I saw this issue mentioned yesterday when i was browsing the forums while downloading the update, but i cant seem to find it again today. I now get this dialogue when trying to launch after updating.

I have uninstalled P11 (using a 3rd party uninstaller that also clears the registry & any other associated files) and reinstalled - same result. then did it again with the antivirus turned off - same result. redownloaded the installers (Install Poser 11.exe & PoserSupport.exe) and tried the above again - same result.

Poser is not blocked by my firewall. nothing else is having a problem connecting to the internet.

anyone got any ideas of what i can try next?

Yes, you need to update to Poser 11.2 The contact license server has been shut down since Poser is no longer an SM product. You need to download the latest Poser installer along with new content from Renderosity. Do not use the SM Download Manager. Go Here

I had that problem and I think it was due to me entering the serial number incorrectly. I mistakenly used the number for my Poser Pro 2012. After uninstalling P11, I reinstalled and, when prompted, entered the correct number. So far, so good.

apologies, i wasnt clear enough in my original post, what I listed above is what happens after downloading and installing the latest files from renderosity at PoserSoftware.com/downloads

Oh, ok. The question should be: did you copy and paste the SN correctly? Not type it but paste it?

oh, I wasnt prompted to enter a serial number during the instalation. there are older versions (7 & 9) still installed on this computer, maybe i should clear those out too..

You don't need to clear out the older version 7&9. You may just need to put in your Poser 11.X serial number and the serial you upgraded from if the 6&7 digits of your serial number say UD instead of RD. I just renamed my old Poser 11 in SM folder to 11.1 and the installer just picked up my serial info no problem. Because you uninstalled it may have deleted the references to the old information.
Also when I installed today at home Poser was written into the SmithMicro folder inside of Programs. When I tested at Work on a new machine which never had poser Before it was Loaded into Programs Poser, I think not sure the exact name, and that asked me for a serial number to continue.

The problem with clearing out all references associated with Poser using 3rd party software is you remove your SN at the same time. The Poser 11.2 update uninstalls Poser 11.1 for you and if you use the default installation, which uses the old SM folders, it retains the SN from the old registry. Unless you manually set up pathways and preferences in an entirely different manner that Poser can't track or determine, installation should be straight forward and trouble-free.

I got the same message yesterday...today no problems...it's a mystery to me...

Thanks for the input folks. I tried installing on a different computer this morning, and get the same result. at no point have i been prompted to enter my serial number. the only thing in common on the 2 computers i have tried is Bitdefender Internet Security, and disabling that before installing doesnt seem to change anything.

Another thing to check is the clock on your computer. If it is significantly out of sync with the clock on the license mgmt server (several days), then the SSL connection to the license mgmt server will fail resulting in the error message shown above.

Hi - I have exactly the same problem. I have go through a lengthy conversation with support on this trying to get to the bottom of it however they are not responding anymore. I have done the following: Uninstalled and reinstalled twice, second time clearning all legacy files after uninstall. I have checked the firewall application rules - no issue and even then I ensured Poser was given full permissions. Turned off my firewall, antivirus and my routers firewall - no change. I have done a tracert to the server through command prompt - according to support it is getting through so there is no problem with my net connection. Previous Smith Micro version worked fine - contacted server and installed smoothly with no problems.

My machine is running windows 7, all up to date. Not sure what else I can say. I use poser pro all the time and now its an rather expensive error message plus I cannot get my own models out of it.

If anyone has any ideas, I am open to them, but I am at a loss and support is not responding anymore.

As coincidence would have it, I now have the same problem again. Not exactly thrilled with the prospect of having to uninstall and reinstall... again.

My Smith Micro P11 was bought and paid for, and worked fully without phoning home after registration, with never a problem until now. As things stand, I am going to reinstall my old SM version and stay with that until a permanent solution to this ridiculous situation is found.

It's fair to say I am very, very far from impressed.

Bugger, I should have known. Can't get me old version to work because SM no longer recognizes the serial number. Oh well, time for another reinstall of the new one.

Getting more than a little hacked off with this; I have enough things happening in my life without faffing around with misbehaving software.

I think that would be even more frustrating than it not working at all SamTherapy, to have it work and then stop again :/

You ain't kidding. The reinstall of 11.2 didn't work, either. Back to the old "Unable to connect to license server" thing.

Never had a single problem with the old version. I honestly don't see why this one needs to phone home every time you start it; the old one didn't. It's a shitty idea, and massively inconvenient if your internet connection dies, or if you prefer to work offline.

I strongly recommend Bondware take a good hard look at the way it's implemented and make some changes because, as a long time Poser user and - I like to think - a well known member of this community, I am seriously pissed off after only three days of it.

