UNRAID 6.6.6. unlicenced (cracked) to licenced?


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Hello everyone,

 

we have a small IT support company and one of our clients had a "modified" unlicenced version of the unraid software on their server that has gone bonkers (they've tried updating this cracked UNRAID 6.6.6. PRO that was on and it fell apart afterwards). 

 

What happened:

 

1. they've installed the cracked version 6.6.6. pro and set up the whole system on it

2. then someone (very smart) tried to update it - they had a backup done before as after the update the system did not boot

3. they've restored the backup and were able to boot it up again but now everything was messed up, the GUI had half of things missing, they weren't able to run DOCKER etc. and, at this point, they aren't even able to access the FLASH drive as, when they open it in GUI, it shows up empty so, perhaps, everything is working from cache now and after reboot it's all bye bye.

 

 

QUESTION:

 

How can we help them? 

 

Currently, we are in a possession of one BASIC licence (that we have for testing purposes in our office) that we would like to use in order to repair that system. They are willing to purchase a licence IF we are able to restore the system but we don't want to purchase any additional licences in order to attempt this repair.

 

IDEALLY:

 

1. We reboot their server, the USB key is NOT messed up and we are able to copy stuff from it

2. We either use a trial licence or our own BASIC licence to copy their config and other necessary stuff so it does not break the array and then somehow either get to the point where we are asked to purchase another key or use the BASIC one with the standard procedure mentioned on the WIKI.

 

IN A NUTSHELL:

 

we keep the config but remove all the cracked stuff so it won't interfere and then use our BASIC licence to register the new key and restore the system as it was

 

Another question:

 

if the system was PRO but it had only 5 devices, will it be possible to use that config with the new BASIC key and licence?

 

Hopefully this was clear enough.

 

Please note that we don't endorse any kind of unlicensed software and we feel that they've got what they deserve but this is our very good client that we really want to help and straighten everything up.

 

Thanks in advance!

Edited by Maruco
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3 minutes ago, testdasi said:

This cracks me up. 🤣

 

It would be impossible to provide any kind of guarantee that "it would work" because there's no way to know what "modification" was done to the software.

If it were a legitimate copy of Unraid then my hunch would be a bad USB stick but then it isn't so...

:)

 

We knew this would be a fun topic.

 

I guess the main question here would be:

 

Which files are necessary in order to keep the config but not related to anything regarding the UNRAID version it was on?

If we just copy the config folder (from a PRO version) to a new licenced USB (a BASIC version) and try to boot up, would that work?

 

Also, there is a great possibility that it is a bad USB indeed, we just don't know that unless we make a reboot of the system, the main issue is that we aren't even sure if the USB is bad or it's not showing the FLASH contents as the GUI is messed up so much.

 

If it's a bad USB then the plan is to get the config out from the backup they had made and hope nothing hardware wise hasn't changed in the meantime.

 

Cheers!

Edited by Maruco
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I love .... software .... as much as the next person but I'm not sure how much help limetech would want anyone to give you on this specific problem since not only was the "customer" using a cracked version of their product, but also doesn't seem to really want to purchase a legitimate license.

 

If everything you are saying is true and you are in a tech support role and are billing a client, then I'd strongly suggest that you just buy a license and charge the customer for it since any legitimate tech support would not mess around with cracked software and such.  It's the cost of doing business.  There's no "if it works I'll buy a license", if they want their system restored they need legit software. That's how you should approach things.  A "very good client" should not be against $59 for a basic license.

 

But enough of me telling you how to do things.. :P

 

But to answer your questions.. a basic license covers 6 devices, so if you have 5 then it should work.

 

You only need the contents of the config directory.

 

This is not generally recommended but I did it last week to defrag my USB disk since I was getting errors in my syslog --- just unplug the USB from the Unraid server and plug it into another system.. and see if you have access to the drive that way.  I defragged mine and put it back into my Unraid server and had no problems.  Just don't "do" anything on the Unraid server while the usb is removed.

 

Alternatively, if the flash drive was ever set up to be a shared folder, you could try accessing it via SMB (such as \\unraid\flash).

 

But since you apparently have a backup, you can use that to restore to a properly licensed usb drive with the config folder.  Just remove any previous invalid license files (trial.key, basic.key, pro.key, etc).

 

If all that fails for some reason, I believe the Unraid wiki has info on what files you REALLY need to restore Unraid... something about super.dat maybe, and disk locations... apps/plugins/dockers can all be recreated with some work.

