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Searching for watermarks

The “Search” tab of the watermark dialog allows you to locate watermarks in an executable or a specified process of the protected application:

  • Search in file – look for watermarks in the application executable. Select a file in the “File Name” field where you want to look for watermarks in;
  • Search in module – search in a module of the selected process. Select a running process in the drop-down list, then select a module of this process to search watermarks in.

Results of the search are displayed in the list below:

  • Name – the name of the found watermark;
  • Count – the number of copies of the found watermark.

Important!

When you search for watermarks in an unpacked executable, any of this modes will do. However, if an executable is packed, you should search for watermarks in the running application only (the “Search in module” mode). Searching in the executable in this case is useless as watermarks (as well as the code and data) are packed and are only unpacked when the application is running.

Watermark setup

The “Setup” tab of the “Watermarks” dialog is for managing watermarks:

Configuring watermarks

To add a new watermark, click the corresponding button. The following dialog will open:

Add a watermark

  • Name – the name of the watermark;
  • Value – the value of the watermark. You can generate a random value for the watermark by clicking the “Generate” button. The “Value” field consists of two columns: the left column allows entering a Hex value, the right column – a symbolic value. When the watermark is inserted to the protected file, each “?” symbol is replaced with a random value.

To remove or rename a watermark, use the right-click menu:

Watermark menu

Watermarks

VMProtect offers a unique ability to add hidden information about the owner of the protected file to this file. A watermark is an array of bytes that should be unique to each user. If watermarks are incorporated to the protected file, you can always determine the owner of the leaked copy (for instance, if the cracked program is distributed) and act accordingly. The watermark database file is stored in “%ApplicationData%/VMProtect Software/VMProtect.dat” for Windows and in “/Users/Shared/VMProtect Software/VMProtect.dat” for Mac OS X.

The “Watermarks” dialog window contains two tabs: