How Automatic Licence Checks Work

After you activate SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base, the plugin checks your licence automatically to make sure the connected Monthly or Yearly subscription is still active.

You do not normally need to enter your product key again after the first successful activation.

What happens when you activate the plugin?

When you enter your purchase email address and product key, SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base sends those details securely to the SoftwareRoad licence server.

The licence server checks that:

• The email address matches the product key
• The key belongs to SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base
• The subscription is active
• The licence is connected to an eligible Monthly or Yearly plan

If the licence is accepted, the plugin saves the licence status in your WordPress database and unlocks the knowledge base features.

The detected subscription plan is also saved, so you do not need to choose Monthly or Yearly manually.

Does the plugin check the licence on every page load?

No. SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base does not normally contact the licence server every time someone opens a page.

After a successful check, the active result is temporarily reused for up to 12 hours.

During that time, the plugin can confirm that the licence is active without making another request to SoftwareRoad.

This reduces unnecessary licence requests and helps the knowledge base load normally.

The daily licence check

Once the plugin has been activated, SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base schedules an automatic licence check each day.

The first daily check is scheduled for roughly 24 hours after the original activation time. Further checks then continue daily while the saved licence remains on the website.

For example, if the licence was activated at around 3:00 pm, the scheduled check will normally continue at around that time each day.

The exact time can vary because WordPress scheduled tasks run when WordPress has an opportunity to process them.

SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base and WP-Cron

Automatic licence checks use the WordPress scheduled task system, commonly known as WP-Cron.

WP-Cron is normally triggered when someone visits the website. This means a scheduled task may run slightly later than expected on a website with very little traffic.

This is normal WordPress behaviour and does not usually require any action.

Some hosting providers replace WP-Cron with a server cron job. This is also fine, provided WordPress scheduled tasks are still being run regularly.

What if the daily check has not run yet?

SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base also checks the age of the last successful licence result when protected plugin features are used.

If the saved active result is less than 12 hours old, the plugin uses that result.

If it is older than 12 hours, the plugin may carry out a fresh licence check when the knowledge base or a protected plugin area is opened.

This means the licence can still be checked even if the normal daily task has been delayed.

What information is checked?

The licence request includes:

• Your purchase email address
• Your SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base product key
• The SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base product name

This information is needed to find the correct subscription and confirm its status.

The normal licence check does not send your:

• WordPress password
• Knowledge base articles
• Article content
• Categories
• Website users
• Customer information
• Search analytics
• Helpful voting results

The request is sent using HTTPS with SSL verification enabled.

What is stored on your WordPress website?

SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base saves the licence information needed to keep the plugin activated.

This includes:

• Purchase email address
• Product key
• Current licence status
• Detected subscription plan
• Detected product
• Time of the latest check
• Original activation time
• Most recent licence message

The product key is masked when it is displayed on the Licence screen, so the full key is not shown to someone viewing that page.

You should still limit WordPress administrator access to people you trust.

What happens after a successful check?

When the licence server confirms that the subscription is active, SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base updates the saved licence status.

The plugin then continues to provide access to features such as:

• The public knowledge base
• Knowledge base articles and categories
• Plugin settings
• Search
• Analytics
• Helpful voting
• Article view tracking
• SEO features
• Knowledge base templates

No action is normally required from you after a successful automatic check.

What happens if the licence becomes inactive?

If an automatic check finds that the subscription is no longer active, SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base updates the saved licence status.

This may happen when:

• A subscription has been cancelled
• A renewal payment has failed
• A subscription has expired
• The licence has been suspended
• The product key is no longer valid

Protected plugin areas and public knowledge base features may then become unavailable.

Your existing articles, categories and settings are not normally deleted. They remain stored in the WordPress database, ready to become available again when an eligible licence is activated.

What visitors see when the licence is inactive

When the plugin cannot confirm an active licence, the public knowledge base may display a temporary unavailable message instead of the normal content.

Individual knowledge base articles and categories may also become unavailable.

The plugin adds instructions asking search engines not to index unavailable knowledge base content while the licence is inactive.

