Activate your license

Thanks for choosing MacVisor! The free trial starts in the app, with no key and no checkout. A license you buy arrives as a key by email from Polar, our store, and you activate it in the app or with mvz license.

Every MacVisor license is a key beginning with MVZ-. There is no offline license. MacVisor checks licenses and trials with ScaleNinja's licensing server, keys.scaleninja.com; Polar sells the keys and handles checkout, receipts, refunds, and your orders in its customer portal.

Prices and a full comparison are on Pricing and licensing.

A license or trial gates only adding to your library: creating, cloning, and importing VMs, and downloading cloud images and macOS installers. The VMs you already have run without one, and nothing about them changes when a trial or license ends.

Start the free trial

1. Open MacVisor and go to Settings -> License, or use the license step of the Setup Assistant.
2. Click Start Free Trial.

Or, from the command line:

mvz license trial

The trial covers every feature for 30 days from the moment you start it. Starting it needs the internet once. There is one trial per Mac: reinstalling MacVisor, using another macOS account, or giving another email doesn't start a new one. Any account on the Mac, standard or administrator, can start the Mac's trial. No sign-up or email is needed. If a Mac's trial was used by someone else (a second-hand Mac, a shared lab Mac), contact support: we can reset it. A network can start a handful of new trials a day; if your organisation tries MacVisor on many Macs behind one address, contact support to raise the limit.

Buy a license whenever you are ready, during the trial or after it ends, and activate the new key in Settings -> License. On a trial, Buy MacVisor... opens the MacVisor page, where Buy License goes to the checkout.

When the trial ends, the sidebar badge reads Trial ended, the prompt at launch says your trial has ended, and Settings -> License (a click on the badge) says to buy a license and enter its key there. Creating, cloning, and importing VMs pause until you do; the VMs you have keep running.

Activate a license key

1. Open MacVisor -> Settings -> License, or use the license step of the Setup Assistant on first run.
2. Paste the key from your email.
3. Click Activate.

MacVisor confirms the key with the licensing server and registers this Mac against it. The License tab then shows the edition, the masked key, the email it is licensed to, and when it was last checked.

Upgrading from the trial

During a trial the key field stays in Settings -> License, under Upgrade from the Trial, and in the prompt MacVisor shows at launch. Enter the key you bought there: it replaces the trial on this Mac. There is no need to end the trial first.

From the command line

The app and mvz go through MacVisor's background service, so a Mac you only reach over SSH can be licensed without opening the app:

mvz license                      # what this Mac is licensed for
mvz license trial                # start the free 30-day trial
mvz license activate             # asks for the key in a terminal
echo "$KEY" | mvz license activate -   # reads it from standard input
mvz license activate MVZ-...       # or takes it as an argument (it then lands in your shell history)
mvz license activate MVZ-... --move   # move a key that is active on another Mac to this one
mvz license refresh              # check with the licensing server now
mvz license deactivate           # release this Mac; asks first, --yes skips the question

mvz license activate asks for the key only in an interactive terminal: over SSH use ssh -t, or pipe the key in with -. Without a terminal, deactivate needs --yes. --json prints the status as JSON for scripts.

Settings -> License and mvz license show the same license, and a change in one shows in the other at once. On an unlicensed Mac, create, clone, import, images pull, and images add fail with a message saying how to activate, and so does getting or adding a macOS installer in the app; everything else works.

The background service runs while you are logged in to the Mac, so a Mac you reach only over SSH needs automatic login (and one session at the screen, or Screen Sharing, for first-run setup). Without a logged-in session, mvz can't reach the service.

Licenses on a Mac with several accounts

One license covers the whole Mac: every macOS account on it. MacVisor's Network Helper, the one component that runs as root and that you approve once in Login Items, holds the license for the Mac. Another account on the same Mac is licensed automatically when it opens MacVisor, without entering the key.

On a Mac where the Network Helper has never been switched on, each account activates on its own: enter the same key in each account's Settings -> License. Activation is per Mac either way, so the same key on the same Mac doesn't use a second Mac.

