Spurious "error 15" on MacOS 10.13.2

General
#1

LexActivator works fine on my Mac running MacOS 10.10.5, but I have two customers running a newer version of MacOS who are reporting error 15 “Application is being run inside a virtual machine / hypervisor, and activation has been disallowed in the VM.” In one case I was able to personally examine the machine and verify that there was no VM software installed.

Both these machines are runing MacOS 10.13.2, which is the latest release (High Sierra). Has LexActivator been tested with this version of MacOS? Is there some reason why the fingerprinting mechanism is failing here?

What can I do to work around this, other than enabling VM activations?

#2

Hi,

It’s working fine on MacOS 10.13.2, can you confirm they have installed any VM on their machines, though they may not be running your app inside the VM.

#3

Of the two Macs that have had this problem, one is owned by a man who says he has Parallels installed on his machine but was not using it and was not running my product inside any VM. He has no reason to lie.

The other Mac is owned by a young girl who has no idea what a VM is and has never heard of Parallels or Bootcamp. I looked at her machine and did not see any evidence of a VM present.

I heard from a third customer today who is also running MacOS 10.13.2 but did manage to activate his license successfully. So it appears that not every instance of 10.13.2 triggers an error 15, but the two instances where this error has occurred so far both involved 10.13.2.

#4

Can you post the output of following command when executed on their machines:

ioreg -l | grep -e Manufacturer -e ‘Vendor Name’

#5

Here is the output from the machine where the owner says that Parallels is installed but not running when he tried to run my product:

| | | | “DPAudioDeviceExclusion” = ({“ManufacturerID”=1552,“ProductID”=10130})
| | | “IOAudioDeviceManufacturerName” = “ManufacturerName”
| | | | | “Device Vendor Name” = “Apple, Inc.”
| | | | | | “USB Vendor Name” = “Apple Inc.”
| | | | “DPAudioDeviceExclusion” = ({“ManufacturerID”=1552,“ProductID”=10130})
| | | | “IOAudioDeviceManufacturerName” = “ManufacturerName”
| | | | “Device Characteristics” = {“Vendor Name”=“Apple”,“Product Name”=“Built In SDXC Reader”}
| | | | | | | “USB Vendor Name” = “Apple Inc.”
| | | | | | | | “USB Vendor Name” = “Apple Inc.”
| | | | | | “USB Vendor Name” = “Apple Inc.”
| | | | | | | “Manufacturer” = “Apple Inc.”
| | | | | | | | “Manufacturer” = “Apple Inc.”
| | | | | | | | “Manufacturer” = “Apple Inc.”
| | | | | | | “Manufacturer” = “Apple Inc.”
| | | | | | | | “Manufacturer” = “Apple Inc.”
| | | | | | | “Manufacturer” = “Apple Inc.”
| | | | | | “Manufacturer” = “Apple Inc.”
| | | | | | | “Manufacturer” = “Apple Inc.”
| | | | | | | “Manufacturer” = “Apple Inc.”
| | | | “Vendor Name” = “Intel”
| | | | “Controller Characteristics” = {“Port Description”=“AHCI Version 1.30 Supported”,“Product Name”=“7 Series Chipset”,“Vendor Name”=“Intel”,“Port Speed”=“6 Gigabit”}
| | “Manufacturer” = “SMP”
| | “ManufacturerData” = <000000000511000a1150000002443263033030420341544c001300>
| “Vendor Name” = “Apple”
| | | | “iManufacturer” = 0
| | | | “USB Vendor Name” = “Apple Inc.”
| | | | | “iManufacturer” = 0
| | | | | “iManufacturer” = 0
| | | | | “iManufacturer” = 1
| | | | | “USB Vendor Name” = “Apple Inc.”
| | | | | “iManufacturer” = 1
| | | | | “USB Vendor Name” = “Apple Inc.”
| | | | “iManufacturer” = 1
| | | | “USB Vendor Name” = “Apple Inc.”
| | | | “iManufacturer” = 0
| | | | “USB Vendor Name” = “Apple Inc.”
| | | | | “iManufacturer” = 0
| | | | “iManufacturer” = 1
| | | | “USB Vendor Name” = “Apple Inc.”
| | “iManufacturer” = 0
| | “USB Vendor Name” = “Apple Inc.”
| | “ManufacturerName” = 15
| | “ManufacturerName” = 15
| “IOAudioDeviceManufacturerName” = “Parallels”

I notice the last line says the AudtioDeviceManufacturerName is “Parallels”. Could that have something to do with it? He assures me that Parallels is not running. I will try to get data from the other MacBook as well.

#6

Thanks for posting the output. Can you please post the output from the other user.

#7

Yes, I will bug them again after New Year’s if I haven’t heard back before then.

#8

I’m waiting to hear back from the other Mac user, but in the mean time, a Windows customer reported the same spurious VM error. He says he is running “a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 x64 based PC running Microsoft Windows 10 Pro, Version 10.0.16299 Build 16299.” This is another naive user who has no idea what a “virtual machine” is.

Is there some command you’d like him to run that is the Windows equivalent of the Mac’s “ioreg” command?

#9

In case of surface book, the bug was fixed in the latest release. Updating to the current latest version would fix the issue.

#10

Okay, I got the data from the other Mac user. This is a young girl who has no idea what a virtual machine is and has never heard of Parallels or Bootcamp.

[Xxxxxxxxxs-MacBook:~ xxxxxxxxxyyyy$ ioreg -l grep -e Manufacturer -e 'Vendor Name"
| | | | | | | “USB Vendor Name” = “Amazon”
| | | | | | | “USB Vendor Name” = “Fresco Logic, Inc”
| | | | “Vendor Name” = “Apple”
| | | | “Device Characteristics” = {“Serial Number”=“C02719500MGHJ9V1X”, “Medium Type”=“Solid State”, “Product Name”=“APPLE SSD AP0256J”, “Vendor Name”="", “Product Revision Level”=“16.14.01”}
| | | | “SPI Vendor Name” = “Apple Inc.”
| | | | “DPAudioDeviceExclusion” = (“ManufacturerID”=1552, “ProductID”=101.30})
| | | | “IOAudioDeviceManufacturerName” = “ManufacturerName”
| | "Manufacturer: " = “SMP”
| | “ManufacturerData” = <0.00000000702050.036290000035.8353903303032034.c4743.002b00>
| “Vendor Name” = “Apple”
| | | | “iManufacturer” = 0
| | | | “USB Vendor Name” = “Apple Inc.”
| | | | “iManufacturer” = 0
| | | | “iManufacturer” = 1
| | | | “USB Vendor Name” = “Fresco Logic, Inc”
| | | “iManufacturer” = 2
| | | “USB Vendor Name” = “Amazon”
| | “ManufacturerName” = 15
| | “ManufacturerName” = 15
Xxxxxxxxxs-MacBook:~ xxxxxxxxxyyyy$

#11

Thanks for the output.

Given the above output our library should not have reported a VM error.

The only probable reason could be an external hardware attached to the machine at the time of activation. Given above output your customer should be able to deactivate and activate again with VM allowed for the key.