Search requests, helpful voting and other protected features are also blocked until the licence is active again.

What happens after a successful renewal?

If your Monthly or Yearly subscription renews successfully, you do not normally need to do anything.

The saved product key remains connected to the website, and a later automatic check should confirm that the subscription is still active.

You should only need to check the licence manually when:

• The plugin asks you to activate again
• The public knowledge base becomes unavailable
• A renewal payment has failed
• Your subscription details have changed
• You have received a new product key

What happens if a payment fails?

A failed renewal payment may cause the subscription to become inactive.

The licence server may then return an inactive result during the next automatic check.

Check the payment details connected to your subscription and allow the renewal to complete.

Once the subscription is active again, return to your WordPress dashboard and check:

Knowledge Base > Licence

If the plugin still shows the activation screen, enter your purchase email address and product key again.

What happens if the licence server cannot be reached?

A licence check can fail if the website cannot connect to SoftwareRoad.

Possible causes include:

• A temporary internet problem
• A hosting firewall
• Outgoing HTTPS requests being blocked
• A DNS problem
• A server SSL problem
• A temporary SoftwareRoad service issue

When this happens, the plugin may display a message explaining that the licence server could not be reached or returned an unexpected response.

Try the licence check again once the connection problem has been resolved.

If the problem continues, ask your hosting provider to confirm that the website can make outgoing HTTPS requests to: https://softwareroad.com

Why does the licence appear active for a while after a connection problem?

A recent successful licence result can be reused for up to 12 hours.

This means a brief connection problem does not necessarily cause the plugin to make a new request immediately.

Once the saved result becomes older than 12 hours, the plugin will need to contact the licence server again to confirm the current status.

Does deactivating the WordPress plugin remove the licence?

Simply deactivating SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base from the Plugins screen does not normally remove the saved licence information.

If you activate the plugin again, the existing details may still be available.

To deliberately remove the licence from the website:

1. Open Knowledge Base > Licence.
2. Select Remove licence from this website.
3. Confirm the removal.

This removes the saved licence details and clears the scheduled daily licence check.

Your articles, categories and plugin settings remain in the database.

Does removing the licence cancel the subscription?

No. Removing the licence from WordPress only removes the saved details from that website.

It does not cancel the Monthly or Yearly subscription.

Subscription changes must be managed separately through the account or payment method connected to the purchase.

Do I need to keep WP-Cron enabled?

WordPress scheduled tasks should be allowed to run so the daily licence check can take place.

If WP-Cron has been disabled, your hosting provider or website administrator should configure a server cron job to run WordPress scheduled tasks instead.

Signs that WordPress scheduled tasks may not be working include:

• Scheduled posts not publishing
• Backup tasks not running
• Other scheduled plugin actions being delayed
• Licence checks not taking place as expected

The website can still attempt a fresh licence check when the saved result expires and a protected feature is opened, but scheduled tasks should still be configured correctly.

Why are ongoing licence checks required?

SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base is provided through an active Monthly or Yearly subscription.

The checks confirm that the subscription connected to the product key remains eligible to use the plugin.

Keeping your subscription active provides continued access to:

• Your public knowledge base
• Article and category management
• Search and analytics
• Visitor feedback
• Plugin updates
• WordPress compatibility improvements
• New features
• SoftwareRoad support

WordPress, PHP and web browsers continue to change, so maintaining an active subscription helps fund the ongoing work needed to keep SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base working properly.

If your licence status looks wrong

If you believe your subscription is active but the plugin says otherwise:

1. Check that the subscription payment completed successfully.
2. Confirm that you are using the correct purchase email address.
3. Find the original SoftwareRoad Knowledge Base product key.
4. Open Knowledge Base > Licence.
5. Enter the licence details again if the activation form is shown.
6. Clear your WordPress and server cache.
7. Check that the website can connect to SoftwareRoad.

If the problem continues, contact SoftwareRoad support with the purchase email address and the exact message shown in WordPress.

Do not publish your complete product key in a public support message.