If you are having trouble getting license keys to activate in your implementation of Software Licensing, here are some tips to help resolve common issues.
Requests blocked by a security plugin
Security plugins for WordPress often have features that interfere with the license key API requests. These features tend to make the activation (and other API requests) return an unexpected response, causing the activation routine to fail.
For example, you might get a response like this from the server if you have a security plugin that is interfering:
[response] => Array
(
[code] => 403
[message] => Forbidden
)
The iThemes Security plugin is known to have a setting that can cause this issue. The setting is called Filter Suspicious Query Strings in the URL.
To resolve the issue, simply disable the Filter Suspicious Query Strings in the URL setting. If you’re not using iThemes Security, it will be named something different, though similar.
Requests blocked by special .htaccess rules
Some sites will add special rules to the .htaccess file in order to block certain IP addresses or add additional protection to the site.
If you have any special .htaccess rules in place and license keys are not activated, try removing the rules and then activating license keys. If the license keys activate properly now, you will need to adjust the rules to allow the licensing API routines to function.
Requests blocked by a coming soon or maintenance plugin
If you are using a coming soon or maintenance mode plugin, it’s likely that license keys will not be able to be activated, since the coming soon / maintenance mode plugin will block the requests. To resolve the issue, simply deactivate the maintenance mode or coming soon plugin. If you need to leave it active, deactivate it temporarily to test the license key activation process and then reactivate the plugin.
Your license key is already active on another web site
If you purchased the product with a single license key, remember that the license key can be activated on one website at a time.
So, if you are trying to activate the license key on a new website, remember to deactivate the license on the old domain.
Activate the license key on the plugin
To activate the license key go in the plugin options page, scroll down the page until you find the section called “License Key”, paste your license key and click on the “Save Changes” button. Then, after the page is saved, you can click on the “Activate License” button (you will see a gree check mark next to the license key).