TeamViewer ID Keeps Changing

We are an IT firm who commonly deploy servers and workstations in an unconfigured state so we can have senior techs work on them remotely. The problem is that TV will randomly change its ID following configuration changes. It's extremely annoying and counterintuituve given the nature of this product as a support tool for IT professionals. As an example, tonight I remotely connected to a new installation of Server 2016 Standard. I installed the Windows Server Backup and Bitlocker roles, and then rebooted. When the server came back up, it had a completely different TV ID. Fortunately, I had another machine to connect to, and thankfully had the foresight to turn on RDP and open local firewall ports so I could determine the new ID. Does anyone have similar experience and know of a way to prevent the code from changing?

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DeVauEs

Hello,

I think I have a Clue what is happening. Are the VMs are running on a Hyper-V oder VMWare Cluster?

Under Hyper-V the VM gets a new mac address when the VM is restarted on a different Hypervisor. And with a different Mac address TeamViewer gets a new TeamViewer-ID

In Hyper-V there is a Setting for the NIC.

Settings VM -> Network Card -> advanced Features: There you can switch between Static and Dynamic. The VM has to powered off to change this.

Probably this is similar to VMWare

Hope this could help someone.

Greetings

rok

Problem still persist.

No hardware change, no software update. Ubuntu 16 machine with Teamviewer 12. Problem is that these machines are headless and I have hundreds of them deployed in different countries..Big problem.

I just found out this: https://github.com/Schmandre/notifyTVIDChange

SignageAt150PCs

First try: Technical error.

Second try: Not logged in before.

Third try: Marked as SPAM

Now: next try...

Hello Inlead (and others),

see the link to the text-file with the .vbs-script. On windows-autostart we send the actual TV-ID to one of our webservers via VBS-http-request. The php-script behind reads the variables from the url and updates our database. Additionally we send ourselves via PHP a mail if the ID has changed.

Feel free, to translate the script in english and post it back here for the others. I tried, but got an error while saving the answer :-(

VBS should be able to send mails as well. Feel free to check this and post it back here for the others.

You find the .vbs-script on handkunst.de slash sendtvid.txt

We only check until TV-version 11, because we need stable and same-configured players (PCs). Feel free as well, to add newer versions and post it here for the others too.

Important notice: .lnk in Autostart may not work. We needed to put the .vbs-file itself in Autostart.

At the end the website gives an response. If empty this means error. If OK this means OK. A window pops up shortly on the player with success or no success.

Best regards, SignageAt150PCs

SignageAt150PCs

Hello Inlead (and others),

Feel free, to translate the script in english and post it back here for the others. I tried, but got an error while saving the answer :-(

VBS should be able to send mails as well. Feel free to check this and post it back here for the others.

You find the .vbs-script on http://handkunst.de/sendtvid.txt

We only check until TV-version 11, because we need stable and same-configured players (PCs). Feel free as well, to add newer versions and post it here for the others too.

Important notice: .lnk in Autostart may not work. We needed to put the .vbs-file itself in Autostart.

At the end the website gives an response. If empty this means error. If OK this means OK. A window pops up shortly on the player with success or no success.

Best regards, SignageAt150PCs

Inlead

Mind sharing that script, @Judd_HUMElab

riverit

I am in this exact situation .....

Fidolido

This is an update...... DWService.net now allows dual monitor support. However, if you are running Ubuntu 14 via Chrome, I found that it tends to lock up on the loading screen point. The workaround is to run Opera.

Regarding my original post, I found that there was a 'remote desktop' session running with the first ID in question. Rebooting the machine didn't allow the transfer of the RDP Teamviewer ID. Hence two ID"s. RDP seems to create another instance of the windows machine, though should be what it says, remote, it creates another different environment. So when you log out of that RDP, you initially close down the teamviewer that was running in that session.

Fidolido

Depending on the version of teamviewer at the time of imaging, it will hang the teamviewer ID. I've had the issue with a clone of an HD with version 12. My solution to that problem was to remove it from my account if it was assigned, uninstall from the clone, run ccleaner to remove any registry entries, load an older version of Teamviewer, register that new ID, then update. Teamviewer sent me a registry fix for the problem but that didnt' fix my issue.

Ying_Q

Hi @hwlau,

Thank you for your post.

TeamViewer ID is designed not to changed despite reintallation. However, with terminal server operating system, there is always 2 IDs shows - TeamViewer ID and TeamViewer server ID. TeamViewer Server ID should always stays constant, and TeamViewer ID may changed.You may find TeamViewer Server ID by TeamViewer -> Help -> About TeamViewer -> TeamViewer ID display.

