Help / Licensing & trial
Machines, activation slots and deactivating
One key, more than one computer. This page covers how Vesari Stylus decides what "this machine" is, what the Deactivate button really does, and what to do when activation says the key is already used on too many machines.
The short answer
- Your key activates on a limited number of machines at once. That limit lives on our licence server, not in the app.
- The app never counts slots itself. It finds out at the moment you activate, and only then.
- Deactivate removes the licence from that PC. It does not hand the slot back.
- Out of slots? Releasing one is a licence-server change, so it goes to [email protected].
Whatever state your licence is in, your library plays in full. Nothing here can stop your music.
What counts as a machine
Windows generates an identifier of its own when it is installed. Vesari derives a short, one-way fingerprint from that value and sends the fingerprint, never the original, alongside your key when you activate. It is not your name, and not a hardware serial number.
That decides what looks like a new machine and what does not.
- Changing hardware. A new graphics card, more memory, another drive, even a new motherboard: same Windows installation, same identifier, and the app carries on.
- Reinstalling or resetting Windows. A brand new identifier. The app cannot tell it is the same physical computer, so it counts as another machine.
- Reinstalling Vesari Stylus. No change. The installer replaces the program and leaves your data folder alone, licence included. See Where Vesari Stylus keeps your files and settings.
- A different PC. Its own identifier, its own slot.
If the identifier no longer matches your licence, the app drops quietly to the free tier and waits for you to activate again. It never falls below free, and it never stops playing.
How many slots you get
The number is fixed when your key is issued and stamped into the licence file the server signs. The app is handed it and never reads it: no slot counter in Settings, no list of your machines, no local enforcement at all, and so no way for the app to tell you how many slots are left. The only moment the limit is visible is an activation that fails, and even then the app is only relaying the server's answer.
What activation actually does
- You paste the key into Settings, the About tab, the License group, and press Activate License.
- The app sends the key and this machine's fingerprint to our activation server. You need to be online for that moment only.
- The server signs a licence file naming this machine, and the app saves it locally.
- From then on it works offline, with a quiet background check about once a week. Stay offline long enough and the premium half pauses until you reconnect: see Using the app offline.
Step 2 is the only place the limit bites. Both messages there are the server's words, not the app's:
- "Invalid license key format." The key did not parse. Paste it whole from your purchase email, with no stray spaces.
- "License key not found or already used on too many machines." Either the key is wrong, or every slot is taken.
What Deactivate does, and what it does not
The Deactivate button sits beside the status line in Settings, the About tab, and appears only while the status reads Active. Pressing it opens a Remove licence confirmation, which tells you the licence is coming off this app and that you can reactivate at any time with the same key.
That is all it does.
- It deletes the licence from that PC and forgets the stored key. The app drops back to where it would be without the key: the free tier for most people, or the rest of your trial if one is still running. The change lands immediately, mid-track if you are playing. Your library, playlists, tags and play history are untouched, and playback does not pause.
- It does not contact our licence server, so the slot stays taken. Removing the licence, wiping the drive, or scrapping the machine entirely makes no difference to the count your key carries.
- Putting the same key back on the same PC is the ordinary path, and that confirmation says so.
We would rather tell you this plainly than have you deactivate an old laptop, sell it, and find out afterwards that the slot went with it.
When you are out of slots
Only the licence server can release a slot, and nothing in the app reaches it for that. Email [email protected] with your order confirmation and say which machine should be released. There is no ticket queue behind that address and no response time we can quote you.
Meanwhile the machine in front of you plays your whole library on the free tier, with no limit on playback. Free allowances apply to the power tools, never to your music. See Free, Pro & Lifetime.
Related
- I paid but the app says Free walks every reason a status line reads Free.
- Moving your library to a new PC covers the rest of the move.
- If the app itself misbehaves, say a status that flips while you are plainly online, use Report a Bug in Settings. See Is this a bug? How to report it.