Surely to buggery it ain't difficult to ask existing users to provide some one-time validation they have a legit copy? I kept my sales emails from Smith Micro, seeing as they have useful stuff like serial numbers. Making people jump through hoops like this is a great way to alienate 'em. The old version allowed you to activate and personalize on a one shot basis, with no further contact necessary.

Apologies if my reaction seems disproportionate, but as I mentioned above, I have a lot on my plate to deal with in RL; this is the last thing I need.

Can you share a screenshot of the date/time settings on your computer? It is necessary that they be reasonably accurate for the SSL-based license check to work.

You can read more abut it here: https://superuser.com/questions/760208/getting-ssl-certificate-error-after-changing-computer-date

The date is nothing to do with my problems. My computer is set up with the correct time and date and uses mircosofts webtime checker. The only thing it could be considering I am in the UK is that the time here is not matching up to the server in the states, but that would only be a matter of hours out.! Edit - just in case you question it, this is the error and the date and time.

Renderosity shot 1.jpg

Computer clock has to be move that 48 hours out of sync to cause a problem with SSL.

What happens if you go to https://api.posersoftware.com in a web browser?

It goes straight through to the Poser website - no issues at all. I also did a tracert at the requst of the support team when I was trying to work this issue out. That also completed from the Command Prompt. There is no issue with web connectivity and as said, antivirus, firewall and router firewalls have been switched off to eliminate those as the cause. I am at a loss.

I assume you guys tried temporarily disabling your anti-virus to see if that was the issue?

Using Avast Antivirus - others seem to be using different ones. I have switched it off as well as disabling the avast firewall and router firewalls. It made no difference at all. Not sure what others have done. I have also checked through the logs in my AV software to see if anything was flagged up during install - there was nothing. Usually avast will alert me if there is a problem during an install.

Wow - definitely seems like an extreme edge case. Any chance to install on a separate Windows computer on the same network to rule out the odd corrupted file/registry setting?

Thankfully I have a second studio PC. This is the same set up to my primary (if less powerful) - Windows 7 64Bit, Avast Antivirus. In addition this has never had Poser Installed on it. Completed the installation, Antivirus saying nothing about blocking things / quarenteening them etc. Checked Firewall permissions, allowed all access. Same result. Error message coming up saying I need an internet connection. I have also opened a browser and tested api.posersoftware.com on this PC - it goes straight through to the poser website. Checked Avast settings - switched off antivirus, shields and firewall - tested again - still refusing to work.

I do wonder if the registration check is done by another program beyond the poser.exe file that may not be being picked up by my checks on the firewall?

tim posted at 4:40PM Sun, 22 September 2019 - #4363307

I assume you guys tried temporarily disabling your anti-virus to see if that was the issue?

My AV specifically asked if this program should be allowed, so I set it to "Always". As mentioned before, it seemed to work for 24 hours, then refused to start after. Within that 24 hour period, I started, closed and restarted Poser several times without incident.

A side issue - which may be related - is that the registration box showed "Trial Version 0 Days Remaining" at the bottom, next to the Cancel and OK buttons.

As with the OP, I'm also in the UK, if that's relevant. As for another machine, I don't have one. I've just tried again to launch Poser, with the same "Unable to contact license server" message.

Interesting - Any chance either of these computers is laptop that you could test on another network to rule out some network proxy issue?

Both of mine are studio tower PC's.

Not me. It's a desktop and I'm at home. Don't have access to another network. Also, I don't use a proxy, or anything like that. It's a straight connection to my hub, which then goes on FTTP.

The actual internet connections in this area are brand new fibre, installed two years ago, so I can't see any problem there, either.

In my case, I think the error message is a red herring. Twice now, the installation worked for a day, then refused to work. I think it's something to do with the "Trial Version 0 Days Remaining" thing, rather than anything else, as if the licensing server is refusing my serial number as valid.

I too am in the UK, have the correct time & date on the computer clock, can access https://api.posersoftware.com without issue, have disabled my antivirus while installing, and have the same issue when installing on different computers.

in case it helps, when trying to start Poser with Bitdefender enabled, the log shows:

The application Poser.exe attempted to connect to the Internet: File path: D:Program FilesPoser SoftwarePoser 11Poser.exe Destination: 52.3.70.55 Protocol: TCP (6) Port: HTTPS (6) Bitdefender Firewall has granted access for this application.

(I have spoken to a friend that lives nearby who has not recieved this particular error when upgrading - although they did get an error regarding 'the grace period for activating this product has expired' )

Okay, I am trying to be helpful here so don't take this the wrong way. I am hoping this will fix a potential issue for future users / upgraders to the new version of poser. I have used Poser since it first came out and I have a soft spot in my heart for it.

