Installing software without activation key?

THX1136

THX1136

Bonehead
Weird question (whose answer I probably already know) but here goes. I have an old Arboretum Systems install disc - Release R4.6 - that I came across when I was cleaning out stuff. It has everything they had available at the time (2000). I was using Ray Gun1/2 which worked great until I upgraded DAWs.

I have a way to extract all the files. There are a couple that I may still be able to run that would be of use (Ionizer and Realizer Pro). Since I don't have activation keys is there anyway that I can run them without their functionality being crippled? I assume "no", but thought I'd ask. Thanks for any input anyone can offer.
 
Did you try contacting customer support?
Rifle through your email inbox to see if there's an old activation email?
You checked the disk for the install key, I assume. It's on the box, probably?
 
Arboretum Systems no longer exists - (My purchase would have been in 2000 and I tried tracking them down without success back in the early 2000s). I toss old emails after a few months, print the ones that are important. The install disc was sent in a sleeve (no box) with the keys on stickers attached to the sleeve. I only "bought" Ray Gun so I have keys for it, but no other app on the disc itself. I am assuming the keys for Ray Gun do not work for the other apps, like HyperPrism etc., since I have a separate key, one for Ray Gun and one for Ray Gun 2 . There are crippled demos of the other software on the disc, but also what appears to be full installs. I'm making the assumption that I need a key to use a non-crippled version. Thanks for the reply, Steve.
 
mjbphotos said:
What OS are you running now? Chances are 20 year old stuff won't run on current OSs.
Click to expand...

There's always options. Windows is pretty good about basic functionality for Win 95+ software, and anything older can usually run on DOSbox. (Or one could run a virtual machine containing ME even.)

Something that old, you might be able to reverse engineer and/or crack the keys on. This is veering dangerously close to "encouraging piracy" territory, so proceed with caution. (I think hacking abandonware should be unequivocally legal, but I don't want to run afoul of the mods). Regardless, the exact skill set for that might be hard to come by in this forum. You might have better luck in a hacker or retro software forum.
 
Thanks for the input, Steve! I am honestly prepared for a "no, you cannot do that", in this case. I was just thinking the disc I paid for has all the full versions, since there is no company anymore could this be done? Sounds like more hoops than I want to go through. I might just enjoy the crippled demos to see what I am missing and then move on.
 
I wouldn't worry, Steve. If the company no longer exists there aren't really many alternatives.
Looks like they had a heck of a closing down sale, made their video suite open source, then vanished.

One I can think of, though, is that someone somewhere probably has a disc+key sitting on a shelf gathering dust.
Might be worth posting again here, with a different title, and maybe on other audio forums?
 
Thanks for the suggestion Steenaudio! Indeed, there may be someone like me that has a disc sitting around with a key - or keys - for the other apps like Hyperprism.
 
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