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Home → Troubleshooting → Installation → "Setup was unable to activate the Activation ID ..."

1.33. "Setup was unable to activate the Activation ID ..."

Applies to: All products, releases 6.x/7.x/8.x

My install will not finish. I get this message:

Setup was unable to activate the Activation ID activation-ID. The software is currently installed as a fully functional trial. When you run the software, a screen will appear to guide you through the activation process.

Or,

Setup is unable to install Activation ID activation-ID. See product Help Menu / License Manager to view available licenses or information on obtaining a new license.

How can I get past this and finish the install?

The message unfortunately does not give you the key piece of information, which is that this affects just the license, not the actual software install. For some reason, the installer was unable to do an Automatic Activation of your Activation ID. Maybe your firewall prevents the installer from talking to Palisade's license server, maybe the Activation ID is already activated, or maybe it's something else. There's no retry at this stage, but you can activate the software later. For now, click the OK button to let the install finish. Assuming there are no other error messages, the software will be installed as a 15-day trial.

After the installation finishes, your next steps depend on whether the Activation ID is already activated, and where.

If your Activation ID has never been activated ...

1. Run the end-user software. You'll get a pop-up asking you to continue with trial or run License Manager.
2. Select License Manager, click Activate, and enter your Activation ID.
3. Select Manual Activation, not Automatic, and follow the instructions on your screen.

If your Activation ID is already activated on another computer, please follow the directions in Transferring Standalone Software 6.x/7.x/8.x to a New Computer.

If your Activation ID is already activated on this computer ...

1. Launch the software. You should see a prompt with a License Manager button at the bottom. Click that button.
2. In License Manager, click Select License.
3. If your license appears on the Select License screen, click it and click OK. The software will remember to use the license in the future.
4. If your license doesn't appear, but there's an Unusable Licenses button, click it. If your license appears there, and it's broken, follow the instructions for your software version in "FAILURE: License is broken."
5. If your license appears with some other status on the Unusable Licenses screen, please send a screen shot to Palisade Technical Support.
6. If your license doesn't appear on the Select License screen or the Unusable Licenses screen, either the license is activated on some other computer or the Activation ID is not valid. Please contact Palisade Technical Support and include your Activation ID.

Last edited: 2020-04-06