Licence activation and working without internet

MediPOS Offline needs the internet only now and then. You activate the main PC once, either online in about a minute or, with no internet on the PC at all, with an activation code you get on your phone. After an online activation, the PC connects at least once every 30 days to renew its licence check. This guide is for pharmacy owners, including shops in areas where the internet comes and goes. It explains licence activation both ways, how long the PC keeps billing offline, the grace period after a free trial ends, the clock guard, and what to do when you replace a computer.

What you need before activating

• An online MediPOS account where you are the owner, on the Offline edition, with a plan or the free trial. The Offline licence is one payment, for life, with no yearly fee. You pay for it under Account → Plan & billing, by bank transfer, JazzCash or EasyPaisa with a payment proof.
• Internet for a minute, on the PC or on your phone. Either the main PC goes online briefly (a mobile hotspot from your phone is enough), or the PC stays offline and you use your phone to get an activation code.
• The owner's own sign-in. A manager's or cashier's account is refused with "Only the pharmacy owner can activate MediPOS on a PC."

Only the main PC is activated. Each counter PC still takes one of the PCs your plan allows: it is added when the owner first signs in on it, with internet on the main PC for that minute. See Adding counter PCs on the shop network.

How activation works

You activate the main PC yourself, in the MediPOS app, under Account → Licence. The app opens this screen by itself right after you create your pharmacy in the Set up your pharmacy window. The same screen is also on the PC's local web page.

The Licence screen

The status card shows where the licence stands:

On an activated PC, Check now renews the licence straight away when the PC is online, for example right after your payment or an upgrade to Standard is verified. On the main PC it also tells the MediPOS service to check in at once, and the screen reads the result again a few seconds later.

Beside it are the ways to activate: Enter your activation code (the usual way), Or sign in with your MediPOS account, and No internet on this PC. Each activation uses one of the PC activations your plan allows.

Activate with your activation code

Your pharmacy's activation code, such as MP-7K2M-9QXA-4TPB-C0RD, is in the email that told you your pharmacy was approved, and under Plan & billing at medipos.pk (with a Copy button).

1. Connect the main PC to the internet for a minute (a phone hotspot is enough).
2. Open Account → Licence.
3. Under Enter your activation code, type the code. Small letters and spaces are fine.
4. Give the PC a name in Name this PC, for example "Main counter".
5. Click Activate.

The status changes to Active. The PC now belongs to the MediPOS account the code is for: its plan, its payments and its cloud backups. No one signs in to that account on the PC. A mistyped code is refused with "That activation code is not right." A code of a MediPOS Cloud pharmacy is refused too, because Cloud works in the browser.

Or sign in with your MediPOS account

1. Connect the main PC to the internet. It needs a connection for about a minute; a phone hotspot is enough.
2. Open Account → Licence.
3. Under Or sign in with your MediPOS account, type your MediPOS account (email or mobile), which is the owner account you use on the MediPOS website, and its Password. A mistake shows "Email/mobile or password is wrong."
4. In Name this PC, type a name you will recognise later, for example "Main counter".
5. Click Activate with the account.

The PC receives a signed licence and keeps it. The status changes to Active, and the PC appears in your online account under Account → Plan & billing → Licensed PCs, with its MediPOS version and when it was last seen.

Activation does not touch your data. Until the PC is activated only this Licence screen opens, and an account the MediPOS team has not approved yet cannot activate it (the screen then shows a WhatsApp button to reach us). If every PC activation on your plan is taken, activation stops with a message such as "Your plan allows 2 installed PCs. Upgrade the plan to add more." Remove the old PC first (see below).

Shops with no internet at all

A shop with no internet line can activate MediPOS Offline without connecting the PC even once. The PC gives you a request code, and your phone, on mobile data, turns it into an activation code.

1. On the main PC, open Account → Licence and look under No internet on this PC. The PC shows its request code, for example 7K2M-9QXA-4TPB-C0RD-H: four groups of four characters and one last check character, which catches a typing mistake. Beside it is a QR code of the same request code. Copy copies the request code if you want to send it to your phone another way.
2. On your phone, scan the QR code, or open the MediPOS website and sign in with the owner account.
3. Go to Account → Plan & billing → Activate a PC without internet. If the Request code box is not already filled in, type the code exactly as the PC shows it. Give the PC a name in Name this PC and press Get activation code. A mistyped code is refused with "That request code is not right. Check each character against the PC's screen."
4. The website shows the activation code and the date it is valid until. Press Copy code, or Download as a file and bring the file to the PC on a USB drive.
5. On the PC, paste the code into Offline code from the website and press Activate without internet. Or press Open file… and choose the file from the USB drive.

