How access works

Access to SolarLayout Desktop belongs to your account — the email you sign in with at solarlayout.app — and covers up to three devices. It is not a licence file. Help ▸ License / Subscription… opens the window that shows this device's status and requests access for it — there is no file to install, copy, back up, or keep safe. The Device ID tells the server which computer is asking, and status is checked online.

You don't need to open that window just to check status, though — a small access-status chip is always visible in the top toolbar: ● Active — until <date>, ● No active access with a Get Free Access button beside it, ● Access expired or ● Access revoked with a Contact Us button, or ● Access status unavailable if the last check failed. The app version is shown in the status bar at the bottom of the window.

The application opens fully usable regardless of that status. Access only matters once you ask it to generate a layout or hand you a result.

What needs this device active

Because almost everything downstream is computed from a generated layout, a device without active access is in practice limited to exploring the inputs — reading and changing every field in the panel, loading a boundary file, and opening every menu, the in-app guide, and the License / Subscription… window itself.

Clicking Generate Layout without active access opens a Subscription Required dialog instead of a layout: "Layout generation is locked.", followed by the reason for this device, then "Open Help ▸ License / Subscription… to view your Device ID and start your free trial." The License / Subscription window then opens itself.

The License / Subscription window

The window's status headline reports one of three states:

• ✓ Active (green), with "You have access until <Month DD, YYYY>." underneath.
• ✗ No access (red), with the reason for this device followed by "Layout generation is disabled until your access is active."
• ⏳ Waiting for activation (amber), shown right after you click Get Free Access, until the app confirms it.

Below the status is Your Device ID — a read-only field labelled "This Device ID identifies this computer to SolarLayout (it matches Settings ▸ System ▸ About ▸ Device ID):", with a Copy button beside it. The Device ID is the Windows registry MachineGuid — the same value Windows itself shows under Settings ▸ System ▸ About ▸ Device ID.

The buttons on offer depend on the state:

• While active: Access Details, which opens the same web page as activation, for this device.
• While not active: Get Free Access and Contact Us.
• Always: Refresh and Close.

Getting access

Click Get Free Access and the application opens your browser at the activation page for this device. Complete activation there, then switch back to the License / Subscription window — it re-checks automatically and the headline flips to ✓ Active.

Contact Us opens the SolarLayout contact page in your browser, for questions or to arrange paid access. Activate this device walks through the full flow.

Access states

The server reports one of four states for this device: active, expired, revoked, or none. Each shows its own reason in the License / Subscription window:

Working offline

When this device can't reach the server, a good check it already made is cached, and the application keeps working under that cached status for up to 3 days before it needs to check in again. If it can't reach the server and has no usable cached check, it reports "Could not verify access — connect to the internet and try again."

Using more than one device

Free access is for up to three devices per account. Activate each one the same way — open the License / Subscription window on that computer, click Get Free Access, and finish in the browser. On your second or third computer the activation page says "This will be device 2 of 3 on your account." and its button reads Add this device.

Every device on your account shares one access record, so a device added later shows the same end date and the same status as the others. If your access is extended, every device picks up the new date on its next check; if it ends or is revoked, it ends on every device at once.

Two limits, stated plainly:

• A device counts against your account for good. Replacing a computer does not free its place. Once three have been used, the activation page reads You have used all 3 devices — contact SolarLayout to sort it out.
• A device belongs to one account. If this computer was activated under a different email, the page reads This device is already in use — sign in with that account instead, or contact SolarLayout.

Updates, reinstalls, and other accounts

Access is server-side and belongs to your account, not stored in a file, so it survives reinstalls and application updates automatically — there is nothing to re-load, and a reinstalled computer keeps its place among your devices. See Updates and reinstalling.

A second Windows user account on the same PC has the same Device ID, so access carries over to it too — unlike a per-user file would.

Where to go next