Troubleshooting license activation

When a customer writes in because your software won't unlock, the answer is nearly always on their license in Moonbase. This article goes through the problems we see most often, what causes each one and how to fix it. The fixes are written so you can pass them straight on to your customer.

Start with the license's activations

Find the customer under Customers and open their Licenses tab, or open their order and click License #1. The Activations list on the license shows every computer that has activated it: the app version it last ran, when it last checked in and from where, whether it was activated online or offline, and whether it has been revoked.

The same computer listed twice, as above, usually means it was activated again after an app update. The section on updates below explains why.

“Out of activations”

The customer has used every seat on their license, often on a computer they replaced or no longer use.

• Your customer can fix it: sign in to their account on your store, open Licenses, and click Revoke next to the computer they no longer use. Then activate again.

• You can fix it: click Revoke on that computer in the license's Activations.

• For everyone: if your products need more seats, raise Number of activations per license in the product's Licensing section, save, then run Actions > Update license entitlements. See Licensing Overview.

The app asks to activate every time it opens

The app is throwing away its license whenever a check fails, for any reason. A check can fail because the computer is offline or our servers can't be reached, and that says nothing about the license. The license is only gone when the check says so: the license was revoked, this computer was revoked, or the license expired.

The fix is in the app: it should keep its license when a check fails for any other reason, and try again later. Current SDKs report revoked and expired licenses separately from other failures, so your developer can tell them apart. See Licensing SDKs and your implementation guide.

It stopped working right after an app update

The new version was built with a newer SDK that identifies computers differently, so Moonbase sees a computer it hasn't met before. Activating it again takes another seat, and the old one isn't freed, which is why this often shows up as “Out of activations”.

• Your customer can fix it: revoke the old entry for the same computer under Licenses, then activate again. You can also revoke it for them.

• Your developer can prevent it: the SDKs can keep accepting a computer's old identity while moving it to the new one, so existing customers aren't asked to activate again. It needs to ship in the update itself. The JUCE module documentation shows how.

“Can't identify this device”

The app couldn't read a hardware identity from the computer. That happens in some virtual machines (especially cloned images), in containers and in some sandboxed environments. We can't fix this on our side.

Your developer can choose to accept a weaker identity on these computers, as the JUCE module documentation describes. On iPhone, iPad and Android, the identity can be missing for a moment: trying again a little later fixes it.

A customer can't free a computer

That computer was activated offline, and customers can't revoke offline activations themselves. You can: click Revoke on it in the license's Activations.

“This license does not allow offline activations”

Offline activation is turned off for the product, or for the pricing variation the customer bought. Either the customer activates online, or you turn on Offline license activations enabled in the product's Licensing section. Licenses already issued keep their old setting until you run Actions > Update license entitlements.

A license is stuck as Pending

Pending licenses are waiting to be delivered somewhere else:

• iLok: the customer hasn't connected their iLok account yet. They connect it from their account on your store, with their iLok User ID rather than their email address. See iLok.

• Your own license server: your server didn't answer or returned an error. Moonbase tries again for 24 hours, then sends the License fulfillment failed alert.

Once the cause is fixed, open the license and choose Actions > Retry fulfillment. The customer isn't emailed when it goes through, so let them know.

“License revoked” or “License expired”

A revoked license was refunded or revoked on purpose. An expired one belongs to a subscription whose renewal failed and whose grace period has passed. When a renewal fails, we email the customer a link to add a new payment method: once they pay, the subscription is active again and so is the license.

Only 100 licenses were issued

Until your account is live, it can issue at most 100 licenses. Going live lifts the limit. See Going live: demo mode and verification.

Frequently asked questions

A customer replaced their computer. What should they do?
Revoke the old computer under Licenses in their account, then activate on the new one. If the old one was activated offline, you revoke it for them.

Why won't a trial start on a computer?
Each computer gets one trial per product. You can give it more time with Extend on the trial. See Trials.

Can I see which version of my app a customer runs?
Yes, the license's Activations list shows the version each computer last checked in with.