KPG-D1N on a Mac using Virtual Machine/Parallels?

[lucasec]

Parallel to this thread but thought I'd open a new one for better discoverability in the future. I also found a few mentions of Macs in older discussions (including some suggestion it works fine) but haven't seen any recent reports, so thought I'd see if anyone can come out of the woodwork and report if they have had success.

I need to get KPG-D1N set up for the first time and am trying to decide which computer to install it on. Main issue I want to avoid is accidentally getting the license locked to a computer where it doesn't work. It sounds like it's relatively easy to deactivate and move the D1N key, but moving the LMC between computers requires additional account seats?

Anyway, my choices are:
1. Current MacBook with M1 chip, with Parallels running the ARM version of Windows 11 in a VM
2. Older MacBook with Intel chip, with Parallels running the Intel version of Windows 10 in a VM
3. Windows 11 desktop

Portable is obviously better, and not having to carry two laptops is also nice, so I'm inclined to try in that order if it is relatively low risk. My experience is about 90% of Windows software I need to use works on option 1 (including some Kenwood CPS for one of their amateur radio products), with most issues coming from when an obscure device driver needs to be installed. 99.5% works on option 2, unless the developer went way out of their way to defeat VM usage or it requires nested virtualization.

 

[kd4efm]

the problem lays with the License management client and the machine ID, where as, the VM MIED will change, thus an active KPG-Dx software is active, renders it unusable, because the MEID changes, (anti-piracy trigger).
Yes it can work, but KWD will tell you "You're using it at your own risks".

Just so you know.

 

[lucasec]

Yeah, I guess the question is what the exact identifier they use to calculate the "MEID" is. CPU ID, HDD ID, etc. should all stay stable so this was where I was curious to see if anyone has experience with this in practice.

 

[otobmark]

I used KPG-D1N for many years on an intel MacBook Pro including moving authorization back and forth with other computers as well as programming radios by usb cable. I now have a M4 running VM Win11 arm. The software will run but you cannot connect to radios on usb (driver issues). My NX radios do not have BT programming license so no first hand knowledge on if it will work for shooting radios. So far all my radio software runs on M4 (Kenwood, Armada, various Motorola, Barrett, amateur radio stuff and unication). It’s the communication with the outside world, particularly usb and Bluetooth that is the problem. I HAVE been successful programming my VP8000 using WiFi. I don’t have any Wi-Fi enabled Motorola’s at the moment to test. I spent a few hours seeing if I could use BT, especially on APX without any success on M4 (BT programming for APX does work on my native Win PC’s). I even used a BT dongle ported to VM windows machine bypassing M4’s internal Bluetooth. There may be a way to do it but I’ve yet to figure it out.

Summation: Software works but connecting to radios, especially by usb will not go well. Wi-Fi may work with Kenwoods that have it since my VP8000 does. Wi-Fi and Motorola untested by me so far. ARM Is lagging well behind on drivers. My amateur gear I’ve tried and my Unication pager seems to connect by usb.
I do work on codeplugs on my M4, I just have to use another computer to shoot radios. Real PC way to go for now.

 

[lucasec]

Great, appreciate the insights.

Sounds like I should set up on the Intel Mac. Will let me program and shoot to the radio over USB.

Maybe the driver situation will change over time, as Windows ARM laptops become more prevalent. How easy is it to de-activate the license and re-activate in on another machine?

I haven't had any luck getting the bluetooth to work with other radios on either the M1 Mac or the Intel one. The Parallels "Bluetooth sharing" function doesn't seem to work with the Serial Port Profile (SPP), that all of these radios use. I opened a ticket with them. I haven't tried plugging a separate USB bluetooth dongle in yet... surprised that didn't work (would expect it to work at least on the Intel machine).

 

[otobmark]

Join/connect BT device (radio) to a PAN and see if that helps.
Authorizing/deauthorizing is a little nerve wracking at first since the LM300? or whatever it’s called is not a very confidence inspiring piece of software. Then there is the wondering how long license can live in the cloud before you can’t retrieve it.

 

[lucasec]

@otobmark Have you tired using the LMC client to authenticate radio feature licenses on this setup?

Everything on my setup is working so far, except activating a DMR and FPP license. I pressed "Radio Authentication" and it decreased the available license quantity, but did not appear on the radio. If I look at the cancellation menu, it does show it as cancellable for the next 72 hours, and the license history shows it being activated to the radio.

 

[otobmark]

check radio. Features may have transferred in spite of what lmc says.

 

[lucasec]

I think we're both on the other thread so let me continue over there for the moment: Best Portable/Mobile ecosystem: NX-5000 line vs Motorola R7 + XPR5000e

 

[lucasec]

While I'm still waiting on the dealer to figure out the LMC issues with the radio feature activation, I did work up the courage to try moving the software license over to my M1 Mac with a Windows 11 ARM installation.

Things may have changed since the last time you tried. I am able to program my NX-5800 just fine over USB, Windows seems to have built-in drivers so I did not attempt to install the Kenwood ones. The device shows up with both the programming cable in USB and UART mode. Reading/writing over USB mode works fine. My VM is on Windows 11 Pro version 24H2 if that makes a difference in whether the drivers come built-in.

The biggest caveat I see is that the software is notably slower on Windows ARM vs. running on a native Intel machine (even one that is almost 10 years old). Startup of D1N is about 50 seconds on ARM vs 20 on Intel. Opening a file takes roughly the same time as startup on both.

 

[otobmark]

I need to get some more computer registration keys before I can move CPS to my M4. Do you program any motorola radios? I cannot cable connect to my APX’s with my M4 I wondered if you can?

 

[lucasec]

I haven't done Motorola yet.

Btw, you do not need another seat on your account key just to activate software. You can just install the LMC client, drop in the jkefs file, and go (skip the account registration menu option entirely). The account registration apparently only affects radio feature activation.

 

[otobmark]

I was just testing communication with radio. I had no software to activate and was going to try to read features in radio but had no joy. Kept asking for activation.

 

[lucasec]

Ah. In my case I went to Cancellation -> Software on my other machine and deactivated D1N so I could then activate it on the M1 machine. Was a bit nerveracking since given the LMC client's track record giving me issues with radio feature activation, who knows when a random bug might just swallow the license. But at least moving the software back and forth has worked fine for me. Proceed at your own risk of course.

edit to add: before going through the trouble of moving the software, you could plug the radio in and first check in Windows Device Manager if a COM port shows up.

 

[otobmark]

Port did show up but I forgot to see how it identified or what driver was used. Maybe tomorrow. My VP couldn't communicate but it uses a USBLAN adapter that won't run on my machine--not yet anyway.

 

[lucasec]

Maybe your M4 performs better but on my M1 Pro the more I use it the more I'm finding D1N to be painfully slow. It's snappy enough clicking around and browsing the settings but the moment you try to type anything into a text field it crawls... literally taking seconds for any text you input to render on the screen.

Probably back to the Intel machine for me except in a pinch when I don't want to have to carry two computers.

 

[buddrousa]

D1N is very slow on a fast windows PC also.

 

[tweiss3]

D1N is very slow on a fast windows PC also.

I have a long lag opening files (especially ones with nearly 1000 channels in them), but I don't feel that lag when typing a name for a channel.

 

[buddrousa]

No the program is slow loading and slow 1st opening a radio file after that no bad until you write to the radio or read the radio.

 

[tweiss3]

That matches my experience