string key = config["IronPdf:LicenseKey"]; IronPdf.License.LicenseKey = key;
Purchase a commercial license or request a new trial key (limited to one per email per year). Error 3: "This license does not support the Redaction feature" (or any specific feature) Cause: You purchased a Lite license but are trying to use Professional/Enterprise features.
Purchase additional developer seats. Or ensure only one developer's machine runs the code during build. Error 5: "Could not load IronPDF license from embedded resource" Cause: Some legacy code uses IronPdf.License.LoadLicenseFromFile or embedded .dll resources. ironpdf license key
Introduction If you are a .NET developer, chances are you have encountered IronPDF —the powerful HTML-to-PDF library that allows you to generate, edit, and sign PDF documents using C# and VB.NET. However, after finishing your trial or cloning a legacy project, one question inevitably appears: Where do I find my IronPDF license key, and how do I apply it correctly?
using Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration; using IronPdf; var config = new ConfigurationBuilder() .AddJsonFile("appsettings.json") .Build(); string key = config["IronPdf:LicenseKey"]; IronPdf
bool isValid = IronPdf.License.IsValidLicense(); Console.WriteLine($"License valid: {isValid}"); // Also check license type and expiry var licenseInfo = IronPdf.License.GetLicenseInfo(); Console.WriteLine($"Licensed to: {licenseInfo.Licensee}"); Console.WriteLine($"Expiration: {licenseInfo.ExpirationDate}");
// Now you can use IronPDF var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer(); var pdf = renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdf("<h1>Hello, PDF!</h1>"); pdf.SaveAs("output.pdf"); Instead of hardcoding keys, store them in configuration: Or ensure only one developer's machine runs the
Switch to the modern License.LicenseKey = "..." method. If you must use a license file, ensure the file path is correct. Part 7: Best Practices for Managing IronPDF License Keys Do Not Hardcode Keys in Source Control Never commit your license key to public repositories (GitHub, GitLab). Use secrets managers or environment variables . Rotate Keys Periodically If a developer leaves your team, you can invalidate their key from the Iron Software account portal and generate a new one. Separate Development and Production Keys You can generate multiple license keys under one account. Use a trial key for local development and your paid key for staging/production. This prevents accidental leakage of your production key. Automate Validation in CI/CD Pipelines In GitHub Actions or Azure DevOps, store your license key as a secret and inject it at runtime: