The short version
| Sign Out Of This Machine | Deactivate | |
|---|---|---|
| Removes your license from this computer | Yes | Yes |
| Gives the seat back | No, the seat stays reserved | Yes, one seat is freed |
| Needs an internet connection | No | Yes |
| Works on other computers | No, only the one you are on | Yes, from the Machines tab or the portal |
| To use the plugin here again | Sign back in with your email and key | Activate again, which takes a seat |
Both leave the plugin locked on that computer until you sign back in. Your presets and settings are kept either way.
Sign out: for a computer you will come back to
Sign Out Of This Machine is on the plugin's Account tab. It clears your license and account details from this computer and nothing else. The server is not told, so the seat stays yours.
Use it on a shared or temporary computer: a studio you are visiting, a friend's laptop, a lab machine. Nobody else can use your license there, and when you sign back in with the same email and key, the plugin picks up the same seat instead of taking a new one.
Because the seat stays reserved, signing out does not help when you have run out of seats. Error 3103 ("All activation seats in use") still counts a signed-out computer.
Deactivate: for a computer you are done with
Deactivate tells the license server to release the seat. The computer stops running the plugin and the seat is free right away for another computer.
You can deactivate:
- this computer, with Deactivate This Machine on the plugin's License tab;
- any other computer, from the plugin's Machines tab, including Deactivate All Other Machines;
- any computer, without opening the plugin, from Manage licenses.
Use it when you sell or retire a computer, move to a new one, or need a seat back. See Moving a license to another computer for the full steps.
Which one do I want?
- Leaving a shared computer, coming back later: sign out.
- Replacing a computer, or out of seats: deactivate.
- Signed out of a computer you no longer have: its seat is still taken. Deactivate it from the Machines tab on another computer, or from the portal. The old computer does not need to be on.
- On a trial: neither frees a seat. Trial seats stay with the computers you started on until the trial ends; see How trials work.