Activate Desktop without internet

Some licences work only on machines that have been confirmed. Confirming a machine is a short exchange of two codes between Mockarty Desktop and the person who manages your licences. The machine itself never needs to be online: you carry the codes by hand, by chat, by email or as a QR photo.

When you need this

Open Desktop → License & Pro. If the licence card shows Needs device confirmation, the licence token you entered asks for this exchange. Until the machine is confirmed, the licence grants nothing; after it, the plan’s features switch on for the lease shown on the card.

A licence without this policy activates the moment you enter the token, as before.

If the card says Confirmation state unavailable, Mockarty cannot read the
saved device state right now. This is not the same as an unconfirmed device:
check local storage and reopen the page. Requesting, confirming and releasing
are paused until the state can be read; do not delete the saved licence file.
If the saved licence has expired, is invalid or belongs to another installation,
Desktop keeps the token and explains the issue. Replace it with a valid token
or use Deactivate explicitly; merely viewing the status never deletes it.
If the Desktop process stops during deactivation, it reconciles the saved token and
confirmation on the next start: a token that is still present retains its
confirmation, while a completed removal does not revive the old one.

Confirm this machine

1. Under the licence card, press Get a request code. Desktop shows a code that starts with MKA- and a Copy button. The code identifies this machine and this licence; it holds no secret and expires after one day.
2. Send the code to whoever holds the licence. A key bought in the cloud cabinet is confirmed there: Licence keys → Devices on the key, paste the code, press Confirm the machine (see Buy a licence key for Desktop). A licence issued by your company’s administrator is exchanged on the licence server. Either way the answer is a confirmation that starts with MKC-.
3. Paste the confirmation into Confirmation code from the cabinet and press Confirm this machine.

The card now reads Device confirmed with the slot this machine holds, for example Device 2 of 3, and the date the lease ends. The licence’s features are on.

Codes survive copying by hand: upper or lower case, spaces instead of dashes, a missing prefix, and the letters O, I and L typed for 0 and 1 all decode. A mistyped character is reported as a typo; a confirmation issued for another machine, another licence or an older request code is refused with the reason.

Lease and renewal

Every confirmation is valid for a limited time, the lease, set by your licence administrator. The card shows when it ends. To renew, repeat the exchange: get a new request code, have it confirmed, paste the answer. Confirming the same machine again keeps its slot and does not take another one.

When the lease ends, the licence stops granting its features until the machine is confirmed again. Your data stays available to read.

Device slots

A licence allows a fixed number of confirmed machines. When they are all taken, the administrator sees which devices hold them. To retire this machine, press Release this machine: Desktop drops its confirmation, the licence’s features switch off on this machine, and a release code starting with MKR- appears. Send it to the administrator. After they enter it, the cabinet marks the device as released locally but keeps its slot reserved until the lease date already printed on the card. The same machine may be confirmed again in that slot; a different machine can use it only after that date.

If a machine is lost or wiped and no release code can be produced, the administrator can release its slot without a code. A licence allows only a few such releases per year, so keep the release code when you retire a machine normally.

This reservation prevents one key from running on two machines when an old
Desktop backup is restored: a confirmation already copied into a backup can
remain valid on the same hardware until its lease date because an offline server
cannot erase that copy. Do not restore an old Desktop data backup after releasing
the machine.

Hardware changes and the clock

The confirmation is bound to this machine’s identifiers. Replacing one component, such as the system disk, keeps the confirmation valid; a different machine, or one with everything replaced, shows Hardware changed and needs a new confirmation.

Desktop also notices when the system clock is turned back by more than a day since it last ran. The card then shows Clock moved backwards and the features stay off until the clock is fixed and the machine is confirmed again.

Removing the licence

Deactivate on the licence card removes the token and the confirmation together. Entering the token again later needs a new confirmation.

On-prem node

A server licence can be bound to machines the same way. If your licence asks for it, the Licenses tab of the admin panel shows Needs machine confirmation next to the licence, and its features stay off on that node until the node is confirmed.

1. Press Confirm machine on the licence, then Get a request code. The node shows an MKA-… code; copy it.
2. Exchange the code the way your licence was issued: the holder of the licence confirms it on the licence server and receives an MKC-… confirmation.
3. Paste the confirmation into the same dialog and press Confirm the machine. The badge changes to Machine confirmed with the lease end, and the licence’s features switch on at once.

Each node of a cluster confirms itself; the confirmation stays with the machine, not with the database. Release this machine in the same dialog gives back an MKR-… code. Entering it removes the active device but reserves its slot until the issued lease ends, under the same backup protection as Desktop. Server licences without this requirement work as before.

If the confirmation store is temporarily unavailable, the server shows
Confirmation unavailable, not Needs machine confirmation. Restore
the database connection and refresh the page before exchanging codes. An
already verified licence may continue working from the last valid snapshot,
but never beyond its signed machine-lease date; accumulated data stays readable
after that date.