Not authorised, no internet connection... I just need the software to work

Without the check you could buy a single subscription , take the machine offline, activate it on another, take that offline . Rinse and repeat.

The 28 days check means you could do this but it would only work for 28 days.

I understand that SketchUp support can somehow deal with use cases where the computer absolutely has to be offline all the time.

Sooo been there. I love this software and have been using it since it’s inception. I lost the last of my hair fighting to get the 3DConnexion mouse working – It finally now works again after the last update (so apparently it wasn’t 3D’s issue as I had been told!). Now I’m afraid to shut the software down, ever. Every launch is a pull on the slot machine handle, it’ll start, freeze and crash half a dozen times before running, can’t imagine what’s different between the first time and the seventh? is there a choke button I’m not aware of. It’ll tell me I have X many days remaining on my trial, or maybe it has expired even though I’m fully paid up on my Pro Mac version, and have been for months! This followed by endless restarts until some gear engages and it starts up without incident. It’s always telling me I have an upgrade available, which isn’t the case 9 times in 10 and which I’ll ignore anyway because I’m too afraid to restart. The time before a Zoom/Skype meetings is for prayer; that everything will run fine long enough to get through the call. All this to add to Cinema Maker’s case that the installation and stability need some serious lovin.

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Really? Its not that difficult to check that the software is only installed on a limited number of machines? I cant see the need for more than 3 devices - desktop, laptop and ipad. Many apps track this and don’t ask for the sign in malarkey. Cant you do it?

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It does do that, which is how what I describing being possible - especially if you want uses to have the flexibility to manage their own installations, something that is a problem for many perpetual license holders who have taken machines offline with a license - forever and then destroyed them.

But how can you check if it’s installed on a machine that is not connected to the internet?

One thing that bothers me is the hassle with activations and SketchUp versions. Why couldn’t the activation be tied simply to the computer’s MAC address and let you use any installed post-subscription version?

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It is a mystery. Certainly the older licenses did you use your MAC address as part of the unique identifier - I would assume that is still part of it now.

I hear your pain… just had a similar thing happen recently. I was at a remote build site with no power and no cell reception. I though I was prepared by bringing tools, camping gear, provisions, etc.; ensured latest SU project model was on the laptop, had backup files on an external drive and brought extra power sources for my laptop only to be stymied by SU login. I wound up driving more than 30 minutes to a spot on top of a ridge where I could (barely) get cell reception and used my phone as a hotspot to login to Trimble. On the way back to the construction site, I decided to leave my laptop on with SU running just in case…

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Layout…

I’m certain I signed in last week - nothing had changed on my system that I’m aware of and now this morning I have to sign in again.

This comes after a short while ago I had to sign in to Layout a number of times.

This is on a desktop system.

No reinstallation of the software, no I haven’t deleted all my cookies, no I haven’t deliberately signed out of Layout or SketchUp.

It is very boring.

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O my, the perpetuals. I had to reinstall my perpetual on the very same machine, same macadress. Fun is this was allowed to upgrade to 2021. Both running. Licences stopped per menu. The hassle where the reseller cant do anything but Colin needing to do something special to get things going again, where after reinstalling both the problem will arise again if and when trimble then will be willing to bail me out again. Offsite problem is also there. Even over vpn. To me it seems trimble also checks the routing. I wholly agree, the licensing system is superbadly implemented.

I do not understand the phone home system. I have used SketchUp 7 out of the last 10 days and yet I had to sign in today. This is after having the BugSplat appear when I used the sign-in option on the screen.
So after signing in today, the software does not check for the next 27 days. On the 28th day, if I do not have an internet connection, I cannot use SketchUp? If this is so, why not have the software do its background check upon each use, then start the countdown?

Correct.

As I understand it this is how it is supposed to currently work, the count starts over when you close the SketchUp application while logged in and online. I say I think this is how it is supposed to work because I’m no expert, I’ve just researched a bit as one of my ongoing projects is very remote and requires extended offline use of SU, so it matters a great deal to me that I understand how it works.

Unfortunately, as you have experienced, in practice that 28 day offline use period is not reliable. For unexplained reasons SketchUp often fails to authorize at random times, even when the application lists the user successfully signed in. I would love to have the system re-explained in detail again by someone with specific knowledge, as perhaps there is something I’m missing? But the bottom line is it’s currently a buggy unreliable system.

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