Attempt to activate over the internet

[willcfg]

I recently did a clean install of Yosemite on my MacBook Air and after installing Vectorworks it said it needed to be activated over the internet. I clicked 'Activate' and it brought up an error saying:

"An attempt to activate over the Internet has failed because of communications problems. Do you want to try again? Make sure you have unrestricted internet access and that you are connected."

I click "Try Again" but it just goes back to the same error message and all I can do is quit the program.

Any help appreciated!

[rDesign]

Try this: VwKB : Activation Fails - Communication Problems (Mac OSX Only)

[PVA - Admin]

On Yosemite, I have has cases where "Try Again" needed to be clicked upwards of 25 times before it activated. Never replicated the issue in house.

[willcfg]

Thanks for the suggestions, but neither have worked.

Tried unchecking "Use Passive FTP Mode (PASV)" and pressing 'Try Again' in excess of 50 times and still nothing

[AlanW]

We have the same problem at the office and even with all the help from Sydney VW still can't activate. (Caused by computer being rebuilt and needed to reinstall VW and can't activate)

[willcfg]

Very frustrating.

I need to try it when connected to a different WiFi as it may be the office connection that is causing the problem...I won't hold my breath though.

[willcfg]

Didn't work on a different WiFi connection.

Also tried removing our in office DNS number and using Google's 8.8.4.4 (as we sometimes have issues loading webpages with ours and Google's works fine) but this didn't work either.

All out of ideas now.

[willcfg]

Success!

I removed my DNS server numbers and two default ones appeared and Vectorworks was able to activate.

System Preferences > Network > Wi-Fi > Advanced... > DNS > remove all DNS numbers that appear in the list by selecting them then pressing the minus button on the bottom left.

Edited August 25, 2015 by willcfg

[Matteo Bianchi Studio]

Hi

 

I have the same problem. Tried to remove DNS numbers as suggested but it didn't solve the problem.

I tried to reinstall from scratch but the same message appears again.

Any other suggestion?

[PVA - Admin]

1 minute ago, Matteo Bianchi Studio said:

Hi

 

I have the same problem. Tried to remove DNS numbers as suggested but it didn't solve the problem.

I tried to reinstall from scratch but the same message appears again.

Any other suggestion?

Is "An attempt to activate over the Internet has failed because of communications problems." the exact error message you are getting? Or is it worded differently? Has this machine ever activated successfully before with this or any other versions?

[Matteo Bianchi Studio]

it s the exact same message

I'm working on this computer for 11 month now and it never had problems before

[Matteo Bianchi Studio]

this version is 2014 architect

[PVA - Admin]

For that license, make sure to contact your distributor directly and they can look into what happened to see which end the problem is on:

http://www.vectorworks.net/international

[Matteo Bianchi Studio]

I did but they can't seem to find the problem

[PVA - Admin]

Private message me your contact information please, and I can look into why troubleshooting stopped there.

[domer1322]

I found this old thread that is nearly exactly my current problem, so i thought I'd ask again if this problem is solvable.   In my case, I have VW2014 and it activates over the internet just fine, and is fully useable.  However, VW 2015 does not activate, and shows the same error message as listed above.  There was a time when it worked correctly on my 2010 MacBook Air.  Then, there was a time when I could click on the "try again" button multiple times and it might work.  I think one time I clicked on it about 30 times and it worked.  Now I've clicked over 40 times and it doesn't work.   Sadly I tried to remove my DNS server number, but the little "minus" check box is grayed and I couldn't remove the DNS server from the preferences.  I found that I could add a DNS server, and I put in a dummy number, that made no difference.

 

I don't use VW on the MacBook for anything serious, so this has never been a priority, but I'd still like to solve this problem.   Any help ?  Jim ?

[domer1322]

just thought I'd add this note to bring this topic to the top of the forum list ....   does anyone care ?     I really do think that Nemetshek has some responsibility to ensure I can use the product I already paid for  ....   this is not really an "old software compatibility" problem.  This is an activation problem.   If I can't activate it over the internet, shouldn't Nemetschek just tell me how to make it run without internet activation ?  

