Two cores on two machines with two memberships - login/membership problems [Resolved]

@support

I have music collections playing Roon through two machines (MacBook pro and mac mini) in different locations and two Roon memberships.

All was good until I recently upgraded one of my machines, installed a Roon backup (from remote machine) and then tried to log in to new machine.

Roon didn’t recognise my password so I reset the password and log in worked just fine.

However when I logged into my remote machine to manage my collection and do some maintenance I launched Roon and it asked for my login details. I entered the login details for that machine but received the Unauthorised: flag. I reset the password on that machine and all was good…I then restarted Roon on my local machine and was greeted by the Unauthorised: flag on that.

I’m obviously doing something foolish!

Is there a way that I can assign each of my memberships to a separate machine? Currently I have two active memberships (using the same email address) but it seems I can only access one…

Help! & thank you!

You should have an @support added to your post to get their attention.

Thank you!

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Hi,

I think what you have done is restored the DB from the remote (office) Roon Core onto you local (home) device.

So now you are running with the same Roon DB ID on both machines. Which is why Roon’s licensing is notifying you that the other Core (DB) needs to be unauthorised.

There’s a way to reset the DB ID by deleting a file, but I can’t recall exactly where it is from memory.

I’ll have a dig about … but hopefully Roon @support will be able to comment as well.

I think you are right.

@ANDY_Nicholson – can you give us the exact rundown of your Cores and any Remotes you’re using with them (as per this guide) as well as the exact steps you took restoring the backup?

Also, what’s your goal here? Are you intending to keep these two installs synced? What were you doing previously?

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Hi Mike,

I have 2 cores as I am working away from home and like to leave everyone at home with music. That’s my only goal really. I’m happy to manage each core’s content I don’t need them to sync.

I’m running a late 2011 mac mini (16GB RAM) remotely and a late 2013 macbook pro (8GB RAM) as my ‘travelling’ core. Both with the current versions of Sierra and Roon (see screenshots).

Everything was fine (new core running using same email address as remote) and no cross core confusion until I upgraded the mac I travel with and I was keen to keep dates added the same on both cores as music content in both locations is identical.

My mistake I expect was using the remote core backup to restore Roon when I installed it on my ‘travelling’ core/machine (I had my remote machine backup to two locations, one of them was iCloud & this is the backup I used to restore Roon to my new ‘travelling’ core).

I can’t find a way to re-register my travelling core – currently I think I’m running the same Roon ID on both machines.

I hope this is clear,

Hi @ANDY_Nicholson —— As mentioned, touching base with you here, and again, thank you for your patience. Apologies for the slow response here.

First, understand that your licenses give you “slots” on which you can run Cores. The individual machines are not attached to the licenses themselves. When a Roon core is brought online and a “slot” is available (i.e for one of your licenses) it is used and when no “slots” are available, you’ll be asked how you want to proceed.

So, I’m hoping you can clarify what you would like to preserve (i.e edits, playlists, etc) between your two setups (“home” and “travel”). From your latest post you’ve mentioned the following:
> “I’m happy to manage each core’s content I don’t need them to sync.”

So I just want make sure I understand what you want to backup or preserve here, and that will help me understand how we move forward here.

-Eric

Hi Eric,

ah, I see. Apologies for not being clear.

OK:

I was trying to preserve/syc the ‘date added’ data history already on one machine (Jan 2017 Roon membership)

My two music collections are identical (about 3K albums). My August 2018 Roon membership core install was onto a much older mac that had huge issues with upsampling. When I updated to a newer machine I tried using the backup from the remote Roon core (2017 Roon core membership) as a way of transferring that data.

…which seemed a great idea quite late one night. But obviously wasn’t!

I’ve screwed up machine/membership allocations and I can’t find a way on the app or your site to re-allocate a membership to each machine. I use the same email address for both memberships, which doesn’t help.

…and in doing so I would LOVE to be able to keep the existing date added info synced too.

Going forward I can manage music maintenance as I copy music to all machines and backups as and when I buy it.

Is that clearer?

Andy

Hi again @ANDY_Nicholson,

I found it, well at least for Windows there should be a coresponding folder on the Mac.

Thanks for investigating Carl,

Unfortunately, not so straightforward on a Mac

@support actively helping, waiting for their feedback and suggestions.

I feel like I am asking you to repeat yourself here Andy, but I’m still not 100% clear on this.

So originally, you had two Core machines – let’s call them Core A and Core B. Were both Cores set to backup regularly to separate locations? Do you have both sets of backups?

