Manage Your Pro License

Manage Your Pro License

Once Pro is installed and activated, the License page is where you check status, move your license to another site, or update your key. This guide covers everything you can do from Media Guard → Pro License in your WordPress admin.

Quick map. Activate when you install on a new site. Deactivate before moving to a new site. Refresh if your status looks stale. That covers 95% of what most customers ever need.

Where to find the License page

In your WordPress admin, go to Media Guard → Pro License. That page shows your license status, tier, expiration date, and the buttons to activate, deactivate, or refresh.

What the page tells you

  • Status — Active (green) or Inactive (red). Pro features keep working when inactive; you just stop receiving automatic updates.
  • Tier — PRO or AGENCY, shown next to an Active status.
  • Expires — the date your license renewal is due, plus a “N days remaining” hint.
  • Grace period — if your license recently expired, you’ll see “License is in the post-expiry grace period“. Pro still works during grace; renew before it ends to keep updates.
  • License Key — masked except for the last 4 characters once active, so you can confirm you have the right one without exposing it on-screen.

Activate a license

  1. Paste the key from your purchase email into the License Key field.
  2. Click Activate License.
  3. Status should flip to Active immediately. If it doesn’t, see Common issues below.

Deactivate a license

Click Deactivate License. This frees the site slot on our license server so you can use the key elsewhere. Use this before you delete the site, move to a new host, or hand a project off to a client.

Heads up. If you wipe a site without deactivating first, the slot stays “used” until you deactivate from another install or contact support. Deactivate first whenever you can.

Switch to a different license key

The key field is read-only while a license is active. To enter a different key:

  1. Click Deactivate License.
  2. Paste the new key.
  3. Click Activate License.

Refresh status

Click Refresh Status if you renewed, upgraded, or changed your license recently and the page still shows the old info. This re-checks our license server and updates the cached state.

Move Pro to a different site

  1. On the old site: Media Guard → Pro License → Deactivate License.
  2. On the new site: install Pro, go to Media Guard → Pro License, paste your key, click Activate License.

If you no longer have access to the old site, contact us at support with your order number and we’ll free the slot for you.

Staging and development sites are free

Staging, dev, local, and preview sites don’t count against your site allowance. We automatically recognize:

  • localhost, 127.0.0.1, and private network IPs (10.x, 192.168.x, etc.)
  • Hostnames ending in .local, .test, or .localhost
  • Hostnames starting with staging., stage., dev., test., qa., preview., or preprod.
  • Hostnames containing .staging., .dev., .test., or .preview.

Activate Pro on those sites just like you would on production — they’ll work without consuming a slot.

“Activation limit reached”

If you try to activate and see “Activation limit reached (N/N sites)”, you’ve used every site your license allows. Two ways forward:

  • Free up a slot by deactivating Pro on a site you no longer need.
  • Upgrade your plan — Pro covers 1 site, Agency covers 10. See pricing.

Expired license

When your license expires:

  • You enter a short grace period. The License page will say so. Pro keeps working; renew anytime to clear the warning.
  • After grace, your status shows Inactive. Your protected files keep working — Pro doesn’t get turned off — but you stop receiving plugin updates until you renew.

To renew, log in to your account at wpmediaguard.com/my-account and follow the renewal link, or contact support.

Common issues

  • “Invalid license key” — double-check for stray spaces. Copy the key directly from your purchase email; don’t retype it.
  • Activation seems to succeed but Status stays Inactive — click Refresh Status. If still inactive, your server may be blocking outbound HTTPS to wpmediaguard.com; ask your host to allow it.
  • “License is not active” yellow notice in WordPress admin — Pro is installed but not licensed yet. Click the notice link to open the License page and activate.

Next steps