The status changes to Active, and the PC is listed under Licensed PCs in Plan & billing, like a PC activated online.

An activation code made this way works until the end of your plan's grace period, and for one year at most. Works offline until on the status card shows that date. Before it comes, the PC needs to check in online once (a phone hotspot for a minute is enough), or you get a new activation code the same way. A fresh code for the same PC does not use another PC activation.

If the PC shows "This PC cannot be identified because the MediPOS service is not running" instead of a request code, restart the PC and open Account → Licence again.

The licence check-in

While the main PC is online, MediPOS checks in with the MediPOS server when the PC starts and every 6 hours after that. Each successful check-in renews the licence for another 30 days and brings any change: a payment, a new plan, or the PC being removed. The check-in sends this PC's licence, the code that identifies this PC, and its MediPOS version, nothing else; your bills, stock and customers stay on the PC. Billing never waits for it. If a check-in fails, the current licence simply stays valid. You can also press Check now on Account → Licence to check in at once.

If the licence is sent from a different computer than the one it was activated on, the server does not renew it and answers "This licence belongs to another PC. Activate MediPOS on this PC with the owner account." The section on replacing a computer, below, explains why and what to do.

How long MediPOS works without internet

The 30 days never run past the end of your free trial or paid period plus the grace period. A licence paid for life has no end date, so only the 30 days count. To check in straight away, connect the main PC to the internet and press Check now on Account → Licence, or restart the PC. A PC activated with an activation code from the website works offline until the date that code shows instead (at most a year). Whichever way the PC was activated, Works offline until on the status card shows the date that applies to it.

When the PC stops for this reason, the banner says which of two things it needs:

• "Connect to the internet so MediPOS can renew its licence check." Your plan is fine; the PC only has to check in. Connect it and press Check now.
• "Your MediPOS plan or free trial has ended, so MediPOS is read-only. Renew it under Plan & billing; if you already have, connect to the internet and press Check now." Connecting alone will not help until the plan is paid.

In restricted mode, the app shows "Your subscription is restricted. Billing and stock changes are paused until it is renewed — your data is safe."

The grace period after your plan ends

The Offline licence is paid once and lasts for life, so a paid licence never ends and never reaches a grace period. The grace period is for the end of the free trial, or of any paid period that has an end date.

When that end date comes, you get a grace period (7 days by default) with full use and a banner: "Your subscription has ended and you are in the grace period. Renew now to keep billing without interruption." After it, the PC goes into restricted mode.

A PC that has been offline for weeks stops at the end of the grace period, even if you paid online in the meantime, because it has not heard about the payment. After paying, connect the main PC and press Check now (or restart it, or wait up to 6 hours), so it picks up the payment. A PC with no internet at all can pick it up with a new activation code, made the same way as the first one.

The clock guard

MediPOS remembers the latest date and time it has seen on the PC, and that value only moves forward. If the Windows clock is set more than 24 hours behind it, MediPOS counts from the latest time it saw. Turning the date back therefore adds no trial days and no offline days.

A wrong clock still does harm, because bills, expiry checks and reports use the PC's date. If the date jumps back every time the PC starts, the small CMOS battery on the motherboard is usually dead and should be replaced. To fix the clock, open Settings → Time & language → Date & time, turn on Set time automatically, and choose the (UTC+05:00) Islamabad, Karachi time zone.

How to free a licensed PC when you replace a computer

1. From any phone or computer, sign in to your online MediPOS account (medipos.pk).
2. Open Account → Plan & billing.
3. Under Licensed PCs, find the old PC and click Remove.
4. Confirm the message "Remove Main counter? It stops working until activated again."

The removed PC finds out at its next check-in and stops billing, with "This PC was removed from the licence. Activate it again from the owner account." Removing a PC frees its activation for another one. Removing PCs needs the Manage settings permission, which the owner has. Support can also free an activation for you.

