License does not work in chrome.

[Evan Birnholz]

I purchased a license for chrome on February 17, 2021 but iit is not working in chrome. THe invoice states that I purchases the license for chrome. I suspected something was wrong since chrome is constantly trying to verify the license so I tried the license key in Fireox and it accepted it. You sent me a firefox license instead of a chrome license.

[Cristian Palma]

Hello man, read this link:

https://www.downloadhelper.net/chrome-licenses

It says that it only works if you have updated VDH to its latest version 7.5.0.0, try to update it and put the key again, tell me pleaase if it works because I want to buy a license too. Thanks!

[Evan Birnholz]

I am on 7.5.0.0. It seem that even though I bought a key for chrome and my invoice says as much the instructions for installing are for firefox. I suspect I was sent a firefox key.

[jcv...@gmail.com]

hi,

your license is supposed to be a Chrome premium, shouldn't have worked with Firefox, I'll ask the dev what happened.

jerome

[mig]

There was a typo in the invoice text that has been fixed a couple of days ago: the Firefox mention was incorrect, the license you purchased is for Chrome and it looks valid to me.

If you click "Register an existing license", enter your license key 4e79...3511 and press Enter, doesn't it say "Licence verified" ?

[Evan Birnholz]

When I enter the license key in chrome it just says "Verifying license… " but never goes any further. If I close chrome and reopen it the next day still says "Verifying license… "

When I enter the key in firefox it gives me my email, the key, and says 'License verified".  Pretty much proves that the key is for firefox and not chrome.

[mig]

Does it say the coapp is installed ?

[Evan Birnholz]

Yes, This is what it says:

Companion App installed

Found companion app: VdhCoApp 1.6.0

Companion app binary: C:\Program Files\net.downloadhelper.coapp\bin\net.downloadhelper.coapp-win-64.exe

[mig]

Ok, a few people reported a similar issue, but it's pretty seldom, like 1 user/10000.

First, just know that if you prefer i can refund your license at any time.

Then if you want to help debugging the issue, i'll ask you to open the URL  chrome://extensions, enable "Developer mode" at the top right, locate Video DownloadHelper, click on "Inspect background view" to open the extension console, open VDH settings > More > Reload extension. Now if you open the "About Video DownloadHelper" dialogue, do you see any special message in the console ?

[Evan Birnholz]

This is the message in console after following your instructions:

main.js:1 GET https://ssl.google-analytics.com/ga.js net::ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
n @ main.js:1
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
n @ main.js:1
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
n @ main.js:1
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
n @ main.js:1
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
n @ main.js:1
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
n @ main.js:1
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
n @ main.js:1
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
n @ main.js:1
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
n @ main.js:1
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
main.js:1 Error accessing in-app {request: {…}, response: {…}}
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
Promise.catch (async)
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
value @ main.js:1
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
Promise.then (async)
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
a @ main.js:1
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
Promise.then (async)
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
v @ main.js:1
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
Promise.then (async)
value @ main.js:1
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
main.js:1 checkLicense error Error: Error accessing in-app
    at main.js:1



[Evan Birnholz]

"Ok, a few people reported a similar issue, but it's pretty seldom, like 1 user/10000. "

Nice to know that I'm 1 in a thousand, it makes me feel special but I would much rather have a working license for Chrome ;)

[mig]

Ouch ! According to your traces, the browser cannot resolve host ssl.google-analytics.com, which is something we cannot do much about. We can presume it also cannot access the google server managing the license so this license fails being checked.

Are you sure you are connected to the internet when the error occurs ? Can you disable your antivirus and try again to verify the license ?

