Install and activate¶
Get Moonshine onto the show computer, start the trial, and turn it into a licensed machine with a key.
Download¶
Go to download.moonshine.software and download Moonshine for Windows.
What you get is a single executable file. There is no installer, no setup wizard and no install directory to choose — put the file wherever you keep production tools (a folder on the show computer, a USB stick, a shared drive) and run it from there.
Put it somewhere stable
Because the file is self-contained, it is tempting to run it from the Downloads folder. Move it somewhere deliberate first — you will be launching it at the start of every session, and on a show machine you want a path you can find in the dark.
Run it¶
Double-click the file. Moonshine opens in its own window and starts up.
The first thing you see is a start-up screen while the application connects to its own engine, followed by either the license screen (if this machine needs a key) or the sign-in screen. First launch walks through what each of those screens means and what to do on them.
Windows may warn you the first time
Current builds are not code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen can interrupt the first launch. Choose More info → Run anyway. A copy taken from a USB drive or a local network share usually skips the warning entirely.
The 7-day trial¶
The first time Moonshine runs on a machine, that machine starts a 7-day trial. Everything is available during the trial — nothing is watermarked, capped or held back.
While the trial is running, a strip across the top of the sign-in screen counts it down:
Moonshine trial — N days left · Get a key · ✕
- Get a key opens moonshine.software in your normal browser so you can buy a license.
- ✕ dismisses the strip. It comes back the next time you land on the sign-in screen.
The countdown appears over the sign-in screen only — it never covers the interface while you are working.
The trial is per machine, not per person
The trial belongs to the computer Moonshine is running on. Signing in as a different user does not restart it.
A trial can run out mid-show
Moonshine re-checks the countdown about once a minute while it is running, so a trial that expires during a session puts the activation screen up in front of everyone connected — not at the next launch. If the strip says 1 day left, sort the key out before load-in, not on the day.
Activate with a license key¶
When a machine needs a key — the trial has run out, or it has never been licensed — Moonshine shows the activation screen before anyone signs in. This is deliberate: a machine can be licensed by whoever is standing in front of it, without needing an account first.
- Read the heading. It tells you which case you are in:
- Activate Moonshine — the machine has never been licensed.
- Your trial has ended — with the line Your Moonshine trial is over. Enter a license key to keep going.
-
Type or paste your key into the License key field. The field's placeholder shows the shape: a
MOON-prefix followed by five groups of five characters, all separated by hyphens — six chunks in total, shown in capitals. Lower-case input is converted to capitals as you type, so a pasted key does not need cleaning up first.Keys never contain the letters I, L, O or U. If you are squinting at a key on a screen or a printed card, an ambiguous character is a
1, a0or aV, never one of those four. 3. Click Activate. The button reads Activating… while the key is checked. 4. On success the screen simply goes away and Moonshine continues to the sign-in screen. There is nothing to restart and no confirmation to dismiss.
Below the button, Need a key? Get one at moonshine.software opens the store in your normal browser.
What the messages mean¶
| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Connecting to server… (amber) and the button reads Offline | The application has not finished starting its engine, so the key cannot be checked yet | Wait a few seconds; the button becomes Activate on its own |
| That key is not valid. Check for typos and try again. | The key is the wrong shape, has a mistyped character, or belongs to a different product | Re-read the key character by character. Remember there are no I, L, O or U characters in it |
| The license could not be saved on this machine (disk locked or read-only). Try again. | The key was accepted, but the machine could not write it down | Check that the drive Moonshine is running from is writable, then activate again |
| Cannot reach server. Check that the backend is running and try again. | Activation was attempted while the connection was down | Wait for the amber notice to clear, then activate again |
| Lost connection to server during activation. Please try again. | The connection dropped mid-activation | Activate again |
| Activation failed. Please try again. | Something went wrong that Moonshine could not name | Activate again; if it repeats, check the show computer is healthy on the Monitor tab |
The license belongs to the show computer
Activation is decided and stored by the show computer, not by the browser window. That means you can type the key on whichever device is in front of you — including a phone that has joined over the network — and the show computer is what ends up licensed. The moment the key is accepted, the gate lifts on every connected device at once, without anybody reconnecting.
After activating¶
Nothing else changes. The machine is licensed, the countdown strip disappears, and the next time Moonshine starts it goes straight to sign-in.
Next: First launch — signing in and confirming you are connected.