Questions

When I try to activate FoolCat (licensed or a trial), why am I told, “No virtual machine activations allowed.”?

This only concerns Windows users.

Running FoolCat in a VM is a Pro feature.

If you see this error when activating a trial, you're running FoolCat in a VM, or a Hypervisor process must be active in Windows.

If you see this error when activating a purchased license, you have a regular license or a Pro license that needs VM activations allowed on your license.

A step-by-step guide for disabling any-and-all Hypervisor (Hyper-V) and Virtual Machine features on your PC is available here:

VMs & Hypervisors

If you have a regular license and need VM activations, upgrade your license in the License Manager, then reach out.

Already on a Pro license? Reach out.

FoolCat states error -1004

You're likely on an old version of FoolCat, update to the latest version.

"Invalid activation number"

You're likely trying to activate FoolCat using a legacy license key. Legacy license keys start with id or only have a few characters. Upgrade your license, or download a legacy version.

FoolCat states "Starting Services"

This issue is fixed in FoolCat version 23.1 and newer.

FoolCat's media engine isn't starting correctly. Reboot your computer, and if that doesn't help, reinstall FoolCat.

Starting Services

How can I export/import settings?

macOS

To export and import user settings for FoolCat on macOS, using the Terminal app, you can follow these steps:

Export Settings

1. Quit FoolCat

2. Open the Terminal app

3. Export the settings

   Run the following command to export the settings to a .plist file:

   defaults export nl.syncfactory.FoolCat.Mac ~/Desktop/FoolCatSettings.plist

   This will create a file named OffShootSettings.plist on your desktop.

Import Settings

The user preferences contain encrypted user information that might cause an issue when doing this offline. A reactivation might be needed.

1. Open Terminal app

2. Import the preferences

   Run the following command to import the preferences:

   defaults import nl.syncfactory.FoolCat.Mac ~/Desktop/FoolCatSettings.plist 

Windows

To export and import user settings for FoolCat on Windows, using PowerShell, you can follow these steps:

Export Settings

1. Quit FoolCat

2. Open PowerShell as Administrator

   Right-click on the Start menu and select "Terminal (Admin)".

3. Export the settings Run the following commands to export the registry key to a .reg file:

mkdir C:\\Temp

reg export "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\FoolCat" "C:\\Temp\\FoolCatSettings.reg"

1. Prune the registry settings (BuildVersion, LicenseVersion)

(Get-Content "C:\\TEMP\\FoolCatSettings.reg") -notmatch '("BuildVersion"|"LicenseVersion")' | Set-Content "C:\\TEMP\\FoolCatSettings.reg"

This will create a file named FoolCatSettings.reg in C:\Temp

Import Settings

The Registry values contain encrypted user information that might cause an issue when doing this offline. A reactivation might be needed.

1. Quit FoolCat

2. Open PowerShell as Administrator

   Right-click on the Start menu and select "Terminal (Admin)"

3. Import the settings

   Double-click the updated file or run the following command to import the registry settings:

   reg import "C:\\Temp\\FoolCattSettings.reg"