Guide 13.8
Beginner, 4 min read. Checked with Scalpel 1.12.8 on .
In short
Each Scalpel licence runs on two computers at once. When a third asks, the licence screen says the licence is already active on 2 machines. Sign in at scalpeltrade.com/account, click Free this machine next to a computer you no longer use, then click Try again in Scalpel. You can free 3 machines every 30 days.
This is not a fault and nothing is wrong with your key. Scalpel counts a computer as soon as it activates, and keeps counting it until you free it on your account page, even if you wiped it or sold it.
That is the exact message, in orange under the title Scalpel is not licensed on this computer. The cockpit stays hidden and no order key works until this computer has a licence. If anything is still open from an earlier session, the screen shows it with a Flatten all button, so a licence problem never traps you in a position.
Scalpel keeps your key when this happens, so once a slot is free you only need to click Try again. You do not paste the key again.
If the old computer is still running Scalpel, close it first. A running copy checks its licence at every start and every 12 hours, and if a slot is free at that moment it takes it back.
Click Find my key 2 on the licence screen, or go to scalpeltrade.com/account and sign in with the email you bought with.
The Lifetime licence panel lists Machines 2 of 2. Each row shows the computer's name (its Windows computer name, or the Mac's name in System Settings), when it was last seen in UTC and the version it ran. The old one is usually the row with the oldest Last seen date.
The page confirms: "Machine freed. Quit Scalpel on that computer: if it is still running with a slot free, it takes the slot back at its next check." The panel now reads Machines 1 of 2.
Back on the licence screen, click Try again 3. Scalpel takes the free slot and opens the cockpit. Settings > About then reads, for example, "Licensed (SCLP-****-****-****-W8RB). Active on 2 of 2 computers."
That is the account page's message once you have freed three machines in 30 days. The limit counts per licence. If you are mid-move and hit it, ask on Discord (guide 12.6) or email hello@scalpeltrade.com with the computer names, and we will sort it out.
Scalpel tells computers apart by an ID from the operating system (on Windows, the machine GUID Windows creates at install). So:
For a planned move, free the old computer first: guide 12.1 walks through it.