If your TeamViewer server ID keeps changing, kindly contact TeamViewer Support Team for individual assistance please. Sorry for any inconvenience caused.

Hope the information above helps and feel free to contact us if there is anything we may assist further with.

Regards

Ying_Q

hwlau

We are using Windows 2012 server and hosted in data center and it's not a virtual server. After the recent Windows update, reboot the server.... the TV server ID changed. I waited for 30 minutes as the server TV icon in my "contact list" shows offline. Luckily, we have another server which we were able to connect using TV and the use Remote Desktop and get the new TV ID. Another incident was setting up a new Windows 2019 in Hyper-V. After changing the RAM size, reboot the client, the ID changed.

FYI, we are using yearly subscription TV.

Hope you can solve this issue.

skymole

This is a real problem for me too!

The ID's of my own licenced devices change too. I have virtually run out of moves now. So I am saving the moves for a single PC which I can use for remote support. The other "licenced PCs" spawn "commercial use suspected" messages and messegas on my customers devices "play fair" TV support "cannot" will not help me and are not prepared to reset my moves. So despite having a paid licence I am having to use it as a free product with all the messages! I have stressed the urgency of our position and am told that I will need to wait until the next renewal date in 6 months before I can reset the moves! I cannot beleive that TV have failed to address this issue for so many years! We will look at a Citrix alternative as this is unmanageable. The technology is available to more effectively tie the id into hardware id's! I really cant be bothered with this unacceptable stance any more!

orange109

YES I confirm .. this is a huge issue for me as well .. and it is still happening .. April 29th 2019

kfqwpt0mfgse

The problem still exists in April 2019. And it is not related to cloning or HW changes at all. (Here are two small office PCs (Win) which are about 5 and 10 years old and the last HW change for one of them was a SSD several years ago).

@Wiley_One:

I guess we are lucky, that we live in a perfect enough world that at least birthdays, social security numbers, number plates of cars etc. are not changing that randomly.

Fidolido

This happened once on a server machine for a client. As a backup, I install DWSERVICE.NET and so far never had another issue as I'm able to log in via DWSERVICE. You create an account, then download the client and install. It's a bit basic but works as a web app and can do dual monitors, transfer of files and is for most part, free.

I do know that you can not clone a hard drive and expect to have the same ID. Also, virtual machines tend to be a problem.

When Teamviewer came out for me, it was version 7 and worked great. Problems started with Version 11 and up and got worst with subscripton based products. I don't expect them to be free forever but the new pricing model prices me out of updating.

DDock

and they want me to upgrade my Corporate v12 perpetual license to their v14 annual... ha! right...

xasxbvb

Same problem here. I thought I made a mistake a while ago when storing the Teamviewer ID's of about 6 Windows 2012 R2 servers in our password database because I couldn't connect anymore with the ID's. Logged in to each server via another way and found out the ID was different from what is stored in our password database. Fine, noted all ID's and stored them again in our password database. Did a check today, tadaaaaaah....ID's changed again. This is pretty problematic in a business environment. How can you not get such basic stuff right Teamviewer? Do you think I have time for this stuff?

We use a premium license btw.

Wiley_One

This thread has been difficult to follow, mostly because the two most active participants (recently) seem to be ESL, and one of them insists on analyzing the psychology instead of the technology..

Here is how I see the issue:

Sign Guy has a bunch of mini-PC's deployed in various places
For no apparent reason, the TeaamViewer IDs on these systems change randomly.
Sign Guy may or may not have remote access to other PC's on the same local LAN segment.

Analysis:

We (mostly) all agree that, in a perfect world, the TV ID should never change
We don't live in a perfect world, so it does happen. Perhaps it is because of ID duplication or possibly because TV host thinks it has detected a hardware change
It would be nice if TeamViewer Support would help by telling us the exact reason when an ID changes. But, they have been reluctant to do that, for "security reasons".
Sign Guy needs a way to prevent ID changes
Sign Guy also needs a way to recover if an ID does change

Suggestions:

Avoid the use of cloning software when deploying new systems.
Do not install TeamViewer Host over another remote access system, especially RDP..
Make your TV Host system as stable as possible. That might include removing or disabling all NICs except one, assigning static IPs instead of DHCP, and identifying any program that might alter timestamps on critical Windows folders,
Enable RDP access to the machine. Although RDP should never be used to install TeamViewer Host, it can be used to see the TeamViewer ID.
Install a script that reads the TeamViewer ID and reports it to a cloud server periodically.
Ditch TV and install something else. That are many (many) other products out there.
Install a second host program in addition to TV.

