost of your bound volume you can request for a free follow-up license. The same is applied to if you have bound your license to a fixed mounted volume/disk of your computer (e.g. the hard disk of your computer with drive letter 'C:') and now want to substitute a new hardware for this volume/disk or the entire computer (e.g. you buy a new computer), provided that you uninstall the program from your old volume/disk or computer.

To request your free follow-up license just send an email to our support containing the following information: your full name and address, your valid email address, program name, version number, the old license number, the reason for the follow-up license (e.g. damage/lost of the bound volume, buying a new computer, ...), a confirmation that the program with the old license has been uninstalled or is no more usable due to a damaged bound volume, as well as the drive letter and serial number of your new bound volume/disk.