Keeps prompting for serial

[headkaze]

I have Marine Aquarium 3 and have set up a shortcut on my desktop to MarineAquarium3.scr. Every so often when I launch it it will prompt for my serial number and I have to paste it in. Is there any way I can get around this annoying issue?

[tonycdh]

This happens to me too! I have it set always as my screensaver, but ill notice sometimes my screensaver is set to none, and i go to change it back to marine aquarium and it wants my activation code again. Weird.

[feldon34]

Received an e-mail about this about a month ago:

Hi, I keep getting prompted to enter my keycode about once a week, running Windows 10 with Serene Screen 3.3, can you help with this? I read through the posts on this but can't figure out exactly what to do.

[Jim Sachs]

It seems like we found the cause and fix for this a couple of years ago, but I don't remember what it was. (It's been a rough couple of years but I'm starting to get back to normal now.)

[harris]

A while ago (maybe a year or more) there was a thread that was getting a lot of replies from users who was having the same problem, including me. Some were saying it happened after the Microsoft monthly updates and others like me have it happen randomly. I just gave up and now have a MS word document with the keycode to copy and past it into MA3 when it disappears.

Anyway, Edger from Prolific posted what he thought was a way to fix the issue but never did any kind of follow-up with posters and it was never integrated into a newer version for download as was requested. Users should not have to go through these steps even if it does fix the issue. I have never tried the fix, so I can't verify if it works. Many users just gave up. Below is the text/instructions that Edgar posted in that thread:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From Edgar of Prolific.

To those who are having problem of needing to reenter the keycode please try the following:

1. Make a copy of MarineAquarium3.scr into another folder and rename it MarineAquarium3.exe.
2. Uninstall "Marine Aquarium 3"
3. Reinstall "Marine Aquarium 3"
4. Now right click on the MarineAquarium3.exe that copied earlier and select "Run as administrator"
5. It should ask for the keycode because you have uninstalled it.
6. Enter a valid keycode and make sure it is not a pirated keycode.

Let me know if this fixes your problems.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In a follow-up post someone made the comment below:

"I think Edgar wants you to find MarineAquarium3.scr in your Windows/Systm32 folder".

[Yankee28]

Thanks for the response Harris!! I too have given up and just copy and paste my keycode from a Word Document. I did find that same post a couple of months ago and tried Edgar's solution but not sure if I did it correctly as it did not solve the problem. I was hoping maybe there was a newer fix with a new download of the program, but guess not. Thank you for the info though, really appreciate it!!

[Alex Themelis]

This worked fine for me:

You will find MarineAquarium3.scr here:
C:\Windows\System32\MarineAquarium3.scr

Make a copy of MarineAquarium3.scr to your desktop and rename it MarineAquarium3.exe.


Now right click on the MarineAquarium3.exe that copied earlier and select "Run as administrator"

Enter a valid keycode. Then you can delete the desktop exe and your short cuts will work without asking anymore reg entry

[Ralph]

Thanks for that process. I thought I done something similar (but not from the desktop). Your process.. has worked for at least one log-out.. where none of my previous attempts would.

[nadnetut]

I just wanted to express my appreciation to Ralph for his process of changing .scr to .exe and so on in order to get the registration code to "stick." His proposal ABSOLUTELY works and resolved this problem for me after two months of trying. Also my belated thanks to Jim for what I consider to be an aquarium masterpiece. Ralph got it right and I am delighted to be back in the Marine Aquarium 3 business again. Thanks to all.

[Ralph]

Thanks for the compliment nadnetut.. but the credit goes to Alex Themelis. It was his work I passed along.

[Avwriter]

HI, new customer here. I am a new customer and cannot get the serial key to stick, even after trying the above suggestions. Here are a few details:


I am running Win 7 64


When I right click on a short cut (either the original one, or one copied from the System32 folder as per instructions here), I do NOT have the option to run as admin when right clicking. IN fact I do not even see the option to run/open the file. Instead, I see options like TEST, Configure, Install.



If I double/click the icon, then it asks me for my key. I enter the key, and it runs fine, but after closing it and running it again, I must again enter the key.


I would appreciate any advice.

[Blarney77]

Originally posted by Alex Themelis:

This worked fine for me:

You will find MarineAquarium3.scr here:
C:\Windows\System32\MarineAquarium3.scr

Make a copy of MarineAquarium3.scr to your desktop and rename it MarineAquarium3.exe.


Now right click on the MarineAquarium3.exe that copied earlier and select "Run as administrator"

Enter a valid keycode. Then you can delete the desktop exe and your short cuts will work without asking anymore reg entry  

Okay peeps! I'm running Windows 10 Pro 1903. I have seen this happen on EVERY NEW INSTALL for the last couple of versions (Since 1803?).
It asks for the key EVERY TIME IT RUNS!

The Above solution Works EVERY TIME I have tried it. You MUST originally run as Admin to install the code or it is not kept.

This version was written for a MUCH older version of Windows and I have to admit I'm somewhat surprised it keeps running. I find OLDER XP software has run much better under 10 than it did under my old Windows 7 Ultimate.
(My Adobe Creative Suite 2.3 runs MUCH better in Windows 10, where it crashed often in 7.)

Obviously Microsoft has made some changes in how certain registry entries are stored. I have also found that many software issues have been solved just by using "Run As Administrator".

Your screensavers actually are .EXE files, right?? So making the copy to the desktop, renaming to .exe and right clicking and run as admin does the trick to get the code installed permanently.

I have a few friends that will be very happy when I fix their issues.

Thanks.

So.. Next question... WHEN DO WE GET A MODERN UPGRADE????

It's Better With The Blarney!

[Ralph]

Originally posted by Avwriter:

When I right click on a short cut (either the original one, or one copied from the System32 folder as per instructions here),I would appreciate any advice.  

Copying a short cut may be your problem. Try after you copy the actual file.

[Jerry Lippey]

Tiki's method here..
https://www.feldoncentral.com/forums...8&postcount=13
worked fine for me.

I registered to comment on how to copy the PassCode from one key to another for readers who might not know.

You should export each registry to a .reg file, which is simple text. Then copy the PassCode value from the .reg file for this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SereneScreen\MarineAqua rium3
to the .reg file for this one:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\SereneScre en\MarineAquarium3
using a simple text editor like Notepad.

"Executing" the second file replaces the corresponding key, of course.

[Jim Sachs]

Thanks for the info!