Unique Virtual Machine [duplicate]

Question

This question already has an answer here:

• Is there really any way to uniquely identify any computer at all 4 answers

I am working on some method to protect my software with a license. Doing some wmi calls to uniquely distinguish computers and making sure there cannot be loaded multiple instances of the application.

I came to think though when the application is installed on a virtual machine (MS Virtual PC, VMWare, Virtual Box etc.) and licensed on that - would it is possible to clone the Virtual PC and then start multiple instances of the virtual PC on the same physical PC and still distinguesh the virtual PC's hardware (or other different) information from eachother?

Untill now I've looked a lot for wmi call's info differences and it seems like they are totally identical (I've checked two clones of the same pc image using Microsoft Virtual PC).

Answer 1

you could also try using hostid or combination of MAC and IP. like it or not MAC and IP addresses have to be different for VMs as well. Just bit cumbersome to generate keys based on IP/MAC for every instance, but if you could automate that, it might be a solution.

Answer 2

You should look at something like iLok, a hardware USB key for software licensing and protection.

Answer 3

I prefer using a Sentinel USB Dongle for software licences. The only problem I've seen with them is sometimes an idiot steals one because they look like thumb drives.