When activating ChemDraw/ChemOffice, I get error code: -2 ERROR: adding trusted storage license source

• Activation fails due to error code -2
• Installation fails due to error code -2
• adding trusted storage license source error

Details: When you install the ChemDraw software, details about your computer are stored on the files inside the FNE folder located at C:\ProgramData\PerkinElmerInformatics\. When you proceed to activate, the information must match the current information for your computer or else you will receive this error.

This generally happens when you install the software on a virtual machine and create an image from it to deploy on other machines. The machine type on the image will reflect Virtual Machine and when you try to activate, the machine type is now a physical computer, so it generates this error message. Your error may look similar to the following example:

Solution:

For Windows:

1. Make sure the C:\ProgramData\PerkinElmerInformatics\ folder is not read-only
2. Remove all the files from: C:\ProgramData\PerkinElmerInformatics\FNE\20.0 (If you are running version 17/18/19, the folder name would be 17.0/18.0/19.0).
   Note: Program Data folder is by default hidden. To unhide the folder, follow the steps for your O/S:
   Windows 11: File Explorer - View - Show – Click on 'Hidden Items'.
   Windows 10: File Explorer – View – Check the box ‘Hidden Items’ in ‘Show/Hide’ tab.
3. Restart the machine.
4. Launch ChemDraw (use right-click, Run as Admin), and perform online activation.

Note:

For ChemDraw version 23.0 or later, the FNE folder is located at
C:\ProgramData\RevvitySignalsSoftware
Also for version 23.0 make sure the C:\ProgramData\RevvitySignalsSoftware folder is not read-only

For Mac:

1. Make sure you can write to the /Users/Shared/ folder.
2. Remove all the files from /Users/Shared/com.perkinelmer.chemdraw.22/FNE (The name of the folder changes the version number at the end for older versions starting with version 17).
   For version 23.0 or later, remove all the files from the  /Users/Shared/com.revvity.chemdraw/FNE folder
3. Restart the machine.
4. Launch ChemDraw and perform online activation.