Storyline: The Activation Code You Entered Is Invalid

You may see the following error message when attempting to manually activate Articulate Storyline:

The activation code you entered is invalid.

Try to activate Storyline again and make note of the Machine Code that's displayed by the software. If it's different with each activation attempt, then activation will fail.

Generally, a machine code will only change if the hardware in the computer has changed. However, a machine code that keeps changing is most likely related to a virtual network card. Virtual network cards may not accurately report the MAC (Machine Access Control) address of the computer, which will cause software activation to fail.

You may be able to work around this issue using any of the following methods:

• Temporarily connect your computer to an active Internet connection and ensure that your firewall is not blocking communication with the Articulate activation servers at https://activation.articulate.com/. Then activate your software. The software should activate automatically, meaning you won't be prompted for a manual activation code.
• Disable the virtual network card and try manual activation again.
• Add an additional physical network card to the computer and try manual activation again.
• Temporarily remove the existing physical network card from the computer, then try manual activation again.