License

License is where a server becomes usable. It takes a licence key, checks it, and shows what the server currently holds. Until a valid licence is in place, this is the only screen the admin panel will show you.

Overview

URL: /admin/settings/license

Open it from Settings > System > License in the sidebar.

A licence is tied to the server's public IP address, so a key that works on one machine does not work on another. Moving a server to a new address means revalidating it there.

Starting without a key

A server installed without a licence opens on this page with two ways forward: activate a free trial, or enter a key you already have.

Free trial

The trial box takes one thing, your e-mail address, and starts the trial the moment you submit it with Start Free Trial. No card is asked for.

The trial arrives in two stages:

1. Immediately, the server is licensed for 24 hours. You can start work at once.
2. After you confirm your e-mail address, the trial extends to the full trial period. AdminBolt sends a confirmation message when the trial starts. Open the link it contains and press Confirm on the page the link opens; that is what extends the licence.

A full licence that billing issues through the trial sign-up shows as a paid licence straight away: the page shows it as active, and neither this page nor onboarding uses trial wording or asks for an e-mail confirmation.

While the confirmation is outstanding, the page says so and offers Resend the mail in case the first message did not arrive. The page notices the confirmation on its own, so you do not need to reload it or come back later. Since panel 1.9.4 it checks again as soon as you return to its browser tab, or to the browser window from your mail program, so a confirmation made elsewhere shows at once.

The exact end date of a running trial is on this page under Expires On once the licence is active.

Starting the trial at install time

The trial can also be started while the server is being installed, which saves visiting this page at all:

sudo ./install.sh [email protected]

The installer requests the trial for that address, and the same confirmation message extends it. Without --email the installation finishes unlicensed and waits for you here.

On a server that is already installed, the same request can be made from the command line:

bolt-cli request-trial-license [email protected]

Buying a licence

Next to the trial box, purchase a license opens billing.adminbolt.com, where licences are bought and managed. The key you receive is then entered on this page.

Entering a key

License Key Activation takes the key and Validate License checks it. Keys are case-sensitive and carry no spaces, so paste rather than retype.

If the key is accepted, the page switches to the status view below. If it is not, the page says so and keeps the field so you can correct it.

Licence status

Once a licence is active, the page shows:

• License Valid - a banner confirming the licence is active and every feature is unlocked. A licence that has stopped being valid shows Invalid License instead, with the reason.
• Licence type - Trial license or Paid license. Available since panel 1.9.0.
• Server IP - the address the licence is issued for.
• Expires On - the expiry date, with a plain-language hint and, since panel 1.9.0, the number of whole days remaining.
• Active License Key - the key in use, masked apart from its last characters. Reveal shows it in full and Hide masks it again.

Two controls sit next to the key:

• Revalidate License re-checks the licence against AdminBolt's licensing service. Use it after buying an extension, or if the status looks out of date.
• Remove License deletes the stored licence from this server, after a confirmation. The panel is locked to this page again afterwards, so only remove a licence you are replacing.

Check license status now, in the page header, asks the licensing service at once and reports whether the licence is valid, with the service's reason and the stored expiry date. A renewed licence unlocks the panel straight away this way; otherwise the panel checks the licence again every hour on its own. Available since panel 1.9.0.

Replacing the key

Since panel 1.9.0, Replace the license key is available while a licence is active, including during a trial. Enter the new key and validate it. The current licence stays in place until the new key validates, so a paid key replaces a running trial without the panel locking in between. A key the licensing service refuses leaves the current licence and the panel as they are, and the reason is shown next to the form.

From a trial to a paid licence

On a trial, the page offers Buy a license. Available since panel 1.9.0.

1. Click Buy a license. The billing site opens in a new tab, already signed in, on the page where the trial is upgraded.
2. Finish the purchase there.
3. Come back to this page. It checks the licence every few seconds and switches to the paid licence on its own once billing reports it. I have paid, check now checks at once.

If the key changed during the purchase, the page stores the new one. If no purchase shows up within an hour, the page stops waiting; press I have paid, check now or Revalidate License once you have paid. Open billing again reopens the billing tab, and Stop waiting stops the checks.

If the billing tab does not open, go to billing.adminbolt.com in your browser instead. The trial keeps running meanwhile.

What an expired licence stops

Licence validity applies to every way the server is controlled, not only to the admin panel:

Surface	With an expired licence
Admin panel	Blocked.
Client and reseller panels	Replaced with a page telling the user to contact their provider. Signing in is included.
REST API (admin, client, and reseller)	Reads (GET, HEAD, OPTIONS) keep working, so monitoring and billing integrations still see data. Every call that changes something is refused with 403 and a message naming the licence.
Hosted websites, mail, DNS, and webmail	Never gated. Customer services keep running whatever the licence state.

The check reads the cached validity, so a slow or unreachable licensing service never blocks requests.

For an operator this means an expired licence stops you managing the server, and stops your customers managing theirs, but it does not take their sites or mail offline.

If validation fails

The page's own help list covers the usual causes:

• Enter the key exactly, without spaces. Keys are case-sensitive.
• Keys are tied to the server's IP address, so check you are on the right server.
• Use Revalidate License or Check license status now to re-check the current key rather than re-entering it.
• After renewing an expired licence, use Check license status now to unlock the panel at once instead of waiting for the hourly check.
• Licence details are stored as soon as validation succeeds, so a successful check needs no further confirmation.
• Remove License deletes every stored licence detail on this server.

If the key is correct and validation still fails, contact support.

From the command line

When the panel is locked and you cannot reach this page, the lock screen points to two commands you run on the server. Available since panel 1.9.0.

bolt-cli revalidate-license
bolt-cli set-license-key

• bolt-cli revalidate-license checks the stored key and prints whether the licence is valid, its stored expiry, and whether the panel is unlocked. It exits with 0 for a valid licence, 6 for an invalid one and prints the reason, 3 when no key is stored, and 4 when the licence server cannot be reached. 5 means the licence server accepted the key but the panel could not store the answer.
• bolt-cli set-license-key asks for the key without showing it, then checks it and stores it. The key can also be given as an argument, bolt-cli set-license-key <key>, but it then stays in the shell history.

Related pages

• First run - what to do on a newly installed server, in order.
• System Updates - the panel version and how updates are applied.