How to Deactivate a BricsCAD Licence

Quick answer: Deactivating frees up a BricsCAD licence so it can be activated elsewhere, useful before moving to a new computer or making major hardware or OS changes. It’s a few clicks through BricsCAD’s License Manager and requires an internet connection. Two exceptions: network licences and offline-activated single-user licences can’t be deactivated at all.

When to Deactivate Your Licence

Deactivate before doing any of the following:

• Migrating the licence to another computer
• Permanently removing BricsCAD from a computer
• Installing a new hard disk
• Restructuring disk partitions
• Upgrading the operating system

The common thread is anything that changes the computer BricsCAD is tied to, or removes BricsCAD from it entirely. Licence activation is generally linked to your hardware and OS setup, so changes like these can affect it even if you’re not planning to move the licence anywhere.

How to Deactivate a Licence

1. Launch BricsCAD.
2. Run the LICENSEMANAGER command to open the Octave License Manager dialog.
3. Click Manage License to open the Licensing Information dialog.
4. Click Deactivate….
5. Click Yes to confirm.

This requires an internet connection.

What You Can’t Deactivate

Two exceptions: network licences, and single-user licences that were activated offline. If you activated a licence offline, it’s permanently locked to that computer, deactivation genuinely isn’t possible.

If you’re managing deactivation across many machines rather than one at a time, Octave also has a separate tool, LicTool, built for automating this.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I deactivate a licence as many times as I want? Yes, for online-activated licences. Deactivation and reactivation are unlimited, the same as activating in the first place.

Why can’t I deactivate a network licence? Network licences aren’t tied to one specific computer the way a single-user licence is; they’re checked out temporarily from a shared pool managed by your licence server, so individual deactivation doesn’t apply the same way.

I activated offline and now need to move to a new computer. What are my options? This is exactly the situation Octave warns about when recommending online activation instead. There’s no self-service way to deactivate an offline-activated licence, so contacting Octave support directly would be the next step.