 

  • Like 1
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This will, most likely already have now already, cost the company more than a Genuine Pro licence.

What I personally would do, I am far far from an expert tho:
1. Try to switch the USB drive, if it works, switch to a genuine licence and software.
2. Try to salvage the Docker app data/VM data in to a new unRAID USB with genuine licence and just configure the rest manually and hope it works.
3. Just copy the data only and consider everything else lost and transfer to genuine software an licence.

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@Maruco - You say that you have a small IT support company.  In that case you would understand that support has to be paid for otherwise the support company does not make money and does not survive.  It seems to me that your client has no right to expect any support for software that they have been using that they have not legitimately paid for.  Equally, until tha situation changes, I would not expect anyone here to help either.  Everyone on this forum who is a user of Unraid and a customer of Lime Technology has paid for their license.  Most are home users and small businesses many of whom have paid for more than one license.  We sometimes ask for help, we sometimes give help to others, but that is on the understanding that Unraid is the work of a very small company who cannot support all users individually and therefore we are happy to share our knowledge and experience.  That goodwill is limited, however, and in my case would not extend to supporting anyone who is trying to profit from the work of others while trying to avoid payment. 

 

You say that your client is willing to purchase a license if you can repair their system?  They already know that Unraid can do the job - they had it working before these problems.  So they should buy a license and if they cannot solve the problems themselves then they could engage you to help them and pay you a reasonable fee for the work.  As commented above this has already cost them money; and now it is costing you money.  If they understand business, then they should understand this kind of support has to be paid for somehow.  If they don't understand that, then in my view you should walk away.      

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Hello and thanks to everyone who tried to help with an ACTUAL SUGGESTION.

Mainly to "Energen" with his:

Quote

This is not generally recommended but I did it last week to defrag my USB disk since I was getting errors in my syslog --- just unplug the USB from the Unraid server and plug it into another system.. and see if you have access to the drive that way.  I defragged mine and put it back into my Unraid server and had no problems.  Just don't "do" anything on the Unraid server while the usb is removed.

 

It really was an USB issue, we repaired the device and plugged it back, rebooted and it worked, we are now in the process of transferring the configuration to another USB device that they will purchase a licence for as promised and hopefully - everything will work out fine for everyone.

 

To others who were more concerned that the client was using unlicenced software and that we should walk away from the job.

 

We are an IT SUPPORT company, not an IT WALK AWAY company.

If we have a client that asks for help, we do our best to HELP and straighten things up  - and advocate for the "good guys" in the process. 

For another client we managed to negotiate licencing a dozen computers with fake Autocad licences and went through hell and back to keep both sides happy in the process.

 

 

For everyone else who were more concerned about the licence issue and actually took time to write a help-less reply, figure this:

the modified version is OUT THERE, obviously, and people are using it.  Eventually they might run in to the same problem as this client has - once you go with that version of the software there is no way from inside the system (if it's a PRO licence) to change the key, unregister it or something else and they are stuck with it - HINT, HINT, WINK, WINK developers!.

 

In my opinion, everyone who tried to help and gave a conctructive suggestion in this post did more for developers in the end than others who were more concerned about well being of our company and that of Unraid team. 

 

There is a lesson for everyone here I guess.

 

Cheers!

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  • 11 months later...
On 8/8/2020 at 2:27 PM, Maruco said:

HINT, HINT, WINK, WINK developers!.

 

There is a lesson for everyone here I guess.

 

Cheers!

I know I'm late with a response but I have something to say for anyone else wondering.

 

I see what you're saying but there are problems with you hint hint dev suggestions. (And why it'll never happen)

 

Unraid license is linked to a usb stick. 

 

USB Sticks are BANNED once they are removed from a product key.

 

If a license is removed buy a customer then issues are far worse than for a pirate because now they need a usb stick and a license.

 

You can move a license to a usb stick but it's not a clean process because it's a transfer.

 

Pirated versions of many products exist that has always been the case sadly but they all come with risks.

 

It really shouldn't be hard to do a migration though.

Copy most of the USB stick minus what ever hack and the license key and buy a key.

It should just boot and say please buy a license.

I have built multiple servers buy just copying the usb key and then purchasing a new license. 

You can also copy the cache drive to keep containers and vms.

It's quite modular really.

 

I would say that if the customer was able to crack it they would not be paying someone to copy some files to a clean version. 

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