How standalone keys work

Every Standalone license is a signed offline key: a license that proves itself cryptographically on your computer. Once activated, it works offline, with no account or sign-in. That makes it ideal for everyday use and for workstations that never touch the internet (secure sites, isolated networks, strict IT policies).

This page explains what the key is and what it gives you. For the steps that get you one, see activate your license.

What the key actually is

A standalone key is a block of text starting with key/, digitally signed with our private key and bound to your machine. It looks like key/eyJhbGci…​.MEUCIQ…: a payload naming the product, the machine and the term, followed by a signature over it.

Every time AutoCAD^® software starts, the plugin verifies that signature locally: math, not network. If the signature checks out and the key matches the machine, the plugin is licensed. There is no grace window to manage and nothing to renew for perpetual keys.

The public half of the signing key is compiled into the plugin, which is what lets verification happen with nothing to reach. The private half never leaves us, so a key cannot be forged or edited: change one character of the payload and the signature stops matching it.

Why it is bound to one machine

Your Machine ID, as the License Manager shows it, is the computer fingerprint: an irreversible hash of the identifier Windows assigns to your installation. It reveals neither your name nor anything on your computer. When linked to a purchase, we treat it as personal information. The key is minted for that exact fingerprint, and that binding is the whole reason the license can be checked without a server: with no server to ask, the key itself has to carry the answer to “may this computer run this plugin”.

The trade-off is that a key issued for one computer will not run on another. When you replace your computer, you can move the license to a new computer once per 12-month period.

What it gives you

• Perpetual: you can use the version you bought with no time limit, on the AutoCAD versions it supports, offline once activated.
• Private: verification is local, so no usage of the plugin is observable to us through licensing. Pseudonymous usage statistics are separate, optional and off by default, covered in how licensing works.
• Bound to one computer: the key runs only on the computer it was issued for. You can move the license to a new computer once per 12-month period; a license cannot be transferred to another person.
• No sign-in needed: standalone licenses appear in the License Manager even when signed out.

Once validated, the license sits in the Licenses tab reading Standalone - Perpetual - Machine locked, which is those properties stated back to you:

1. 1Standalone - Perpetual - Machine locked: the key never expires and works on this computer only.