Once the helper has held the license, it stays with the helper. If the helper is later off, or hasn't started yet, the sidebar badge reads License held by the helper, the License tab says Waiting for MacVisor's helper, and adding VMs pauses until the helper answers; your VMs keep running. Just after logging in this can take a minute or two. If it lasts longer, switch MacVisor on in System Settings -> General -> Login Items & Extensions, or open Assistant -> Setup Assistant....

Deactivating releases MacVisor for every account on the Mac, so only an administrator, or the account that activated it, can deactivate.

Any account on the Mac, standard or administrator, can start the Mac's one trial or activate a key. Remove Trial from This Mac..., which a trial shows in place of Deactivate on This Mac..., follows the same rule as deactivating; it only removes the trial from this Mac and doesn't reset it, so starting the trial again brings back the same trial with its original dates.

The trial is per Mac too: another account on the same Mac doesn't get a second one.

What MacVisor checks, and when

A Mac that cannot reach the licensing server keeps working, and MacVisor keeps trying as above. After 30 days since its last successful check (a limit the licensing server sets), creating VMs, downloading cloud images, and other licensed actions pause until MacVisor can reach the licensing server: the sidebar badge reads License needs verification and the License tab says Needs checking. Connect and click Refresh License, or wait for the next automatic check. Existing VMs keep running throughout.

The checks send hashed identifiers for this Mac (a SHA-256 hash of its hardware UUID and one of its serial number, each prefixed so it is MacVisor's own and never the raw values), the Mac's model (such as "MacBook Pro (14-inch, 2023)", never its computer name), the MacVisor and macOS versions, a random one-time value the signed answer must echo, and, when activating, refreshing, or deactivating, the key. With the Network Helper on, they also send the public half of a device key that proves later checks come from the same Mac. They never send your email, and nothing about your VMs goes with them. Polar receives nothing from MacVisor; to check a key, the licensing server sends Polar only the key. See the privacy policy.

A logic-board replacement keeps the license: the licensing server recognises the Mac's serial number together with the key.

Where the license is kept

With the Network Helper on, the helper keeps the license for the whole Mac in /Library/Application Support/MacVisor/Licensing, readable only by root, plus a marker any account can read, /Library/Application Support/MacVisor/licensing-device-key, which holds only a hash of the device key's public half. Without the helper, each account keeps its own in ~/Library/Application Support/MacVisor/Licensing.

The licensing server's answers are signed, and MacVisor checks the signature on this Mac, so a licensing record copied from another Mac, or edited, doesn't verify. The checks go to keys.scaleninja.com on port 443, which matters on a Mac behind an outbound firewall.

When the record can't be verified, MacVisor doesn't simply lock you out: it confirms the license with the licensing server. The sidebar badge says Confirming license, and mvz license says it is being confirmed. Online that takes a moment; offline, adding VMs pauses until it can check (it tries again after 5 minutes, then at growing intervals up to every 6 hours, and when you try to add a VM), and your VMs keep running. If the record can't be read at all, the badge says Activate again: enter your key again in Settings -> License or with mvz license activate.

Winding the clock back extends nothing: licensing goes by the latest date this Mac has seen. If the clock ran ahead by mistake, set it right; the next successful check sets licensing back to the licensing server's time.

Moving a license to another Mac

A MacVisor 27 Pro license covers one Mac, and each Enterprise key up to 10. When a license is on all the Macs it covers, there are two ways to move it:

• Deactivate on the old Mac first. On the Mac you are leaving, open Settings -> License and click Deactivate on This Mac..., or run mvz license deactivate. Then activate the same key on the new Mac. This never counts against any limit.
• Move to This Mac. If you activate a key that is active on another Mac, MacVisor says so and offers Move to This Mac; it doesn't show which Mac (the licensing server keeps that to itself). From the command line, run mvz license activate <key> --move. Use this when the old Mac is broken, lost, erased, or out of reach. When every Mac the license covers is in use, the move takes it from the Mac that checked in least recently. The old Mac stops being licensed when it next checks in; one that stays offline stops at most 30 days after its last check.

