Unlocking Silverfast Ai 6.4.4r7

[Datarolf]

Hi,
I am the happy owner of an Epson F3200 film scanner which was delivered together with Silverfast Ai 6.2.2r4 way back in 2005. I have used it extensively since then and upgraded to Ai 6.4.4r7 which is the last version supported for that scanner. When upgrading my scanning computer to Windows 10 both scanner and program intially worked just fine. But after a month, for some unknown reason, the program suddenly asked me for my serial number to unlock Silverfast. However, supplying the 20 digit serial number and clicking the "Unlock" button displayed leads to no action at all. The program asks me to put my original Silverfast disk in the DVD reader, but that does not help at all - still no action. I have also reinstalled the program, but the result is the same.

It is however still possible to click "Demo" and then the program runs flawlessly in demo mode. With some Photoshop tricks it is possible to remove the Lasersoft watermarks from the scanned image, but that is not the way it should be.

So my question is if there is any way to unlock the Ai 6.4.4r7 without involving the installer or verification program?

I am happy to supply my 20 digit serial number to Lasersoft to prove that I once have bought the program.

Any suggestions are appreciated!

Yours,
Rolf Johansson

[LSI_Ketelhohn]

Dear Mr. Johansson,

I am sorry but we will not be able to help you here.
It is astonishing that this setup worked at all.
Neither the driver nor the available SilverFast version are compatible with Windows 10.
The last operating system we successfully have tested the device on was Windows 7.
That also would require the latest SilverFast available for the device (6.6.2r5).
SilverFast 6.4 only supports Windows XP and can not handle the advanced user-rights management of newer Windows versions.

Kind regards,
Arne Ketelhohn.

P.S.: I removed the e-mail from your post. You should not post your e-mail in public forums unless you like getting a lot of spam.

[Datarolf]

Dear Mr. Ketelhohn,

Thank you for your reply and for removing my e-mail address. I fully agree with you that it was unlikely that such an old device and program version should work under Windows 10. However, I can confirm that Ai 6.4.4r7 has worked without problems under Windows 7 (64 bit) just as you said. However, there is one piece of your answer I would like to push a little bit further: You say that the latest Silverfast available for Epson F3200 is 6.6.2r5. I can not get that version as a download alternative when entering my 20 digit serial number under "updates" on your web page - the only version shown to me is the 6.4.4r7.

Would it be possible to have a try with the 6.6.2r5 version? And how can I then download it? Or does my particular license stop me at 6.4.4r7?

The reason for me trying to find a resolution is the fact that the Epson F3200 is working perfect including its drivers etc. under Windows 10. Also Silverfast 6.4.4r7 works in Windows 10 without any problem in Demo mode - the only hassel are the watermarks left on the scanned images. So I am contemplating living with the watermarks and use Photoshop removing them or investing more than 1 000 Euros in a new film scanner capable of 120 film. Hence, I would not like to leave any alternative untried.

Yours,
Rolf Johansson

[damjanl]

Hello,
I have the same problem as described by Mr. Johansson. I was using Silverfast Ai 6 with Windows XP first, then with Windows 7. About a month ago I upgraded to Windows 10. Everything was working just fine (!) for 3 weeks. But a few days ago Silverfast prompted for serial number. Silverfast accepted serial, but stayed in demo mode (again and again), Lasersoft watermark appeared on every scan. I uninstalled and installed software again several times, but it doesn't help.
Mr. Ketelhohn, I don't agree SilverFast 6 is not compatible with Windows 10. Mr. Johansson wrote it was working just fine for some time. I have the same experience. And it is working in demo mode with Windows 10 right now. The problem is not program compatibility, the problem is registration.
I belive majority of your customers, who purchased Silverfast in the past, would like to use Windows 10. Mr. Johansson would, I would. It would be great if you can find the way to fix this registration issue.
Best regards!
Damjan Leban

[LSI_Ketelhohn]

No there unfortunately is no way to manually unlock SilverFast 6.
That has to be done through the software itself which unfortunately does not understand the access rights and folder structure of Windows 10.
I assume that some Microsoft update rendered it unusable. It possibly changed some setting or system security guideline.
SilverFast 6 is also not certified for Windows 10 which also can be an issue.

Like I said I can not explain why it worked because it puzzles me that it did at all and therefor unfortunately can not help you.

Kind regards,
Arne Ketelhohn.

[brian_mk]

This thread is interesting to me because I am attempting to get Ai 6.4.4r7 to work with an Epson 4870 scanner on a 64 bit Win 7 system.
I've only just been trying it for a short time, so have not hit the unlocking problem yet.

My own findings are that once you have installed the Epson 64bit driver for the scanner, the Ai software runs up to a point. It recognises and communicates with the scanner and you can initiate a prescan. However the prescan hangs part way through and you have to kill the Silverfast application from Task Manager. I have also noticed some strange garbled characters in a couple of the scan size entry fields, so something is not quite right.

Interestingly, Epson's own scan software that was originally designed to work on 32bit Win XP works perfectly on a 64bit Win 7 system once you install the Epson 64bit driver.

[LSI_Ketelhohn]

Dear customer,

SilverFast 6.4 unfortunately is quite old and only supported up to Windows XP.
For Windows 7 you would require at least SilverFast 6.6.

Kind regards,
Arne Ketelhohn.

[MikeGlw]

This thread is a bit old but I would like to help others using Silverfast AI 6.4.4r7 on Windows 7.

Silverfast AI would not complete the unlocking when run in Windows 7.

One trick I found was, to right click on the application icon that the Silverfast will be running.

Under the compatibility tab, check "Run this program in compatibility mode for:".

Select Windows XP (Service Pack 3).

Run the application and start Silverfast AI.

The Silverfast AI should now complete unlocking ( I tried this with the 6, 5 character code ).

[Benito Maxwell]

Thank you, Mike! I run in compatibility mode and it works great.