Also, just to clarify a few things:

  • Our backup functionality does not backup Remotes – if you run a backup or restore process via a remote it will affect the database of the Core that Remote is connected to

  • Licenses are not attached to a specific Core – each Core has a separate database, and you can install as many Cores as you want – you can think of multiple licenses as “how many Cores can you run at the same time”

    • So, if you have 1 license, you’ll only be able to use one Core at a time. Once you try to bring up a 2nd Core, you will be out of slots, and Roon will ask you if you want to move the license slot over to the new Core you’re bringing up, or leave it with the original Core. In your case, you should be able to bring up two Cores at once since you have two licenses.
  • When you use the Restore function (even from a Remote) the database on the Core is replaced. If you have backups of both Cores this shouldn’t be an issue, but if you restored a database to a Core you don’t have backed up anywhere, I’m not sure if there’s anything we can do to get back the Core that was replaced

  • Import dates are stored in the database, but you can also set them to File Modification times – I dont know if that will help you here, but I wanted to mention that. Let me know if you need more information about how to do this.

Sorry again for all the back and forth here @ANDY_Nicholson – let me know if the above helps, and we’ll go from there. Thanks!

Hi Mike,

No problem - I hope this clarifies further:

I have two cores & two licenses in separate countries and two identical collections on two hard drives, one in each country.

I am working away from home for a few months so I purchased a new membership so that everyone at home can still enjoy music and the (quite excellent) Roon experience…And I can too.

Currently if I have either Roon core running and quit Roon and restart in the other location (remote or local) then I am asked to login. One password works, the other doesn’t. Both licenses have the same email address. If I reset my password on either machine then the problem just re-occurs on the other machine as soon as I quit and restart Roon.
I can’t have two cores running at the same time and quit/restart either without the issue.

The problem started when I upgraded my new Roon core computer and used the restore function - I restored from the remote (older licensed) machine (both music collections are the same and I wanted to keep them sorted by ‘date added’)…which I’m sure caused the problem.

So the two machines that are supposed to be running as the Core are a Mac Book Pro and a Mac Mini?

What other devices are involved? Specifically, I’m interested in devices that might be running a Core, like another Mac that is supposed to run as a remote, but which may inadvertently running a Core and using one of your slots.

This all sounds like you have a slot being used somewhere you’re not expecting, and the two Cores you actually want to use are fighting over the remaining slot.

Ok, so if you have any remotes that might accidentally be running the extra Core here, I would recommend going to Settings, pressing Disconnect, and seeing what’s shown at the top – if the machine is supposed to run as a Remote, it should say “Setup” under “Use This PC to manage my library”.

If it doesn’t say setup, you’ll want to select “Continue” at the top and then in Settings > Account choose “Log out”.

Hopefully that’s clear Andy – sorry for all the back and forth here. Let me know how it goes and we’ll go from there. Thanks!

Hi Mike, OK - answers, but first:

One thing I should re mention: I originally installed the second Roon on an older computer (since wiped). When I upgraded I didn’t restore from that computers Roon Backup but from my remote machine (different license).

I’m away from the Roon core with me for another 30 minutes* or so but here are some answers:

So the two machines that are supposed to be running as the Core are a Mac Book Pro and a Mac Mini?
Yes.

What other devices are involved?
3 - An iPad and another Mac book Pro locally with me as Roon remotes and an iPod for the remote core/machine.
if I launch Roon on this Mac Book Pro it displays the ‘Remote connection - waiting for romeos core’ (I’ll try this again when I am with core Computer*) so its not acting as core.

Update: opened my Roon on the MacBook Pro I’m using as a remote, went to settings and disconnected - went straight to the ‘Setup’ and choose your core screen…

Hi @ANDY_Nicholson ----- Thank you for touching base with us and providing the requested feedback. Both are very appreciated!

Moving forward, I would like to propose the following (see below), to see if we can trigger a change in behavior here.

On the MacBook Pro remote (i.e “…another Mac book Pro locally with me as Roon remote”)

  • Locate your Roon database according to these instructions
  • Rename the entire Roon folder to roon_old
  • launch Roon and pause when you get to the “sign in” screen.
  • At this time I want you to launch the Roon application on the MacBook Pro that is hosting one of the two Cores.
  • When the MacBook Pro core is active, your MacBook Pro remote should see the core and be able to connect to it as a remote. Please do this.

-Eric

Thank you Eric!

Problem solved - I did as you directed and then also tried restarting Roon on my second (the core in another country) Core machine.

All worked as it should.

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