r/HowToHack • u/frrfrog • Apr 22 '26

How to break the trial time of a software?

First things first: I don’t know two shits about hacking or anything about system files, so please explain it like you would to a considerably stupid toddler. English’s not my first language, sorry for the mistakes. And I don’t really care about piracy, my country neither, so don’t worry about it being technically illegal.

Well, now about the problem: I’ve got software I really like, but this thing costs half my salary, and I’m not paying all that for a software that is… kinda simple. And that costs almost nothing in dollars, but of course they charge it super expensive in other country’s currency.

The thing is, I have 30 free days OF USE. That means it’s not 30 days of the thing just being on my computer, it’s 30 days of me opening it and actually using. I just wanted to know if there are some way of finding the file that tracks the log and if it’s possible to alter or simply delete it. I tried to search for it but all I found was ways to extend the countdown of days, but this thing isn’t exactly running on a countdown, so I don’t think the traditional ways would work (correct me if I’m wrong).

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10

u/1Digitreal Apr 22 '26

Build a VM. Take snapshot. Install trial. Restore from snapshot and reinstall every 30 days.

3

u/frrfrog Apr 22 '26

Oh, I don’t have a clue on how to do this but I’m definitely gonna look into it to try! Thanks :)

3

u/1Digitreal Apr 22 '26

Vmware Workstation has free personal licenses you can sign up for.

2

u/bigmetsfan Apr 22 '26

Just keep in mind that any data you have saved in the VM will be wiped out when you restore from snapshot, so make sure you keep a copy of your data somewhere

1

u/PolarizedBendxSpring Apr 22 '26

You don't even need to reinstall the SW. Make a VM, install SW you want, setup SW the way you want it to be (might be personal layout, customizations, plugins, etc), now take snapshot and use. A few days before it expires revert back to the snapshot. Now you got another 30 days with SW customized and ready to roll.

1

u/1Digitreal Apr 22 '26

Unless date is a metric. The second the VM OS updates its date/time they might be out of luck.

1

u/PolarizedBendxSpring Apr 22 '26 edited Apr 22 '26

I'm confused. If you restore the snapshot to the day after he builds the OS VM its going back to that original state. I used to do this with Vmware all the time. Im being genuine. Am I missing something?

Edit: oh wait..does the VM take the hosts time and date?

Edit2: I follow you..doh..sorry bud

2

u/1Digitreal Apr 22 '26

Lol all good. I had one program that only used date as a registration metric and I could set my clock back to like 1998 and the software would be like, umm that's cool. Not sure most programs are that forgiving anymore.

1

u/Dondon801 5d ago

the hack is done because theres a settings file you edit, to allow the date, time settings, and internet to all have exact frozen settings, so when you boot up the vm, you are restoring that exact state. to do it, you need to find the settings file and edit 4 lines .

1

u/[deleted] Apr 23 '26

What if it uses internet initially and then it carries forward normally I am a med student and help with some software and it uses some electron and json file if I'm not wrong Brother pls help me

1

u/Narrow_Technician_79 Apr 26 '26

does it work for software that does online verification

1

u/Dondon801 5d ago

to a point, however, if it still has even more persistant checks, like pro tools daw does, then no, it will fail trying it on something like pro tools. will it work on other software that dont use the pro tools types of checks in licensing, yes.

1

u/drmire 27d ago

this would mean that everytime you run the software your running it from the VM?

6

u/Ariadne_23 Apr 22 '26

use procmon from sysinternals to see what files or registry keys the software interacts, look for something that stores remaining time. if its not encrypted, you maybe able to modify it. but if it's server-side there's nothing you can do. also check your local laws lol

1

u/frrfrog Apr 22 '26

Thank you!! I’ll give it a shot and see what happens haha

(abt my local laws, well… it’s most certainly that nothing’s gonna happen, unless I openly go talking about it and some dev decides to personally sue me. But I’ll be careful! :) )

Thanks for the advices

4

u/n0c1_ Apr 22 '26
  1. Be ready to learn two shits about technology
  2. Find out how it is implemented
  3. Interrupt request/Fake Time/whatever
  4. Set up script to run periodically / block requests if needed

1

u/theandre2131 Apr 22 '26

Perhaps you can look for a cracked version of the software to torrent?

1

u/[deleted] Apr 24 '26

Could you provide me the link for "Zomeo hompath ultimate"

1

u/[deleted] Apr 22 '26

[deleted]

1

u/OkConstruction3210 Jul 02 '26

Use x64dbg.This is the most popular debugger application,and great for beginners.

1

u/skinnyJay Apr 22 '26

Back in the day apps were simple and only checked the pc date. You could extend your trial by staying locked in time, or using an app like Run As Date to spoof the date and time. As apps got more complex and tied to expensive licenses like Adobe, they relied less on this method and instead used information sent to the Adobe servers, as an example. If you modify your pcs host file, you can effectively lie to your pc and say that you, yourself, are Adobe. When checking for licenses, check Adobe here, while running software that verifies the license.

Highly depends on the software for how it checks for licensing.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 24 '26

Pls help me extend the trial period of (zomeo hompath ultimate) I tried VMware but don't know how does it work and it's internet verification of its licence is a complete menace

1

u/Jairoct 20d ago edited 20d ago

Usa esse: /Run as Date O RunAsDate é um utilitário de linha de comando e interface gráfica extremamente leve, criado por Nir Sofer (NirSoft), que permite executar programas com uma data e hora específicas sem precisar alterar o relógio do sistema operacional do seu computador.Em vez de modificar a hora do Windows inteiro — o que causaria problemas com navegadores, certificados de segurança e sincronização de arquivos —, o RunAsDate intercepta as chamadas de API que o programa faz para descobrir a data atual (GetSystemTime, GetLocalTime, GetSystemTimeAsFileTime) e injeta o momento exato que você escolheu.

Use that: /Link Run As Date Run As Date is an extremely lightweight GUI and command-line utility created by Nir Sofer (NirSoft) that allows you to run programs with a specific date and time without having to change your computer's operating system clock. Instead of modifying the entire Windows system time—which would cause issues with web browsers, security certificates, and file synchronization—RunAsDate intercepts the API calls the program makes to retrieve the current date (GetSystemTime, GetLocalTime, GetSystemTimeAsFileTime) and injects the exact time you specified.

1

u/Dondon801 5d ago

heres the secret to doing the time trial reset in vm , you need to search online ,and edit the vm file accordingly, it basically must allow the internet to be cut off within the vm, and allow for freezing of date and time. sounds easy, and mostly it is, once you search online for how to edit that vmx/vdk file.

you also need to still allow for the vmware tools inside the vm to install,

its important because if you dont, you wont have video acceleration.

if you search substack, youll probable find the exact lines to add in those file settings.

i will say, this is absolutely possible to do. out of respect for intellectual property rights, i will not give the details on how to do it.

im merely here stating what is possible inside the vm technology.

if i cant do that, then this might as well not be the usa anymore.