Moves made from the new Mac are limited to 3 in 30 days. Deactivating on the old Mac first never counts against that limit.

A Mac holds one key at a time. A trial is replaced by a paid key without ending it first, but a valid paid key has to be deactivated before a different key can be activated.

If the Mac you are leaving can't reach the licensing server, the License tab shows Deactivating: adding VMs is paused, and MacVisor releases the Mac the next time it reaches the licensing server. Activating a key in the meantime works as usual.

If you activated during the beta

Beta versions of MacVisor activated keys through Polar. The first time an updated MacVisor reaches the licensing server, it moves your license over by itself; there is nothing to re-enter. If the beta held a free-trial key, or a key the licensing server doesn't recognise, MacVisor starts the Mac's free trial by itself instead, the first time it reaches the licensing server (trial keys from the beta aren't carried over). This is the only case in which a trial starts without Start Free Trial or mvz license trial. Until it has reached the licensing server once, new VMs and other licensed actions wait; existing VMs keep running.

If something goes wrong

• The key is refused. Copy the whole key without extra spaces, and check it is a MacVisor key (MVZ-), not one for another product.
• "Trial ended." The trial's 30 days are over. Click Buy MacVisor in Settings -> License or the launch prompt, then enter the new key there. Reinstalling or using another account doesn't start a new trial.
• The trial won't start. Starting it needs the internet once; connect and try again. If it says too many trials were started from your network today, try again tomorrow or contact support. If it says this Mac's trial has ended but you never used it, contact support to reset it.
• The key is active on another Mac. Deactivate it there, or click Move to This Mac (mvz license activate <key> --move). See Moving a license to another Mac.
• "This license key is no longer valid (refunded or revoked)." The key was refunded or revoked ("This license key has been disabled." is the same for a disabled key). Buy a license, or contact us if that seems wrong.
• "This license was moved to another Mac." Someone used Move to This Mac with this key on another Mac. Activate the same key again here, with Move to This Mac if every Mac it covers is in use.
• "This license isn't activated on this Mac." The licensing server has no activation of this key for this Mac, usually because the licensing record came from another Mac (Migration Assistant, for example). Activate the same key again, with Move to This Mac if it is now active elsewhere.
• "License needs verification" (the License tab says Needs checking). The Mac has not reached the licensing server for 30 days. Connect and click Refresh License, or run mvz license refresh.
• "Confirming license." MacVisor couldn't verify its licensing record on this Mac, for example one copied from another Mac or edited, so it is confirming the license with the licensing server. Connect the Mac and click Refresh License (or mvz license refresh); it also tries by itself after 5 minutes, then at growing intervals up to every 6 hours, and when you next add a VM.
• "Activate again." The licensing record on this Mac couldn't be read at all. Activate your key again in Settings -> License or with mvz license activate. Activating again on the same Mac doesn't use a second Mac.
• "License held by the helper." The Network Helper keeps this Mac's license and hasn't answered yet. Just after logging in, wait a minute or two. If it lasts longer, switch MacVisor on in System Settings -> General -> Login Items & Extensions, or open Assistant -> Setup Assistant.... Adding VMs is paused until then; your VMs keep running. See Licenses on a Mac with several accounts.
• The License tab says the background service hasn't reported the license. See The library or CLI cannot reach the service.
• "Reinstall MacVisor." This copy of MacVisor is damaged or was changed, so activation is off: it can't license a damaged copy. Download MacVisor again from the badge, Settings -> License, or the product page, and reinstall it. A key already activated on this Mac works again afterwards, and your VMs are untouched.
• "The licensing server's reply couldn't be read." or "...couldn't be verified." The licensing server answered in a way this version can't read, or with a signature it can't verify (a proxy that rewrites traffic can cause this too). Nothing on this Mac changed, and a re-check that gets such a reply counts as no answer. Check for a MacVisor update; if it keeps happening, contact us.

More in Troubleshooting; terms in Pricing and licensing.