I am unable to activate FlowArm on 3 machines for Project Lead The Way Core training. I opened a ticket for this last year and was told to disable antivirus. I have already done that this year and I am still unable to activate the software. Please give a way to either test and ensure a connection to the correct servers or to activate it even with this error.
The specific error is as follows:
“Activation failed. Check your internet connection and firewall.”
Also after further investigation, it appears as though the software does not even attempt to make any network connections. Which was observed in Process Monitor by Sysinternals.
Hi,
The error “Activation failed. Check your internet connection and firewall.” indicates that something is blocking the attempt at a connection. In the last few years, this has been increasingly caused by anti-virus software that assumes anything that is not a recognized web browser doing port 80 requests is a virus. Of course, FlowArm PLTW is not a virus.
Please try the following link from the computer you are using with FlowArm: /PLTW_TEST/check0000-0000-0000-0000-0000
Make sure to replace “0000-0000-0000-0000-0000” with your actual licence code. Please paste a copy of the response in your reply.
Please note that if you are able to reach this server, then something on your computer or network is definitely blocking access from FlowArm (2 connections are made to google.com and u.flowbotics.com, port 80 HTTP). If this is the case, we recommend that you contact your network administrator.
Sincerely,
Here is my response:
false,https://www.robotshop.com/support,Activation Error: 400,There was an error activating the software. Please try again or contact us for support. ERROR CODE: 400,https://www.robotshop.com/support
And on at least this machine I manage everything on it so I know that there is nothing blocking it on the machine.
Hi,
Can you please try again (still replacing the code with your licence) the following test: u.flowbotics.com/apps/ec0e34b6-8453-41eb-86f8-d4787a1b06b1/0000-0000-0000-0000-0000/PLTWTEST/check
This time, you should get a different response.
Sincerely,
Here is my reply once again:
false,https://www.robotshop.com/support,Activation Error: 400,There was an error activating the software. Please try again or contact us for support. ERROR CODE: 400,https://www.robotshop.com/support
Hi Chris,
Please send me a private message with your licence code and the exact URL that you tried. The error 400 would indicate that the licence code or compid (in this case “PLTWTEST”) is in the wrong format (a wrong URL).
Sincerely,
I found a small typo and here is the new result:
true,http://www.flowbotics.com/updates/ovdqk9lhnl/setupFlowArmPLTW_3_0_0_0.exe,FlowArm PLTW Update,FlowArm PLTW 3.0.0.0 is now available.,This new version has improved stability. Download the update here:
Hi,
Ok, so it seems your licence code is working and that you can access the server properly using a web browser.
Therefore, you are most certainly having a security software issue. Are you using a school or business network? If so, it is highly possible that there is transparent security hardware/software blocking the connection from happening.
As mentioned previously, modern security software tends towards caution and blocks by default most HTTP/port 80 connections from non-standard software (not a known wen browser, basically), unless specifically told not to.
Please review your computer and network software/hardware parameters that could cause such a disruption.
Sincerely,
I have uninstalled the McAfee protection that was on this computer and disabled Windows Defender/Firewall.
I know that there is no network level security software that would be blocking the connection as there were about 18 other computers in the same room on the same network that were able to activate without issue.
Unfortunately if 18 other computers within the lab were able to activate the software, the issue is with that computer as opposed to the activation process, license or executable file.
You will need to have your IT / system administrator find the source of the issue.
