Troubleshooting licensing and activation
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I manage user licenses?
What can I do if users are unable to logon?
Troubleshooting users being unable to log on
How do I know which license is currently being used?
How to check which license key is being used
Users get an error logging on
There are no licenses available, or the license for this user is in use elsewhere
Troubleshooting Activation
How do I activate my license?
Which license key do I use to activate Dashboard Server?
How can I activate if my SquaredUp server cannot connect to the internet?
That's fine, you can perform a manual or offline activation on another computer that has got internet access and then copy the .bin activation file onto the server.
See How to activate your license offline (manual activation).
I've been asked to 'reactivate' my license, how do I do that?
You will be asked to reactivate your existing license key, if it has been modified or extended.
See How to reactivate your license.
"License already activated" or "Maximum activations reached"
Activation keys are normally valid for a limited number of activations.
Your Primary license key can only be activated once.
If you are adding further SquaredUp servers to a multi-server / high availability environment you should use the Secondary license key for each subsequent server
If you are using your v3 activation key on v4, please see How to migrate from Dashboard Server SCOM Edition v3 to v4 for how to proceed.
If you uninstall and reinstall on the same server and you originally carried out an offline activation (as described in How to activate your license offline (manual activation))then you can reuse the same .bin file by browsing to
For more information see How to activate your license.
If you need any help please contact SquaredUp Support with the activation key.
An error occurred: The key provided is invalid. Activation keys must consist of at least 5 groups of letters and digits
There are two kinds of license key format. The old and the new license key format.
New format:
Dashboard Server license keys have a text prefix followed by 5 groups of letters and numbers:
type-prefix-aaaaa-bbbbb-ccccc-ddddd-eeeee
For example:
SQUP-PRIMARY-abc12-def34-ghi56-78jkl-90mno
Old format:
Dashboard Server license keys contain of 5 groups of 5 letters/numbers:
aaaaa-bbbbb-ccccc-ddddd-eeeee
Dashboard Server v4.1 and above accepts both the new prefixed license key and the old style without the prefix.
Dashboard Server v4.0 and below only accepts the old style license key. Remove the prefix from the license key to leave just 5 groups.
For example, remove SQUP-PRIMARY- to leave just aaaaa-bbbbb-ccccc-ddddd-eeeee.
Please contact SquaredUp Support if you need any help.
The activation key you have entered is incompatible with this version of Dashboard Server
The activation key being used is not valid for the version of Dashboard Server.
This key has expired
Some license activation keys (such as for technical preview releases and evaluation licenses) are only valid for a limited time period. Contact SquaredUp Support to obtain an up-to-date activation key.
For other renewable licenses you will normally be able to renew your license before it expires. As part of this renewal process, Dashboard Server will update your existing license with the new subscription term, so you can simply reactivate your license for the changes to take effect.
See How to reactivate your license.
If your license expires before you are able to renew then you may be sent a new license activation key, which you should paste into the activation screen to activate the new key, when prompted when you open Dashboard Server.
See How to activate your license