Hello,
Windows 10 updates crashed the OS drive containing SketchUp Pro 2015 last Wednesday. Neither of the mirrored OS drives were recoverable (registry wise) Image recovery failed. Professional recovery failed.
Rummaged around for a 2020 cloned OS with Pro 2015 on it, created shortly after upgrading from Windows 7 to 10. (Even though the OS was Windows 10 when the system locked up, background somehow treats the overall OS as a hybrid of 7 & 10, due to the way Windows 10 was released, which may explain the self-generated Trimble software message below…)
Clone was installed two days after the March 5th crash. All programs, including Sketchup Pro 2015 functioned properly. Planned on manually restoring User Data the next morning and called it a night.
Rebooted the following AM. Began manual restore of User Data. Monitor “self-repaired” from low res to optimum res without any external prompt. Decided to check graphics software to see if the “self-repair” transferred universally. It did, save for SketchUp Pro 2015, which refused to open at all, generating a “Licensed To: SketchUp Pro 2015 User, Expired” headline, along with the message “Trouble with your license… This SketchUp Pro license was created on a different computer, and will not work here. ”
Odd, that, as Pro 2015 has been on that PC for ten years - from the day of installation until this very moment.
Went to my account, which indicates Sketchup Free “expired” February 6, 2025. Sketchup Free was only used prior to the purchase of Pro 2015, and my account showed no reference of Pro 2015, even though the Pro 2015 purchase was confirmed to the same email account as is registered with my profile and this forum.
(Does this mean I get a full refund, in 2015 dollars, adjusted for inflation over time?)
Long story short, I have a perfectly usable vehicle in Sketchup Pro 2015, but Trimble, through some mechanism of automated mis-information, has denied (even if unknowingly) the use of the keys (license).
Safe bet that Trimble software is confusing a Windows 7 downloaded upgrade to Windows 10 as a different computer or perhaps a “bootleg.” Or it’s identifying the cloned OS as such, or something similar to either.
Trimble customer service has been contacted, with no reply as of yet. (Probably far to soon.)
Am fully aware of the high degree of possibility that the default answer may well be ‘one size fits all,’ that “Classic versions are no longer supported.”
In reality, it’s not “support” in the normal sense that is being solicited, just access to the keys (license) of a perfectly drivable car that “someone” (technically, "something) facilitated the heist of…
Is there a Trimble aficionado monitoring this forum, having authority to respond with an affirmative and logical response, rather than something more programmed?
It was a financial reach to make the original purchase ten years ago. Not only is life not getting any easier, SketchUp has never been used to generate revenue, only to help others develop a better understanding of what they could (or “should”) achieve with their public or not-for-profit dollars before signing pre-terms and checks for consultants, designers, architects and contractors…