Activation & licensing

ModelxcelPro features are unlocked by a license issued for your machine. This page covers how activation works, what the license states mean, and how moving machines is handled.

How activation works

Open the activation dialog from the ModelXcel Pro → Help → License Status button. The dialog shows your machine code (with a Copy button) and a box to paste your license key or the contents of a .lic file. Click Activate; the add-in validates the license’s signature, confirms it was issued for this machine, checks the version policy and expiry, and saves it.

Your machine code

The machine code is a SHA-256 value derived from at least two stable local machine signals. It is read-only and unique to your computer. Copy it and include it when you request a license, because each license is bound to the machine code it was issued for.

License states

  • Unlicensed — no valid license installed; features are disabled.
  • Trial — an active, issued trial; features enabled.
  • Licensed — an active paid license; features enabled.
  • Grace — up to 7 days after a paid license expires, features keep working and the status reads “renew now.”
  • Expired — the license (or grace period) has ended; features are disabled.
  • Invalid — the license failed validation (wrong machine, bad signature, or a clock problem).

Trials and licenses

In shipped builds there is no self-serve local trial. Beta access is granted through an issued signed trial or a paid license — both tied to your machine code and activated the same way. (A 90-day local trial exists only in developer builds and is not available in released builds.)

Moving to another machine

Licenses are machine-bound: a license activates only on the machine whose code it was issued for.

  • Legacy (v2) licenses additionally use an add-in-side counter that allows up to 2 machine changes per 365 days; beyond that, activation on a new machine is refused.
  • Current (v3) licenses do not use that legacy counter. Moving a v3 license to a new machine requires a new or rotated signed license issued for that machine, governed by the portal / seat policy.

Offline and clock protection

Your license is cached locally and re-validated offline at every startup — no network connection is required to keep working. The add-in also detects a system clock set backwards and will mark the license Invalid until the clock is corrected.

Where the license is stored

The license and its metadata are stored per-user under %LocalAppData%\Modelxcel\ModelxcelPro\ and the current-user registry. Deactivating clears this local state and returns the add-in to the Unlicensed state.

Troubleshooting

“Not valid for this machine”: the license was issued for a different machine code — request one for your current code (shown in the dialog). “Activated on 2 other machines”: the legacy (v2) move allowance is exhausted for this year. “Clock set backwards”: correct your system clock, then reactivate. Machine code shows “Unavailable”: the add-in couldn’t read enough stable machine signals (rare; common on locked-down VMs) — contact support.

Once activated, head to the feature documentation to start using ModelxcelPro.