Removing license from VBR, converting Agent to free license

[hoFFy]

Hi all,

we tested the centralized management og VAw with a NFR license for 5 clients. Now we want to change back to the free license because a NFR for 5 clients is not enough for our environment and due to to the limitation of mixing licensed and free VAW installations on one server we lost the ability to backup the other clients in our network.
First I removed the VAW and the VAL license via command line from the VBR server, then I performed an installation / repair on one of the clients that has formerly been managed by the VBR to restore the UI.
Now, when I klick on the About tab of VAW I see Free Edition - License and edition are managed by OURVBRSERVER and when I klick through configure backup VAW tries to contact our VBR server for the repository and tells me that it can not acquire a valid license.
What is the proper way of removing the VAW license from the network and let all clients backup themselves to the VBR repository in free mode?

btw.: a limitation of 5 clients for a NFR license is a bit too small. We are a service provider with a lot of customers being interested in the central management of VAW, but we can't provide them with enough tips, experience and so on due to the lack of being able to use the product. Yes we could buy a license, thats correct. But we talk about 20 - 25 clients we are able to manage them by hand, so we won't buy a license just to be able to sell your product

[Dima P.]

Hello Sebastian,

Registry hives (both Veeam Agent and Veeam Endpoint) should be removed from the client side too: registry values may keep the information about Veeam B&R owner even after agent is reinstalled. You can reach support team for the detailed instructions.

a limitation of 5 clients for a NFR license is a bit too small

Can you use a trial key instead of NFR for every client?

[hoFFy]

Thank you.
I checked my registry and saw some suspicious keys, but I was unable to edit / remove them. So I'm now in the process of reinstalling VAW manually.

We had the opportunity to choose between a NFR key for 5 clients, or an trial key for 30 days for all clients. But 30 days is not enough time in my opinion to test the software and get a real feeling for it. I'm working with VBR for several years now, being responsible for the backups in our company and I'm our expert who is mainly responsible for all the VBR installations at our clients, ending in being a fan of the product and began to write blog posts about it. This all won't be possible if I hadn't had the chance to test all the new features coming up every year at our own installation, talking then with our clients about it and selling them the updates and implementing the new features.

[DaStivi]

Hallo Sebastian,
you can delete the key with sysinternals devnull reg key tool... when deleting all the reg keys and the DBs files on the client (C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile + subfolder: AppData\Local\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server Local DB\Instances)

you can clean out everthing from the agent... but make sure you also maybe delete the agent license from backup&replication (and/or enterprise manager), else you will get again a license when using vbr backup repository...

Code: Select all

.\Veeam.Backup.Manager.exe -removelicense vaw

ps.: bevor deleting everthing on the client, i would try to clean out the trial or nfr agent license from backup&replication, as far as i can remember the client should then get into free mode, but you cant use the "managed" mode of agents then i guess...

btw:
i also would love to have a NFR Key for more then a couple of clients... 30day trial key is also not suitable for service providers and vmce's to really test the software and have it running internally (for what a nfr key is) and get a feeling what problems can occour... of course this is somehow production use, because this is the way we can gather information and knowledge how to handle the software configuringwise and how to handle issue too!

[hoFFy]

Hallo Sebastian,
you can delete the key with sysinternals devnull reg key tool... when deleting all the reg keys and the DBs files on the client (C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile + subfolder: AppData\Local\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server Local DB\Instances)

you can clean out everthing from the agent... but make sure you also maybe delete the agent license from backup&replication (and/or enterprise manager), else you will get again a license when using vbr backup repository...

Code: Select all

.\Veeam.Backup.Manager.exe -removelicense vaw

ps.: bevor deleting everthing on the client, i would try to clean out the trial or nfr agent license from backup&replication, as far as i can remember the client should then get into free mode, but you cant use the "managed" mode of agents then i guess...

Thank you, but as I wrote in my first post, I did exactly that Removed via command line from VBR server, then ran setup of VAW again and did a repair installation to get the UI back. In the UI I could see that the agent is still in managed mode, but with free license.

Now I uninstalled the client, reinstalled it and the first thing it asked (after creating the recovery media) was if it should run in Free Mode. Yes, please ! All other settings have been preserved. Only thing I had to do is changing the port of the VBR server in the configuration of the client from 10005 to 10001. I don't know where the 10005 came from, but VAW was unable to contact the VBR server on that port..

btw:
i also would love to have a NFR Key for more then a couple of clients... 30day trial key is also not suitable for service providers and vmce's to really test the software and have it running internally (for what a nfr key is) and get a feeling what problems can occour... of course this is somehow production use, because this is the way we can gather information and knowledge how to handle the software configuringwise and how to handle issue too!

[DaStivi]

the information about management is saved in the normally undeleteable key -> regdelnull tool

Code: Select all

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Veeam\Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows\ManagedMode

got some similiar issue where the agent still meant to be managed by vac....
physical-cloud-f49/9-5u3-agent-mgmt-fai ... 47608.html

deleting this key solved the issue!
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysint ... regdelnull

just start the tool with -s and you propably will onyl get the agent "managedmode" reghive... just delete it with the tool and you should be fine!

[hoFFy]

thanks!

[spgsit5upport]

Thanks, that one convoluted way to get it working again.

Should be made into KB!

Even after all these I get:

01/11/2019 11:21:31 :: Error: Veeam Backup and Replication version 9.5.0.1536 is not compatible with Veeam Agent for Windows.

Maybe in the past I chose to be managed, but now I definitely do not want so, and can not get it to free mode again!

No matter how many times I uninstall it, after next install it still thinks it is managed!

Seb

[Dima P.]

Hello Seb,

Please clarify the agent version from the client machine? Thanks!

[spgsit5upport]

That does not matter. Client was Endpoint2.2.0.589, which got upgraded to Endpoint3.0.2.1170

Both were giving the same error. Uninstalled/re-installed Endpoint3.0.2.1170 few times today (as per above procedure), no difference

I do not see this agent anywhere in Veeam Backup Server

Update: I got it. Agent being "helpful" creates "backup" in C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile which is then used by each next installation! Once deleted it is all back to nothing, which is what I needed!

[spgsit5upport]

In fact it is nothing as good. While there is no config, as soon as I want to configure the local backup I get:

[spgsit5upport]

I have the same happening on yet another completely different machine with Windows 10 Enterprise 1809

What went wrong that badly?

[spgsit5upport]

Reverted to Endpoint2.2.0.589

All works fine in the end

[Dima P.]

Hello Seb,

Sorry for the delay - was traveling last week. Based on the screenshot you've shared there is a version mismatch: Veeam Agent for Windows 3.0.2 was released two years after Veeam Backup & Replication 9.5 U3 (9.5.0.1536). If you want to use the latest version of Veeam Agent for Windows you must update your Veeam B&R server to the latest version which is Veeam Backup & Replication 9.5 U4b. Hope that helps!