Software and hardware components that affect the Machine Key

About this document

Replacing critical hardware components can cause the Machine Key to change. If the key does no longer match the key that was used during the activation of InstaLOD, the computer becomes unauthorized and requires a new license node.

Components that affect the machine key

Changing the following software and hardware components impacts the machine key: 

• Motherboard
• CPU
• Primary Storage Drive / OS reinstallation
• Device Name

Components that can be safely swapped

Adding or replacing the following hardware should not affect the machine key:

• Storage Drive (HDD/SSD/NVME/USB)
• Graphics Card
• RAM
• PCI-Slot Cards
• Power Supply

Adding, removing, or changing user accounts does not affect the machine key. However, if InstaLOD was authorized for the first time with a version older than InstaLOD 2020, a manual refresh of the license can be necessary to resolve authorization issues. 

Resolving issues after the machine key has changed

It is recommended to deauthorize a machine before performing changes that affect the Machine Key. However, a list of all machine activations can also be viewed in InstaLOD Cloud which allows deactivating a machine after its Machine Key changes. Alternatively, reverting changes that affect the machine key such as renaming a PC causes InstaLOD to accept its previous authorization.

Licensees with locked license nodes need to reach out to their account manager to perform a license reactivation.