[Evan Birnholz]

I am running a Pihole which blocks google analytics. I did try turning it off and the license still would not verify. I will turn it off and post the console output again to see if there is a difference. Here is the output:

main.js:1 Error accessing in-app {request: {…}, response: {…}}
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
Promise.catch (async)
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
value @ main.js:1
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
Promise.then (async)
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
a @ main.js:1
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
Promise.then (async)
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
v @ main.js:1
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
Promise.then (async)
value @ main.js:1
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
main.js:1 checkLicense error Error: Error accessing in-app
    at main.js:1

Here is output with both Pihole and Avast disabled:

main.js:1 Error accessing in-app {request: {…}, response: {…}}
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
Promise.catch (async)
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
value @ main.js:1
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
Promise.then (async)
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
a @ main.js:1
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
Promise.then (async)
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
v @ main.js:1
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
Promise.then (async)
value @ main.js:1
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
main.js:1 checkLicense error Error: Error accessing in-app
    at main.js:1

[Evan Birnholz]

Are you using Google Tag Manager for the license, Analytics, or both? (FWIW I have worked professionally in IT since the 70s so I know a thing or two.)

[Evan Birnholz]

Not sure if it matter but the license key is working in Firefox and the license is verified. My understanding is that a Firefox key won't work in Chrome and a Chrome key won't work in Firefox. The key sent to me did not work in Chrome but is currently activated in Firefox.

[mig]

Are you using Google Tag Manager for the license, Analytics, or both? (FWIW I have worked professionally in IT since the 70s so I know a thing or two.)

The license you have is managed by our own system which has been working on Firefox since 2008 without much problems. BUT, before February this year, licenses for VDH/Chrome were managed through the Google payment API: basically we used this API to check you purchased a lifetime license or valid subscription. However, Google partially discontinued this service (you cannot purchase any more but we are supposed to be able to list the purchases). So we implemented our custom license management into VDH/Chrome version 7.5.0.0 (details here: https://www.downloadhelper.net/chrome-licenses).

So right now, when we want to verify the user has a license, we check both licensing systems in parallel. If either one returns OK, we consider the user is premium. However, it looks like if the check on Google API fails with an error (which is what is happening to you), it messes up with our mechanism and you don't get your license verified even if it would have validated with our license management.

The fact you are an IT guy is good news to me :)   What if i send you some development version of the extension with instructions on how to install, would you run a few tests for me ? Of course, i'll offer you the license.

[Evan Birnholz]

I would be glad to help with the development version. Just let me know what you want me to do. I am actually retired from IT (software and hardware design in the 70s and 80s, owned my own data processing company in the 80s also,  Sysadmin and hardware maintenance at an ISP/Hosting company  in the 90s and I built most of the Red Hat servers that were located in the US, although we also had a few windoze boxes and a mac running Darwin for some very early IPTV live broadcasts that we were experimenting with. I retired from IT in the early 2000s and now work in Education working with blind and visually impaired young adults but I still remeber a thing or two. ;)

[mig]

You definitely qualify for the job ! :)

I send you the details in a private message.

[mig]

Did you get my email with details  2 days ago ?

[Evan Birnholz]

Yes, and I replied in an email but I will post the console output here in case you did not get it:

License registered in chrome (with Pihole active) but I don't have time to check that everything is working as far as downloading and converting. Will do so after work or tomorrow and let you know. (DID recheck and it seems to be working correctly)

As far as the ""Error accessing in-app XXX" the console gave me "undefined"

Here is the console output:

Failed to load resource: net::ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED ssl.google-analytics.com/ga.js:1
main.js:1 Error accessing in-app undefined                                                   main.js:1
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
main.js:1 Error accessing in-app undefined                                                   main.js:1

(anonymous) @ main.js:1
Promise.catch (async)
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
value @ main.js:1
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
Promise.then (async)
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
a @ main.js:1
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
Promise.then (async)
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
v @ main.js:1
(anonymous) @ main.js:1
Promise.then (async)
value @ main.js:1
(anonymous) @ main.js:1

[mig]

Thanks. I did not receive your email and it's not in my spam box neither.

So we fixed the main issue but we still don't know why it was failing ("undefined" after "Error accessing in-app"). It would be better we understand what was the problem to avoid potential issues in the future.

I send you a new version with a better error report by mail.

Many thanks for your help. BTW, i refunded your license.

[Evan Birnholz]

Thank you for the refund. I send you an email with the console output for the new version you sent me to try both with pihole active and disabled but since you did not get the last one I am also posting it here

Also, I never received the email with the zip attached.

