Hi,

I have bought a new used CPU to upgrade from my AMD 3400g to AMD 5700x.

I currently run unraid 7.3.2 with internal boot on an NVME SSD.

Last time i upgraded my motherboard I ran into the issue of my boot drive GUID changing, rendering my license invalid and having me stuck as unraid only allows a few drive changes a year. I had 2 USBs die and then changed to internal boot prior to MB change.

I am in the situation now where all my boot drive changes are spend for the year.

My question: What can I do as a precaution to ensure I do not end in a similar situation? Is there a key file I can download while my drive still has its current GUID? Will the drive GUID change when changing CPU? Should I just write support in advance and request they unlock another drive change for me?

I am still a noob at this and appreciate any help. Now 11 months into my homelab and thoroughly enjoying my new hobby.

Are you using TPM or a flash drive for the license? If you are using TPM, and the automatic transfer doesn't work, we can always contact support, and they can transfer the license for you.

Hi JorgeB,

Thanks for the quick response!

I am using internal SSD / TPM. Do you know if support would allow me to register a new drive in advance? I would like to avoid downtime.

You don't register the drive, you register the new TPM which will be tied to the new board or CPU, you could ask for the transfer now; you just need to boot Unraid with the new board/CPU using a flash drive. That will blacklist your current license, but it won't prevent it from booting with the current release; it will stop working with newer ones.

Hi Jorge,

Appreciate your time for the response.

If it gets blacklisted my array cannot start as the license would be invalid. I dont have any flash drives on hand and only use internal boot.

I will reach out to support to see if there is a way for me to upgrade without getting blacklisted before or after so that I can transfer my license key to the new TPM module.

18 hours ago, FinancialAssociate said:

If it gets blacklisted my array cannot start as the license would be invalid.

The list of blacklisted keys is included with the OS release, so the current release you are running will still not see it as blacklisted, only after you upgrade the OS to a release after the transfer.

Oh so does that mean I can change the CPU, wipe the TPM and still continue to use unraid / start the array?

When I did the motherboard change that was not the case so it would be great if its possible.

I suppose I would have to say no to wiping TPM if it allows me to do keep the current ID?

Ah no for it to be blacklisted I would have to contact support and have them roll the key to the new TPM and GUID so either way I will have 1-2 days downtime while waiting for support.

Nevermind but thanks for letting me know.

13 minutes ago, FinancialAssociate said:

Oh so does that mean I can change the CPU, wipe the TPM and still continue to use unraid / start the array?

No, I mean you could use the old key with the old hardware.

8 minutes ago, FinancialAssociate said:

TPM and GUID so either way I will have 1-2 days downtime while waiting for support.

Support should transfer the key in a few hours, not days, though it may depend on the date and time of day.

22 hours ago, FinancialAssociate said:

My question: What can I do as a precaution to ensure I do not end in a similar situation?

If you're in the US, grab a $20 industrial USB flash drive and switch back to USB boot.

These drives are nearly indestructible, and you'll have no dependency on TPM or anything else in the system.

@JorgeB Got it. I will do the swap a little later today as I saw they answered yesterday around evening my time so I think their support is based in the US.

The reason I write 1-2 days is because that was my experience last time when I changed motherboard.

@Lolight Thats a good point. Do you have any brand recommendations? The USBs I had die were quite old.

https://forums.unraid.net/topic/199642-psa-on-industrial-mlc-usb-boot-drives-mlc-nand-end-of-life-and-last-accessible-stock/

@Lolight Thanks for the link. I'm EU based and the price compared to my server is too steep.

I changed the CPU a couple hours ago now and await support on my already open ticket, hopefully they will respond soon.

I will stick with the internal boot as I doubt my ssd will burn out anytime soon.

BIOS security updates and microcode patches can also reset the TPM identifier -- which means another support ticket even without touching the hardware. Something to keep in mind before the next BIOS update.

Hi Lolight,

Thank you for letting me know. When next year comes around and I get the 3 "free" online license moves again, I will probably look at a USB instead as you are correct it would have saved me a lot of hassle. I really realize how dependent I have become on the server when it is down haha.

For anyone else finding this thread later here is in short how it went for me.

1. I Bought a new AM4 cpu which means the TPM module with my internal boot license would get wiped upon installation. Given I had already spent my 3 online license moves, I would have to rely on support to handle a license move now.

2. I wrote Unraid support and asked if they could grant me an online license move in advance so I could handle it myself, to which they replied "No, but you can write us when you need it".

3. I then updated my BIOS before my CPU upgrade and shutdown my server without booting into Unraid again. Then I installed my new CPU.

4. When booting into Unraid my license had gotten wiped but for some reason I got a "Multiple licenses present and none of them valid". I then wrote support with my new GUID asking for the license to be moved.

5. I went into Unraids online license management tool and chose the blacklist old TPM GUID and replace with new TPM GUID. To my surprise this worked, even though I knew I could not do it myself. I had previously changed motherboard which also changed TPM GUID and there I had to wait for support to help me replace the key as I could not do it myself.

I do not why I could replace the key myself, but I assume either my 3 free moves online had reset, or perhaps support had granted me the move behind the scenes without letting me know. Support did not answer my inquiry within 24 hours and given my server was now fully licensed and running, I closed the ticket on my own.

So to answer my own original question, there is nothing you can do in advance if you have spent your 3 online moves aside from writing support. From my experience it seems support is active on EU time from 18:00, Mon-Sat.

2 hours ago, FinancialAssociate said:

From my experience it seems support is active on EU time from 18:00, Mon-Sat.

I think all the Unraid team are based on USA West coast which will probably be what times you should assume for support being online.

Yeah I think so too, which is actually nice since it means I am off work when they are available.

It would be nice to know for certain when the support is actually open but support never answered my question for this and only answered part of my ticket.

8 minutes ago, FinancialAssociate said:

It would be nice to know for certain when the support is actually open but support never answered my question for this and only answered part of my ticket

I suspect it is not quite that simple if many of their employees work from home much of the time so you may get responses outside any quoted hours.