Single-Computer Licensing

Single-computer licensing locks a Rhino license to one specific computer. It is the simplest licensing method, and the only one that needs no network at all.

Is Single-Computer Licensing Right for You?

Single-computer licensing is designed for:

• A computer that has no network or internet access, or that will be offline for an extended time.
• One person who wants exclusive use of a license on one computer.
• Using an expired evaluation license as a viewer.

Cloud Zoo is probably a better choice if:

• You want to use one license on more than one computer, taking turns. With single-computer licensing, you need a separate license key for each computer.
• You want to share licenses with other people.

See Choosing the best license management method for help deciding, or learn more about Cloud Zoo.

Things to Know

• One computer per license key. Rhino 6 and later allow only one single-computer validation per license key. (Rhino 5 allowed more than one.)
• Validation is required once. The license must be validated before Rhino can use it: online if the computer has an internet connection, or offline if it doesn’t.
• The license can move to a new computer. If Rhino on the old computer has connected to the internet recently, you can add the license to a new computer without removing it from the old one first. If that doesn’t work, contact McNeel Sales to release the key.
• The license file can’t be copied. Single-computer license files are encrypted and unique to each computer, so they can’t be deployed by copying them to other computers. See Deployment for other options.

Lock a License to a Computer

New Rhino Installation

1. Start Rhino. The Rhino needs a license to run dialog appears.
2. In the lower-left corner, click Options, then click Use only on this computer.
3. Click Continue.
4. Enter your license key.

Rhino validates the license online if you have an internet connection.

From an Open Rhino

If Rhino is already installed and is getting its license from the Cloud Zoo or a LAN Zoo:

1. Open the Licenses settings:
   • Windows: from the Tools menu, click Options, then click Licenses.
   • Mac: from the Rhino 8 (or Rhino 7) menu, click Settings, then click Licenses.
2. Click Change your license key.
3. Enter your license key.
4. In the lower-left corner, click Options, then click Use only on this computer.
5. Click Continue.

Rhino validates the license online if you have an internet connection.

If your license is currently in your Rhino Account or a LAN Zoo, remove it from there first. See Changing Your Licensing Method.

Use Rhino as a Viewer

An expired evaluation license can still open files for viewing, but not for editing or saving. To use Rhino as a viewer:

1. If you don’t have an evaluation license key, request one.
2. If your evaluation license is in your Rhino Account, remove it from your Rhino Account.
3. Start Rhino and choose Enter your license key. Enter your evaluation license key.
4. Do not choose Add To Your Rhino Account. Instead, click Options in the lower-left corner, click Use only on this computer, then click Yes.

While the evaluation is valid, you can save your work. After it expires, you can still open any Rhino model, change the view, and add dimensions, but you can’t save.

See 90-Day Evaluation for more about evaluations.

Move or Remove a Single-Computer License

To move a license to a different computer, add it to the new computer. If Rhino on the old computer has connected to the internet recently, you don’t need to remove the license from the old computer first. If the move doesn’t work, contact McNeel Sales to release the key.

To remove a license from a computer, see Remove a single-computer license. On Windows, uninstalling Rhino also returns the license validation.

Troubleshooting

If Rhino won’t open and doesn’t let you choose a licensing method, reset its license files. Rhino then opens with the Rhino needs a license to run dialog.

Windows

1. In File Explorer, go to %appdata%\McNeel\Rhinoceros\6.0\License Manager\Licenses and delete everything in that folder.
2. Go to %programdata%\McNeel\Rhinoceros\6.0\License Manager\Licenses and delete everything in that folder.
3. Start Rhino and license it again.

Mac

1. Quit Rhino.
2. In Finder, click Go → Go to Folder… (or press Cmd+Shift+G), and enter ~/Library/Application Support/McNeel/Rhinoceros/8.0/License Manager/Licenses. Use 7.0 for Rhino 7.
3. Delete cloudzoo.json.
4. Start Rhino and license it again.

For more detail, see Manually Removing a Rhino License.