Conclusions:

If you can't find an acceptable workaround, use another product. Simple.

SignageAt150PCs

Mail from DomLan to SignageAt150PCs:

Hi,

I imagine that the whole system provides a telemetry mechanism, where each player is proactive in communicating its parameters to your centralized web service. Something like a ping that says, "Hey, I'm here too, I'm the 1234 player and it's all right here!"

If so, it is not very complicated to derive the current ID from the TeamViewer HOST daemon and send it too via telemetry (do you make sure the channel is safe?). There are several articles about it, both here in the community and off the web. I leave you this example, but I can find others if needed.

If this is a possibility for you, fine. Otherwise you have to leave me at least until Monday to try to elaborate some further strategy.

Let me know.

Regards

My answer (from SignageAt150PCs):
Hi DomLan,

please stay in web, because i think, it´s important for community too, how it goes on...

Sure, it is like you wrote above. We can inform us by ourselves, "Which ID has my TeamViewer 2day ?" (the correct word toda... is not allowed here)
(It´s less intelligent and less comfortable, to MUST do this for a pay-software)
So your idea is still done - but only for the players we still can reach.
After loosing the IDs and getting back from TeamViewer-Support yesterday: "We don´t WANT to help you!", we started this immediately...

But still we need the lost IDs back or need to know, which IDs they have TO-DAY.

I can give the TeamViewer-Support (or you) the actual IP-adress of player1 in realtime.
They only need to take a look in realtime too (or later on in their LOG-protocols), which IDs are on this IP-adress too.
And after that, i must and will give my password to reach the TeamViewer at new ID.
I have all the aliases of lost IDs and (state from now) for each customers installation a second player, who is still reachable by TeamViewer. So we CAN see the actual IP-adress of lost IDs.

Hope, you understand the problem.
Give a feedback here on monday is no problem for me.
Took a long time until now, so 3 days more are OK for me.

Thanks a lot and best regards.

SignageAt150PCs

Hi DomLan,

thanks for understanding and trying to help.

Here is the short form:
All Players are Windows 10 Home (signage players).
SSH is not installed / activated in clients.
No domain, just same Workgroup.
We did not change any important settings.
Hardware are "mini-players" especially for signage-systems (very small PCs).
We have a standard-router before it and use own subnet.
Router finds the way through the customers network "by hisself". Gets IP via DHCP from customers network and gives IP xxx.xxx.xxx.254 into our own subnet.
All clients have fixed IP-adresses in subnet. For example: xxx.xxx.xxx.1 to xxx.xxx.xxx.5
Alle clients have same TeamViewer-Installation file (customized "TeamViewer-host"-file). The version is 11.0.52465.0 (Language is English(United States)) because the Win10-Players came in with english (US) pre-installed.
For the reason of "we can not walk to the headless players in case of problems" we do not update TeamViewer on the players.
We need stable - all same configured - systems. Only our standard-programs and nothing else on the players.
Firewall blocks everything without our server, TeamViewer-Servers and some more servers (Timeserver, DNS-Server etc.). So even Windows-Updates get blocked (very important).
The lost IDs have been before latest configuration against Windows-Updates (it seems at least, that the windows-updates made the ID-problems in TeamViewer).
If we connect with TeamViewer (for example) to player1 (ID not lost yet) and open the routers web-interface, we see player5 (lost TeamViewer-ID) network-running.
So we can see the player5 is "working" via router and via own web-based control-interface.
We can restart him by this own programmed web-interface.
But we can not access him from outside (out of TeamViewer).

Hope, all ist understandable and you have a solution.

Best regards

DomLan

Hi @SignageAt150PCs

I'm happy for your state. When I said that you would not understand, I was referring to your state of mind: you're angry about the variations of the id you've suffered. I was not referring to your ability to understand the subject. I do not know you, so I can not judge.

I want to help you. I understand that the devices you need to connect to are headless.

What kind of hardware and software do you have available? Windows, Linux, ARM?
I guess you can still reach them via SSH, is that correct?

What kind of TeamViewer package did you install on your device?

If you prefer, you can write to me in private. I will try to analyze your scenario.

Regards

SignageAt150PCs

Hi DomLan,

i think, i understand it. I do IT since 1989. I´m a certificated programmer since 1991. I program databases since 1999. So i understand a very lot. And TeamViewer always tried to tell me too, that "i could not understand it". Stop with that!!!

