Prevent licenses from breaking Enfocus Switch and PitStop Server in a virtual machine

After a restart or reboot of a VM (Virtual Machine), Enfocus licenses can go kaput so that they can no longer be used.

Cause and Solution

Enfocus licenses look at a number of hardware and software characteristics - a kind of fingerprint of the system. If there are too many changes all at once, the fingerprint no longer matches and the licenses are broken.

On VMs, this can cause problems if the VM is rebuilt or if certain values are changed when rebooting.
Therefore, the following precautions should be observed:

1. Before virtualizing an existing Operating System or manipulating a VM, first deactivate the existing licenses and/or cancel all subscriptions to the original Windows.
2. When running on a VM, rebooting or resetting a Windows host should not replace the Ethernet MAC address, otherwise licenses will be broken. Consult the VM's documentation on how to set a fixed MAC address.
3. When running a VM, rebooting or resetting a Windows host must not replace the VM's unique identifier, otherwise licenses will be broken. Refer to the VM's documentation for information on setting a fixed unique VM identifier.

Example:

Suppose in one session both memory is modified, updates are performed, network card is modified there is a high probability that the license will break.