Updates and reinstalling
How Microsoft Store updates arrive, how to check for one by hand, why your access survives them, and how to reinstall or remove the application.
Updates arrive through the Microsoft Store. Microsoft delivers them, so there is nothing to download, no installer to run, and no patch to apply by hand. In normal use an update installs itself and the next launch is the new version.
Access to generate a layout is not stored as a file the application keeps. It is tied to this device via a Device ID, checked against SolarLayout's server, so replacing the application — an update or a full reinstall — does not disturb it and an update never asks you to activate again.
How updates arrive
Windows checks the Store for updates on its own schedule and installs them in the background. Two things follow from that:
- You may be updated without having asked. That is the intended behaviour of a Store application, and it is why the Store is the route these pages document.
- An update may wait until the application is closed. Close it if an update appears to be stuck.
A copy that did not come from the Store receives no Store updates. The download page, solarlayout.app/downloads/solarlayout, always carries the current version.
Check for an update by hand
Worth doing if you have been told a fix is out, or if the application has been open for weeks.
Open the Microsoft Store
Press Start, type Microsoft Store, and open it.
Open the Library
It is in the left-hand navigation. The Library lists the applications installed on this machine and any updates waiting for them.
- What it shows
- The Store's Library / Downloads and updates page, with the Get updates button visible.
- How to get there
- Open the Microsoft Store, then the Library from the left-hand navigation.
- Callouts to add
- Outline the Get updates button.
Click Get updates
The Store checks every installed application at once and downloads whatever is pending. If SolarLayout Desktop is already current it is not listed as needing anything.
Close the application before the update installs
If the application is open, close it and let the Store finish. Save your work first — an update does not preserve an unsaved session.
Which version you have
The application shows its version in the status bar at the bottom of the main window (for example v1.1.0) — that is the quickest place to check. The Help menu still carries only two items — How to Use This Tool and License / Subscription… — and there is no About window, so the status bar is the one place the version is named.
The Store's Library listing also shows it, and is the place to check whether an update is waiting.
Release notes lists what changed between versions.
Access is tied to this device, not a file
There is no local licence file to lose, back up or move. Access is tied to a Device ID — the Windows registry MachineGuid, the same value shown under Settings ▸ System ▸ About ▸ Device ID — and checked online against SolarLayout's server. Updating or reinstalling the application changes neither that identifier nor the server-side record it is checked against, so a launch after either one shows the same status as before.
An access-status chip in the top toolbar always shows this at a glance — ● Active — until <date> when active, ● No active access with a Get Free Access button when not, ● Access expired or ● Access revoked with a Contact Us button otherwise, or ● Access status unavailable — so checking status no longer requires opening a window.
Help ▸ License / Subscription… opens the window that shows it in full: a large status headline reading ✓ Active with the date you have access until, ✗ No access with the reason and a note that layout generation is disabled, or — right after clicking Get Free Access — ⏳ Waiting for activation — plus a read-only Your Device ID field with a Copy button.
- What it shows
- The same window on a device with active access — the ✓ Active headline and the 'You have access until <date>.' line, with the Access Details, Refresh and Close buttons.
- How to get there
- On a device with active access, open Help ▸ License / Subscription…
- Callouts to add
- Outline the status banner. Blur the Device ID.
If the application cannot reach the server, a good check made earlier is cached and it keeps working for a three-day offline grace window. Only once that window has passed does it report "Could not verify access — connect to the internet and try again."
If a launch after an update or reinstall shows no access, the Device ID has not changed and neither has the server record — see Licence problems.
Only Generate Layout, every export, and the SLD and BOM tools need this device's access to be active. Reading and changing inputs, and opening a project, work regardless of status.
Reinstalling
Reinstalling is worth trying when the application will not start at all, or starts and misbehaves in a way that survives a restart. It is not a fix for a licence problem — the licence is not part of the installation.
Remove the application
Uninstall it the way you remove any Store application: from its entry in the Start menu, or from the installed-applications list in Windows Settings.
Install it again from the Store
Follow Install on Windows — open the Store, search for the application, check the publisher reads Rensaar, and install.
Launch it and check access
The main window opens directly, the same as any launch. Check Help ▸ License / Subscription… to confirm the status still reads ✓ Active — it is checked against the server by Device ID, not restored from anything the previous installation left behind.
Uninstalling
Removing the application removes the application. It does not remove the work you have done with it:
- Project files (
.slp) sit wherever you saved them and are untouched. - Exported PDFs, drawings and mapping files sit wherever you exported them and are untouched.
A different machine has its own Device ID, so it needs its own activation — moving to a new PC is not covered by this device's access. Open Help ▸ License / Subscription… on the new machine and use Get Free Access there. If access has expired or been revoked instead, contact SolarLayout at sales@solarlayout.app.
If you are moving to a different machine rather than leaving the product, copy your project files across first, then activate the new machine as above — access is tied to one computer, not to a file that travels with your data. See How licensing works.