Activation problems

"Invalid license key"

Double-check the key:

• It's case-sensitive — we recommend pasting from your purchase email rather than typing.
• Strip surrounding whitespace. Some email clients add an invisible trailing space.
• Confirm the email arrived from purchase@solidaccounting.com. If you don't have it, look up your key on your account page.

If the key still won't activate, your license may have been deactivated (e.g., refunded). Email support and we'll confirm.

"Machine limit reached" / "Activation limit exceeded"

Your tier ships with a fixed install limit:

To free up a slot, deactivate an old install you no longer use:

1. Go to solidaccounting.com/account
2. Sign in with the email you used to purchase
3. Find the machine in the list and click Deactivate
4. Try activating on the new machine

If you can't access the old machine (it died, was wiped, was lost), deactivate it from the account page. The license server doesn't need to talk to the dead machine — you control the slot.

Activation works on machine A, fails on machine B

Most common cause: machine B has a corporate firewall that blocks license.solidaccounting.com. Whitelist the domain or use a different network temporarily. Activation only needs internet for the initial handshake; the app works offline afterwards (with a 30-day grace).

Offline activation (air-gapped machines)

Solid Accounting checks in once when activating to bind your license to the machine fingerprint. After that, it works fully offline for up to 30 days; on day 31 it'll politely ask you to come online for a refresh.

We don't currently support fully air-gapped activation. If you need it for a regulated environment, email support — we can sometimes issue a 30-day signed claim manually for limited-use cases.

"License claim invalid — possible tampering"

This means the license claim in license.json failed cryptographic verification. Causes (in order of likelihood):

1. Manual edit of license.json — restore from a backup or re-activate from the Help → License menu.
2. Disk corruption — re-activate; the machine will get a fresh claim from the license server.
3. You're running a build older than the public key in your license.json — update the app from Help → Check for updates.

If none of those help, email support with your machine fingerprint (Help → About → "Copy machine ID"). Don't paste your license key into the email body — we use the fingerprint to look you up.