SAPIEN Frequently Asked Questions

Questions we get asked... a lot. Click a specific question to view the answer.

General Questions

Do you accept changes to your EULA/ Terms and Conditions?

As a small business, we politely ask that you understand that we are not legal experts, and we do not employ an in-house legal team that can review individual requests for changes. All our legal agreements have been drafted and reviewed by a qualified attorney/legal team, and we are unable to accommodate modifications of these agreements without further counsel.

We do not, under any circumstance, accept changes to our online store’s Terms and Conditions. We do, however, offer tailored (EULA) agreements under specific circumstances.

  • All requests for modifications require a payment of $2,000. This payment is for the legal fees associated with reviewing the proposed changes. Please keep in mind that this is a non-refundable fee, and the payment does not guarantee acceptance. If our legal fees for the review exceed this amount, you must also agree to cover any additional costs.
  • All proposed changes must be red lined against our current EULA and sent in English to: sales@sapien.com
  • All requests for modifications must be associated with a pending order or quote.
  • Proposed terms must be fair. We will not entertain any terms that sway heavily against our company’s best interests.
  • We cannot guarantee a timeframe for review completion. This will depend solely on our legal counsel’s availability.
  • Acceptance of modifications will only occur if we, along with our designated legal counsel, find them to be fair.

If you are unable to accept the above terms, please understand that no tailored (EULA) agreements will be accepted.

Modification requests must be made prior to purchasing. We will not review any changes for customers who have licenses with active maintenance. In addition, if you have previously agreed to our EULA by installing our software, subsequent modifications will be rejected.

 

How do I get support?

All account holders have access to our SAPIEN Support Ticketing System, though the level of access depends on your maintenance status and whether Premium Support has been purchased.

For information regarding the levels of support offered by our ticketing system, please see the FAQ What is the difference between 'Maintenance', 'General Support', 'Basic Support' and 'Premium Support'?

For general help or account-related help, open a new ticket and choose General Inquiry or Account/Licensing from the Support Topic menu. For product-specific questions, feedback, or feature requests — including our free tools or website — open a new ticket in the appropriate Support Topic instead.


 

How do I subscribe to SAPIEN's mailing lists?

You can go directly to our MailChimp Signup form by clicking here.

Or, log in to your SAPIEN Account and go to My Account -> Products. In the menu on the left, click "SAPIEN Mailing Lists".

Subscribe to SAPIEN Mailing Lists

Then click on the "join our mailing list" in the resulting screen and follow the instructions for sign up.

In either case, you will receive an email with a link to confirm your subscription. You will not be subscribed to any list until you click the confirmation link in the email.

How do I unsubscribe from or update my mailing list subscription?

You can change preferences or unsubscribe using the "update subscription preferences" or "unsubscribe from all lists" links at the bottom of any email you receive via your mailing list subscription.

Use this link Unsubscribe from all lists to unsubscribe now.

Unsubscribing from our mailing list will NOT prevent you from receiving subscription expiration reminders.

 

What is the difference between 'Maintenance', 'General Support', 'Basic Support' and 'Premium Support'?

Maintenance

Maintenance is included with all SAPIEN software licenses for one year and ensures your tools stay current and supported. It provides:

  • Free Updates & Upgrades: Access the latest features, enhancements, and bug fixes during the maintenance period.
  • License Management: Flexibility to transfer your license between devices or users.
  • Activation & Installation Help: Assistance with setup or moving your software.
  • Renewable Coverage: Maintenance can be renewed annually to continue receiving updates and support.

General Support

General Support is available to all SAPIEN account holders. It includes:

  • Access to our SAPIEN Support Ticketing System: Submit tickets and track issue status.
  • Service-Level Expectations: Handled by SAPIEN’s technical staff with no guaranteed response time. 

Basic Support

Basic Support is available to all users with an active maintenance plan. It includes:

  • Enhanced access to our SAPIEN Support Ticketing System: Submit tickets and track issue status.
  • Service-Level Expectations: Handled by SAPIEN’s technical staff within 40 business hours. 
  • Perks: Discounted Code Recovery service available for PrimalScript, PowerShell Studio, and DevOps Suite customers.

Premium Support

Premium Support is our elevated, paid support option available for PrimalScript, PowerShell Studio, and DevOps Suite customers. It offers:

  • Priority access to our SAPIEN Support Ticketing System: Submit tickets and track issue status.
  • Direct Access to Senior Staff: Escalate complex issues to experienced SAPIEN engineers.
  • Service-Level Expectations: Guaranteed response time of within 24 business hours and personalized attention.
  • Perks: Free Code Recovery service.

