Cannot Activate NovaBACKUP due to a problem with the "Windows Instrumentation Management" (WIM) service in the OS ("Activation failed for unknown reason" is the error in the "License Registration" dialog in NovaBACKUP all versions). If the WIM service has a problem then NovaBACKUP will not be able to activate online or offline, and WIM must be repaired or corrected prior to that working. You can use the 'msinfo32.exe' command, which is a built in app in all Windows OS versions and editions to check if this problem exists with WIM, as that 'msinfo32.exe' app will show invalid messages in it once launched if WIM has a problem) and until that is corrected that will break the online and offline activation in NovaBACKUP PC/Server/Business Essentials software. This can happen either during installation OR after being installed and changing keys/changing from trial mode to registered, etc.. This is a .NET related error, but it is due to WIM service is not working properly currently (or the WIM Repository is corrupt) on the OS that can leads to this license and registration activation workflow problem.
See the end of this KB article for a potential resolution.
Overview
If WIM service has a problem at the OS level it will cause the NovaBACKUP client activation process to fail, whether if you are trying to activate with "Trial" mode or "License key" mode, which could affect clean client installs and upgrade client installs, and it can also affect if NovaBACKUP is already installed and you are just trying to change the existing client Help > Registration dialog fields, such as Name, Email Address, and License Key (to change the license key to another one for instance), or just to confirm your Registration info by clicking OK in that dialog. The WIM service has to be in a healthy state in order for NovaBACKUP to be able to activate the software in all cases.
"WIM" service is required by certain entities and apps and will be in a healthy state always after a clean install of the Windows OS for instance, but it may not be so easy to fix for the average user, but luckily you should at least be able to see if does have an issue by taking a couple of steps, that are detailed below, including what was already mentioned in the first paragraph of this KB article, where if you run 'msinfo32.exe' if it shows error messages in that built in Windows app then that likely means that WMI service has a problem that needs to be corrected now to repair it, and/or if the WIM service itself, which is the "Windows Instrumentation Management" (WIM) service that is present in all Windows OS versions and editions, if you check that Windows service, by running 'services.msc' and locate the Windows service named "Windows Instrumentation Management" in the list and then see if that service is running, and if it is running, try to stop just that one service, and if it can't stop the service then you have a problem with WIM, and if that service is not running and you can't start it, then you also have a problem with WIM.
If the WIM service either cannot start and shows an error that it can't stop or start, or if the WMI service can start and shows that it is running, but if 'msinfo32.exe' shows error messages in all sections of that built in Windows app, that requires WIM service to be running as a service, and functioning properly, then that can lead to the following activation problems that will be seen then:
A. During a NovaBACKUP client install, whether a clean install or an upgrade install, for the online activation, "License Registration" dialog workflow, that it will attempt to do, it will show a “Activation failed because of unknown reason.” error, and if you attempt to do an offline activation, for instance if there is no current internet connection on that machine, then it will show the "B." problem below.
B. The offline activation dialog will produce a blank "Hardware Key" field value, and which produces in the end an error message “Activation failed because of unknown reason.” if you try to go thorugh with the offline activation, because it requires to have an actual value inside that "Hardware Key" field, if not it won't be able to do an offline activation.
This probably affects all recent versions of NovaBACKUP that utilize .NET Framework 3.51. This policy edit breaks something in the way that .NET Framework is used by NovaBACKUP for activation.
Confirming if the WIM service has a problem.
Here are all of the screen shots that make this issue occur, all I did was enable that policy setting and simply attempt to activate NovaBACKUP v17.1.804 (or newer) with a license key (this license key that you see in the screen shots is not valid so do not attempt to utilize that key):
And if you do not have a current working internet connection it may prompt with the offline activation dialog, and if you answer "Yes" to that prompt it will show a null value in the "Hardware key" field, which likely means that the WIM service has a fault, or it is due to the "FIPS compliance" setting is enabled in Windows, which will cause similar problems to this WIM service problem (which we have a separate KB article on how to deal with that here):
Check to see if the 'msinfo32.exe' command can display correct System Information details in that app, as if it cannot and it states an error about "Can't Collect Information" - "A network error occured in connecting to Windows Management Instrumentation." (WIM), then that is the problem here, that you will need to fix first; and the full instructions and how that would look (both for if faulty/bad, and if working/good) is below, in both text and in screenshot form:
Run the command 'msinfo32.exe' either via the Start > Run dialog or via an Admin Command Prompt, by typing in 'msinfo32.exe' without the surrounding single quotes added, and if the output of that command looks like this, where it shows a "Can't Collect Information" - "A network error occured in connecting to Windows Management Instrumentation." (WIM), then that is the problem here, a problem with the WIM service itself, which will negatively affect the Activation/Licensing/Registration workflow that will affect the NovaBACKUP client in that case as to the cause of it, that you will now need to resolve now (there are a few methods, but we in Support can't help you with any of them other than to point out this problem and how to find out if you do have the WIM service problem, which if the OS was working correctly you would never see):
This first example screenshot shows if you do have an issue with the WIM service, because the 'msinfo32.exe' command / app can't even collect information about your system (Windows computer) currently, which could mean that the WIM service is either not started or the WIM service is started but it has a problem when it is running (the latter one will be harder to deal with); make sure that you right click on the sreenshot and open it in a new tab to see the full / large original screenshot as the text is small here to read inline:
This second example screenshot is what the 'msinfo32.exe' command output should look like if the WIM service is working properly, or after you have repaired the WIM service problem, if the WIM service itself is in a healthy state in that case this is what the output would look like, to show various system details inside that 'msinfo32.exe' app like this, as compared to the red circled error message in the first screenshot in that case if you were to compare the two screenshots together; make sure that you right click on the sreenshot and open it in a new tab to see the full / large original screenshot as the text is small here to read inline:
Resolution
The work-around for this is to fix the WIM service problem at the OS level (that is detailed about in text and in screenshots, for at least what the WIM service problem would look like), and/or disable "FIPS compliance mode" in the group policy settings of for the PC(s) with the NovaBACKUP client on them. It is possible that both the WIM service can break or have the described problems in this KB article after having installed and activated NovaBACKUP, and it will affect you after having installed and activated NovaBACKUP the first time, which can then lead to issues with client upgrades later, because they will try to register and activate then for client upgrades, or if you try to perform any activation or registration related changes later in the client Help > Registration dialog, after the problem with the WIM service starts and is found later, and the "FIPS compliance mode" setting can be re-enabled on the machine after installing and activating NovaBACKUP client, for which this current KB article was written to work-around, and we have a separate KB article for the other "FIPS compliance mode" group policy setting problem, that was mentioned above, here.
Another potential resolution is to contact NovaStor Online Sales to discuss obtaining a "Perpetual" license key so you can perform an offline activation.
US: NovaStor Online Sales (ols@novastor.com +1.805.435.0067) handles email promotions, subscription changes, account changes and change of address, online purchasing, and returns.