Shot in the dark- you might try temporarily disabling antivirus, any other anti-malware, as well as firewall.  Purely guessing.

That one I haven't tried....disabled the firewall though. Not sure if "Microsoft Security Essentials" would block it though.

The other things is it asks if I want to "activate it by email"....and then gives me this information...(and mentions "Stardock Central")

Application start: 2018-8-17 3.59.14

Downloading test internet data...

Download: success

Test internet data - failed

Mode 1, short info

Offline mode: activation info posted

Application start: 2018-8-17 4.12.26

Downloading test internet data...

Download: success

Test internet data - failed

Mode 1, short info

Offline mode: activation info posted

Application start: 2018-8-18 4.5.42

Downloading test internet data...

Download: success

Test internet data - failed

Please check the serial number that you have entered and ensure that it is associated with the email you used. Try to activate the product again. If you are using Stardock Central you can right-click on the product and attempt to activate without reinstalling. Please include this log file when contacting [email protected].

Application start: 2018-8-18 4.12.34

Downloading test internet data...

Download: success

Test internet data - failed

Please check the serial number that you have entered and ensure that it is associated with the email you used. Try to activate the product again. If you are using Stardock Central you can right-click on the product and attempt to activate without reinstalling. Please include this log file when contacting [email protected].

Application start: 2018-8-18 7.7.50

Downloading test internet data...

Download: success

Test internet data - failed

Please check the serial number that you have entered and ensure that it is associated with the email you used. Try to activate the product again. If you are using Stardock Central you can right-click on the product and attempt to activate without reinstalling. Please include this log file when contacting [email protected].

Application start: 2018-8-18 7.9.52

Downloading test internet data...

Download: success

Test internet data - failed

Please check the serial number that you have entered and ensure that it is associated with the email you used. Try to activate the product again. If you are using Stardock Central you can right-click on the product and attempt to activate without reinstalling. Please include this log file when contacting [email protected].

Application start: 2018-8-20 14.23.36

Downloading test internet data...

Download: success

Test internet data - failed

Please check the serial number that you have entered and ensure that it is associated with the email you used. Try to activate the product again. If you are using Stardock Central you can right-click on the product and attempt to activate without reinstalling. Please include this log file when contacting [email protected].

Application start: 2018-8-22 17.53.28

Downloading test internet data...

Download: success

Test internet data - failed

Please check the serial number that you have entered and ensure that it is associated with the email you used. Try to activate the product again. If you are using Stardock Central you can right-click on the product and attempt to activate without reinstalling. Please include this log file when contacting [email protected].

Application start: 2018-8-24 0.36.22

Downloading test internet data...

Download: success

Test internet data - failed

Please check the serial number that you have entered and ensure that it is associated with the email you used. Try to activate the product again. If you are using Stardock Central you can right-click on the product and attempt to activate without reinstalling. Please include this log file when contacting [email protected].

I think that is a good summary of why it is failing.   Activation methodology with Stardock has evolved and this very old version has not.

If it offers activation by using your email address(not by sending an email) and stardock.com password try doing that.

Did that...still waiting for a response.

Ya then it's dying at the servers.

I have ObjectDock 1.90 on my account and I tried to DL and install.  Just to see what it would do here.

Windows 10/Defender blocks it from being run at all.  Invalid Security Certificate.  

I also DL and installed ObjectDock 2.2 which does run and install.   I don't like it because it always puts blank/empty spots on the Dock for running APPs.  Leaves them there after they close.  It's broken.

Do you have Winstep Ultimate Web?  Would you like it?

Yeah, that's one of the things I don't like about 2.2....just the overall way it's options are setup...I can get things done and adjusted easier and faster with 1.90.

And yes I have Winstep as well....works great!

Can we please stop beating around the bush. It says "activate.exe failed to reach your server" then goes on "do I wish to activate via email?" YES....PLEASE...ACTIVATE! Can we do this or not? I really hate the newer version and would love to get my 1.90 version activated! Thanks!

I checked my Object Desktop backup folder and I have 2 different versions of 2.20. When I hover over the .exe files 1 says file version: 9.1.1.0 and the other says file version: 9.5.1.0. Is there a difference?

I just tried 1.90 Windows won't let me install is either.

Just a guess, but what if you save the activate.exe from 2.20 and change it out for the 1.90 version and see if that would activate OD. Or am I just out of my mind.

Eheh. Does he have Winstep? Steve/WebGizmos is 'only' THE most prolific Winstep themes creator EVER.

Again...  

WebGizmos

reply 32

Again...  

