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Deactivating a Protected Application

Deactivating an application disables use of the software on the current computer, and frees up the activation to be used on another computer. This allows a customer to securely transfer a license.

You can allow unlimited deactivations per License ID, or allow a set number of deactivations. Limiting the number of deactivations stops a customer from abusing the transfer feature, such as sharing one license between two computers when the customer needs to purchase two licenses. You can manually add additional deactivations to a License ID on the SOLO Server Automation License Details page if needed.

There are multiple way to initiate a deactivation, either remotely through SOLO Server Automation or directly through the protected application. If initiated remotely, the software will deactivate locally the next time it validates with SOLO Server Automation based on the Automated License Validation options. A required validation stops a user from simply running disconnected from the Internet to avoid the validation. If initiated from the protected software, a successful deactivation will immediately deactivate the software locally, and a required validation stops a user from restoring a backup to an activated state.

For a deactivation request to be successful, the Allow Deactivations Product Option setting needs to be enabled, and there needs to be at least one Deactivation Left on the License ID that was used for the original activation. If so, a deactivation will decrement the Deactivations Left count and increment the Activations Left count, which is what allows the activation to be used on another computer. You can search for the License ID in SOLO Server Automation to bring up the License Details page which shows these fields.

It is possible to allow unlimited deactivations, but this blog posts details reasons to limit the number of deactivations.

Deactivating remotely is useful if the customer no longer has access to the installation they need to deactivate. This addresses the case of a computer crashing or being formatted. The remote deactivation is securely enforced by requiring an automatic validation with SOLO Server Automation. You can allow your customers to remotely deactivate by logging into the Customer License Portal, or you can remotely deactivate their installations using the SOLO Server Automation Author interface.

Using the Customer License Portal

First, you must allow the option to deactivate through the Customer License Portal. Use the menu Configure / Customer License Portal Options, then click Edit. Change the Installations setting to:

You can also choose to let the customer view or edit the Installation/Computer Name, which they may optionally have entered during activation. This can help them better manage their installations.

The customer can log into the Customer License Portal, go to the License & Activation section, and select a particular License ID. To quickly test this, go to the License Details page in SOLO Server Automation and click the [View in License Portal] link next to the License ID.

At the bottom there is the Manage Installations button that links to the Installation History page:

Clicking on the red (X) will prompt the user with the message: "Are you sure you want to deactivate Installation ID "XXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXX-X"?" for that given Installation ID:

This will deactivate that installation, and increment the Activation Left count on this License ID.

Using the SOLO Server Automation Author Interface

If you don't want to allow customer to manage their own deactivations, or if you need to deactivate a license for your own reasons, such as a customer wanted to return a license, then you can use the author interface.

Deactivating Individual Installations

This is similar to deactivating through the Customer License Portal, but instead uses the author interface.

  1. Login to SOLO Server Automation and search for the appropriate License ID and bring up the License Details page.
  2. Click the dropdown Activations / View Installation History

  3. Find the Installation ID that corresponds with the computer that needs to be deactivated. There should only be one listed, and it will have the Device/Installation name you had entered when you press the Show more... link.

  4. Click the Deactivate Installation button under the Actions column. If there isn't a deactivate button, then there are no Deactivations Left for this License ID (you can manually increment this back on the License Details page).
  5. Confirm you want to deactivate this installation.

The software will deactivate locally the next time it validates with SOLO Server Automation and receives the updated deactivation status.

Deactivating an Entire License

If you want to deactivate/disable an entire license and not allow any new activations with that License ID, follow these instructions:

  1. Login to SOLO Server Automation and search for the appropriate License ID and bring up the License Details page.
  2. Use the dropdown Action: License / Edit

  3. Change the Status field from OK to Expired.

  4. Press the Submit button at the bottom.

All installations using this License ID will deactivate locally the next time they validate with SOLO Server Automation, and no new activations will be allowed using this License ID even if there are activations available.

To perform a deactivation directly through the protected software, we will create a shortcut that uses the /DEACTIVATE command-line switch.

Creating a Deactivate Shortcut

  1. Go to the folder with the protected application in Windows Explorer.
  2. Right-click the protected application and choose Create shortcut.
  3. Right-click the newly created shortcut and choose Properties.
  4. In the Target field, add the following text to the end : /DEACTIVATE

  5. Press OK.

When you run this shortcut, it will silently submit the deactivation request to SOLO Server Automation and also immediately deactivate the software locally. There must be at least 1 Deactivation Left on the License ID that was used to activate this particular installation for the deactivation to be successful.

Note that this doesn't prompt a message to the user, which makes it useful for adding to your uninstaller.