 

Note: The SAPIEN Support Ticketing System does not include script troubleshooting or consulting.

 

Software Products

What are the prerequisites for different engine types?

When building executables in PrimalScript or PowerShell Studio there are various engine types to choose from, each of them with a prerequisite that must be installed on the machine that will be running your program. For example, if you build an executable in PowerShell Studio and select the SAPIEN PowerShell V2 Host (Command Line) Win32 engine then the .NET Framework 2.0 is required on the target machine.

Here is a table that shows the prerequisites for each engine type:

Windows PowerShell

Engine Prerequisite
Microsoft Windows PowerShell (Command Line) Visual Studio 2015-2022 Runtime

 

SAPIEN PowerShell V5 Host (Command Line) .NET Framework 4.8
SAPIEN PowerShell V5 Host (Silent) .NET Framework 4.8
SAPIEN PowerShell V5 Host (Windows Application) .NET Framework 4.8
SAPIEN PowerShell V5 Host Dark Mode (Windows Application) .NET Framework 4.8
SAPIEN PowerShell V5 Host (Windows Forms) .NET Framework 4.8
SAPIEN PowerShell V5 Host (Windows Service) .NET Framework 4.8
SAPIEN PowerShell V5 Host (Windows Tray App) .NET Framework 4.8
SAPIEN PowerShell V5 Host (Windows) .NET Framework 4.8

 

PowerShell 7

Engine Prerequisite
PowerShell Core (Command Line) Visual Studio 2015-2022 Runtime

 

SAPIEN PowerShell 7.0.x Host (Command Line) .NET Core 3.1
SAPIEN PowerShell 7.0.x Host (Windows Application) .NET Core 3.1
SAPIEN PowerShell 7.0.x Host Dark Mode (Windows Application) .NET Core 3.1
SAPIEN PowerShell 7.0.x Host (Windows Forms) .NET Core 3.1
SAPIEN PowerShell 7.0.x Host (Windows Tray App) .NET Core 3.1

 

SAPIEN PowerShell 7.1.x Host (Command Line) .NET 5.0
SAPIEN PowerShell 7.1.x Host (Windows Application) .NET 5.0
SAPIEN PowerShell 7.1.x Host Dark Mode (Windows Application) .NET 5.0
SAPIEN PowerShell 7.1.x Host (Windows Forms) .NET 5.0
SAPIEN PowerShell 7.1.x Host (Windows Tray App) .NET 5.0

 

SAPIEN PowerShell 7.2.x Host (Command Line) .NET 6.0
SAPIEN PowerShell 7.2.x Host (Windows Application) .NET 6.0
SAPIEN PowerShell 7.2.x Host Dark Mode (Windows Application) .NET 6.0
SAPIEN PowerShell 7.2.x Host (Windows Forms) .NET 6.0
SAPIEN PowerShell 7.2.x Host (Windows Tray App) .NET 6.0

 

SAPIEN PowerShell 7.3.x Host (Command Line) .NET 7.0
SAPIEN PowerShell 7.3.x Host (Windows Application) .NET 7.0
SAPIEN PowerShell 7.3.x Host Dark Mode (Windows Application) .NET 7.0
SAPIEN PowerShell 7.3.x Host (Windows Forms) .NET 7.0
SAPIEN PowerShell 7.3.x Host (Windows Tray App) .NET 7.0

 

SAPIEN PowerShell 7.4.x Host (Command Line) .NET 8.0
SAPIEN PowerShell 7.4.x Host (Windows Application) .NET 8.0
SAPIEN PowerShell 7.4.x Host Dark Mode (Windows Application) .NET 8.0
SAPIEN PowerShell 7.4.x Host (Windows Forms) .NET 8.0
SAPIEN PowerShell 7.4.x Host (Windows Tray App) .NET 8.0

 

ActiveX and Miscellaneous

Engine Prerequisite
CMD Visual Studio 2015-2022 Runtime
CScript (Windows Script Host) Visual Studio 2015-2022 Runtime
MSHTA Visual Studio 2015-2022 Runtime
SAPIEN Script Host (Command Line) Visual Studio 2015-2022 Runtime
SAPIEN Script Host (Windows) Visual Studio 2015-2022 Runtime
WScript (Windows Script Host) Visual Studio 2015-2022 Runtime

Licenses, Subscriptions and License Keys

Are your licenses per user or per server?