The licence belongs to one PC

MediPOS knows which computer it was activated on by that PC's own hardware fingerprint. The MediPOS Host service keeps the fingerprint outside the pharmacy database, in C:\ProgramData\MediPOS, so it never travels inside a backup. If your database is restored on a different computer, MediPOS there sees that PC's own fingerprint, not the old one, and the old licence does not work:

• a banner at the top of the app says "This licence belongs to another PC. Activate MediPOS on this PC.";
• billing and stock changes pause, as in restricted mode;
• all your data stays there and can be opened, printed and exported.

The owner then activates the new PC, online or with an activation code, and billing carries on with the restored data.

Moving to a new computer

1. If every PC activation on your plan is in use, first remove the old PC under Account → Plan & billing → Licensed PCs (steps above).
2. On the new PC, open Account → Licence and activate it, with Activate online or under No internet on this PC.
3. If your plan had a free activation and you activated the new PC first, remove the old PC afterwards, so it no longer holds an activation.

The licence is not tied to the RAM, processor or network card, so upgrading those needs no new activation. Moving your data to the new PC is covered in Restoring a backup or moving to a new PC.

Forgot the owner's password on the shop PC

The shop PC sends no email, and MediPOS keeps no master password or secret support code on it. The way back is your MediPOS account at medipos.pk, the one you activated the PC with. The PC needs no internet for this.

1. On the main PC's sign-in screen, click Forgot password?. The PC shows a request code, such as P3QX-7K2M-9QXA-H, and a QR code.
2. On your phone, sign in at medipos.pk and open Plan & billing → Forgot your password on a PC?. Enter the request code there, or scan the QR code with the phone.
3. Click Get recovery code. The website shows a code such as 4TPB-C0RD-8W2N, and emails you that it was made.
4. On the PC, type the Recovery code and your new password twice, then click Set new password. The sign-in form fills in your email: sign in with the new password.

Each recovery code works once, on that PC only, within 15 minutes of the request code. After five wrong codes the request ends; click Forgot password? again for a new one. Every reset is in the audit log.

• Only the pharmacy owner's medipos.pk account can get a recovery code, and only for the pharmacy's own activated PCs.
• Do it on the main PC itself, not on a counter PC.
• Forgot the medipos.pk password too? Reset that first with Forgot password? at medipos.pk: it emails you a link.
• Staff who forgot their password: the owner sets a new one under Team. See Team members, roles and permissions.
• On a branch PC that syncs with the cloud, the passwords come from medipos.pk: reset it there, and the PC takes the new one within a minute while it is online.
• A PC whose licence was last renewed before MediPOS 1.0.13 asks for the internet for a minute first (a phone hotspot is enough), to get ready for password recovery.

Common questions

What happens if I forget to connect for more than 30 days?

The main PC goes into restricted mode. Nothing is deleted. Connect it to the internet and restart it; once the check-in succeeds, billing works again.

I paid for my licence but the PC still says restricted. Why?

The main PC has not checked in since the payment was approved. Connect it to the internet and press Check now on Account → Licence, or restart it.

Does the licence check send my sales data online?

No. It sends only this PC's licence, the code that identifies the PC, and its MediPOS version, and gets a renewed licence back. Your bills, stock and customer records stay on the main PC.

Why does a restored backup ask for activation on the new PC?

Because the licence belongs to the PC it was activated on, not to the data. MediPOS recognises a PC by its own hardware fingerprint, which the MediPOS Host service keeps outside the database, so a backup does not carry it. When your backup is restored on another computer, MediPOS shows "This licence belongs to another PC. Activate MediPOS on this PC." and pauses billing and stock changes, while your data stays viewable. Activate the new PC under Account → Licence, online or with an activation code. If your plan has no free PC activation, remove the old PC under Account → Plan & billing first.

I forgot my password on the shop PC. Can MediPOS support reset it?

There is no support code or master password on the PC, so nobody else can sign in to your pharmacy. Click Forgot password? on the PC's sign-in screen and get the recovery code with your own medipos.pk account, as described in Forgot the owner's password on the shop PC. It works without internet on the PC.

Can I activate a PC that never goes online?

Yes. Use No internet on this PC on Account → Licence: the PC shows a request code, your phone gets the activation code from the MediPOS website, and you enter it on the PC. That code works until the end of your plan's grace period, and for one year at most. After that the PC needs to check in online once, or you get a new code the same way.

Related guides

• Installing MediPOS Offline
• Plans, invoices and paying for MediPOS
• Restoring a backup or moving to a new PC
• Adding counter PCs on the shop network