Authorizing Live Online
Once you've installed Ableton Live, you must authorize the software, either online or offline. If you purchased Live through a third-party reseller, you must first register the serial number. In this article you will learn how to authorize Live online. If you encounter issues when authorizing, follow the steps in our guide to troubleshooting authorization.
Authorizing Live online
Authorizing online allows Live to connect directly to the Ableton server and authorize automatically. To use this method, on the computer where Live is installed, you need internet access and a web browser. We recommend Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox.
1. Launch the Live application. You'll see the following authorization dialog:
2. Click Authorize with ableton.com. This automatically opens ableton.com in your browser.
3. Log in to your Ableton user account (if not already logged in).
4. Using the dropdown menu, select your Live license.
Note: If your license contains an upgrade, only the highest version included in your license will be shown in the dropdown menu. Select this even if you wish to authorize a previous version. For example, if your license includes both Live 11 and Live 12, the dropdown menu will display Live 12.
To see the earlier Live versions associated with a license that has been upgraded, choose the relevant license from the dropdown menu and click View serial numbers.
If you need to authorize an older version of Live not included in your license, for example if installing Live on an older computer, contact Support for available options.
5. Click Authorize. This switches the focus back to Live.
6. Once Live has been authorized successfully, you'll receive confirmation. Click OK.
Deactivating an authorization
As of Live 13, you can deactivate previously authorized devices directly from your Ableton account. Live now checks the authorization status of your license on startup so that remote deactivations can take effect. This change does not affect the authorization status of your license when no internet connection is available. For more information, visit the article about Self-Service Unlocking in Live 13.
Live 12 and earlier versions are not able to be deauthorized from your Ableton account.
Authorizing Live offline
If your computer doesn't have an internet connection, or if you've upgraded to Live 10 or higher and are trying to authorize Live 9 or earlier, see our guide to authorizing Live offline.
Troubleshooting
If you encounter issues when authorizing, check our guide to troubleshooting authorization issues.