Help! Can't get pro version trial to revert to free
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@imautoparts said:
I've deleted pro and downloaded the standard version 3X now, to no avail.
"Deleted" or "uninstalled"?
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You can't simply 'delete' an earlier version...
You must UNINSTALL it.
Look at Control Panel > Programs etc...
Find the appropriate entry and 'Uninstall' it.
It has to be removed from the Registry 'properly'...
THEN you can try to reinstall things...
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"but after some hacker worked out how to force the residual Pro features to stay active after it had officially reverted to Free,"
LOL, some people are just too clever.
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@tig said:
You can't simply 'delete' an earlier version...
You must UNINSTALL it.
Look at Control Panel > Programs etc...
Find the appropriate entry and 'Uninstall' it.
It has to be removed from the Registry 'properly'...THEN you can try to reinstall things...
I used the windows 7 control panel to fully uninstall the program 3X now... with no success. Each time I reloaded the free trial version... and each time it went straight to the "trial expired" screen upon opening.
I've read in other more technical forums that it could be a failure of the uninstaller to remove the original registry entries, but I'm not enough of a techie to know the procedure.
Help! (drowning sound)
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Are you sure you are trying to install the correct Free version - if you have got the Pro installer by mistake then you'll go round in circles...
Assuming 'yes'...
I also recommend Piriform's 'ccleaner' as it's 'honest' AND free - some other reg-cleaners report dubious issues and then want you to pay to fix them, AND they can also add spyware etc...Back up the registry using the reg-scanner's options before erasing things in case you break something else !
If 'ccleaner' doesn't 'clean out' the registry after the uninstall and let you install Free then you might have to to be brave and run regedit to remove any residual Sketchup related entries manually, if they persist after doing the full uninstall...
These will be
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\SketchUp8
and
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\SketchUp8 Pro
There are many other entries but removing those would be awkward and risky too...You speak of Win7 but your profile says Vista - can you update your SCF records...
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@tig said:
You speak of Win7 but your profile says Vista - can you update your SCF records...
TIG, thanks for all your attention on this. The machine that is affected by this problem is my friend Mike's Windows 7 Toshiba laptop. I run an old-school desktop with Vista, and as I've never downloaded the Sketchup pro trial I'm not having the problem that Mike is.
Both Mike and I are older gents and I'm a little bit more computer savvy, so I joined the forum as I'm trying to help him find a fix.
I'll try the ccleaner as soon as I can, and report back. I accessed regedit just now on my machine and can't make heads or tails of it - but at least I'm on the right path and some more research/study should solve my knowledge problem.
John H, Indiana, USA
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Maybe a registry cleaner (e.g. ccleaner) after deinstallation will remove the unwanted entries?
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OK - so I got it fixed.
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Ran a full ccleaner registry sweep AFTER uninstalling all versions of Sketchup from the machine
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Reinstalled the FREE version
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Tried to start the free version, Got the same old "sketchup pro trial expired screen"
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Went into regedit
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Searched for sketchup 8 entries
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At the bottom of those entries appeared this item: Welcome Dialogue
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Within Welcome Dialogue there are two entries - the bottom one is AllowRevertToFree
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Go to edit command, then to edit
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Change the value from "0" to "1"
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Close regedit
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Reboot machine (I just did this to be certain the change "took"
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Start machine, click on Sketchup 8, and HOORAY! The option of "revert to free" now appears on the pro trial expired startup screen.
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Back to sketchup!
Hope this helps someone with a similar problem. Thanks for all your help!
John and Mike, Indiana, USA
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John, this is definitely helpful but if it works this way, it is also ready for a bug report. The truth is that these things are rarely tested (even by beta testers) as most of the folks who do tests, have the pro version anyway (so they usually give a damn on testing the Free version - e.g. I remember testing the free version of 7.0 the last time - just out of curiosity).
Now if this is so problematic, someone should look into it more in-depth.
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I want to try SketchUp Pro Layout, either the 30 day trial or eventually the student 1 year version, but I am afraid of losing my free SketchUp 8. I found this discussion and wondered if the process is clearer or easier now, so I don't go through what imautoparts went through. I am afraid SketchUp or Trimble will use the trial to disable my SketchUp 8. There is no way to keep the programs separate? Thank you.
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Each SketchUp version installs independently of previous versions you might have installed. There's no reason to worry about losing your SU8 installation.
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That is really good news. I've done many, many renderings, and and am looking forward to using the program for construction drawings as well. Thanks for letting me know.
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