Manage your license through the command line
To use Unity, you need an activated license. For Unity Plus and Unity Pro licenses, you need to get a serial number. For a Unity Personal license, you don’t need a serial number.
The primary license activation method for Unity Plus, Unity Pro, and Unity Personal is the Unity Hub. For information about activating a Unity Industry license, refer to the Unity Support article, How to activate or return a Unity Industry license.
The following information covers an alternate method to Unity Hub for activating and returning a license for Unity Plus or Unity Pro, by using the command line. You might consider this method in situations such as:
- You have internet access, but you use Unity in headless mode (without a GUI) for automated tasks, such as builds and tests.
- You have internet access, but you’re unable or unwilling to install the Unity Hub.
If you don’t know your Unity license information, speak to the Owner of your license. Owners can assign a seat to you via the Organization, or you can contact Unity Customer Service.
Activate a license from the command line
Before activating your Unity license by using the command line, make sure that the license file folder exists. Refer to “where is my Unity license file stored” in License troubleshooting. Also make sure that you have write permission to this folder.
Note: The command line procedure only works for Unity Plus and Unity Pro licenses, because Personal licenses don’t have serial numbers associated with them. Use the Unity Hub to activate Personal licenses. If you have another operating system, you can manage your license through the Hub.
macOS
Enter the following command into the Terminal to launch Unity and activate your license:
<unity-command-location> -quit -batchmode -serial SB-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX -username 'name@example.com' -password 'XXXXXXXXXXXXX'
Replace <unity-command-location> with the full path to your Unity Editor application, concatenated with /Contents/MacOS/Unity. For example, if you installed a 2022.2.0b4 Editor to the default location, <unity-command-location> is:
/Applications/Unity/Hub/Editor/2022.2.0b4/Unity.app/Contents/MacOS/Unity
macOS example
/Applications/Unity/Hub/Editor/2022.2.0b4/Unity.app/Contents/MacOS/Unity -quit -batchmode -serial SB-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX -username 'name@example.com' -password 'XXXXXXXXXXXXX'
Tip: If you use continuous integration (CI) tools like Jenkins to activate via the command line, add the -nographics flag to prevent a WindowServer error.
Windows
Enter the following command into the Command Prompt to launch Unity and activate your license:
"<editor-installation-location>" -batchmode -username name@example.com -password XXXXXXXXXXXXX -serial E3-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX -quit
Replace <editor-installation-location> with the full path to your Editor application. For example, if you installed a 2022.2.0b4 Editor to the default location, <editor-installation-location> is:
C:\Program Files\Unity\Hub\Editor\2022.2.0b4\Editor\Unity.exe
Windows example
"C:\Program Files\Unity\Hub\Editor\2022.2.0b4\Editor\Unity.exe" -batchmode -username name@example.com -password XXXXXXXXXXXXX -serial E3-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX -quit
Next steps and troubleshooting
Wait several seconds after running this command to give Unity enough time to communicate with the license server. If activation fails, you can open the Editor.log for information. For any activation errors, check Activation issues to find a solution for your issue.
Returning the license through the command line
macOS
Enter the following command into the Terminal to return the license:
<unity-command-location> -quit -batchmode -returnlicense -username 'name@example.com' -password 'XXXXXXXXXXXXX'
Replace <unity-command-location> with the full path to your Editor application, concatenated with /Contents/MacOS/Unity. For example, if you installed a 2022.2.0b4 Editor to the default location, <unity-command-location> is:
/Applications/Unity/Hub/Editor/2022.2.0b4/Unity.app/Contents/MacOS/Unity
macOS example
/Applications/Unity/Hub/Editor/2022.2.0b4/Unity.app/Contents/MacOS/Unity -quit -batchmode -returnlicense -username 'name@example.com' -password 'XXXXXXXXXXXXX'
Windows
Enter the following into the Command Prompt to return the license
"<editor-installation-location>" -quit -batchmode -returnlicense -username name@example.com -password XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Replace <editor-installation-location> with the full path to your Editor application. For example, if you installed a 2022.2.0b4 Editor to the default location, <editor-installation-location> is:
C:\Program Files\Unity\Hub\Editor\2022.2.0b4\Editor\Unity.exe
Windows example
"C:\Program Files\Unity\Hub\Editor\2022.2.0b4\Editor\Unity.exe" -quit -batchmode -returnlicense -username name@example.com -password XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Next steps and troubleshooting
Wait a few seconds after running this command to give Unity enough time to communicate with the license server. You can use the Hub to confirm that you returned your license by opening the Preferences menu (
) and selecting Licenses. If you experience issues, refer Troubleshooting.