Error -506 duplicate activator code found

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Troubleshooting for Windows:

Uninstall the Retrospect client software using Add or Remove Programs.

Restart the computer.

Reinstall the latest Retrospect client from the updates page:

If the error continues after uninstalling and reinstalling the client, go to Configure>Clients and remove all of the clients listed. Add the clients again and see if the the error still occurs.

If there are multiple network adapters on a system, the Retrospect client may be binding to the wrong one. To force the client to bind to a specific adapter, follow these instructions:

If the error still occurs, the Retrospect configuration file on the backup server may be corrupt. You can test whether this is the case by renaming the Retrospect folder in c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data. The Retrospect application must be closed before renaming the folders. Renaming the configuration folder results in Retrospect behaving like a clean installation. Retrospect will prompt for a license code, scripts will need to be recreated and clients will need to be re-added.

Troubleshooting for Mac:

Uninstall the Retrospect client software by using the Retrospect client installer and choosing the Uninstall option. Dragging the application to the trash is not sufficient for a clean uninstall.

Verify that the retroclient.state file does not exist in /Library/Preferences. If this file does exist, delete the file.

Restart the computer.

Reinstall the latest Retrospect client from the updates page:

If the error continues after uninstalling and reinstalling the client, go to Configure>Clients and remove all of the clients listed. Add the clients again and see if the error still occurs.

If there are multiple network adapters on a system, the Retrospect client may be binding to the wrong one. To force the client to bind to a specific adapter:

Open the OS X System Preferences and go to Network

Change "Show" from "Network status" to "Network Port Configurations"

Drag your "Built-in Ethernet" to the top of this list.

Uncheck all network ports which are not in use.

Alternatively, to use the Retrospect client’s mechanism, follow these instructions:

If the error still occurs, the Retrospect configuration file on the backup server may be corrupt. You can test whether the configuration files are corrupt by renaming the Retrospect folder in /Library/Preferences. The Retrospect application must be closed before renaming the folders. Renaming the configuration folder results in Retrospect behaving like a clean installation. Retrospect will prompt for a license code, scripts will need to be recreated and clients will need to be re-added.

Troubleshooting for Linux:

Uninstall the Retrospect client software. The uninstall method depends on whether it was originally installed from rpm or tar.

Delete /var/log/retroclient.state

Reinstall the latest Retrospect client from the updates page:

If the error continues after uninstalling and reinstalling the client, go to Configure>Clients and remove all of the clients listed. Add the clients again and see if the the error still occurs.

If the error continues, the Retrospect configuration file may be corrupt. Depending on the OS of the backup server, please reference the appropriate section in this article on instructions for creating new configuration files.

Last Update: July 26, 2016