My original Smith Mirco Poser Pro 11 was installed on this PC. Nothing has changed - Windows 7 64 Bit, Avast AV virus software. The new version should work without issue if it is using the same Serial verification system. It is not, so something has changed in the software when it was created / redesigned or somehting was left out. There is something blocking the system from establishing a network connection within the software. For me, it just doesn't work, for others its intermittent. It is a problem with the 11.2 version of the software and I can confirm version 11.0 worked without any problems.

EDIT - Okay... That is 3 people in the UK who are having problems. I was not going to say this because it could have been a coincidence, but 3 seems less than likely. It is possible there is a protocol with certain UK ISP's that is interferring with the software.

One last thing to try is rename/remove the folder where Poser saves the license/registration data lives (C:ProgramDataPoser11) on Windows. Be sure to save your license key/SN somewhere before taking this step. After renaming/removing the "11" folder, restart Poser & you should be prompted to register with your license/SN like a new install.

@fatmess - yes, I was curious about the ISP protocols as well & therefore the question about trying from a different network. If we could isolate that, we could possibly do something different in software.

Done, and I get the same 'unable to contact license server' dialogue when trying to launch.

Same here. Removed the 11 folder and get the "Unable to connect" dialog, too.

Arse biscuits.

Okay - I have been having a think about this. Certain ISP's in the UK have a preshield virus / hacking protection system installed on their side. I think that my ISP uses that system to filter info and data coming in. This is obviously beyond my control and I have no say in the matter and I have no idea what their rules and protocols are over network traffic, however if you are using certain ports for this system, those could in theory be red flagged and the connections refused. If that is the case, it would make sense for me, but leaves the question open as to why others would get intermittent issues.

Who is your ISP, fatness? I'm on Virgin. Maybe that's the problem; it won't go all the way.

I'm with TalkTalk here.

On Sky here, so we are now all different. If you are on Virgin are you on their fibre network or have you go one of their outsourced packages Talk Talk and Sky both use the BT network though...

Our network is entirely run by Virgin. They were digging up the roads round here for a couple of years. Most of the houses are new builds and, before Virgin, most people were on Sky or TalkTalk. Everyone on TalkTalk jumped ship because they are, to be blunt, shite. Currently, Virgin are offering the fastest connection in the region - 100 mb - and so far, they're the only ones with fibre to the premises. I think they have to offer line lease to others after a while but not yet.

So, yep, we're pretty fast here. Well, apart from Poser, which currently appears to be as much use as a dead sloth that ODd on mandrax.

@SamTherapy talking to developer here, you should only see the "Trial Version 0 Days" if you have not entered a Serial number on the registration page & hit OK.

That's odd. I didn't even see a registration page. What do you suggest now, old chap?

Or, do you mean the Registration dialog within Poser? If so, I did enter a valid serial number; the one from me previous - Smith Micro version.

Yes - referring to registration dialog within Poser. Once you enter your valid Poser 11 serial number & click "OK", you should not see the "Trial Version 0 Days" on registration dialog again & program should start.

Curious that you are all British. Is there anyone having this problem who isn't in the UK?

Could you download the new content (the Hivewire stuff, etc.)? Did it accept your serial number as valid to do that?

I did that, Tim. First time, I entered my Poser Pro 2012 number by mistake. When I reinstalled, I used the correct one but the problem was still there.

Or rather, the new version of Poser automatically filled it in without any input from me. When I reinstalled, I noticed the error and corrected it but the problem didn't go away.

Any suggestions?

@randym77. Yeah, we're all completely loopy here, that's the problem.

I downloaded the Hivewire stuff, no bother. Well, the Dusk and gorilla things, since I bought Dawn a while back.

@randym77 - yup, no problem at all with downloading the new content.

Well, that means your serial number is valid. The problem must be in the connection from the UK to Murfreesboro, or whenever Poser's servers are now.

Yeah, we're all completely loopy here, that's the problem.

You've all been Brexit'd from Poser. ;-)

I wonder if the time is the issue. You guys living in the future and all.

Though you'd think that would affect other Europeans, too. Though maybe they made allowances for that, with the German, French, and Japanese, versions, but not for the English version?

I have tried setting the computer to one of the american time zones, same result unfortunately.

randym77 posted at 7:11PM Sun, 22 September 2019 - #4363365

Well, that means your serial number is valid. The problem must be in the connection from the UK to Murfreesboro, or whenever Poser's servers are now.

Yeah, we're all completely loopy here, that's the problem.

You've all been Brexit'd from Poser. ;-)

Mine could still be a serial number problem. My copy of Poser 11.2 somehow picked up the number from Poser Pro 2012, which I didn't notice until later.