Authorizing SketchUp with a Laptop License (Educational Institutions)

You need to have Internet access to authorize SketchUp Pro. If you're using a SketchUp Subscription then you'll sign in at launch which will authorize the software for use. If you're using the Classic License when you authorize SketchUp Pro, SketchUp communicates with the authorization server via the standard ports 80 and 443. If you have a Proxy or Firewall in place, please allow SketchUp Pro to communicate on those ports to the *.sketchup.com domain.

If you're distributing SketchUp across a number of laptops, you may wish to use the MSI file (Windows 64-bit installer) or to use a disk imaging package such as Norton Ghost or Deep Freeze. In the case of either distributed installation strategies, you can simplify the licensing process by including a file which will pre-populate the serial number and authorization code for users so they won’t need to type it in themselves, and SketchUp Pro will automatically attempt to authorize on the user's behalf.

You can download the standard SketchUp Pro 2021 installer here.

To use this procedure:

  1. Ensure that SketchUp Pro 2021 is installed on all computers.
  2. Create a file named activation_info.txt. You will need to use a plain text editor, such as Notepad (Microsoft Windows) or TextMate (Mac OS X).
  3. In that file, add your network serial number and authorization code in the following format:
    {
    "serial_number":"YOUR SERIAL NUMBER",
    "auth_code":"YOUR AUTHORIZATION CODE",
    "allow_reactivation":"true"
    }
  4. Save the file and distribute it to the following location on each machine:

    Windows - C:\ProgramData\SketchUp\SketchUp 2021

    OS X - /Library/Application Support/SketchUp 2021

    Note that this is the root-level Library folder, not the user-level Library folder.

    You will need to create the SketchUp 2021 folder. There is no SketchUp 2021 folder in the root-level /Library/Application Support folder by default.

  5. Launch SketchUp on each machine or ask your users to open SketchUp Pro.
  6. In the Welcome to SketchUp dialog, click the License tab. The serial number and authorization code should be pre-populated in the fields with * symbols, saving the user from typing anything. SketchUp Pro will then automatically send the obscured license information to the Authorization server. Once the license information is validated, SketchUp will download a unique license file to the user's computer.