---
title: How to Activate and Return Your ROCK Desktop PPK Mobile + Aerial Processing License
description: Your ROCK Desktop PPK Processing Mobile + Aerial License is tied to your ROCK Cloud account and can only be active on one computer at a time.
---

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August 12, 2025

# How to Activate and Return Your ROCK Desktop PPK Mobile + Aerial Processing License

## Your ROCK Desktop PPK Processing Mobile + Aerial License is tied to your ROCK Cloud account and can only be active on one computer at a time.

We do not recommend activating this license on ROCK Desktop on a Virtual Machine (VM) due to the risk of the VM experiencing difficulty that makes the license hard to return. If your ROCK Desktop license becomes inaccessible to return on a VM it is not easily manually released and may result in needing to purchase a new license if we are unable to recover it for you.  

 

Also, if you are making any upgrades to the hardware on your computer, first return your ROCK Desktop license before starting the upgrades.  

#### How to activate your ROCK Desktop PPK Processing Mobile + Aerial License

1. Open ROCK Desktop on your computer.
2. Click File, then select Preferences.
   
   ![](https://learn.rockrobotic.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-May-01-2024-04-29-03-5469-PM.png?width=688&height=368&name=image-png-May-01-2024-04-29-03-5469-PM.png)
3. Click on User and then click the blue **LOGIN** button. Login with the ROCK Cloud account your processing license is assigned to.
   
   ![](https://learn.rockrobotic.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-May-01-2024-04-29-50-8490-PM.png?width=688&height=367&name=image-png-May-01-2024-04-29-50-8490-PM.png)
4. Once logged in, you will see your license. If you had a previous license(s), you will see these listed as expired below your current one. If you see **Activate** next to the license, this indicates that the processing license is free to activate or check out on your computer. You will also see what device the license was last activated on. 
   
   ![](https://learn.rockrobotic.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Screenshot%202024-05-01%20103434-png.png?width=688&height=220&name=Screenshot%202024-05-01%20103434-png.png)
5. Click **Activate** to check out the license on your computer and proceed with processing. Once activated, the current processing license will not be available for activation on a different computer as it is a single seat license. You will also observe that the Activate button will change to **Return.** 
   
   **![](https://learn.rockrobotic.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Screenshot%202024-05-01%20105553-png.png?width=688&height=90&name=Screenshot%202024-05-01%20105553-png.png)**
6. If  the license activated on a different computer you will receive the notification shown below. From here you will need to go back to that device and release the license for activation on your different desired device. 
   
   ![](https://learn.rockrobotic.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-May-01-2024-04-55-22-3379-PM.png?width=688&height=61&name=image-png-May-01-2024-04-55-22-3379-PM.png)
7. If you are confident that the processing license is not activated on any other devices and you are still receiving the notification that it is active on another computer, click **REFRESH LICENSES** then try to activate the license again. 
   
   ![](https://learn.rockrobotic.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-May-01-2024-05-19-45-6259-PM.png?width=688&height=70&name=image-png-May-01-2024-05-19-45-6259-PM.png)
8. If inability to activate the license still persists, click on the gear or settings icon and then click on **DELETE ALL LICENSES FROM STORAGE** and then click on **REFRESH LICENSES** again.
   
   ![](https://learn.rockrobotic.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Screenshot%202024-05-01%20112128-jpg-1.jpeg?width=688&height=48&name=Screenshot%202024-05-01%20112128-jpg-1.jpeg)  
   ![](https://learn.rockrobotic.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-May-01-2024-05-30-15-1160-PM.png?width=595&height=168&name=image-png-May-01-2024-05-30-15-1160-PM.png)
9. If you complete the above recommended steps and you are still unable to activate your ROCK Desktop license please do the following: 
     1. Log out of ROCK Desktop
     2. Close out ROCK Desktop
     3. Open ROCK Desktop
     4. Log in using your ROCK Cloud credentials
     5. Try to activate your license again.
10. After processing your data, be sure to click on **Return** once you are done as a best process to allow you to grab the license again on any device. Wait to see that the **Return** button has changed to **Activate** before closing out ROCK Desktop.

#### ![](https://learn.rockrobotic.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Screenshot%202024-05-01%20105553-png-4.png?width=688&height=90&name=Screenshot%202024-05-01%20105553-png-4.png)

If you are unable to activate your processing license after completing the troubleshooting steps outlined above, email ROCK Support at support@rockrobotic.com

**Important Note on License Recovery**

If your computer experiences a critical failure (e.g., hard drive crash or motherboard failure) or is physically moved or replaced without returning the ROCK Desktop license first, please be aware:

- ROCK **cannot automatically release the license** from that machine.
- In these cases, you **must contact the ROCK Support Team**.
- The recovery process involves:
  
    - Completion of verification paperwork
    - Responses to follow-up questions
    - A **time-intensive** resolution process due to license security protocols

We strongly recommend returning your license before any major system changes. You can do this within **ROCK Desktop** under `File > Preferences > Users`.

### Other Helpful Links

[Purchase your ROCK Desktop Pre-Processing License from your ROCK Cloud Account!](https://learn.rockrobotic.com/purchase-your-rock-desktop-license-from-your-rock-cloud-account?hsLang=en)

[ROCK Desktop Processing Error Triage!](https://learn.rockrobotic.com/rock-desktop-processing-error?hsLang=en)

 

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