Activation errors

You need to be online to activate Designer+

The program is unable to establish an online connection and the following dialog is displayed.

1. Ensure you are connected to the Internet 
2. Check your settings for any virus software or firewall which could be blocking the connection.  
    

Google reCaptcha warning is seen when attempting to login to Xara via your web browser

Security based applications with browser guards can prevent Google reCaptcha from displaying during sign in / sign up to Xara.

This can lead to the sign in page not progressing with the login and the following message dialog display

The problem can be resolved by clearing your browser guard storage if you are using a security solution such as Malwarebytes.  
 

Please temporarily disable any security based extensions in your browser prior to restarting your web browser and retrying the activation.   

The program is able to connect to the Internet but is unable to connect to either xara.com or a sub-domain or xara.com.

 

1. Check if you are able to access https://downloadsv18.xara.com/ from your web browser.  A successful connection will display either a forbidden message or display the xara logo.  If a 404 or another error is shown then 
2. Check your settings for any virus software or firewall which could be blocking the connection.  
3. Login to your ISP's broadband control panel to check your parental control settings and exception lists
   Please note any changes mad via your ISPs control panel may take up to 24 hours to complete. 
   • Some ISP's may incorrectly identify particular addresses as malicious.  Most service providers will provide a means to manage exceptions and either allow or block certain websites.  Please add an exception to allow the URL https://downloadsv18.xara.com/
   • Please check your ISP control panel to see if broadband parental controls are enabled and review the settings. 

The program is able to connect to the Internet and the xara.com domain is also accessible but the program is unable to complete authentication. 

1. Please browse to your temp directory ( WIndows key + r and type %temp% and press OK) .  find and attach XaraActivate.log to your reply. 
2. Please attach your debugview file generated when following the setup steps listed above 
3. Check your settings for any virus software or firewall which could be blocking the connection.  
4. Are you able to try using another connection such as a 4G connection? 

II have subscribed but my software remains in demo mode

If you have an active subscription but you are still seeing the Upgrade button or you remain in trial or demo mode or otherwise cannot unlock, there are several possible causes;

1. It is essential that you unlock with the same email address and password that you used to purchase the software from Xara. If you register a trial with one email address and then purchase with another, and then return to the trial, your software will not activate successfully. Similarly if you purchase with one email address and then download the trial and try and unlock it with a different email address, you trial will not unlock. You can resolve the problem via the Account menu within your Designer+ software.  Click Sign-out to sign out of the wrong account, and then run the trial again, click Connect and enter the correct email / password.
   
   
   
2. Every subscription is associated with a team. It is possible to create multiple teams within an account or to be invited to join other teams, so it is possible to inadvertently try to use the software in a team which doesn't have an active subscription. Check that you are in the team that purchased the subscription. If you don't remember creating new teams or being invited to join other teams, this is unlikely to apply to you.

I see a message other than verification successful when attempting to activate 

Customers can encounter a variety of messages when an activation is not successful. These failure messages often relate to problems with your team:

• Activating Designer+ requires a Xara account.  Every Xara account is a member of one or more teams.  
• The team may have been created from your account or your account might be a member of a team created by someone else.  
• The team must have a qualifying product (a trial or a subscription to Designer+, Pro+ or Team+) in order to successfully activate and run Designer+  
• On activation of Designer+, the device on which you activated the software is locked to a team. Your software will continue to run so long as your team has an active subscription.

You may see one of these activation failure messages if your team is not associated with an active subscription:

Invalid subscription

Your team [team name] does not have an active subscription. Please upgrade or contact support.

This message is encountered if the team your device is associated with no longer has an active subscription and your member role within the team is 'admin'.

Invalid subscription

Unfortunately, [team name] does not have an active subscription. Please inform your team admin to upgrade, or contact support.

This message is encountered if the team your device is associated with no longer has an active subscription and your member role within the team is 'member'.   

Request membership

Unfortunately, [email address] is not a member of team [team name], which this device is linked to. Request membership or contact support.

This message could be encountered if your account is no longer a member of the team which your device was locked to when it was activated.

Device limit reached
Unfortunately, you have reached the maximum of 2 devices. Please contact support to connect from this device.

Attempting to activate Designer+ with the same email on more than 2 devices will result in this message.  Please contact the support team if you wish to deactivate the software on one of your existing machines prior to retrying your activation.
 

Error code 12157 when attempting to activate. 

Xara uses the TLS 1.2 protocol to connect securely to the activation servers. If these protocols are not enabled, or outdated, you may see this error.

1. Ensure TLS 1.2 is enabled
   1. Click on Start.
   2. Go to the Control Panel.
   3. Click on 'Internet Options'.
   4. Click on 'Advanced'.
   5. Scroll down to the security section, ensure 'Use TLS 1.2' is checked.
   6. try activating again.
      
2. Update TLS Protocol
   1. Go here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3140245/update-to-enable-tls-1-1-and-tls-1-2-as-default-secure-protocols-in-wi
   2. Under the section "How to get this update", Use either method 1 or 2 to download the update.
      Note: Method 1 involves installing it through Windows Update on your PC. Method 2 is a direct download to the update (shortcut here).
   3. Install the update.
   4. On the same page in step 1, scroll down to the 'Easy Fix' section, and click on the 'Download' button there. *
   5. Run the easy fix install.
   6. Restart your PC.
      * After installing the update, you need to apply it by making some registry edits. It's easier to run the easy fix button which will make these registry changes for you, however if you wish, you can make them yourself. The keys you need to change are in the same easy fix section
   7. Afterwards, try activating again.