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Activation Problems

Updated July 17, 2026

Activation Problems

Activation is the one moment your license needs the network: a single call to the activation server when you enter your key. Once it succeeds, your license is verified offline from then on, with no phone-home and no expiry. Because it is a single online step, it is also where the few activation problems people hit tend to show up. This page covers each one.

One thing before anything else: an activation problem never locks your data. Restoring and verifying always work, with or without a license, and the 30-day trial is unaffected too. Whatever goes wrong below, you can still get your files back while you sort it out.

The key is rejected as invalid

License keys have the format HIBA-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX and arrive by email after purchase. If the app tells you the key isn't valid:

  • Copy and paste the whole key from your purchase email instead of retyping it. Missing characters and lookalikes (a zero for an O, a one for an I) are the usual cause.
  • Check that nothing extra came along in the paste, like a leading or trailing space.
  • Confirm the key still matches the HIBA-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX shape, hyphens included.

If a carefully pasted key is still rejected, email support@hiberden.app.

"This license is already active on another machine. Contact support to move it."

A license is active on one machine at a time. What to do depends on which machine you are sitting at:

  • The same machine as before. You should not see this message on the machine the license was already active on. Same-machine reactivation (after a Windows reinstall, or after removing the license) is self-service: enter the key again and the server recognizes the machine and re-issues your license. If the message still appears after a careful re-entry of the key, email support@hiberden.app.
  • A new machine. Contact support@hiberden.app first. Support releases the activation on the old machine, and then you activate on the new one. Note that "Remove license" in the app only clears the key locally; it does not release the activation on the server side, so removing the license on the old machine is not enough on its own. The full walkthrough is in Moving to a new machine.

The network fails during activation

Activation is the only time your license needs an internet connection. If the call fails, nothing is lost: check that the machine is online and can reach api.hiberden.app (a firewall or proxy may be in the way), then press Activate again. Retrying is always safe.

There is no offline activation path today, so a machine that can never reach the internet cannot be activated. Once activation succeeds, though, the license is verified offline forever and never needs the network again.

You lost your key

Email support@hiberden.app. Support resends the key to the address used at purchase.

While you sort it out

Nothing on this page stops you from reading your archives. Restore and verify always work, licensed or not, and if your 30-day trial is still running, archiving keeps working through the trial as well.

Where to go next