This very big mistake in the design of the TeamViewer-Programming HAS TO BE written down in the Manuals!!! It is not fair (in my private life in germany we call this a "lie") to say to future customers "You are save. ID will not change". And after i bought TeamViewer for a lot of money (yes, 1.000,- € each year is for a ver small company a lot of money), you just lean back and tell me "Oh - see - IDs CAN change".

Whatever the reason for changing IDs is, it IS a lie to wright down: "IDs will not change". Because TeamViewer knows this better.

What is the problem, to write the truth down in manuals: "You get an temporary ID. This can change and must have to go to the PC yourself to find out, what your new ID is. And if Windows makes an update, you could loose your ID as well. So you can´t count on having access to your computer at the time you need the access."

I wonder, why for example heise.de and Center for Combatting Unfair Competition in Germany and USA don´t react. This is a very BIG design-bug in TeamViewer affiliated with lie telling manuals since several years...

And the reason, why i´m so angry, is, that i had 6 weeks with TeamViewer-Support. I wrote down the whole system-configuration, Routers, Firewalls, Players (and no, the hardware does not change - partial it happened just after windows-10-updates you can NOT stop) and all the other techniques. I wrote down a long mail to help TeamViewer finding their problem.

If say had been so fair, to say - right before my first mail - "IDs CAN change AND NOW YOU HAVE A PROBLEM, WE DON´T WANT TO SOLVE FOR YOU!", then, yes then i would not be so angry.

But i heard a lot of really stupid explanations. I was - because of 29 years programming and IT - able, to show them - one after another - that they all went wrong.

And now - at the end of a long road, it looks like this:

TeamViewer-Support said, they are technically not able, to give me the NEW IDs of my players. I showed them, that and how they CAN do it. After that, they agreed this point.

But then TeamViewer-Support said, it´s a problem of protection of data privacy. I showed them, that and how they CAN do it. After that, they agreed this point as well.

And now - after there is everything fine and doable - they write me "But it´s to much work for us. We will not help you."

The translation of all this is: "You, as a customer with around 10.000,- € paid since 2008 are not worth enough for us, to help you. Sure, this is a problem of our software and we tell you wrong things in our Manual (hoping you will buy TeamViewer because of never changing IDs), but now we don´t WANT to help you."

So DomLan, if you are able and willingly, to tell me my NEW IDs, i´d like to get your help.
Otherwise it´s useless to go on talking about software-design-errors and lies in the manual...

Best Regards,

SignageAt150PCs

DomLan

"I agree that, when this happens, TV should notify you of the new ID. They don't do that. I don't know why. You will have to ask them."

They don't do that... perhaps because there is no certainty that the email linked to the device account was not also a victim of abuse. In any case, for those who can read, these notices are present. -> read please. (cryptic, unintelligible, and totally unhelpful free)

DomLan

The reasons why this data vary are not the point of the question. The request for immutability, as per contract, is the point.
My offer was an aid to overcome the current difficulty. No claim to justify mutability or immutability.

Thanks to you for being on the piece ... or almost.

Wiley_One

I'm sorry, but, your response was cryptic, unintelligible, and totally unhelpful.

But, thanks anyway.

DomLan

Hi @Wiley_One,

thank you for explaining this step:

yes, the ID can vary as some elements (physical and otherwise) of the hardware infrastructure vary. In most cases these elements are static; in other cases they vary. In some cases they vary for legitimate reasons, in others for totally illicit reasons. You can search in Google to understand these aspects by yourself.

;-)

Regards

DomLan

Hi @SignageAt150PCs,

It's a long story, but I do not think I can explain it and, even better, you're not in the mood to understand it. I understand you are disappointed with these variations; It is also understandable that, for security reasons, not only mine or yours, IDs may undergo arbitrary changes by those IDs who hold them.

Imagine that after a theft of copies of licenses in my city (your example), the structure decided formally to change, for the safety of all, even my license. Of course I am disappointed, but the reasons are more than legal.

I guess you know what TeamViewer is for and what its real potential is. Imagine that the ID of that device is known to ill-intentioned people, who can voluntarily make your device do things for which it is not designed or even harmful. Do you think you can blame this on TeamViewer? Do you think you can justify it in front of your customers?

TeamViewer goes further; if you are not able to comply with some common sense rules, how to periodically change the passwords of your devices, choose complex passwords, then they do it. If they detect a breach in their security system, they are authorized to make any changes that will eliminate the problem.

Complaining in this case does not solve the problem. If you are interested in evaluating the possible alternatives to allow you to continue to manage your devices even in the event of variations, my offer is still valid. I will not be able to answer you further about your complaint, which seems to me legitimate as the answers already received.

