pc access "security stamp"

[chrisdias]

i ordered the dealer pc access software through asi home, and received it today.

i installed pc access and on my first try didnt enter the serial number since i didnt see it on the CD case.

i've uninstalled/installed a bunch of times now, and entered the serial number (no dashes "-") and whenever i start it up i get prompted for "Enter Security Stamp".

Any ideas what the security stamp is?

argh.
chris

 

[chrisdias]

i ordered the dealer pc access software through asi home, and received it today.

i installed pc access and on my first try didnt enter the serial number since i didnt see it on the CD case.

i've uninstalled/installed a bunch of times now, and entered the serial number (no dashes "-") and whenever i start it up i get prompted for "Enter Security Stamp".

Any ideas what the security stamp is?

argh.
chris

double argh. now after crashing a few times, and letting me in once, it asks me for a password on startup. i have no idea what it is...

 

[chrisdias]

i ordered the dealer pc access software through asi home, and received it today.

i installed pc access and on my first try didnt enter the serial number since i didnt see it on the CD case.

i've uninstalled/installed a bunch of times now, and entered the serial number (no dashes "-") and whenever i start it up i get prompted for "Enter Security Stamp".

Any ideas what the security stamp is?

argh.
chris

double argh. now after crashing a few times, and letting me in once, it asks me for a password on startup. i have no idea what it is...

triple-argh...

i just read the documentation. who on earth thought this was a good user experience ................... argh!

 

[trumpetr]

i ordered the dealer pc access software through asi home, and received it today.

i installed pc access and on my first try didnt enter the serial number since i didnt see it on the CD case.

i've uninstalled/installed a bunch of times now, and entered the serial number (no dashes "-") and whenever i start it up i get prompted for "Enter Security Stamp".

Any ideas what the security stamp is?

argh.
chris

double argh. now after crashing a few times, and letting me in once, it asks me for a password on startup. i have no idea what it is...

Security stamp is a user generated passphrase that is used to encode your programming files so other integrators won't have access to them should they be copied. Used to protect your intelectual property (programming). You can leave it blank (worthington reccomends this) if it's not a worry. It is NOT the product key. (but if you entered the product key here that would be your security stamp)..

Password is "password" until you change it.

Hope that helps.

Matt

 

[cornutt]

Password is "password" until you change it.

Uppercase: "PASSWORD". And each time you install an update to PC Access, it will change it back to that.

 

[Frunple]

Password is "password" until you change it.

Uppercase: "PASSWORD". And each time you install an update to PC Access, it will change it back to that.

Actually its lowercase password and it will not revert to that ater updates. Not sure where you got that from?

 

[cornutt]

Password is "password" until you change it.

Uppercase: "PASSWORD". And each time you install an update to PC Access, it will change it back to that.

Actually its lowercase password and it will not revert to that ater updates. Not sure where you got that from?

Uppercase PASSWORD is what I've always had to use. And I've twice had the password revert after an update.

 

[HAI_fjh]

Actually the password is not case sensitive in the latest versions of PC Access. History: It was not case sensitive in PCA2, but in the first release of PCA3 it was. We were aiming for higher security, but there SO MANY complaints, I changed it back so that is no longer case sensitive and is limited to 10 characters.

The password should not revert after an update.

Also if you need/want to change the serial number, just run setup again. You do not have to uninstall first. You may enter the serial number with or with out dashes, in upper or lower case...

 

[Carlton Bale]

i just read the documentation. who on earth thought this was a good user experience ................... argh!

Three years later and it's disappointing that the situation hasn't improved. Putting info in the manual is not the way to address this issue; it needs to be on screen.

The first time PC Access is run, it should explain what the secruity stamp is and how it's used instead of just prompting to enter characters. How about a paragraph saying "The secruity stamp is used to encrypt the files created by PC Access to prevent them from being opened by unauthorized users without the password. If you do not wish to encrypt your files, leave this blank. If you created files on a different installation of PC Access, the security stamp for this computer needs to match the security stamp of the other installation." It should also explain the difference between the security stamp and the password, though I'm not sure why these two can't be combined.

