This page applies only when BusinessSensor is installed on your own server (on-premises). It shows the licence the server runs on and lets you activate a licence, change it, revoke it, or buy an upgrade. It works like the Licences screen of the BusinessSensor desktop system.
To open it: Server setup → Licence → Manage licence, or click Licence on the coloured banner at the top of any screen.
Before you start
- Use a browser on the server itself (sitting at it, or with Remote Desktop). On other computers the page says so.
- Sign in as an administrator with Company settings permission.
- Have the installation code that came with your licence on the BusinessSensor Marketplace. It has 12 letters and digits, written like
ABCD-EFGH-1234. - Activating online, revoking and Upgrade now need the server to reach the internet. Activating without internet is possible (see below); revoking is not.
What the licence card shows
- Product and release (for example Reservation ERP 2026) and the edition (for example GOLD).
- A badge: Licensed, Licensed — expiring soon, Expired — grace period, Trial or Read-only.
- Licence type (Subscription, Lifetime, Perpetual or Trial), package, expiry date (or Lifetime), users, owner, installation code and licence key.
- The Server ID — this computer's hardware ID. The licence is bound to it.
- For a Lifetime licence also:
- Online services — email, SMS (and WhatsApp) and AI features, and whether they are on;
- Care & Connect until — the end of the services bundle's year;
- New releases included until — releases published up to this date are yours;
- Next check-in by — the date the server must next check in with BusinessSensor.
Steps — activate a licence (online)
- Open the Licence page. With no licence yet, Activate a licence is already open. With a licence, click Change licence.
- Leave Online selected.
- Step 1 — Product. The product is fixed: it is the one this server runs. Check the Device name (filled in with the computer's name) and type a Location, for example Head office, server room. Both appear on the Marketplace so you can tell your activations apart. Click Next.
- Step 2 — Installation code. Type or paste the code. The dashes are added for you and small letters become capitals. Under the box you see Looks right once all 12 characters are in. Click Next.
- Step 3 — Confirm. The page shows what the code would activate: product, edition, licence type, package, expiry, users and owner. Check it, then click Activate.
- The card now shows Licensed and the banner disappears.
If the licence is for a different product or edition than this server runs, step 3 says so in a grey box, and you are asked again when you click Activate: "This licence is for …, but this server is set up as … Continue?" Click OK to switch the server to the licensed product. Menus and features change for everyone; the company's data stays as it is. Click Cancel to keep things as they are.
Steps — activate without internet on the server
- On the Licence page, click No internet on this server.
- Copy the Server ID shown there.
- On any computer with internet, sign in to the BusinessSensor Marketplace, open your licence and choose Activate an on-premises server. Enter the Server ID. The Marketplace gives you a licence token (one long line of text). Copy it.
- Back on the server, paste the token into the box and click Install licence token.
Steps — revoke the licence (move it to another server)
Revoking releases the licence from this server so its installation code can be activated on another one. A licence can move to another server at most 5 times a year; after that, BusinessSensor support can move it.
- Make sure the server can reach the internet.
- Click Revoke licence and confirm.
- The licence is released on the BusinessSensor licence server first. Only when that succeeds is it removed from this server.
- BusinessSensor on this server becomes read-only until another licence is activated.
A trial cannot be revoked.
Steps — renew an expired licence (find it on the Marketplace)
Under the licence details, Find it on the Marketplace takes you straight to this licence on the BusinessSensor Marketplace.
- Note the account shown: Sign in as owner@…. Only the licence's owner can see it on the Marketplace.
- Click Renew on the Marketplace (shown when the licence is expiring, in its grace period or read-only). Use View on the Marketplace to see the licence, its machines and its history instead.
- Sign in if asked. You land on the licence's renewal page. Pay for the renewal.
- Back on the server, click Check for renewal now. Within seconds the card shows Licensed again. (The server also checks by itself once a day.)
The server has no internet: the buttons are replaced by the address and a QR code. Scan it with a phone, or type the address on any computer with internet, and renew there. Then open the licence on the Marketplace, choose Activate an on-premises server, and install the new token with Change licence → No internet on this server. With internet you can also click Open on another device to show the QR code.
Online services and Care & Connect (Lifetime licences)
A subscription includes email, SMS and AI features. A Lifetime licence includes them for its first year (from the day it is activated) through Care & Connect; after that they need Care & Connect renewed each year — renew it on the Marketplace (Find it on the Marketplace), then Check for renewal now.
How they work: the server sends email, SMS / WhatsApp and AI requests through BusinessSensor's online services, using its licence — no email or SMS account needs setting up on the server, but it does need internet when sending. Each licence has a monthly allowance (normally 1,000 emails, 100 text messages and 300 AI requests); the Licence page shows Used this month. When one runs out, that service says so until the 1st of the next month. On the server's own 30-day trial (before any licence is activated) these services are not available yet.