Below is the results of installing 7.5.0.2, once with pihole active, once with pihole disabled. I will also post in the forum in case you do not receive this email.

With pihole on:

License registered successfully once I pasted it into chrome

Console output:

ssl.google-analytics.com/ga.js:1 Failed to load resource: net::ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED    

main.js:1 Error accessing in-app (1) {

  "request": {},

  "response": {

    "errorType": "INVALID_RESPONSE_ERROR"

  }

}

(anonymous) @ main.js:1

Promise.catch (async)

(anonymous) @ main.js:1

value @ main.js:1

(anonymous) @ main.js:1

Promise.then (async)

(anonymous) @ main.js:1

a @ main.js:1

(anonymous) @ main.js:1

Promise.then (async)

(anonymous) @ main.js:1

v @ main.js:1

(anonymous) @ main.js:1

Promise.then (async)

value @ main.js:1

(anonymous) @ main.js:1

main.js:1 Error accessing in-app (1) {

  "request": {},

  "response": {

    "errorType": "INVALID_RESPONSE_ERROR"

  }

}

(anonymous) @ main.js:1

Promise.catch (async)

(anonymous) @ main.js:1

value @ main.js:1

(anonymous) @ main.js:1

Promise.then (async)

(anonymous) @ main.js:1

a @ main.js:1

(anonymous) @ main.js:1

Promise.then (async)

(anonymous) @ main.js:1

v @ main.js:1

(anonymous) @ main.js:1

Promise.then (async)

value @ main.js:1

(anonymous) @ main.js:1

main.js:1 Error accessing in-app (1) {

  "request": {},

  "response": {

    "errorType": "INVALID_RESPONSE_ERROR"

  }

}

(anonymous) @ main.js:1

Promise.catch (async)

(anonymous) @ main.js:1

value @ main.js:1

(anonymous) @ main.js:1

Promise.then (async)

(anonymous) @ main.js:1

a @ main.js:1

(anonymous) @ main.js:1

Promise.then (async)

(anonymous) @ main.js:1

v @ main.js:1

(anonymous) @ main.js:1

Promise.then (async)

value @ main.js:1

(anonymous) @ main.js:1

 

 

Uninstalled and then reinstalled with pihole off:

License installed successfully once I pasted it in

Console output:

main.js:1 Error accessing in-app (1) { "request": {}, "response": { "errorType": "INVALID_RESPONSE_ERROR" }

}

(anonymous)

@

main.js:1

 

On 3/1/2021 4:30 AM, Michel Gutierrez wrote:

Just in case my previous email would be blocked because of the attached zip, you can also download this file from http://aclap.com/download/chrome-video_downloadhelper-7.5.0.2.zip

On 01/03/2021 10:27, Michel Gutierrez wrote:

Hi,

Here is a new version with a better error reporting.

Many thanks again for your help.

Best regards,
/mig

On 25/02/2021 12:20, Michel Gutierrez wrote:

Hi again,

You can download the new version of VDH from http://aclap.com/download/chrome-video_downloadhelper-7.5.0.1.zip

- uninstall the version of VDH currently installed in Chrome
- unzip the zip file in a directory
- with Chrome, visit chrome://extensions
- enable "Developer mode" at the top right
- click button "Load unpacked" at the top left
- in the file dialog, pick the directory where you unzip the add-on file
- that should install the addon

We want to do 2 things:
- verify that you can now register your license
- understand what the previous error was (so we can probably implement a better fix)

For the second point, we need to grab some logs:

- in the chrome://extensions, VDH section, click "Inspect views background page"
- a console window opens
- register your license
- you should see in the console ""Error accessing in-app XXX"
- we want to know what XXX is

Many thanks for your help,
/mig

[mig]

Many thanks for your help.

So we won't know the exact reason why this was failing but at least we know it's between Google API and Google servers and there is nothing we can do. But since we now handle the error correctly, we can live happily with that. I will publish a 7.5.0.3 version later today.

This time, i received your email. Also, i removed the development versions from our server as i prefer not to have unofficial and unsigned versions of VDH in the nature.

Thanks again !