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Join Date 12/2025

Multiplicity 4 – Primary computer locked / Activation required

Windows Insider 26200.x (helpers fail to execute)

Multiplicity 4 – 4.07

Windows Version

PRIMARY PC: Windows 11 PRO build 10.0.26200
SECONDARY fresh installation PC: Windows 11 PRO build 10.0.26200

Summary of the Issue

Just bought a version 4, and upgraded from 3 . Cleaned everything, rebooted, reinstalled, and nothing helps . On my main PC running Windows 10.0.26200, Multiplicity 4 installs successfully but cannot be set as a Primary computer.

“Primary computer” is locked with Activation required
Finish button is disabled
Only “Secondary computer” can be selected
No visible activation or sign-in option is available in the UI

The same installation works perfectly on a second PC

Key Finding (Root Cause)

Multiplicity 4 relies on small helper executables (elevation / activation helpers).
On Windows Primary these helpers exist on disk but cannot be executed by Windows.

Example helper:

Observed behavior

File exists (visible in Explorer)
Running it from CMD or PowerShell fails with:

This happens even when:

Path is correct
PowerShell syntax is correct (.\DeElevate64.exe)
File is present and readable

This indicates a Windows loader / execution failure, not a missing file or PATH issue.

What Was Tested

✔ Confirmed

Full manual purge (files, services, registry, firewall rules)
Clean reinstall using latest installer
Running installers and apps as Administrator
Disabling Defender / Smart App Control / Controlled Folder Access
Network checks (no VPN / no proxy)
Correct PowerShell execution syntax

❌ Still fails

Helper executables (DeElevate64.exe, etc.) cannot execute
Activation never starts, so never completes
Primary computer remains locked

Why this only affects one PC?

Main PC: Windows pro 10.0.26200 → fails
Second PC: Stable Windows pro 10.0.26200 → works perfectly

Conclusion

This issue is not caused by user configuration, corrupted install, or licensing misuse.

It appears to be:

A compatibility issue between current Stardock service/helper binaries and this Windows build?
Possibly related to service installation, execution, or Windows loader behavior?
Specifically related to helper executable execution / elevation?

I’m happy to provide:

Full logs
File hashes
Defender history
ProcMon traces if needed

Thanks for looking into this.

multiplicity

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A Windows Insider (26200.x) compatibility issue

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. But, do know that Stardock does not support for its product on Windows insider/Beta release. However, I have forward your issue to Stardock Support Team for their assistance. Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates.

Added note: Stardock is currently on Holidays and only be back by 5th January 2026. Please expect some delays on respond.

We appreciate your feedback and patience. Thank you.

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

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Thanks for the reply — and sorry for the confusion earlier, I’ve edited the original post to correct this point.

To clarify: this is not an Insider / Dev / Canary build.
This is the latest public Windows update:

I also want to add one important test result:

Fresh Windows profile test

I created a brand-new local Windows user profile on the affected machine and tested Multiplicity 4 there:

Fresh user profile (no Stardock data, no prior Multiplicity installs)
Same system, same Windows build
Clean install of Multiplicity 4
Same behavior:
- Primary computer remains locked with “Activation required”
- Finish button disabled
- Only Secondary can be selected

This confirms the issue is not caused by a corrupted user profile or leftover per-user configuration.

For reference:

The same license works correctly on another PC
That other PC is also fully updated, but does not exhibit this issue

Fresh Groupy 2 installation
Gives me a similar errors with files deelevate64.exe and groupysrv.exe while installing app , while installing services

Sorry again for the earlier edit confusion, and thanks for taking a look — happy to provide any additional logs or diagnostics if needed.

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Just a though, did you installed the secondary first before the primary, and did you activated multiplicity on your "Secondary"? From what I understand, you don't need to activate Multiplicity on the secondary, just select it as a secondary. If you did activate the secondary, please try deactivate the secondary activation first. Than try the activation on the Primary again.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

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Quoting basj,

reply 3

Hi Basj, thank you for the suggestion.

To answer your questions precisely:

Yes, I installed Multiplicity first on the Secondary machine. (with out a activating a license key)
On the Secondary machine:
- Installation completed without issues
- I was able to switch roles
- The activation window appears correctly
- No errors there

However, on the Primary machine:

When I try to switch it to Primary:
- I select “Primary computer”
- I confirm the dialog (“Yes”)
- Nothing happens
- The role does not change

So the flow works on the Secondary, but fails silently on the Primary.

Important additional finding

While this issue persists, I decided to revert to Multiplicity 3 as a workaround.

Unfortunately, I now see the same behavior with Multiplicity 3:

I can install it
I can connect machines
But when attempting to switch the Primary role from Secondary, it also does nothing
No error message, no role change

This makes me think the root cause is machine-specific on the Primary PC, rather than activation order or license state on the Secondary.

I tried almost all the things for now...

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sdRohan

Join Date 10/2012

+757

The ChatGPT responses, while detailed, are a bit to verbose. In the future, just the facts and we can go from there.

You have no activation attempt under the email address \ key attached to this username (that does have MP 4 pro under it. The email is:

***[email protected]. I suspect you know what those * are, use that email address to activate.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

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Hi Sean,

Thank you for the clarification. I’ll keep this brief.

On my Primary machine, I’m unable to complete setup or switch it to the Primary role, so I never reach an activation window. Because of that, no activation attempt would have reached your servers from that system.

I’ve confirmed this is specific to that machine. Multiplicity works normally on the Secondary, but on the Primary the role switch does nothing (same behavior in both v3 and v4). I’ve also verified this persists on a fresh Windows user profile.

Regarding the email: I recently registered a new Stardock account because my original email address is no longer recognized on the website. Password reset emails for the old address never arrive, although I can still retrieve serial keys associated with it.

