NOTE: This article applies only to Surfer 15, Grapher 13, Strater 5.6 and older software versions

If you are trying to deactivate Grapher or Surfer from your computer and see that Deactivate License is grayed out in the License Information dialog and there's an error displaying ("Unable to read license information from registry"), chances are the licensing information has been deleted (intentionally or unintentionally) from the registry. To fix this and allow the license to be deactivated on the machine, follow the instructions below.

1. Open the lservrc file from C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Golden Software\Shared in a text editor program like Notepad.
2. Delete all entries for the software you're trying to deactivate:
   • Surfer A LONG NORMAL and Surfer-Maint A LONG NORMAL
   • Grapher A LONG NORMAL and Grapher-Maint A LONG NORMAL
   • Strater A LONG NORMAL and Strater-Maint A LONG NORMAL
3. Click File | Save to save the file.
4. In the Windows Start Menu type regedit into the search bar and press ENTER on your keyboard. This opens the Registry Editor. Be very careful editing this.
5. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER | SOFTWARE | Golden Software | <Product>. 
6. If there is a Licensing folder, delete it.
   
7. Close the Registry Editor.
8. Deactivate the license through your account on our website.
9. Activate the software on a new machine, under a new user account, or with a new license.

Updated March 2022