One license works on one domain. Everything on this page follows from that.
The set of causes here is finite and well known, so this is a list rather than an investigation. The aim is a working activation back as quickly as possible.
#It will not activate
- It is already active on another domain
The most common case by a wide margin. Release it where it currently sits, using the button in that site's admin, or from your account if you no longer have access to the old site.
- You cannot get into your account
Some actions only happen there, so restoring access comes first. Password recovery is the standard flow.
- The key belongs to a different product
Happens to people who own several of our items. Check in your account which item the license is for.
- The server cannot reach Hub
Activation is an outbound request. If outbound HTTPS is closed,
curlis missing, a certificate has expired or a firewall intercepts the request, activation fails and it looks like the key is being rejected. Diagnostics has a dedicated Hub connectivity check, and it takes seconds.- The location is blocked
Servers in Russia and Belarus are blocked at our infrastructure level, permanently. Activation is impossible on that hosting and no setting changes it.
The summary worth keeping: the activation system is well worn and rarely wrong. The cause is almost always the license state in your account, or your server's connection to Hub, rather than the theme.
#It drops on its own
- The domain changed
A license is bound to a domain, so moving from a test domain to a live one, or changing the site address, removes the activation. Not a fault. The correct order is deactivate before the move, activate after.
- Subdomains and staging
Every subdomain is its own domain and its own activation. A copy of the site at a staging address is not covered by the live activation, though there is a free slot for a test environment.
- A cloned site
Migrating with the database carries the activation record, which no longer matches the new domain. It reads as "the license dropped after the move". Same fix: deactivate and activate again.
- The updates and support period ended
The theme keeps working. Updates and the Pro channels close. That is a state rather than an error.
#Workarounds do not work
Activating one licence on several domains does not work, and the activations are removed.
Duplicating a database with its activation and substituting the domain fall in the same category, because verification happens on our side rather than in the theme. Several sites need several units, and your account shows how many you have and where each one is in use.
#What to send support
- the domain you are activating on
- the item name
- the license state in your account, free or in use and by which domain
- the exact wording of the message at activation
- the Diagnostics report including the Hub connectivity check
- the System Info report
#Common questions
My account and my site disagree about the licence
Trust the account, because a site can hold a stale cached status while the account is the authoritative record, and say so in the ticket so nobody spends time on the wrong half.
The message says too many attempts
Activation requests are rate limited and clicking repeatedly trips it, so wait a minute and try once: nothing is blocked and the licence is not affected.
I moved hosts and the licence dropped
If the domain stayed the same then this is usually the connectivity check rather than the licence, since a new server can have outbound HTTPS closed or curl missing, and Diagnostics answers it in seconds.
#Still stuck
Open a support ticket with the list above. A ticket carrying all six items is usually answered in one reply.
Last updated
