Licensing a Mac
Buy a ProRDP Commercial workspace, activate a Mac with a short code, and move, deactivate or re-license it later.
This guide takes you from nothing to a licensed Mac. It covers the one-at-a-time route, where you approve a short code shown on the Mac. To license many Macs without visiting each one, use MDM enrollment.
Before you start
- ProRDP installed on the Mac. See Getting started.
- A Microsoft account to sign in to the portal. A work or school (Entra ID) account is best for a business, because you can then give roles to your colleagues. A personal Microsoft account works too, but the workspace will have just the one owner.
- A card for Stripe checkout. Nothing is charged for the first 30 days.
- The Mac in front of you. You’ll approve a code that the Mac shows. See the warning below.
Activate your first Mac
- On the Mac, open ProRDP’s Settings and choose the License pane.
- Choose Activate Commercial…. ProRDP shows a short code, such as
BDFG-HJKL, and a link to the portal with the code already filled in. - Open the link. If you’re not signed in, choose Sign in with Microsoft.
- The portal asks Is this your Mac? and shows the Mac’s name, its macOS and ProRDP versions, and when it asked. Check that it’s the Mac you’re sitting at.
- Choose what to do with it, covered in the next section. If you have no workspace yet, name one and choose Buy one license. Stripe’s checkout opens, and brings you back to finish when you’re done.
- Choose Confirm.
The Mac picks up its license within a few seconds, and the License pane changes to show it’s Commercial. You can close the portal page.
How long a code lasts
A code works for 15 minutes. Once you’ve opened it in the portal, it lasts up to an hour from when the Mac made it, so you have time to buy a workspace first. If it expires, choose Activate Commercial… on the Mac again to get a new one.
What the portal shows when you approve
For each of your workspaces, the portal says what approving the Mac would do:
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| Licensed already | This Mac is already in the workspace, for example after a reinstall. Approving uses no more licenses. |
| A free license | The workspace has a license to spare. The count of Macs goes from n to n + 1. |
| Adds a license | Every license is in use, and the workspace buys a new one as Macs join. The page shows the price before and after, and what’s charged now. |
| Needs a license | Every license is in use, and buying one automatically is off. Choose Add a license, review the price, and you’re returned to finish the activation. |
| Not bought yet | The workspace has no subscription. Buy one license for this Mac to continue. |
| Not active | The workspace’s subscription is cancelled or unpaid. Fix its billing first, then come back. |
| At its Mac limit | An owner set a cap on this workspace’s Macs, and it’s been reached. |
Nothing happens until you confirm. If the workspace changes while you’re looking at the page, say another Mac took the last free license, the portal shows you the new situation instead of going ahead.
If you only have the Activator role, you can approve Macs into a workspace that has a free license, or one that buys licenses automatically. You can’t buy or add licenses. Ask an owner. See Roles and members.
Add a Mac from the workspace page
You can also start from the portal. Open your workspace, find the Macs section, enter the Mac’s code in Activation code, and choose Add Mac. Check that the Mac is yours, then choose Add … to … to confirm. The code comes from Settings › License › Activate Commercial… on the Mac, as above.
Owners and Activators can add Macs. Everyone with a role can see the list of Macs in the workspace:
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Mac | The Mac’s name, and its serial number so you can tell similar names apart |
| Joined with | How it joined: approved by a person (and who), or with an enrollment key (and the key’s name) |
| Activated | When it was licensed |
| Last seen | The last time it checked in |
| macOS and ProRDP | The versions it reported |
Reinstalling, resetting or replacing a Mac
A license belongs to a workspace, and a Mac is recognized by its hardware, so you don’t lose anything if you reinstall.
- Reinstalling ProRDP or macOS, or wiping the Mac. Activate it again. The Mac takes back its own license rather than using a second one, and the portal says Licensed already.
- Selling or retiring a Mac. Deactivate it first, as below, so the license is free for another Mac.
- Replacing a Mac. Deactivate the old one and activate the new one.
Deactivate a Mac
To move a license to another Mac, deactivate the one you’re done with.
| How | What happens |
|---|---|
| From the Mac. In Settings › License, choose Deactivate. | The Mac stops counting at once, and becomes Personal. There’s no limit on how often you can do this. |
| From the portal, for a Mac that’s lost, wiped or can’t be reached. | The Mac stops counting at once. It becomes Personal the next time it checks in, or within 14 days if it never comes back online. |
The portal can only deactivate so many Macs a month, because a Mac that’s deactivated remotely keeps its current lease for up to 14 days. Without a limit, one license could be passed around a fleet. You can deactivate the greater of 2 Macs, or 10% of your active Macs, in any rolling 30 days. Beyond that, ask support at hello@prordp.app. Deactivating from the Mac itself isn’t limited.
Troubleshooting
The code says it’s expired or unknown. Codes last 15 minutes. Choose Activate Commercial… on the Mac again for a new one, and check you typed it exactly, with the dash.
The Mac still says Personal after I confirmed. Give it a few seconds, then check it’s online.
It collects its license by asking the licensing service, so it needs a connection to
portal.prordp.app just once to activate.
“Needs a license” and I’m not an owner. Only owners can buy licenses. Ask one to add a license, or to turn on Buy a new license when a Mac joins and you don’t have any remaining licenses.
My Mac went back to Personal. Open the workspace in the portal. The status shows if the subscription is past due, cancelled or unpaid. A Mac also becomes Personal if it was deactivated, or if its workspace has more active Macs than it allows. See When a payment fails or a subscription ends.
I want to move a Mac to a different workspace. Deactivate it, then activate it into the other workspace.