As per our EULA, all of our licenses are single-user licenses.

Can I use my licensed copy on multiple computers?

You may have a maximum of two devices activated and operating at any given time.  If you need to switch to a third device, you must first properly deactivate the license on a device in order to activate it on the new machine. See the "How do I deactivate a license?" FAQ for instructions on how to do so.

For more detailed information on your license, please read our EULA.

For more detailed information on activation and deactivation, please read our Quick Guide to SAPIEN Software Activation.

We do offer multi-user licenses as well. For more information on multi-user licenses, please contact us at sales@sapien.com.

How do I register my subscription / license?

Login to your SAPIEN Account and go to My Account -> Registered Products. If you have not created an account on www.sapien.com, you will need to do so first. (Please note that the SAPIEN Account where products are registered and the SAPIEN Store Account where products are purchased are not associated with each other. You need to create an individual account for each.) On the left of the Registered Products Page, click the "Register a License" link.

Enter your License Number into the box provided, and click "Register". For multiple licenses, separate each with a comma.

If the product was successfully registered, the page will refresh, and the associated product will appear on the page with the download links, registered date, and expiration date.

How do I transfer a license?

First, you will need to properly decommission the current devices operating the license (see the How do I deactivate a license? FAQ).  Once you have accomplished this, log in to your SAPIEN Account and go to My Account -> Registered Products.  Find the subscription number that will be transferred, and click on the "Transfer License" button:

Carefully read over the terms of Transferring a Software License.  Once you have read the terms, click "I Agree" and enter a short comment as to why the license is being transferred.

Once this has been completed, you have the choice to remove the license or transfer the license automatically

If you remove the license, you will need to forward the license number on to the new holder. They will then need to complete the Registration (see the How do I register my subscription / license? FAQ) process to begin accessing the product.

If you choose to transfer the license automatically, you will need to enter the new user's SAPIEN account username. They will need to create an account first, if they do not already have one.

Is there any way I can get an offline license?

Login to your SAPIEN Account and go to My Account -> Registered Products. In the menu on the left of the page, you will find a link that says "Request Offline Activation".

Request offline activation

Fill out the requested information. SAPIEN Sales will review the submitted information and you may be granted the ability to generate an offline activation file. Please take note that generally this option is reserved for long time customers, larger corporations and government agencies with a proven license management infrastructure in place. If we determine that offline license files are used to install our software on more than the allowed two machines per license, your license may be revoked.

License, subscription, license key? What do they all mean?

When you purchase one of our products, you are purchasing a license allowing you to use the product. In order to activate/unlock the product, you will receive either a subscription number or a license key; these are BOTH considered 'license numbers'.

LICENSE NUMBER:
Beginning with the release of our 2014 versions, products are delivered with a license number. This license number comes with a free one year maintenance subscription with the license purchase. After that, you can extend your maintenance subscription each year or not. Even if you don't renew, your software will continue to work. A license number will always be a 16-digit number beginning with the number 9. To activate/unlock your product, you will enter this 16-digit number in the box marked 'License no.' in the activation screen that appears when you first launch the software. License numbers require an internet connection for activation. (If your machine does not have an internet connection, see the FAQ "Is there any way I can get an offline key?" above.) For more information on our maintenance subscription model, please read our blog Starting with the 2014 versions all SAPIEN software sold with Subscription.

LICENSE KEY:
Product versions prior to 2014 were delivered with a license key. A license key will always be a 47-character string, beginning with the version year followed by the product code. (For example, a license to PowerShell Studio 2012 would begin with 12-SPS.) To activate/unlock your product, you will enter this 47-character string in the box marked 'License no.' in the activation screen that appears when you first launch the software. License keys do not require an internet connection for activation.

Why doesn't the trial key I generated work?

Nine times out of ten, the answer to this question is "You don't need a trial key." Trial keys for our products are needed for virtual machines only. All other machines will run the trial with no key at all.  If you ARE on a virtual machine and your trial key doesn't work, please create a ticket under the product specific Help Topic in our SAPIEN Support Ticketing System.

Activations & Deactivations

How do I deactivate a license?

In every products' home screen resides a Gold Button resembling a certificate, in the upper right-hand corner. This is where all of your license information can be accessed.

Proceed to the home screen of the product you will be removing the license from. Click on the gold certificate button.

A familiar screen will appear (the same screen that appears for the initial activation); click "Deactivate License".

