NaturallySpeaking Activation Glitch (Windows 10)

Published December 14, 2015

How many times do I have to go through the NaturallySpeaking activation process? I don’t know what’s going on, but every time I open Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 13 (Amazon affiliate link), I’m forced to activate the software. The first time I got the activation notification was right after I upgraded to Windows 10. Ok, that makes sense. I upgraded the operating system, so Nuance asked me to reactivate the software. No problem. I activated it.

A couple of days later, I opened the program to begin dictation and got the same message. I pondered for a moment, “Didn’t I just do this a day or so ago?” At my age, I’m not always sure, so I activated it again.

NaturallySpeaking Activation without Internet Connection

A day or so later I had contractors doing some work on the house. They had to shut off the electricity to finish the project. No electricity means no Internet. No problem, I’ll do some writing/dictating while they finish their work.

I tuned on the laptop, opened Dragon NaturallySpeaking and was presented with the now annoying little activation window. I clicked the usual “activate” as it is pre-populated with my activation key and expected to see the green check telling me it was activated.

Imagine my surprise when it told me that it couldn’t connect with the Nuance server to activate my software. Instead of activating it I was forced to use 1 of my 5 trial offers.

Now, this has the potential of being a problem. Between the time of being presented with the screen telling me to use one of my 5 trial launches and the time I clicked the radio button to burn one of the trials, my brain fast-forwarded to a whole heap of trouble. A bunch of “what ifs” flooded my mind (no need for me to verbalize the what ifs because I’m sure your mind went right there with me).

The Reality of the NaturallySpeaking Activation Situation

I quickly dropped the what ifs and brought myself back to reality. A quote by Jack Welch came to mind, “Face reality as it is, not as it was or as you wish it to be.” The reality of the situation was, “I can dictate.” By not having Internet access I couldn’t investigate the activation issue, so I had to make the best of it so I dictated to my heart’s content.

Once the contractors were done and I had Internet access again, I scoured the web looking for a solution. I didn’t find one. I didn’t want to waste more time and add to my frustration by camping out on the Nuance website attempting to get someone to help me, so I let it go for now.

NaturallySpeaking Activation – A Livable Hiccup

A few days later I went to use my NaturallySpeaking software and was faced with the same window. I was surprised to see, however, that all 5 of my trial offers were available to me. So, whatever the problem is, it’s not as bad as I thought. It’s annoying, but not earth shattering (BTW, if you shut down the software and restart it a minute or two later, you still have to activate it).

As long as my trials are replenished for off line use and my activation goes through as it should when online, I guess this is just one of those technological hiccups I can live with. But…if anyone from Nuance happens to read this post, please feel free to provide a solution to the problem.

Last Modified: 10 February 2023