When Should I Deactivate Smaart?

Please note that Smaart SPL is considered a "single-install" license and cannot be deactivated. It is not possible to move an SPL activation from one computer to another. Instead, the licensing model is structured to provide affordable scaling, with each standard license allowing a single installation with the option to purchase additional activations through your license management account.

If you have an SPL license that is no longer accessible, such as cases where the computer has been lost or stolen, please contact support.

If you have a Subscription license, please make sure to connect to the internet before deactivating. However if you receive a Block Code, please contact support.

It is imperative that Smaart is deactivated appropriately to ensure that it does not "lock" an activation seat and prevent you from using it. We understand there is some confusion around deactivating Smaart, so we've provided some example cases below.

In general, you do not want to deactivate Smaart unless you are:

• decommissioning a device,
• formatting it completely without restoring or migrating data, or
• swapping out the computer's hard drive (again, without data cloning or restoration).
  
  

This is because Smaart's activation is tied to the operating system and its file system, not to the application or the computer itself. While changing out hardware components or cloning data onto a new hard drive may cause an Error 523, this is expected behavior and can be resolved quickly by contacting support.
 

"I will be updating the operating system or upgrading hardware on my computer"
Do not deactivate! Doing this risks corrupting your license, which will require our help to activate/deactivate on that machine again. Most of the time, Smaart will continue to function after a system update, but if you do get Error 523 (Machine ID has changed), check out this article here and contact us using the links below for further assistance.
 

"I will be restoring/resetting my computer by using 'Reset this PC', 'Windows Start Fresh', 'System Restore' or 'Time Machine'"
Do not deactivate! Smaart's license is system-based. It will not disappear entirely by simply uninstalling the program. These different functions from Windows and Apple that claim to "Reset your PC" often leave certain critical system components in place. In these scenarios, Smaart will stay partially active and cause issues when trying to activate again.
 

"I will no longer be using Smaart on this computer, but I will be migrating data from this computer to a new computer before reinstalling Smaart"
Do not deactivate! Smaart does not support migrating in general, but if you absolutely must do it you can utilize the following guide in our Knowledge Base here.
 

"I will no longer be using SMAART on this computer ever, and I will be starting from scratch on a new device without any data migration"
Go ahead and deactivate! No problems here. This will give you an available license seat to activate the new computer. If you run into any issues deactivating, such as if the previous device can no longer be accessed to deactivate Smaart normally, please check out this article or send in a support ticket.
 

"I will be formatting the hard drive completely and I will be re-installing the Operating System without using any cloning, imaging, or migration software"
Go ahead and deactivate! No problems here. This will assure you have an available license seat after you complete the process. In cases where you are forced to format because of a system issue, and you are unable to deactivate Smaart beforehand, please contact us for further assistance.
 

If you can no longer access Smaart to deactivate normally, or if any errors occur when attempting to re-activate Smaart, please check out this support article or email support using the links below.