Ashkon Software

How to Apply Your License Key

After you order, you receive a registration email with your license key attached as license.zip. The key is a small registry file, license.reg; adding it to the Windows registry turns your trial version into the registered version. These steps work on Windows 11, 10, 8 and 7.

Before you start: install the product from the Download page and run it at least once. You do not need to reinstall it – the trial version becomes the full version when the key is applied.

Steps

  1. Save the license file. Your registration email contains the attachment license.zip. Save it to your computer, for example to the Downloads folder.
  2. Extract license.reg. Open the Downloads folder in File Explorer, right-click license.zip and choose Extract All, then click Extract. The extracted folder contains license.reg.
  3. Merge the file into the registry. Right-click license.reg and choose Merge. On Windows 11 choose Show more options first if Merge is not in the menu. Double-clicking the file does the same.
  4. Allow Registry Editor. If User Account Control asks “Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device?”, click Yes.
  5. Confirm adding the information. Registry Editor asks whether you want to continue adding the information to the registry. Click Yes.
  6. Close the confirmation. A message confirms that the keys and values were successfully added to the registry. Click OK.
  7. Restart the program. Important: quit the program completely and start it again. The license is checked when the program starts, so the evaluation restrictions are removed only after a restart.

What the license file does

license.reg contains registry entries for the product you purchased. Each time the program starts it checks for these entries to verify that a licensed copy is installed. The file changes only the settings for that product.

Troubleshooting

  • The attachment is blocked or grayed out in your email program. Some email programs and web mail services block .reg and .zip attachments. Save the attachment to disk instead of opening it, or open the email in a different program. If you cannot save it, ask us to resend the key at order@ashkon.com. Using Outlook Express or Windows Mail? See the fix for Windows XP or Windows Vista.
  • “Merge” is missing from the menu. Make sure you extracted license.reg from the zip file; files inside a zip file opened in File Explorer cannot be merged. On Windows 11, choose Show more options.
  • “Cannot import” or access denied. Your account needs permission to change the registry. Sign in as an administrator, or right-click license.reg and open it from an administrator account.
  • The program still shows the trial message. Quit the program completely – including any notification area icon – and start it again. Check that the key is for the product you are running.
  • New computer or reinstalled Windows. Install the product and apply the same license.reg file again.

Still having trouble? Email support@ashkon.com with the product name and the email address used for the order.