The complete thread about serial/cd-key problems

[rekrul 91]

I've seen a lot of threads about this lately and either users don't search or the search doesn't show the threads. Anyways, here's what you need to know;

Problem - Solution

• Bad serial number given in setup - http://forums.bistud...thread-for-help [Edit:] Run OA as administrator first, if you just installed it. [Edit2:]
  
  
• Bad CD Key / No CD key - Reinstall Operation Arrowhead / Combined Operations. If that doesn't work: http://forums.bistud...y-CD-key-in-use
  
• CD Key disabled / CD key in use - If you have download a "free hack" you saw on youtube, many of these are just stealing your key and sometimes replace your key with a banned one which will give you Global ban #3065. Read more here: http://www.battleye.com/index.html
  Note that these key-stealers might appear in other programs where they offer BattlEye, graphical, performance, etc fixes. Use common sense here and don't willy-nilly download stuff. Download Dayz / six launcher / Dayz commander from the official sites. Mods should be downloaded from respectable community sites like Armaholic or from the BIS forums. Make sure you prurchase the game (not the mod, which is free) from respectable sites. People who sell cheap keys on forums are selling stolen keys.
  You are responsible for your own CD-key and if you downloaded something that gave your key to someone else, you're not entitled to a new one. You can try to plead your case here though: http://forums.bistud...y-CD-key-in-use
  
• A hacker stole my GUID / guessed my CD-key - No he didn't. Just to kill the "I think someone used a key-generator and got my key"-argument: For each letter in the CD key, you can have A-Z and 0-9, meaning 36 possible combinations. Arma has a 24 digit CD key. The math is 36^24=22452257707354600000000000000000000000 combinations or 22 undecillion if you prefer, meaning the odds of a keygen making your key is 1:22 undecillion*. As for GUID, that's a 4-way process that involves BIS' auth-server for CD-keys, your client, the server, and BattlEye. It's calculated as one-way hash several times so it takes an enormous effort to spoof the GUID. Considering the skills involved, I'm sure the few people capable of this will spend their effort more profitable than circumventing a $30-key.
  

*-Actually less since the keygen doesn't just throw out random combos but according to an unknown (to me) formula.

Hope that helped you out. Other solutions are welcome and I'll try to update this post with other solutions.

Edited October 18, 2012 by Rakrul

[sudz 1]

i bought arma 2 OA legitamately from a website and have been playing dayz for about 5-6 months now, i uploaded the most recent dayz commander updates and now every time i try to join a server i get a message saying "bad cd key - cd key disabled" ??

i have never downloaded any hacks or other mods from youtube as you suggest in this thread, i am pretty sure there wasn't a time limit on the key i bought, i was under the impression that i had bought the whole package of arma 2 combined ops and that it was mine as long as i agreed to EULA ??

is it possible i have missed something here ? i have already contacted steam customer support and so far no answer...

sudz :(

[rekrul 91]

Is this steam version or what? Try running Steam as admin and verify Operation Arrowhead and run OA as admin. AFAIK you need to do this so Steam can enter the CD-key into register. It might have been deleted during the update process. If it's not through Steam, reinstall OA which should prompt you for your CD-key and then check. Then update through DayZ commander and check OA again.

Did you update through DayZ Commander and DL DayZ Commander from the official Dayz Commander site? If not your CD-key might have been stolen. I'd suggest verifying that you have the cd-key installed/registered and if you get the same error-message, contact BIS as instructed in the 1st post.

[sudz 1]

yes this was all done through steam, have no idea how to run OA as admin, and why should i have to go through all this ??

i am a ligitamate player who has paid good money for this game and now un-able to play because of some weird bug, tbh the whole steam/dayz commander thing is a nightmare to navigate and very frustrating, no-one seems to give me a straight answer, any ideas on who i can complain to, is it steam or dayz commander, i have no idea,

very, very confused and pissed off

sudz :(

[rekrul 91]

It's how Steam handles things and the reason why I don't use it. You need admin-rights to write the cd-key to registry. Search this forum and there should be plenty of threads that can help you with the details. Or try starting a thread. People seldom check the stickys.

[Recl 0]

This hardly seems worth it...

How is there so many screw-ups through steam? and why would I spend more money to buy the alpha if I can't play the games I already purchased?

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

OP - Have some beans for a well written and well thought out guide.

@Recl, I have no idea what your on about.

Edited November 20, 2012 by Fraggle

[codemine 0]

holy shit thank you so much bro!!!

]

[Wesch 0]

My problem: Bad serial number given in setup.

I followed the guide to get this solution:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?138564

And at the 11. point I'm stuck. Because this menu is grey, I can't change it. It shows "Only subkeys". So completing next points would be useless, but still I tried them and I can't apply any changes for my user! When I press apply, and OK it all unmarks, unticks, and I have the previous settings. Please tell me what to do, or what am I doing wrong?