Quoting WebGizmos,

reply 28

Can we please stop beating around the bush. It says "activate.exe failed to reach your server" then goes on "do I wish to activate via email?" YES....PLEASE...ACTIVATE! Can we do this or not? I really hate the newer version and would love to get my 1.90 version activated! Thanks!

I tested an old product (Fences Pro - same guts as your old OD) activation here and it worked fine.  I also checked our activation logs for those products and, while rare-ish (their frequency in the log), they are activating.

The stoppage has to be local (your PC).  I would just try shutting down any and all firewalls, AV products, including Windows defender.

While it might be more than you want to do, you can use Fiddler to perhaps see where its failing:

https://www.telerik.com/fiddler

This is a fresh install of Windows 7...and had no problem install and activating OD2...and I turned off the firewall and Microsoft Security Essentials...no other AntiVirus or firewalls and still would not activate.

So what is this other option of activating via email? I

I might give this fiddler thing a try but I didn't really want to install anything else. I'm trying to get all my basic stuff reinstalled so I can then back it all up so everything is fresh.  So let me know what the deal is with this email activation so I can get on with it.

Long since retired I am afraid.

OK...installed this Fiddler app...not very familiar with it but I'm guessing that while it's running it follows what's going on with my computer. Yes - No?

I tried again to install ODPlus and in Fiddler and this came up..."http://sdcentral.stardock.com/activate/connect.html" so I'm again guessing that SDCentral could be the culprit since It's not installed? Would...or should...that make a difference?

Ok...here's a copy of what this Fiddler app created....maybe since you suggested it's use you can make heads or tails out of this.

https://www.fiddler2.com/UpdateCheck.aspx?isBeta=False
http://outlook.live.com:443
https://forums.wincustomize.com:443
http://www.msn.com:443
http://ocsp.thawte.com/MEQwQjBAMD4wPDAJBgUrDgMCGgUABBSDXMN22sHhCJ%2BQ8WDKToovi3RuCgQUxe2TXys4R35Y01fH%2F0XFREHhX78CAyHSvQ%3D%3D
https://forums.wincustomize.com:443
http://www.msn.com:443
http://static-global-s-msn-com.akamaized.net:443
http://static-global-s-msn-com.akamaized.net:443
http://static-global-s-msn-com.akamaized.net:443
http://otf.msn.com:443
http://sdcentral.stardock.com/activate/connect.html
http://googleads.g.doubleclick.net:443
https://forums.wincustomize.com:443
https://forums.wincustomize.com:443
http://www.googletagmanager.com:443
https://forums.wincustomize.com:443
https://forums.wincustomize.com:443
http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com:443
https://forums.wincustomize.com:443
http://platform.twitter.com:443
http://connect.facebook.net:443
http://adservice.google.com:443
http://adservice.google.com:443
http://www.google-analytics.com:443
http://googleads.g.doubleclick.net:443
http://syndication.twitter.com:443
http://www.facebook.com:443
http://ocsp.usertrust.com/MFEwTzBNMEswSTAJBgUrDgMCGgUABBR8sWZUnKvbRO5iJhat9GV793rVlAQUrb2YejS0Jvf6xCZU7wO94CTLVBoCEEIa8pQJhBkfUgpLxiQmp0s%3D
http://ocsp.usertrust.com/MFEwTzBNMEswSTAJBgUrDgMCGgUABBRtl6lMY2%2BiPob4twryIF%2BFfgUdvwQUK8NGq7oOyWUqRtF5R8Ri4uHa%2FLgCEBBwnU%2F1VAjXMGAB2OqRdbs%3D
http://ocsp.comodoca.com/MFEwTzBNMEswSTAJBgUrDgMCGgUABBSOJaE2H4hHYQzP74hlLuO41NG%2BEAQUHsWxLH2H2gJofCW8DAeEP7bP3vECEEwtow0eIQRZ1MX1e7uRlk4%3D
http://sdc.api.stardock.net/2011-11-17/service.asmx
http://ctldl.windowsupdate.com/msdownload/update/v3/static/trustedr/en/disallowedcertstl.cab?19c774b9c5023a41
http://crl.thawte.com/ThawtePremiumServerCA.crl
http://account.api.stardock.net:443
http://install.api.stardock.net:443
http://sdcentral.stardock.com/activate/connect.html

I just installed the ODPlus 2.20 version you sent and I didn't even have to activate it or insert a key. Why can't this be done with my 1.90 version?

Because, no doubt when you activated 2.2 on 8/21/2018 4:45:56 AM, the activation file was still in:

\ProgramData\Stardock\ObjectDock

Ok, we think we found what could be an issue, WebGizmos.  You should not have seen it every time, but possible to see often enough.

In any case, please try again and let me know.

----------------
Sean Drohan
Stardock Customer Service Manager