I guess I’m just looking to vent but in 2016 I really love SketchUp so much that I had purchased the pro license then I was a retired Glazier and a part-time woodworker just using this as a hobby and had enjoyed it ever since now that I took a hiatus and want to get back into it finding a laptop has been challenging I was having issues with 2016 SketchUp and Windows 10 little did I know then that it would have worked if I would have not tried to load one of my drawings from SketchUp Warehouse so after the realizing that here I go again trying to purchase another laptop explaining this to them what’s difficult because I was all out of my user license loading it only on one computer they let me have one last chance and now I’m finding laptops in and of themselves are not very good with the screen flickering and freezing none of the fault this time of SketchUp my problem is I did not test these computers out before I loaded my SketchUp on them. now I’m all out of being able to load it again. I’ve taking these laptops back but now if I find one I cannot load it again because I’m all out putting it on a computer because the serial number and authorization code I reached out to them but I think they think I’m scamming them. So anyone out there please make sure your laptop is going to operate for a.period of time before loading your version of SketchUp thanks John
You can de-authorize your license on a laptop, essentially removing it, then you can load it on another machine. You could keep doing this forever with as many laptops as you want. The license does not have to stay on the laptop, it can always be taken away.
I have done this with my Thea license, its probably been on 30 machines since I got in in 2010.
That must be the longest sentence I’ve ever read and I had a hard time following it.
A couple of things I picked up, though…
Probably due to incorrect installation. Correctly installing programs like SketchUp on Windows 10 requires right clicking on the installer and selecting Run as administrator.
With the Pro license you could install SketchUp on up to 2 computers. After that you would have to remove the license from one of them to be able to install it on another computer.
Most likely due to inadequate integrated graphics cards. There are plenty of computers out there with suitable graphics cards, though.
DaveR… Before I return the laptops I personally got them back to factory default to get rid of any information that I had put on there plus SketchUp but I did not deauthorize is that the same thing or am I still in the same boat?
You needed to remove the license to deauthorize SketchUp. That process pings the SketchUp license system to let it know you are freeing up the license. Unfortunately just restoring the computer to original configuration doesn’t do that.
Well, thanks for reaching out to me, I should have been more careful when I loading this software on these troubled laptops… . Thanks John
Sorry but I have NEVER had to do this ever…Windows 7 Pro/Home to Windows 10 Pro/Home. In fact never had to do this for ANY program…3D Max, Acad, Revit, Adobe PS Ill Acrobat Pro, SU…none of them. Not trying to argue but is there any evidence to needing this? Have I just been extremely lucky?
I’d say you’ve been lucky. Not difficult to find evidence even just on this forum.
This morning I received notice of an update for an unrelated program. The installation instructions explicitly direct users to use Run as administrator when installing on Windows.
I guess but never had to do it seems more than lucky but still possible. 
Do a search and you’ll see plenty of examples. The best explanations I’ve seen for why this is important have been written by TIG.
You will notice from the reply we sent to you a week ago that we chose to believe you. Currently you only have one activation of your 2016 license, the previous laptop tests have been removed from your activations.
Right now you could activate on a second computer, and if you need to activate on a third computer, open the License panel of the welcome screen, and remove the license from the computer that is no longer going to run SketchUp.
About the screen flickering and other graphical issues, you could go into Preferences and OpenGL, and try turning off either the use fast feedback, or the use hardware acceleration. See if either of those changes makes it behave better.
Appreciate you getting in touch with me but as far as you choosing to believe me… Not quite sure what you are implying. SketchUp is a hobby for me. I chose to buy this in 2016. It may be true I do not know what I’m doing loading this on machines that are not working. I woukd have deactivated before I returned the laptop. I assure you I am not trying to scam anybody. John
In addition, you do not have to activate (add the serial number and authorisation code) on a new machine to ‘test’ if it is capable of running SketchUp.
If it is new, you can just run the trial for a period of 30 days. Same goes for testing a new version.
Deinstalling or removing a program does not alter the database of the Trimble servers, that is why ‘Adding or Removing’ the license in the Welcome screen needs an Internet connection that has access to them.
Hi Colin, what happens if say the drive dies before you can deactivate the license?
Thanks I will. I wonder if I haven’t as I have full admin rights on my machines (work and home).
In your quite long sentence you included something about “I cannot load it again because I’m all out putting it on a computer because the serial number and authorization code I reached out to them but I think they think I’m scamming them.”. That was the part I meant. What you had written to us seemed reasonable, and has happened to other people in the past.
As with jspro, if you contact us with a report about not being able to activate a license on a new machine, we would suggest to remove the license from the old machine. But if you have described a valid reason why that is not possible, we can adjust the activations to make it possible for you to activate on the new machine.
Colin I just took it wrong the way it was worded, chose to believe… As I have mentioned it is my fault not no one else’s the laptop that I had purchased and sent back because of screen issues I should have deactivated SketchUp, I also should have loaded my version of SketchUp and made sure that the laptop was going to work as anything you buy new should before I keyed in authorization codes. SketchUp did not cause the laptop to have screen issues just terrible craftsmanship. Now I’m back in my hiatus mode trying to figure out which laptop brands would be reliable. Thanks John
the ‘Big 3’ = HP, Dell and Lenovo as well as Asus and Acer should provide you reliable devices, at least if not choosing the cheap entry level series.
Look for ‘gaming’ systems which typically do contain a dedicated graphics card preferrably of the nVidia Geforce GTX/RTX series.
Be aware, that the SketchUp modeling uses one (1) kernel only… CPUs w/ tons of kernels instead of a high single-thread perfomance don’t help much here (but can be helpful for e.g. rendering plugins).
Thank you all for listening to my thoughts and problems. Appreciate all your suggestions.its nice to have these forums for folks to reach out for help. One last question going forward if I do find a laptop now that I know what I know about deactivation do I reach out to SketchUp again and ask for permission for activation code?