Activation

Activating a licence key

Four steps, and the fixes for what commonly goes wrong. If you are here because something already broke, skip to troubleshooting.

Bought on Steam? There is nothing to do. Your Steam account is the licence and Standard is already unlocked. This page is for licence keys, which is what you get buying direct from this site or on itch.io.

Get GameHydra Find my licence key Troubleshooting

1
Install GameHydra
Run the installer and let it start. Without a licence it runs as the free plan, so you can set up your drives before entering a key. It sits in the system tray and starts with Windows.
2
Open Settings
Open GameHydra and go to Settings. That is where your licence is shown and where the licence key goes.
3
Paste your key
Your key arrived by email right after purchase, and is listed in your account here. Case does not matter and the dashes are optional — paste it however you have it.
```
GH-4T8KM-9WQZR-2XBVC-H7NP3
```
4
Activate
Click Activate. GameHydra registers this PC against your licence and stores a signed activation token. Standard unlocks straight away: automatic sorting, unlimited included drives, and cold-storage compression.
Activation needs an internet connection. After that the licence is checked on this PC against the signed token, and GameHydra works fully offline.

Working offline

When you activate, GameHydra stores a signed token and verifies your licence against it locally, on this PC. It does not check back with the licence server on a schedule, so after activation it needs no connection at all and an outage on our side never interrupts you. It contacts the licence server again only when you activate a key or release a PC.

Troubleshooting

When it does not work

These cover almost every activation email we get.

"That key does not look right"

Why: The key failed its checksum before it reached our server — almost always a typo, or a character lost when copying out of an email client.
Fix: Copy the key from your account page rather than retyping it. There is no letter O, I, L or U in a GameHydra key: those are the digits 0 and 1, and the letter V.

"This licence is already in use"

Why: All three activation slots are taken. Reinstalling Windows or replacing a drive can leave a slot attached to a machine that effectively no longer exists.
Fix: Open your account, go to Licences, and release the machine you no longer use. The slot frees up immediately and you can activate again straight away — including for a PC you no longer physically have.

Activation times out

Why: Outbound HTTPS is blocked, or a proxy is intercepting the request and breaking certificate validation.
Fix: Allow GameHydra through your firewall and try again. It only needs to reach the licence server to activate a key or release a PC, not while you are using it.

Moving to a new PC

Why: Not a problem, just an ordering question.
Fix: Release the old machine first, from the app or from your account page. If the old PC is already gone, release it remotely from your account — nothing needs to be reinstalled to free the licence.

Standard features still greyed out after activating

Why: The licence panel shows the licence as active but automatic sorting has not started.
Fix: A game that is running, or that its launcher is still installing or updating, is left until it is done, and background sorting waits while Steam is downloading. Games from launchers other than Steam are picked up by the next organizing pass; press Organize now to sort them straight away.

Still stuck?

Support is handled by email — there is no ticket portal and you do not need an account to write in. Include your licence key and the version from Settings → About, and the first reply will be a fix rather than a question.

Contact support support@bytesizefactory.dev

Activate

Click Activate. GameHydra registers this PC against your licence and stores a signed activation token. Standard unlocks straight away: automatic sorting, unlimited included drives, and cold-storage compression.

Activation needs an internet connection. After that the licence is checked on this PC against the signed token, and GameHydra works fully offline.

Activating a licence key

Install GameHydra

Open Settings

Paste your key

Activate

When it does not work

"That key does not look right"

"This licence is already in use"

Activation times out

Moving to a new PC

Standard features still greyed out after activating

Still stuck?

Activating a licence key

Install GameHydra

Open Settings

Paste your key

Activate

When it does not work

"That key does not look right"

"This licence is already in use"

Activation times out

Moving to a new PC

Standard features still greyed out after activating

Still stuck?