How to activate, replace or deactivate a NVivo license (NVivo 15, 14, R1/2020)

The information below applies to NVivo 15, NVivo 14 and NVivo R1/2020, not for NVivo 12 or older. For older versions see How to activate, replace or deactivate your NVivo license (NVivo 12 or older)

Before you can use NVivo it must be activated. Activation registers individual NVivo installations against licenses (or 'seats', for enterprise customers) that have been assigned from within the myLumivero portal. Assign a license/seat to a new user in the myLumivero Portal (NVivo R1 and NVivo 14)

Each end-user who has been assigned an NVivo license/seat can activate NVivo on two computers:

• Windows and enterprise licenses—end-users can activate NVivo on 2 Windows machines, 2 Mac machines, or 1 of each.
• Mac licenses—end-users can activate NVivo on 2 Mac only machines.

Activation is automatic, using the user's myLumivero profile (see myLumivero).

For NVivo 14 or NVivo R1, (unless you are an ELA-customer and have been provided a license key), users activate the license using their myLumivero account credentials created in the myLumivero portal.

After you have purchased NVivo, or a license seat was assigned to you by your administrator, you will receive an onboarding email from the producer (Lumivero) with instructions on how to install and activate NVivo.

How you activate NVivo depends on your situation:

1) Activate a new installation—you have a new installation of NVivo on your computer.

2) Replace a trial license—you already have NVivo installed and have started a 14-day trial. Now, you have bought a perpetual or student license, or been assigned a license or seat under another person's/organization's account, and need to activate NVivo to use the new license.

3) Reactivate NVivo to use a new license—you already have NVivo installed with a license other than a trial. Now, you want to use a different license—e.g. to stop using a personal license and use your organization's license, or vice versa.

4) Deactivate your NVivo license - before you switch to a new computer or the license was reassigned to a new user.

If you need to perform offline activations for devices not on the internet, please have a look at the following articles:

NVivo: Offline Activations (Effective 22nd July 2025)

Offline Activations Steps for Devices not on the Internet

To get started with NVivo:

- download the (correct) installation file, see: How do I download NVivo?

- install NVivo on your computer

- Activate NVivo by entering your myLumivero credentials the first time you open NVivo (sign in with the same email address that the license was purchased with/assigned to)

1) Activate a new installation

1. Make sure that you are connected to the internet.
2. Start NVivo.

3. In the Activate NVivo dialog box, click Log into myNVivo and enter your myLumivero profile login details.

   • If there are multiple accounts associated with your myLumivero profile, select the account with the NVivo license you want to use (if there are multiple valid licenses in the account you will need to select the license as well). Click Activate.
   • If you are eligible to trial NVivo you can activate the trial by clicking Activate Trial.

   Activation is automatic.

4. When you open NVivo after activation, set up your default NVivo user profile in the User Profile dialog box.
   NOTE: This is a local profile just for this installation of NVivo (on this computer) and is used to identify work you do in the app. It is not your myLumivero profile.

2) Replace a trial license

If you have been trialing NVivo and have now purchased a perpetual license or been assigned a license or seat from another person or organization, the next time you open NVivo you will be prompted to activate the perpetual license. Follow the prompts and click Activate.

NOTE  If you want to replace a license that is not a trial, use the instructions below Reactivate NVivo to use a new license.

If you bypass activation prompts and continue to run NVivo in trial mode, you can still activate to use the perpetual license, from within NVivo:

1. Make sure that you are connected to the internet

2.

In Windows: On the Welcome screen, click File, then Product Info / Manage License / Replace License.

In Mac: In the NVivo menu (top toolbar), select Licensing / Replace License.

3. When prompted, log into myNVivo.
4. If prompted, select the account with the license that you want to use, (if there are multiple valid licenses in the account you will need to select the license as well).
5. Click to activate.
   Activation is automatic.

3) Reactivate NVivo to use a new license

Follow these instructions in order to deactivate a current NVivo license and reactivate to use a new license.

1. Make sure that you are connected to the internet.
2. Close any NVivo projects you have open.

3.

In Windows: Click the File tab, Product Info, Manage License and then Deactivate License.

In Mac: In the NVivo menu (top toolbar), select Licensing / Deactivate.

4. Confirm deactivation, and close NVivo.

5. Restart NVivo.

   Most likely you are still logged in with the profile you were logged in with before deactivition.

   • If the license you want to use is in an account you have access to under this profile, continue below to activate.
   • If the license you want to use belongs to an account under another profile, log out of myNVivo, start NVivo again and log in with the profile you want to use.

6. In the dropdown, select the account with the license that you want to use and click Activate. (If you have logged in with a new profile there may not be a choice of accounts—in this case just click Activate.)

   Activation is automatic.

4) Deactivate your license

You may want to deactivate the NVivo license on a particular computer. For example, if you get a new computer then you should deactivate the NVivo license on the old computer before installing and activating on the new one.

Similarly, if your NVivo license/seat has been reassigned to another person, you must deactivate your installation(s) to make the license available to the new user.

NOTE  If someone has left your organization with activated NVivo installations and you can't contact them to deactivate themselves, contact Lumivero support. (Please note, that we as Alfasoft cannot help with deactivation this can only be done by the producer, Lumivero.)

In Windows:

1. Make sure that you are connected to the Internet
2. Close any NVivo projects you have open
3. Click the File tab, click Product Info, click Manage License and then click Deactivate License
4. Click Yes to confirm
   

In Mac:

1. Make sure that you are connected to the internet.
2. Close any NVivo projects you have open.
3. In the NVivo menu (top toolbar), select Licensing / Deactivate.
4. Confirm deactivation, and close NVivo.