.NET copy protection

Question

Is it possible to restrict a .NET executable to a specific machine somehow so that it can only be run on that machine.

Answer 1

You could digitally sign your EXE and use certificates to aid some sort of protection, however if you truly want to prevent your EXE from running on a specific PC you might be better prompting the user for a password and using a key file?

.NET Encryption Examples http://aspnet.4guysfromrolla.com/articles/112002-1.aspx http://www.eggheadcafe.com/articles/20020630.asp

Answer 2

For this, you would need to embed your license code with some sort of machine-code generated from the machine's MAC ID, HDD ID, CPU ID, etc.

Then check this embedded code with the machine code generated when your software is run. If these do not match, it means that the software is being used on a different machine.

If you want a ready-made license scheme which supports this scenario, see CryptoLicensing