[JasonMichael]

On 12/28/2018 at 10:32 AM, domer1322 said:

just thought I'd add this note to bring this topic to the top of the forum list ....   does anyone care ?     I really do think that Nemetshek has some responsibility to ensure I can use the product I already paid for  ....   this is not really an "old software compatibility" problem.  This is an activation problem.   If I can't activate it over the internet, shouldn't Nemetschek just tell me how to make it run without internet activation ?  

did you ever find a solution?

 

[domer1322]

well .... it turns out the solution was to upgrade everything.   Nemetsheck will not allow anyone to use it without internet activation.    It seems when Apple upgraded their Mac OS, that caused a problem with the VW version activation.    I suppose I could try to downgrade the Mac OS, but that simply causes the browser to be downgraded, which makes internet use inconsistent.  So ... it is the same story we've all suffered with computers for years .... upgrade or die.      In this case, I'm dead.   (You are too  ....    :)

[JasonMichael]

11 hours ago, domer1322 said:

well .... it turns out the solution was to upgrade everything.   Nemetsheck will not allow anyone to use it without internet activation.    It seems when Apple upgraded their Mac OS, that caused a problem with the VW version activation.    I suppose I could try to downgrade the Mac OS, but that simply causes the browser to be downgraded, which makes internet use inconsistent.  So ... it is the same story we've all suffered with computers for years .... upgrade or die.      In this case, I'm dead.   (You are too  ....    :)

Thanks for the reply. Just to be clear, you mean upgrade my computer? or upgrade Vectorworks? In my case I can use VW 2017 fine on my Windows 7 machine, which is a 2013 laptop (a bit old but is a powerhouse and can still run every other 3d modeling, rendering, or gaming software I use with ease.) I am trying to install VW 2020. 

My options are to continue using my 2017 license, upgrade my operating system to windows 10 (which I have to do soon anyways) or start using software that works better. 

[domer1322]

Each case is different, and yours is different than mine.  My problem was that VW2015 initially worked well on my 2009 MacBook Air.  Then, I upgraded the MacOS and Safari and didn't realize until later that VW2015 would no longer initialize on the internet from my MacBook.   My older version of VW 2014 still initializes on the internet so I can use that on my MacBook Air.   I was (and am still) using VW2015 on my newer iMac with Yosemite (OS 10.10.5) but I can not upgrade the MacOS without also having to upgrade VW.    Since I am retired, I don't intend to upgrade VW ... so I'll keep the same Mac OS and iMac until they are dead .... for the sole reason of keeping VW 2015 functional. 

 

I still think Nemetsheck is deficient for not making a patch for the internet initialization so I can use VW 2015.  However, I doubt I'm the first to have software become outdated and I guess no software company cares about that.   In my view, I paid for something and I can no longer use it .    i think that is bad practice.

[Abhi]

Hello, Guys

 

I just installed a new version of Vectorworks and it's 2023. I'm facing a problem activating my current version. it's showing ''An attempt to activate over the Internet has failed because of communication problems. Do you want to try again?'' 

 

I tried many times but it didn't work. I don't know what to do. I've been trying to do it since morning and it's almost 5 hours but nothing changed. I would appreciate your help. 

Did you also face this problem?

[Dubman]

On 11/9/2019 at 12:59 AM, JasonMichael said:

There needs to be another way to activate & signing on to get premium libraries. I can sign on thru my web browser to service select but most of the time can not thru VW2024 & VW 2023 on 2 different computers

 

 

[Abhi]

So what do you think, I should uninstall the software and try to do with the lover version, 2022 or 2021?

[Pat Stanford]

Best option would be to call Technical Support direct and have them work through the problem so you can activate properly.

 

The other users on the list can guess and sometimes provide an answer, but we can't  see that actual logs to try and identify the problem. So if the easy solutions don't fix the problem contacting Tech Support is best.