[aisiy 0]

thanks for posting

[rekrul 91]

My problem: Bad serial number given in setup.

I followed the guide to get this solution:

http://forums.bistud...read.php?138564

And at the 11. point I'm stuck. Because this menu is grey, I can't change it. It shows "Only subkeys". So completing next points would be useless, but still I tried them and I can't apply any changes for my user! When I press apply, and OK it all unmarks, unticks, and I have the previous settings. Please tell me what to do, or what am I doing wrong?

For 7. did you right click the OA exe file or the shortcut?

[Wesch 0]

Huge thanks for advice, but after few reinstalls, and some additional invention I've made it. Sorry for bothering and thanks for concern.

[Dozingo 0]

Hey, I've tried pretty much everything imaginable when it comes to this but I cant seem to get my regedit to delete the friggin key. I've even downloaded registry cleaners and such in an attempt to get rid of it but it just dosent work. I've tried to get the thing to fix itself by:

running everything as admin

verifying game cache in steam

and I've tried to use the cmd to delete it but it just dosent work. I'm not sure if the cmd thing is just cuz I effed up the cmd line or something. Could someone please give me a hand with this seeing as im about to create a ticket on bohemias website. I have the issues that most people have with this( cant start ArmA 2 OA etc) and I would really like to get back to my clan in Dayz :)

[rekrul 91]

What happens when you try to delete the key?

[Dozingo 0]

When I try to delete the key i get a popup msg saying something like " ArmA 2 OA cant be removed. An error occured when the key was removed" (its translated from swedish btw ;P)

And then when i check weather its gone or not its still there #sadface

Edited January 16, 2013 by Dozingo

[rekrul 91]

Hmmm, I'm not quite sure what you're trying to do. What's the error message you get in DayZ since you're trying this? You can write the error message in swedish if you'd like (I'm Norwegian).

[xPUNlSH3Rx 0]

When I try to delete the key i get a popup msg saying something like " ArmA 2 OA cant be removed. An error occured when the key was removed" (its translated from swedish btw ;P)

And then when i check weather its gone or not its still there #sadface

You do not have the permissions in regedit. I was having the same issue, what you do is right click on "Bohemia Interactive Studios" folder itself and then go down to permissions and allow full control in each by going to advance then edit, then click apply and ok. All done you should now be able to delete the sub-folders ex. Arma2OA... If you have any questions please feel free to message me!

[SABRE3324 0]

Whenever I try to join a server is tells me Bad cd key-invalid cdkey can anyone help please

[dontae1986 0]

cd key in use.

Heres the back story i went to friends house and loaded up my steam accout on his computer and downloaded arma2 and arma oah. downloaded dayz commander to show him what dayz was like. at the time he was not able to purchase arma 2 or arma oah. so later on i got him to create his own steam account. I had him uninstall arma 2 and arma 2 oah of his computer and i bought it for him as a gift through steam. he installed them in his computer. did all the steps to get dayz up and going, but when we try to join a room together one of us gets kicked because it says cd key in use. We went into steam right clicked on arma2 and oah to check cd key and they are diffrent. so whats causing this issue? please help

Edited February 8, 2013 by dontae1986

[SmashT 10907]

cd key in use.

Heres the back story i went to friends house and loaded up my steam accout on his computer and downloaded arma2 and arma oah. downloaded dayz commander to show him what dayz was like. at the time he was not able to purchase arma 2 or arma oah. so later on i got him to create his own steam account. had him uninstall arma 2 and arma 2 oah of his computer and i bought it for him as a gift through steam. he installed them in his computer. did all the steps to get dayz up and going, but when we try to join a room together one of us gets kicked because it says cd key in use. We went into steam right clicked on arma2 and oah to check cd key and they are diffrent. so whats causing this issue? please help

CD Keys are stored in the registry, usually running the steam/game as admin and launching them to the menu will update it.

Edited February 8, 2013 by smasht_AU

[dontae1986 0]

Thanks when im able to wake his a$$ up i will have him try that.

[dontae1986 0]

We tried that just now. right clicked steam ran as admin went in and replayed both arma2 and arma oah next we went to dayz commander right clicked and ran as admin. tried to load the same server still the same issue. please help

[FrazerMac1 0]

Anyone know wether i can play DAYZ on my Compaq Presario CQ57 laptop?

[xZavaaH 7]

i was letting my little bro play dayZ and he downloaded a fake map and it took my key ive restarted and stripped my computer of all the files anyway i can get it back?

[gerool 0]

i am having the same bad serial problem and i have tried all the solution threads i have re installed, verified cache run as admin and i only got this game 2 days ago and i have not downloaded :( hacks

is there anyone who can help me :(