When Care & Connect ends, the server switches the services off by itself — even without internet:
- sending receipts, invoices and reports by email says the service is not included;
- SMS / WhatsApp payment links are not offered;
- AI features are off: ID scanning, AI menu photo suggestions and pharmacy auto-fill buttons are hidden; other AI suggestions (product categories, night-audit insights) say the service is not included or simply show none.
Everything else keeps working: sales, stock, accounts, reports on screen and printing.
The 90-day check-in (Lifetime licences)
A Lifetime licence never expires, so instead the server checks in with BusinessSensor. A server with internet does this by itself every day. A server without internet must be checked in at least every 90 days:
- On the Licence page, scan the Check in without internet QR code with a phone (or open its address on any computer with internet). It opens the licence on the Marketplace with this server's ID already filled in; click Get licence token.
- Install the new licence token on this page (Change licence → No internet on this server).
From 14 days before the date the banner reminds you. After the date there are 30 days of normal use, then BusinessSensor becomes read-only until the server checks in.
Steps — upgrade or buy a licence
When the server is on a trial (or the trial has ended), click Upgrade now. The BusinessSensor Marketplace opens in a new tab. After buying, come back and activate the new installation code (see above). The button only appears when the server can reach the Marketplace.
Tips
- When the server has internet it checks with BusinessSensor once a day and picks up renewals and plan changes by itself. A server without internet: repeat the offline steps to renew.
- What happens when a licence runs out: 30 days before expiry the banner warns you. After expiry there are 30 more days of normal use. After that BusinessSensor becomes read-only: everyone can still sign in, look things up and run reports, but nothing new can be saved until the licence is renewed. Your data is never locked away.
- Before replacing the server's hardware or reinstalling Windows, revoke the licence here, then activate it on the new server.
- When activated online on a server with a security chip (TPM), the licence is tied to that chip: a copy of the server's disk on other hardware will not run it. If the chip is ever reset (some firmware updates do this), activate the licence again with its installation code on the same server.
Common problems
- Next is greyed out on step 1 → type a Location. Both Device name and Location are needed.
- Next is greyed out on step 2 → the code is not complete ("Enter all 12 characters"), or it is the code already in use on this server ("This installation code is already in use on this server").
- "Could not verify the installation code" or "The licence server could not find this installation code" → check the code against the Marketplace; letters O and I are easily confused with 0 and 1.
- "This licence cannot run BusinessSensor Server" (Activate greyed out) → the code belongs to another product, for example the retired BusinessSensor desktop app. Desktop licences stay with the desktop; to move to the server, contact BusinessSensor to have your licence moved. Otherwise use an on-premises or Cloud ERP licence.
- "Could not reach the licence server … Revoking needs an internet connection" → connect the server to the internet and try again. Nothing was removed.
- No Upgrade now button → the server cannot reach the Marketplace, or it has a licence (an expired licence is renewed with Renew on the Marketplace instead). Buy from any other computer at the BusinessSensor Marketplace.
- The Marketplace says the licence cannot be found → you are signed in with a different account. Sign out and sign in as the owner shown on the Licence page.
- "No renewal found yet" after Check for renewal now → the payment has not gone through yet, or it was a different licence that was renewed. Wait a minute and check again.
- No Revoke licence button → the server is on a trial, or has no licence.
- "Email is part of Care & Connect…" (or SMS, AI features) → the services bundle of this Lifetime licence has ended or was never added. Renew it on the Marketplace, then Check for renewal now.
- "This server must check in with BusinessSensor by …" / "has not checked in since …" → connect the server to the internet, or do the offline check-in above.
- "This month's email allowance … is used up" (or SMS, AI) → the licence's monthly allowance is used. It resets on the 1st; contact BusinessSensor if you regularly need more.
- "… starts once a licence is activated on this server" → the server is still on its own trial. Activate a licence first.
- "BusinessSensor's services could not be reached" → the server has no internet right now. Email, SMS and AI need it; everything else keeps working.
- "This licence has already checked in from another copy of this server" → a copy of this server (for example a cloned virtual machine or a restored disk image) is using the same licence. Only one server can use a licence. Contact BusinessSensor support to sort out which server keeps it.
- "This licence is bound to the security chip (TPM) of the server it was activated on…" → the server's disk was moved to other hardware, or its TPM was reset. Activate the licence again with its installation code on this server (revoke it on the old one first if it still exists).
- "This licence has moved to another server 5 times in the last year" → contact BusinessSensor support to move it again.
- "Sign in as an administrator…" → sign in with an account that has Company settings permission, then open the page again.
- The expiry date is a day different from what you expected → expiry dates are shown exactly as on the licence (UTC), not converted to your time zone.