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TroubleshootingPlugin activation errors

Plugin activation errors

This page covers failures during the license-activation step — when you paste your license key in WordPress and something goes wrong. If you got past activation and now have a different problem, this isn’t the right page; see the Troubleshooting section index.

Symptom: “Invalid license key”

You pasted the key and got an “invalid” error immediately.

  1. Open app.structurawp.com  → your avatar → Subscription (or License) and re-copy the key.
  2. Paste it back into Structura → Settings → License. Make sure there’s no trailing whitespace — the copy button in the portal strips it, but a manual copy might include a space.
  3. Try again.

If it still fails:

  • Confirm you’re signed in as the correct account. If you have multiple Structura accounts, you may have grabbed a different account’s key.
  • Confirm the plan is active — if your subscription lapsed, the key may be temporarily deactivated. Check Subscription.

Symptom: “All activations used”

You pasted the key successfully, but got told you’ve hit your plan’s activation limit.

  1. In the portal, open Site activations. Identify any sites you’re not using (by URL).
  2. Click Deactivate on one.
  3. Back on the new WordPress site, click Activate again. It should now succeed.

See License keys & site activations.

If you can’t deactivate any because you need them all active:

Symptom: “Could not connect to Structura”

The plugin can’t reach the Structura cloud to verify the license.

  1. Confirm your WordPress site can reach the internet generally — install another plugin that makes outbound calls (most do) and confirm it works.
  2. If your site is behind a corporate firewall, ensure api.structurawp.com is reachable from the server.
  3. If your host blocks outbound HTTPS, you’ll need to whitelist the domain. Common managed-WP hosts (Kinsta, WP Engine) don’t normally block outbound calls, but some corporate or sandboxed setups do.

Retry after clearing any related block.

Symptom: “License already activated from a different URL”

This site was previously activated, and now the URL looks different to our cloud.

This happens when:

  • You changed your site’s URL (moved from example.com to www.example.com, or swapped domains).
  • You cloned the site to a staging copy without deactivating on the original.
  • A hosting migration changed the site’s fingerprint.

Fix:

  1. In the portal, go to Site activations.
  2. Find the old URL and click Deactivate — that frees the seat.
  3. On the new site, click Activate again.

Symptom: plugin activates, but wp-admin shows an error on first load

If the license activated successfully but opening Structura → Dashboard shows a blank page or a PHP error:

  • Check your WordPress error log (wp-content/debug.log if WP_DEBUG_LOG is on). A missing dependency or a PHP version mismatch usually shows here.
  • Ensure the server is running PHP 7.4 or higher — Structura requires it.
  • Confirm the plugin files all uploaded cleanly. A partial upload (e.g., FTP timed out mid-transfer) can leave the plugin half-installed; delete and reinstall.

Symptom: “Plugin could not be activated because it triggered a fatal error”

WordPress surfaces this when the plugin errors during its activate hook. Most commonly:

  • PHP version too low. Upgrade to PHP 7.4+.
  • Conflict with another plugin. Deactivate other plugins temporarily to narrow it down.
  • Theme interfering. Switch to a default WordPress theme temporarily.

If you’ve confirmed environment basics, contact support with the WordPress error message (it often includes a file path and line number that’ll help us debug).

Symptom: activation worked, but License page says “inactive”

Rare, but possible if the plugin’s cached status is stale.

  1. Go to Structura → Settings → License.
  2. Click Refresh (or reactivate).
  3. Reload the page.

If it still shows inactive, deactivate and re-activate — not the license, the WordPress plugin itself (from the WordPress Plugins page).

If you’re stuck

Contact support with:

  • Site URL.
  • Plan name from the portal.
  • The exact error text you’re seeing.
  • WordPress version, PHP version (look at Tools → Site Health → Info).
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