OK I was getting confused and going round in a circle, yes your right a simple change like a single MAC address will not force OS reactivation, that was silly of me.
I'm happy to consider a simple check - here is crude pseudo code:
IF license_is_valid THEN /* i.e. already activated, not expired trial etc etc */
IF running_in_a_vmware_vm THEN /* Soraco API supports this question */
IF current_smbios.uuid != original_uuid THEN /* i.e. the uuid saved from when we did the activation */
invalidate_license();
prompt_for_activation_key();
In principle this will reliably trap cloned VMs that have licensed copy of our product installed.
Now the puzzle is how to get (via managed code) the smbios.uuid value for any OS. I've checked and found that the .vmf field (as explained earlier by JMattson) "uuid.bios" is NOT the same as the Win32_ComputerSystemProduct.UUID value found with WMI.
The .vmx file has:
uuid.bios = "56 4d c3 19 84 ec 04 86-1d 31 39 ca 2b cb 8a 55"
and the WMI field is:
Win32_ComputerSystemProduct.UUID = {FAF76B96-798C-11D2-AAD1-006008C78BC7} (Note, numerous other WMI class also contain this identical UUID value - Win32_OperatingSystem, Win32_ComputerSystem, Win32_Bios.....)
So I'm unsure of how to get that smbios value from managed code, it may be some other WMI field, but its not obvious at this stage.
Thanks
Hugh
PS: I had to logout and login in order to get past a constant posting error, was unable to post any replies until I did that.
PS: How does one "quote" another post in this forum?