Paintshop pro X9 says I have Illegal copy

[Buddy123]

Pop up came up saying I have an Illegal copy of Paintshop pro x9 and it will be switched to viewer mode.... I have used Corel products for years and always purchased from them. what should i do

[Jean-Luc]

Pop up came up saying I have an Illegal copy of Paintshop pro x9 and it will be switched to viewer mode.... I have used Corel products for years and always purchased from them. what should i do

Access to your Corel's account and recover the key. If it doesn't work, contact Support.

[Buddy123]

I of course have a copy of my paperwork with Licence key... I also forgot to mention that this pop up said something like take advantage of our amnesty programme for $45 ... this sounds just like another way of making more money...

[Jean-Luc]

I of course have a copy of my paperwork with Licence key...

If your key doesn't work anymore, Corel will send you another (free). Contact them.

[JoeB]

Pop up came up saying I have an Illegal copy of Paintshop pro x9 and it will be switched to viewer mode.... I have used Corel products for years and always purchased from them. what should i do

You are not alone, and this issue has popped up at least a couple of times starting around the year 2013, and also affected some Corel Visual Studio users. The latest incarnation was earlier this year, and you can read the thread here:

viewtopic.php?f=56&t=63940&hilit=illegal#p358672

However, the good news is that despite the fact that the warning says the program will be deactivated or only work in view mode, in my case anyway I just close the stupid popup and the program works as it should, including saving files, etc.

I will also note that I eventually had the issue with X7 through 2018, starting with X7 and then, within a few weeks, it migrated to X8 and X9 but 2018 still worked without the popup. But then I also installed 2019. Within a short period of time I started getting the popup with 2018, but no popup with 2019 to date. And I suspect when I install 2020 when it comes out the popup will begin with my 2019. I - and others - suspect it's a glitch with the Protexis Licensing Service, and may be system specific somehow related to previous PSP installations and perhaps PSP file changes made by some users. I, for example, have removed and/or renamed various folders/files that help foster advertising popups, prompt to try new versions, or just do auto updates. This might make new version installations think that previous versions are corrupt, illegal, etc. because not all original files are in place or available.

So, in the meantime, if the various program versions still work as they should after closing the popup, it's likely an inconvenience some of us are stuck with. After reading through the thread from 2013 (a lengthy one but link below), I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for Corel to correct the issue with Protexis. They haven't done so in over 5 years, so why should they start now, eh?

Link to 2013 thread (NOTE: All posts are the same month in 2013 EXCEPT the last one, which was posted early in 2018 with the same issue!):

viewtopic.php?f=56&t=49862&hilit=illegal&start=45