Please note that uninstalling the product DOES NOT remove the license from the device. Proper decommission of the license must be followed in order to free up activations. Also, removing the license from your Account Page does not remove any license data from your computer.

What if I need more than 2 activations?

In certain circumstances, our users may require more than two activations. For those users, we offer the Lab Pack. With this Lab Pack, you are able to install the software on up to 10 ADDITIONAL devices (12 total), for your personal use.  You may still only have two devices per license running at any given time, but it will offer more flexibility for those users who can't deactivate their devices right away due to frequent maintenance/rebuilds.  Also with this lab pack, activations are reset at a more rapid pace, so if you do happen to have to rebuild devices or you have a device crash (without being able to properly decommission your device beforehand), activations will reset more frequently (every 30 days, rather than the normal 180 days).

This Lab Pack operates in the same way as a Subscription; it will need to be renewed yearly, to continue receiving the additional 10 activations.  Take note that if you decide that you no longer wish to utilize the Lab Pack, there are no repercussions.  Just do not renew it when your year is up, and we will remove it from your account.  Also, if you choose not to renew your Subscription Maintenance, you still have the option of renewing your Lab Pack.  We will not take that away from you.  The first initial purchase of the Lab Pack will run through the remainder of your current Subscription life. For more information or to purchase a Lab Pack, please contact us at sales@sapien.com.

Why do I get a 'certificate authority is invalid or incorrect' error when I try to activate my software. How do I activate my software?

Some systems require a root certificate to be installed before accessing SSL protected scripts via the internet. If these systems do not have the proper root certificate installed, users will receive an error when trying to activate our software.

The certificate authority is invalid or incorrect

Our SSL certificate is issued Amazon's ACM. For information on installing a root certificate on your machine, please refer to this article, How to Prepare for AWS’s Move to Its Own Certificate Authority.

You may also need to add https://www.sapien.com to the trusted sites in Internet Explorer / Edge. (See https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001952.htm.)

Why do I get a 'The underlying connection was closed...' error when I try to activate my software. How do I activate my software?

This is usually indicative of a SSL/TLS trust issue. You will need to install a root certificate on your system.

Our SSL certificate is issued Amazon's ACM. For information on installing a root certificate on your machine, please refer to this article, How to Prepare for AWS’s Move to Its Own Certificate Authority.

You may also need to add https://www.sapien.com to the trusted sites in Internet Explorer. (See https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001952.htm.)

Why do I get a 'Your subscription information could not be verified' followed by 'This build is not covered by your subscription' after updating my software?

This series of messages occurs when you have inadvertently updated to a version of our software that is not covered by your expired subscription. When you have updated to a build you cannot activate, you will see this message:

 

If you attempt to unlock it after receiving the first message, you will be presented with the following:

 

You will need to uninstall the version you have on your machine and download and install the latest build covered by your subscription.  To gain access to the latest build to which you are entitled, navigate to your Account Products page (https://www.sapien.com/account/products.)

If you have a subscription number for a single product, you will see the download links for the software to the right of the version (or build) number.

 

If you have a subscription to the SAPIEN Software Suite, you will see the download links to the right of the version (or build) number.

 

Click on the download link appropriate for your system and reinstall the software.

Why do I get the message 'This subscription is not for this product' when I try to activate my software?

If you are trying to activate PowerShell Studio or PrimalSQL and keep getting this message:

This subscription is not for this product

Please check your username and password for forward-slashes /, asterisks *, open and close parentheses (), open and close square brackets [] or apostrophes ' at your account info page. These characters are not encoded correctly by the language used to create these products and thus break the activation process. While we are working on a fix for this, please remove any of the offending characters from your username and / or password.

If you are not using any of those characters ( /, *, (, ), `, ` or ' ) and still receive this error, please contact us at sales@sapien.com.

SAPIEN Store

How long does it take to receive an order?

All of our orders are fulfilled electronically.  If you purchase directly from our On-Line Store, a packing slip will be sent to you almost immediately.  If you do not receive the e-mail, please make sure to check your SPAM folder.  If you submit a purchase order, please allow up to 24 business hours for fulfillment.  Please take note that weekends are not included.  If a purchase order is submitted Friday, it may not get fulfilled until Monday.  We do try our best to prevent this from occurring, but it is a possibility.

Classes, Training and Special Groups

Do you offer any On-Site Training?

Yes, we do! You supply the classroom space and computers, and we will supply the trainer.

Please contact us at sales@sapien.com for detailed information regarding this opportunity.

Do you provide a discount for Microsoft MVPs?

No, we do not.