Activation
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Unity Manual > FAQ > Activation

Activation

(Please see the child pages for Step-by-Step Activation Procedures)

The Unity application requires activation before it can be used. The version you download contains both Unity and Unity Pro. Upon launching Unity, you will be take to our online activation, where you can choose to get Unity, or do a 30 day Unity Pro Trial. No personal information is needed.

If you've bought Unity, you will receive a serial number by email. This code is unique to each customer, and should not be lost or shared with others. An serial number is a string of characters and looks like XY-ABCD-1234-EFGH-5678-IJ90. When you activate Unity you need to enter this number. The licensing system will take a finger-print of your hardware and system software and send this finger-print to our servers. This locks your computer to your serial number. The end-user license agreement typically permits you to install Unity on up to two computers. If you attempt to activate Unity on a third computer you will be told that your activation limit has been exceeded. (Note that academic and/or discounted versions of Unity may be restricted to a single computer. Please check before purchasing what restrictions will apply to you.)

Note: The finger-printing is affected by many things. For example, if you were to re-install your operating system, or re-format a hard drive, or change the network card, these things will cause the unique finger-print of your computer to change.

When you attempt to re-activate Unity you may find that you are told you are unable to reactivate because your activation limit has been exceeded. This is not an error but reflects the fact that our server sees that your computer has changed. To help customers who have suffered from catastrophic computer failure we offer a Unity migration service. To take advantage of this service please email support@unity3d.com and provide as much information as possible about what has happened to your computer. Please also provide your Serial Number. We will then help you with the migration.

Common Questions

My computer cannot talk to your activation server. What can I do?
We have created a webpage to allow customers who have had difficulty activating online or wish to activate on a machine that is not connected to the internet, to create the activation file for themselves. The page is:

https://store.unity3d.com/manual/

If you are using Unity (the free version) click the Free activation tickbox and upload your ILR file, then click Activate Unity. Otherwise type in your serial number in the field provided. Within a second or two an ILF file should be downloaded to your computer.

When you restart Unity, please go to the Activation window (either it will start up on launch, or choose Help>Enter Serial Number (win) or Unity>Enter Serial Number (osx)). Select Manual Activation, click Next, then click "Read License" and choose the license file you downloaded above. Click Next, and Unity will read the file, and your activation should be complete!

Please activate Unity using manual activation. To do this, please contact support who will guide you through the process.

I need to migrate Unity from one machine to another. What do I need to do? Firstly, uninstall Unity from your "old" machine. Then contact support asking for assistance with migration. If you are mid-way through a critical period in your game development, please plan carefully for this migration. In addition to moving your project from your old machine to your new one, re-installing applications and so on, plan ahead for contacting support. Bear in mind that you can use Unity on two machines, so there should be no time when you are unable to continue development. The email will need to include the following:

My hard drive has died. What do I need to do? If you cannot uninstall Unity because your hard drive has failed write and tell the support team who will try to help. Please remember that we can't back up your project and we can only help you installing Unity on a working computer :)

How many activations can I make? Your serial number is good for 2 (two) activations.

I have received an activation code when I upgraded to Unity iOS. Why does the old one no longer work? The iOS products are an extension to your Unity or Unity Pro license. When you upgrade to Unity iOS the serial number you receive replaces your original activation code. The new serial number will work for your existing Unity installation.

Can I use the same serial number on a PC and a Mac? Yes, the same serial number can be used on a PC or a Mac. As per your end-user license agreement you can use Unity on two machines that you own and have exclusive use of. These two machines could be two Macs, two PCs or one PC and one Mac, whatever works best for you.

Can I use the same serial number on a laptop and a desktop? Yes, the serial number will work on laptops and desktops.

Will uninstalling Unity from an old machine automatically allow for activation on my new machine? No, The Unity Support Team will have to allow for migration of your license, meaning you can then proceed to activate on your new machine.

Can I use Unity3 with a 2.x Serial? No, in order to use Unity 3, youd need to upgrade to a 3.x license. You can do this Online, via our Website store. https://store.unity3d.com/shop/

My license wont activate using the online activation procedure! This may be due to one of many things. The easiest way around this, is to activate using the Manual Activation procedure. You can find out how by following the link below: http://answers.unity3d.com/questions/205/manual-offline-activation-of-unity

I have replaced an item of Hardware, now my copy of Unity needs to be re-registered. Unity creates a licensing file that takes information from a number of places within your machine, making the file unique. When an item of Hardware is replaced, our Licensing servers will see this as a request from a new machine. As with the migration procedure, you'll need to email the Support Team (support@unity3d.com) in order for them to reactivate your license.

The Editor freezes when waiting for a response from the Activation Server. In some cases the Online Activation process seems to 'Hang' and takes a little longer than expected, when waiting for a response from the Activation Server. We advise that you wait it out for 5-10 minutes before exiting the Editor. Give the Manual activation process (Stated above) a try if the Online activation continues to hang!

I have Unity and I want to upgrade my license but when I go to the Unity Store it doesn't recognise my login details. Having downloaded or purchased Unity does not mean that you have an account. You need to make an account separately. Accounts for the Unity Store, the Unity Forum and Unity Answers are all different. The Unity Store and the Asset Store DO use the same account.

I have a Pro Unity license and I bought an iOS/Android license but now when I reactivate my Unity with my new license I can't use my Pro features. What you have is two licenses. You instead need to upgrade your Pro license by using the Unity Store.

I have two licenses with different features, can I merge them? You cannot merge two licenses, you need to upgrade licenses in order to get different features.

In order to migrate my license the support team need to know the names of the machines I'm migrating from and to. How do I find the names of my machines? On a windows 7 system you open your Windows Explorer right click the 'Computer' icon on the left hand side and select properties. The computer's name is listed here. The procedure is similar for other windows systems. On a Mac, launch 'System Preferences', click the 'Sharing' icon and it should be listed there.

Please read the FAQ before contacting support@unity3d.com, as most Licensing cases are pretty trivial. Please let us know if you feel something that hasn't been covered here, ought to be.

Page last updated: 2012-03-27