In any case, I was not referring to the word countries, but to the severeal and several adjectives. They have different meanings, even in German.

Regards.

Wiley_One

When an ID changes in TeamViewer, it is not because of a "bug". It is because of specifically written code that, rightly or wrongly, detects a hardware change. This is to prevent cloning the software from one machine to another.

Let's say you have 10 PC's to provision and deliver. You spend hours on the first one, then you use a cloning tool such as Acronis or Ghost to make an exact copy of the first machine to the other 9. Then you ship them all over the world. If they all have the same TeamViewer ID, they will be unreachable. That would be bad.

When the TeamViewer software wakes up, it looks around for certain identifying factors that are supposed to be unique, such as the MAC address of the NIC, or the serial number of the CPU, or even the date-time stamp on a particular folder. If TeamViewer believes that it has been copied into new hardware, it will automatically generate a new ID. This is to keep all ID's unique.

Another way this might happen is if two TV installations try to log into the TV server with the same ID at the same time. What should happen then? I don't know, but perhaps the second one is forced to have its ID changed to prevent duplicate ID's.

Now you ask, what are the things that TV looks for when trying to determine if the hardware has changed? We can speculate, but the people who know aren't going to tell us because they consider it a security risk. We might try to circumvent their licensing safeguards.

I agree that, when this happens, TV should notify you of the new ID. They don't do that. I don't know why. You will have to ask them.

SignageAt150PCs

Hi DomLan,

let´s start at the beginning.

Please take a close look to the TeamViewer Manual.

https://dl.tvcdn.de/docs/en/v13/TeamViewer13-Manual-Remote-Control-en.pdf

See chapter 2

See chapter 2.1: How TeamViewer works

"The first time TeamViewer is started, this ID is generated automatically based on hardware characteristics and will not change later on."

In germany we call this a "contributed product attribute".

That makes sense, because an ID (!!!) NEVER changes.

Or did you got last week a call from Drivers and Vehicles Licencing Authority who says, "Oh - see - we changed the ID of your drivers license. Please come here to search your new ID by yourself. And NO, we can´t tell you your new ID by phone or by asking personally. This is because of protection of data privacy. You have to come here and search by yourself."

So - why are you - and the TeamViewer-Support - try to tell me, "IDs can change".

If they change, then TeamViewer IS buggy !!!!!!

Please first explain me that.

And sure i meant countries (i´m german and i´m very very unhappy about this BUG in TEAM-VIEWER - so maybe there are some mistakes in my text).

And as i sayed: the players (PCs) have been walled (bricked / putten inside the wall behind the signage systems) and NO chance to reach them!!! Or should i break the wall and built it up new later on? Who pays for that? TeamViewer?
Because "and will not change later on" this should not be a problem!!!

Please - at first - we have to discuss the product specification: "and will not change later on".

It is written down by TeamViewer since several years in the manuals.

And support said: "IDs will change in TeamViewer 14 as well".

That´s the reason, why i will NOT buy TeamViewer 14 licenses.

DomLan

Hi @SignageAt150PCs,

yes, the ID can vary as some elements (physical and otherwise) of the hardware infrastructure vary. In most cases these elements are static; in other cases they vary. In some cases they vary for legitimate reasons, in others for totally illicit reasons. You can search in Google to understand these aspects by yourself.

What the community may be able to help you find is a way to periodically reevaluate the exact ID associated with your device.
I imagine that each device is known to you also for another univocal coding for you; TeamViewer, via command line, allows you to determine the ID currently associated with the device. With a little programming activity you can create a mechanism that alerts you when this element changes.

If the solution can be of interest to you and more information can be useful to you, let me know.

A curiosity: did you talk about severeal countries or several countries?

Regards.

SignageAt150PCs

The problem still exists in November 2018...

We have signage-systems as well and a part of them is installed "in the wall". No chance for putting keyboard or mouse in. They are in severeal countries and we can not fly around to fix them manually.

After one and a half month dealing with the support (and getting very stupid nswers), i reached this state:

Yes, TeamViewer-documentation says: ID will be given once and will never change.

And Support says additionally: TeamViewer-IDs can change (at some "circumstances").

WHAT? Will never change but will change???

After clearing all technical "no goes" and "data protection" issues, the support says: we have no time for you and we wil not help you.

Since 2008 i did spent around 10.000,- € for TeamViewer (Corporate 3 Channels).

But get no help.

Teamviewer is buggy and has a very big design-problem in his software.

No use at all.

You will go on loosing IDs and will never get them back...

That is the sad trueth about teamvievers "unattended access".