DXO doesn't let me activate my license

nhouilllon · April 10, 2026, 5:42pm

DXO doesn’t let me move my license to my new laptop (mac m4) !

You have reached the maximum number of authorized activations.

You can ask for another activation authorization on DxO website. Do you want to open the DxO Web request form ?

I bought DXO 6 in November 2022 and it was running on mac mac pro m1 since then.

I have not really used it since then , only a couple of times to be honest.

Now DXO has released DX0 7, 8 and 9. and the support tell me my DXO is too old to be transferred to a new laptop.

Is 3 and 1/2 years too old ?

It shouldn’t or otherwise, let people update their version for free , I bought a license and should be allowed to run it even if my laptop evolves .

Both laptop run the same OS ( MacOs Tahoe 26.4); But DXO doesn’t want to activate it on the most recent hardware, mentioning the OS is not supported.

It is clearly supported as it is able to run on my pervious laptop (mac m1).

This is why people go with Lightroom and a Saas subscription,

I am pissed because this is exactly why I bought a license, to avoid monthly charge from Saas model.

They should let me do what I want with my license or offer free upgrade .

Extremely disappointed as I wanted to give this company a shot and they don’t stand behind.
I need an alternative to DXO now … back to Lightroom again ?

Website says this :

LVS · April 10, 2026, 6:39pm

Did you deactivate the license on your old machine ?

Have you reached out to support.dxo.com to see if there is a resolution? Something may have slipped through the cracks and is not working the way it’s supposed to.

Egregius · April 10, 2026, 8:08pm

Unfortunately, DxO really is trying to confine “perpetual” licenses to very limited support requirements that were established when a particular version of the software was released:

DxO has the ability to activate the license for you. They are simply choosing not to because they don’t want to support the product on a newer workstation. DxO is failing to distinguish license key management from technical support of the executable software itself. Which is very bad IMO.

nhouilllon · April 10, 2026, 8:32pm

Yes I have , I followed the instructions. Removed the previous DXO from my old computer, then reached out so they can do whatever they need to free my license and reassign to my newer laptop.

And then they replied just denying it and that because my DXO is old or my laptop too new, then they wont activate it.

They even pointed to the config requirements, which simply list Minimal or Recommended config, nothing mandatory .

This is insane that they wont let me use my own license as I wish.

nhouilllon · April 10, 2026, 8:34pm

Fair enough about the support part, they dont have to support it in case I face any issues, but they shouldn’t not prevent me from using my license as I wish.
If it s buggy or clanky or not optimized, fine, this is on me and I will live with it until I upgrade .
But purely denying is not right.

platypus · April 10, 2026, 9:03pm

If all you hvae done is (almost not) used PL6 on exactly one Mac, how can the limit have been reached?

essential edition includes 2 activations
elite edition includes 3 activations

And one can re-install the same Mac several times, it’s still counting as one activation - or so it should be (and is on my 2019 iMac)

okay, there are two macs and both run the same OS. Two Macs, ergo 2 activations. And you’ve reached the limit before that? Have you installed PL6 on any other hardware, maybe for testing, or something?

Sadly, license management starts with PL7 only. Before that, there are no means that do not depend on DxO’s good will. Nevertheless, DxO sells their products with a lifetime promise, but lifetime is limited by whatever limit you hit first. And somehow, DxO support has not yet learnt that bad news travels fast or has been told to be tough and nasty, which, imo, would be a major management issue

Not sure if any of it is mentioned in the EULA.

All you can do is to, politely, insist … and maybe get in touch with some consumer protection entity if such a thing exists where you live. Remains to be seen whether that is worth the effort. After all, a yearly subscription for Lightroom costs about the same as an update of PL.

PhotoLab is ahead of things with the module corrections and denoising. And if we look at these with a somewhat relaxed attitude towards whether we need the ultimate technical quality or not, we’ll either pay DxO or Adobe or CaptureOne or whatever suits our needs.

And yes, loosing money is no fun, specially if some goodwill could do the trick

nhouilllon · April 12, 2026, 7:15pm

@DxO_Support-Team FYI, the answer from support is not acceptable and does not make sense considering:

All I need is to remove an existing activation count from the laptop do not own anymore, but DXO support is denying my request.

This laptop is not longer mine, I don’t want to leave an activation associated with it,
I don’t get why the support is so stubborn and does not proceed with the deactivation.

N80 · April 13, 2026, 7:05pm

I’ve been a Nik user for years. I am new to PL. Purchased PL9 a few months ago. It works fine. Not fully committed to it at this point. DAM is not great, well, it actually isn’t even useful to me.

All of this is to say that the more I hear about DxO’s stinginess regarding license issues like this the less I am inclined to stay with them.

I’ll use PL9 when it suits. I’ll stick with 9.5. But I doubt I’ll be a return customer as a matter of principle if nothing else.

Do people jumping ship on Lightroom really hurt Adobe? Apparently not. Will a few leery PhotoLab users abandoning DxO make any difference to their bottom line? Probably not at all. But I won’t stick with a company that behaves like this.