Instead of having a default password of "password", how about prompting to create a new password after installation? or when each file is opened? Having the password be part of the splash screen is confusing and inconsistent will all other software.

 

[ano]

I agree. I've had to install/reinstall PC Access several times because of PC/Disk failures and each time its a nightmare trying to remember what the "security stamp" is and what the default "password" is. If you enter them wrong, your done. It is much more complex than it needs to be.

 

[zzazzles]

Ugh. I just ran into this exact issue. I'm glad I found this thread--otherwise, I'd be totally stumped.

However, I still have an issue which I think the OP also ran into: When I first installed, I didn't see the serial number label, so I entered a blank S/N. The installer didn't complain, but when the program started, it said "Serial Number: **INVALID**". I uninstalled it, reinstalled with the correct serial number, but still nothing showed up. It seems to have kept the info from the very first time somewhere, even I uninstalled.

(I've successfully installed it on an older PC that I had lying around, so I know it works, but I really don't want to use that one--I want it on my main PC.)

Is there a way to completely uninstall this darn thing, or remove whatever was left over from my first install?

Thanks!

 

[zzazzles]

PC Access ought to be the most useless POS I've ever used. I actually spent a whole night reimaging my drive to a state before the install, and it still didn't work. When it starts up, the user name and company still show up blank, and the serial number still comes up as "**INVALID**" even though I'm sure it's right.

The software installed fine on two of my 32-bit machines, so I'm thinking, does it not work with a 64-bit OS? I'm running 64-bit Windows 7. The funny thing is, it actually installed fine on a 32-bit Windows 8, and 32-bit Windows 7.

Thanks!

 

[InspiredTim]

It works fine on 64bit windows.

 

[HAI_fjh]

I am sorry to hear you are having problems with PC Access, but let me see if I can help...

As stated previously the solution to correcting the registration information, including serial number, is to run setup again. You do not have to uninstall. Serial number input is extremely forgiving in that you can put spaces, dashes or other separator characters, or no separator characters and the serial number will be recognized. When validating the serial number I first strip all non alphanumeric characters then test it. This has been thoroughly tested on all operation systems from XP to Windows 8 and since we have several tens of thousands of PC Access users I am fairly certain that the it does work.

So what could be going wrong?

1. Do you have admin priveleges on the system? Installing PC Access requires admin priveleges. Try right clicking on the installer and selecting run as administrator. Since the company name is coming up blank I am suspecting that your account may not have permission to write to the registry and therefore can't save the registration information.

2. Are you sure the seral number is valid for the type of PC Access you are installing? PC Access can tell the difference between types of serial numbers so, for example, a Lumina PC Access or user PC Access serail number will not work on the dealer version.

3. Typo? It is easy to transpose characters.

If your software is registered you might consider contacting tech support and asking them to resend your registration information. You can call or just send a e-mail with what you think your serial number is and, user and company name. They will send an e-mail to the registered e-mail address. You can then copy and paste the serial number. There will also be a download link so you can get the latest installer because some of the older versions may not install properly on Windows 8.

If this still doesn't work I would suspect something like a corrupt registry, or even some security software that is preventing the installer from updating the registry.

I hope this helps, if not please feel free to follow up with technical support, I an sure they can get you going fairly quickly.

 

[zzazzles]

Thank you, Fred.

The problem was that some versions of PC Access 3 are in fact incompatible with a 64-bit OS. This was actually documented in the knowledge base, Article #1000:

http://kb.homeauto.com/default.asp?id=1000&SID=&Lang=1

Of course, the problem is that without the serial number being recognized in a 64-bit OS, one couldn't actually update the software automatically. However, support was quite helpful and sent me a link to download the latest version, which now works with 64-bit Windows 7.

Thanks again.