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I am trying to activate the free version of Mercury, but the Software Activation Tool says “A valid activation has been detected…”

Solution

This is due to having previously activated the software with a 36 character key. There are two options for resolving this:

Delete the ApplicationServices.ini file typically located in:

  • Windows: "%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\CCDC"
  • Linux: "~/.config/CCDC"
  • macOS: "~/Library/Preferences/CCDC"

Then restart the Software Activation tool, click on the Activate CSD-Community tab and click Activate

Alternatively, you can try activating the software from the command line

On Windows, open a command prompt in the directory where the software activation tool is (usually %USERPROFILE%\CCDC\ccdc-utilities\software-activation) and type

ccdc_activator.exe -c


On Linux and MacOS the command is the same, but the location of the activation tool is different