Windows 2000 - authenticate shareware

[blaster998]

I have a shareware program that is written in C++.NET. As the owner, I recently installed a feature on it that meant that any user who was registering it, had to enter a registration code. Once they enter it, the program checks on my server to make sure the registration code is there.

The problem is that any user who is using the program on Windows 2000 get a DB connection error. All other platforms like Windows 98/Windows XP work fine.

Does anyone know of a feature of Windows2000 that may be blocking this information and recording a DB connection error? Its almost as if there is a firewall issue but our tester says there is no firewall enabled.

Any feedback would be appreciated!

Thanks,

[TheNige]

are you saying that the shareware program actually makes a connection via the Internet to your database server? I think it would be better to use a web service to do this.

Firewalls could block the ports that SQL data goes on....I think it is port 1433 by default if you are using TCP/IP as the transport.

[blaster998]

Yes...it actually makes the connection to my server through the internet. The application actually is a desktop application. It authenticates the registration code in case the license has expired.

Any ideas on what I could try to help narrow down the problem?

Thanks

[panic]

Make sure their firewall isn't interfering.

[TheNige]

I'd still recommend a web service to check it. That way it goes out on port 80 like standard http.

[blaster998]

Does anyone know what kind of web service to use? How it would be setup? Is this something I can program into my application and would every user need to have this webservice on his computer? How does that work and how would I implement that?

[TheNige]

well, you would need a box running IIS and .Net on your side. You would then create the webservice. I'm not sure how to do it in C++.Net but in VB and C# it is a simple as writing a new function and saying that it is a webservice.

In your app you'd then call the webservice. Again in C++.Net i'm not sure how, but in VB and C# using visual studio we just make a proxy class to it and use it as any other object would be used with its methods and functions.

I really recommend getting a begging .Net book or looking at the starter samples on ASP.Net.