Licence errors

Licence keys are for Stab on the Mac and Windows. The web has nothing to unlock: it works with your Stab Cloud account. A desktop licence doesn’t unlock these devices, and their purchases don’t unlock a computer.

Open in Stab doesn’t open Stab

The licence email’s Open in Stab button is a stab:// link. Some mail apps and webmail don’t open links to an app, and it only works on a computer where Stab is installed. If nothing happens, or the browser says it can’t open the address, copy the key from the same email and enter it with Enter Licence Key…Enter Licence Key… (not on Web) (the Stab menu (Licence… once licensed)Settings or Settings › Licence—). The key does the same as the button.

When Stab does open but the key is refused, it says why, as for a pasted key (below).

The key isn’t accepted

You enter the key with Enter Licence Key…Enter Licence Key… (not on Web) (the Stab menu (Licence… once licensed)Settings or Settings › Licence—). If Stab refuses it, it says why:

• “That isn’t a licence key: it looks like STAB-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX.” What you pasted isn’t shaped like a key. Copy it again from the email whose subject is “Your Stab licence key”: the key alone, with its five groups. Case, spaces and dashes don’t matter.
• “No licence has this key. Check it against the email you received.” The key is well formed but no licence has it: usually one character mistyped (an O for a 0, an I for a 1). Pasting it avoids that. If we sent you a new key, the old one no longer works: use the newest.
• “This licence was refunded or revoked.” The purchase was refunded, so the key no longer unlocks Stab. If you think that’s a mistake, write to [email protected].
• “This licence belongs to another Stab Cloud account. Sign out of Stab Cloud to activate it on this computer.” The licence was linked to a Stab Cloud account when it was first entered, and you’re signed in with another one here. Sign in with the account it’s linked to, or sign out of Stab Cloud (on the home’s Stab Cloud card), then enter the key again.
• “Too many tries. Wait a minute and try again.”
• “Purchases and licences aren’t available right now. Try again later.” Stab’s server can’t take activations for the moment; try again later.
• “This computer couldn’t be identified. Contact support.” Stab couldn’t read the identifier it ties the licence to. On Windows, Stab can also say “This PC has no machine id (MachineGuid) to activate a licence for.” Write to [email protected].
• “Stab couldn’t reach its server. Check the connection and try again.” Entering a key needs a connection, once. After that the licence works offline.
• “Stab’s server refused it (500). Try again later.” (with another number): the server couldn’t take the key just then. Try again later; if it keeps saying so, write to [email protected].

On two computers already

“This licence is already active on two computers. Deactivate one of them to use it here; it can be activated there again later.”

One licence works on two computers at once, Mac or Windows. Stab lists the two by name, each with a button to deactivate it: choose one you no longer use, and the key activates here. The computer you freed goes back to free Stab the next time it’s online; its songs stay as they are. Entering the key again on a computer that already has it doesn’t take a second place.

If neither computer can be freed from the list, deactivate one from the computer itself: Deactivate on This Mac… in Settings › PurchasesDeactivate This Computer in Settings › Purchases.

“This licence has been moved between computers too often: it can be deactivated five times in 30 days. Try again later, or contact support.”

A licence can be deactivated five times in 30 days, from the computers or from your account, so the computer stays activated for now. The next deactivation is possible 30 days after the first of those five. Need it sooner (a new computer, a repair)? Write to [email protected] from the email you bought with, and we reset it.

Stab went back to free Stab

Stab checks the licence with its server about once a day when it’s online. Two answers take the licence off this computer, and Stab says which:

• “This computer’s Stab licence was deactivated from another computer. Enter the licence key again to use it here.” Someone freed this computer’s place from another one. Enter the key again; if the licence is on two other computers by then, Stab lists them.
• “Your Stab licence was refunded or revoked, so this computer is back to free Stab: every song still opens and plays, and three songs of your own can be edited.”

Without a network, the check doesn’t happen and the licence stands: being offline doesn’t take it away.

The licence file doesn’t hold

The licence file is checked on the computer at every start. If it doesn’t hold, Settings › Purchases says why, and Stab runs as free Stab until the key is entered again:

• “This licence is for another computer. Activate your key on this one: a licence covers 2 computers, and deactivating one frees its place.” The file came from another computer, for instance with a backup restored onto a new one. Enter your key here.
• “This licence file has been changed, or isn’t from Stab. Activate your licence key again.”
• “This isn’t a Stab licence file. Activate your licence key again to get a new one.”
• “This licence was signed with a key this version of Stab doesn’t know. Update Stab, or activate your licence key again.”
• “This licence is for another product. Activate a Stab for Desktop key.”
• “This licence has expired. Activate your licence key again.”

In each case, entering the key again brings a new licence file. On a computer that already had the licence, it uses the place it had.

Lost the key

The key is in the email you received after buying, “Your Stab licence key”. We keep the key only in a form that can’t be read back, so we can’t send the same one again: reply to that email, or write to [email protected] from the address you bought with, and we send a new key. The old key stops working; computers already activated stay activated.