Activation key has already been used on this instance – after fresh reinstall

Questions
1

Hi everyone,
I’m running n8n in a Proxmox LXC container (installed via the community helper script). My previous installation got corrupted, so I set up a fresh instance.
When I now try to activate my license key, I get the following error:

Activation key has already been used on this instance
I already tried the following:

  • n8n license:clear → ran successfully, license was cleared
  • Deleted the instanceId from the SQLite database
  • Restarted n8n after each step
    Despite all this, the activation still fails with the same error. It seems the key is still bound to the old instance on the n8n license server side.
    Is there a way to release/reset the key server-side, or does anyone know another workaround?
    Thanks in advance!
2

welcome to the n8n community @AME

If I were you, I’d double-check that the persistent data folder (the .n8n directory) was actually wiped. Especially on LXC or Proxmox, the app might be new, but it’s often still mounting the old data where those identity files live. I’d try starting it up with a completely fresh, empty data path and see if it lets you activate then.

If you’ve definitely cleared the data and it’s still hanging, it’s probably stuck on their end. At that point, I’d stop fighting with the local setup and just reach out to n8n support to have them reset the key server-side.

Are you running this in a container or a standard VM? That might change where those pesky identity files are hiding.

4

Hi @AME Welcome!
I think this might bring some help:

5

Thanks for your replies. The installation was indeed already registered. I only noticed this after your post, @Anshul_Namdev.

It’s still a bit strange that a fresh installation is already registered. Apparently, the registration is tied to the root user’s email address.

Thanks again to everyone!

6

@AME consider marking that as a solution so that future lookers know what’s the right answer. Cheers!