BUG when displaying the license information in Prime ???

[Werner_E]

If you click on License under Options in Prime, a host ID is also displayed. I was of the opinion that this is the MAC address, called 'primary' by PTC, for which the current license was generated.
But apparently there is some confusion here and it is a constantly changing fantasy MAC!!?

I can't believe that this is intentional behavior, which is why I classify it as a bug.

I am not sure but i think that in older versions of Prime the correct MAC was shown, the one the license was created for.

I recently had to generate a new license and had it created for the one that was displayed. Of course this license file did not work. This was quite annoying, as license management is not exactly one of the easiest features on the PTC support sites and it took me some time and effort to finally move the license to the correct MAC.

[LucMeekes]

I get the very same mac address for Prime 4, 7 and 10, and it's the same that I once had a license  for.

Are you sure it's not your PC that is changing mac address (and Prime just echoes what it gets from Windows)?

I know that my (android) phone can generate random mac addresses to fool systems that want to identify phone-holders based on mac address.

(https://source.android.com/docs/core/connect/wifi-mac-randomization-behavior )

May be your windows can do it too: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/how-to-use-random-hardware-addresses-in-windows-ac58de34-35fc-31ff-c650-823fc48eb1bc

Success!
Luc

[Werner_E]

I am pretty sure that its not my notebook changing MAC addresses. Actually I checked the MAC displayed in Prime and it did not match any of the MACS (virtual, wireless and ethernet) reported by ipconfig/all.
Furthermore I know that Prime is very sensitive with respect to that "primary" NIC it would chose. On contrary to Mathcad (15) it would only accept the license for that very NIC it chooses to be 'primary' and to the best of my knowledge will not change that label 'primary.

I am aware of the problems possible if a NIC is disabled after installation or is enabled when it was disabled at installation time. Thats not the case on my side.

On the other hand - if your Prime 10 shows the very same MAC all the time, its nonetheless likely a problem on my side, of course.

I just look and now Prime consequently shows the MAC of my wireless adapter, but the primary adapter the license is bound to is my ethernet NIC.

I guess Prime would not accept a license bound to the wireless adapter but I won't try now - never change a running system ...

EDIT: Its a few hours later now and I fired up Prime once again and checked - now Prime shows the correct MAC address of the ethernet adapter. And the machine is connected via cable to that ethernet adapter all the time and the wireless adapter is on all time and was never deactivated. Someone more clever than I am may understand whats going on here ...

[MartinHanak]

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@Werner_E wrote:

I am pretty sure that its not my notebook changing MAC addresses. Actually I checked the MAC displayed in Prime and it did not match any of the MACS (virtual, wireless and ethernet) reported by ipconfig/all.
Furthermore I know that Prime is very sensitive with respect to that "primary" NIC it would chose. On contrary to Mathcad (15) it would only accept the license for that very NIC it chooses to be 'primary' and to the best of my knowledge will not change that label 'primary.

I am aware of the problems possible if a NIC is disabled after installation or is enabled when it was disabled at installation time. Thats not the case on my side.

On the other hand - if your Prime 10 shows the very same MAC all the time, its nonetheless likely a problem on my side, of course.

I just look and now Prime consequently shows the MAC of my wireless adapter, but the primary adapter the license is bound to is my ethernet NIC.

I guess Prime would not accept a license bound to the wireless adapter but I won't try now - never change a running system ...

EDIT: Its a few hours later now and I fired up Prime once again and checked - now Prime shows the correct MAC address of the ethernet adapter. And the machine is connected via cable to that ethernet adapter all the time and the wireless adapter is on all time and was never deactivated. Someone more clever than I am may understand whats going on here ...

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Hi,

I am adding some information...

1.]

When using my notebook I always activate one network adapter. This means ... if I have a cable plugged in Ethernet socket then I disable WiFi. In the past I met problems when both network adapters were active.

2.]

I always disable MAC Randomization in Windows 10 for WiFi.

https://support.boingo.com/s/article/How-to-Disable-MAC-Randomization-in-Windows-10

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/how-to-use-random-hardware-addresses-in-windows-ac58de34-35fc-31ff-c650-823fc48eb1bc

[Werner_E]

Thank for the infos.

Fortunately I never had any problems with WiFi enable while connected via Ethernet cable. The license for the Ethernet Mac would be accepted without problems.
The only problem I encountered was  that I generated a license (probably for the WiFi MAC) because I relied on the MAC displayed in Prime. The license was not accepted. I never thought that Prime would display anything else  but the 'primary' adapters MAC which always was the Ethernet's MAC.
BTW, when I wrote that the displayed MAC did not match any adapter shown via ipconfig /all i probably was wrong. The discrepancy could have been because of the WiFi MAC randomization. Thanks for the link!

I still am surprised why Prime sometimes would display the WiFi MAC even though the machine is permanently connected by cable to the Ethernet adapter.

[MartinHanak]

I still am surprised why Prime sometimes would display the WiFi MAC even though the machine is permanently connected by cable to the Ethernet adapter.

Hi,

if both network cards are in connected state then Windows decides which of them will be used for network communication. I think this the reason why Prime sometimes reports WiFi MAC address as Host ID.

[JeffH1]

To make sure you are requesting a license for the correct Host ID, you can always open a command window (cmd) and type:

C:\>  ipconfig -all

This will give you a listing of all of your adapters (real, virtual, LAN, WiFi, and Bluetooth) and the physical address (MAC address) of each.  Some will come and go if things like Bluetooth or WiFi are getting turned on or off.

I almost always use this method to get the physical address of my primary Ethernet Adapter to request license keys, as the Mathcad interface can sometimes give the addresses of the other adapters.

[Werner_E]

Sure I know about ipconfig /all and actually thats how I noticed that the MAC address shown in Prime was the wrong one.

Using "getmac /v" probably would be even easier but I'm used to ipconfig 😉

There also is (or was?) a program provided by PTC which would return the MAC considered 'primary' by PTC. Not sure about the name and where to find it, though.
Anyway,  I just thought that the easiest way to get the MAC the current license is and the new license should be created for  would be to look in the software itself and I am still confused why Prime would show a different MAC address, not the one that the license it runs under is covering (while of course Prime accepts it) and not the primary ethernet adpaters MAC (which would be the only one Prime would accept in the license file). If I interpret your last sentence correct, you made the same experience, too, that Prime is not displaying the correct MAC (Host-ID) in the Options-License  tab.

EDIT: Found the PTC tool I mentioned above. Its misleading name is cpu_id.exe and will return the MAC address of the "primary" adapter only. It seems to be not part of the installation but has to be downloaded separately here: https://support.ptc.com/images/cs/articles/2020/04/1586254571vy8p/cpu_id.zip
So I guess its nothing you have at hand quickly when you would really need it 😉