Licenses and seats
What a license key is, what a seat is, how an installation is activated, and what happens when a license ends.
The short version
- A license is issued to a person or a team. It has a key, a number of seats, the release channels it includes, and sometimes an end date.
- Each installation of PluggedDesk that you activate with the key takes one seat.
- An activated installation receives updates. PluggedDesk itself works whether it is activated or not.
The license key
A key has the form PD-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX. Capitals and dashes do not matter when you type it, and the
letters O, I and L are read as the digits they are usually mistaken for. The last two characters are a checksum, so a
mistyped key is recognised as mistyped before it is sent anywhere.
Treat the key as you would a password. This site does not store it: it stores a keyed hash of it, which is enough to recognise the key and useless for recovering it. Nobody at Exprezoe can read your key back to you. If it is lost, the license is revoked and a new one is issued.
Activating an installation
In PluggedDesk, choose Help › License, enter the key, and choose Activate.
PluggedDesk sends this site:
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| The license key | To find the license. Sent once, over HTTPS, and not kept by PluggedDesk afterwards. |
| The computer's name | So that you can tell your installations apart on your account page. |
| The platform and the version of PluggedDesk | The same. |
| A hash of an identifier | PluggedDesk makes a random identifier when it is first run. Only its SHA-256 is sent. It is not derived from your hardware. |
The site answers with an entitlement: a small signed document that says which license the installation belongs to, which channels it may read, and until when. PluggedDesk keeps it in Windows Credential Manager and can check its signature by itself, without asking anybody.
Seats
When every seat is in use, activating another installation is refused, and the answer names the computers that hold the seats. To free one:
- on that computer, choose Help › License › Deactivate; or
- on your account page, choose Deactivate beside the installation.
The seat is free at once. Activating the same installation again does not take a second seat.
Entitlements renew themselves
An entitlement lasts thirty days. PluggedDesk renews it quietly once two thirds of that time have passed: it looks when it starts, and every six hours while it runs, and asks this site only when the renewal is due. If the computer is offline for longer than thirty days, PluggedDesk keeps working, and asks you to activate again when you next want an update.
Whatever an entitlement says, this site checks its own records each time: a license that was revoked, or an installation that was deactivated, stops receiving updates at once and not thirty days later.
When a license ends
PluggedDesk goes on working on the computers where it is installed. Those installations no longer receive updates, and the downloads page closes, until the license is renewed.
Exprezoe staff
People at Exprezoe do not need a key. In Help › License, choose Sign in with Exprezoe Identity. Your browser opens, you sign in with your second factor, and the installation is entitled for as long as your account is. No seat is counted. Each person may have ten installations signed in at once; an eleventh replaces the one that was used longest ago.
Questions
Can I use one key on my desktop and my laptop? Yes, if the license has two seats free.
I reinstalled Windows. Did I lose a seat? The old installation still holds it. Deactivate it on your account page, then activate the new one.
Does PluggedDesk check the license while I work? No. It shows its entitlement to this site when it looks for an update, and renews it about once in twenty days. Your sessions never depend on this site being reachable.