Almost every time I try to open the software it says " Could not establish a connection to the License server and all the menu buttons are greyed out.
I then have to use Task Manager to shut the app down. It sometimes takes two or three attempts at reopening the software to get it to load properly.
Hello MarieCooper, and welcome to the forum.
Are you experiencing this issue in Scrivener 1 or Scrivener 3 on your PC?
I ask because there is a bug in the Paddle license-activation engine, which is affecting some of our users. Our Windows development team are trying to resolve this with Paddle (our licensing provider).
The latest update to Scrivener 3 for Windows includes a workaround for this, which should help until a final resolution is released. I would recommend that you update your installation to version 3.1.1 if you have not already done so.
If you’re using Scrivener 1 for Windows and either cannot or do not wish to upgrade to Scrivener 3, you could run Scrivener 1 as an administrator (right click over the Scrivener icon and select ‘Run as administrator’) and register. Next time you launch Scrivener normally it should stay registered.
You could also reboot your computer into Safe Mode with Networking and activate Scrivener in that mode. (The steps for rebooting in Safe Mode with Networking are available here.)
The Safe Mode with Networking will deactivate any tools that are blocking Scrivener, but it will still be able to connect to the servers. Then, you can reboot your computer as you normally would.
If you’re considering upgrading to resolve this issue, please let me know. I can provide some additional information about discounts and resources to make upgrading easier.