At this point I’m planning a full Windows reinstall on the Primary machine to resolve broader system issues. If I’m unable to complete that in time, I may need to request a refund and revisit Multiplicity afterward.

Thanks for checking on your side.

Best regards,

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I think it is worth noting... With Multiplicity 4 pro, you can only have one pc as your primary at a time. If any pc has somehow taken that slot taken you will not be able to activate any other pc as your primary.

How to change your primary pc...

Under your "downloads" here on this site you will see Multiplicity 4 pro followed by the serial key followed by (...)

Click the (...)

If you see any pcs activated as your primary here you are in luck as that can be changed

From here you can deactivate any pc that is currently taking your primary pc slot and afterwords you should be able to activate any other pc as your primary instead.

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Thanks for the suggestion.

I’ve already checked the account side. There is no Primary PC registered or activated under my Multiplicity 4 Pro license — Sean also confirmed there is no activation attempt showing on his side.

On the affected Primary machine, I’m unable to complete setup or switch it to the Primary role at all, so it never reaches the activation stage. Because of the errors i mentioned while installing . This is why no Primary slot could be taken by another PC.

The Secondary machine works normally, i cant switch to primary and a activation popup is showing, but the Primary role cannot be assumed on the main PC (same behavior in both v3 and v4).

This errors i get while installing on Groupy and Multiplicity 3 and 4

https://ibb.co/CpKVxPZ4

Thanks.

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sdRohan

Join Date 10/2012

+757

Quoting Seriosa,

reply 6

You wont want a refund as we will get it to work. Let us know when you have completed your format and tried again.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

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If no activation prompt shows then the problem is probably a damaged .net install on the PC.

The only part of the app that needs .net would be that window.

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Thank you very much for the clue!

After extensive debugging, My friend and i found the issue. It was NOT related to:

Windows builds
.NET Framework corruption
Activation/license problems
User profile issues

The actual cause: IObit Advanced SystemCare

IObit Advanced SystemCare had registered malicious entries in the Windows Image File Execution Options (IFEO) registry, hijacking Stardock executables and some other soft. Specifically, it set itself as a "Debugger" for:

DeElevate.exe
DeElevate64.exe
SasUpgrade.exe
SdDisplay.exe

All Groupy executables (GroupySrv.exe, GroupyConfig.exe, etc.)

When Windows tries to run these files, IFEO redirects execution to C:\Program Files (x86)\IObit\Advanced SystemCare\AutoReactivator.exe, which fails silently. This is why:

Files exist on disk
Files are readable
But running them returns "The system cannot find the file specified"

The Fix (PowerShell as Administrator):

Code: asp.net
# Remove all IObit IFEO hijacks from both registry locations 
Get-ChildItem "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options" -EA 0 | ForEach-Object { if ((Get-ItemProperty $_.PSPath -EA 0).Debugger -like "*IObit*") { Remove-Item $_.PSPath -Force -Recurse } } 
Get-ChildItem "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options" -EA 0 | ForEach-Object { if ((Get-ItemProperty $_.PSPath -EA 0).Debugger -like "*IObit*") { Remove-Item $_.PSPath -Force -Recurse } }

After running this:

Restarted Multiplicity
The "Primary computer" option now works
Activation window appears correctly

Groupy also works again

Thanks everyone, for investigation and your time to help, hope this thread can help someone else.

Wish you all the happy new year 2026!

Successfully updated karma reason!

Quoting Seriosa,

reply 11

Thank you very much for the clue!

After extensive debugging, My friend and i found the issue. It was NOT related to:

Windows builds

.NET Framework corruption

Activation/license problems

User profile issues

The actual cause: IObit Advanced SystemCare

IObit Advanced SystemCare had registered malicious entries in the Windows Image File Execution Options (IFEO) registry, hijacking Stardock executables and some other soft. Specifically, it set itself as a "Debugger" for:

DeElevate.exe

DeElevate64.exe

SasUpgrade.exe

SdDisplay.exe

All Groupy executables (GroupySrv.exe, GroupyConfig.exe, etc.)

When Windows tries to run these files, IFEO redirects execution to C:\Program Files (x86)\IObit\Advanced SystemCare\AutoReactivator.exe, which fails silently. This is why:

Files exist on disk

Files are readable

But running them returns "The system cannot find the file specified"

The Fix (PowerShell as Administrator):

Code: asp.net

# Remove all IObit IFEO hijacks from both registry locations

Get-ChildItem "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options" -EA 0 | ForEach-Object { if ((Get-ItemProperty $_.PSPath -EA 0).Debugger -like "*IObit*") { Remove-Item $_.PSPath -Force -Recurse } }

Get-ChildItem "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options" -EA 0 | ForEach-Object { if ((Get-ItemProperty $_.PSPath -EA 0).Debugger -like "*IObit*") { Remove-Item $_.PSPath -Force -Recurse } }

After running this:

Restarted Multiplicity

The "Primary computer" option now works

Activation window appears correctly

Groupy also works again

Thanks everyone, for investigation and your time to help, hope this thread can help someone else.

Wish you all the happy new year 2026!

Makes you wonder why on earth they are doing that!

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sdRohan

Join Date 10/2012

+757

Quoting Neil Banfield,

reply 12

Makes you wonder why on earth they are doing that!

Malware apps always cause more problems than they solve.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

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Multiplicity 4 – Primary computer locked / Activation required

Multiplicity 4 – Primary computer locked / Activation required

Windows Insider 26200.x (helpers fail to execute)

Windows Version

Summary of the Issue

Key Finding (Root Cause)

Observed behavior

What Was Tested

✔ Confirmed

❌ Still fails

Why this only affects one PC?

Conclusion

Fresh Windows profile test

Fresh Groupy 2 installation

Important additional finding