Hi, all:
Just a bit of clarification, as the licensing model and license control/validation has changed over the years.
There are many types of MBAM Consumer licenses out there now, depending on when and how the license was purchased:
- 1-PC, lifetime
- "up to 3 PCs" subscription
- 1-PC subscription
The bottom line now is this, according to the MBAM Senior Technical Product Manager, @bdubrow: a license may be simultaneously activated on
ONLY the number of systems in the same household for which that particular license is authorized. If the license is activated on more systems than the number for which it was authorized, that will lead to error codes and eventually blacklisting of the license.
Each "PC" is actually an Operating System, either on a physical machine (the most common scenario for most, basic home users, hence the use of "PC" terminology), or on a dual-boot, or a VM.
In other words,
each OS for a dual boot requires its own activation. The same is true for the host and guest OS in VMs.
So, a 1-PC license -- whether lifetime or subscription -- can only be activated on 1 operating system at a time. An "up to 3 PCs" license may be activated on up to 3 operating systems in the same household at one time.
Lifetime licenses do not need to be renewed. Subscription licenses do require renewal.
As far as moving/transferring licenses and reinstalling on the same system, yes, there has been for some time now a limit on these, to control piracy. It's always best to "deactivate" the license on the old system before transferring the license or reinstalling Windows/MBAM. But, if you do run into a problem reactivating because you reinstall MBAM or Windows often, you will need to contact Support
here (with your documentation and license info), to have them reset the count (as I explained
here and as some of you have reported).
For *any* license activation/validation issues or questions, it's best to contact Support
here (with your documentation and license info). They are the
only folks who can sort out those sorts of problems.
I hope this helps a bit,
MM