Any time you are having difficulty opening the E-Studio application due to licensing issues (i.e., you are receiving the "violation of license agreement message"), the following guidelines can be considered during troubleshooting:

1)   Ensure your hardware key is attached at all times during each step.
2)   Download and install the latest version of E-Prime from the web support download links. You can access web support at http://www.pstnet.com/e-prime/support/. After you have logged in, click the Download button on the menu at the left and follow the appropriate links to download the latest version.
3)   Navigate to http://localhost:1947/_int_/devices.html and verify that the system has recognized your hardware key.
4)   Ensure the version of your hardware key within the License Manager is 3.21 or higher.
5)   If your hardware key is not found or differs in version, then download and install http://www.pstnet.com/downloads/misc/HaspUserSetup.exe or http://www.pstnet.com/downloads/misc/HaspFirmwareUpdate.exe both of which are also available in the Support folder of your E-Prime 2 CD. NOTE: Please only run the HaspFirmwareUpdate.exe ONLY if your version of key is not 3.21 or later. After these installs, if you cannot find the key, then contact web support via the link above. If you are using a network key, please see the section below.
6)   If you are receiving any messages or warnings, make a note of them and contact web support via the link above.
7)   Download and run http://www.pstnet.com/downloads/e-prime/2.0/temp/LicenseAdminDiag.exe with your hw key attached and return any .bin and .xml files that are placed on your desktop to web support via the link above.

If you are using a network key (red) and it is not appearing when you navigate to http://localhost:1947/_int_/devices.html on your local workstation, then try the following steps. In the steps below, the term “server” is used for the machine that the network hardware key is attached only for illustrative purposes. The network key can be attached to any machine on the network.
1)   On the server computer where the network key is attached, navigate to http://localhost:1947/_int_/devices.html and determine if the red hw key is visible and its version is 3.21.
2)   If your network hardware key is not found or differs in version, then download/install http://www.pstnet.com/downloads/misc/HaspUserSetup.exe or http://www.pstnet.com/downloads/misc/HaspFirmwareUpdate.exe both of which are also available in the Support folder of your E-Prime 2 CD. NOTE: Please only run the HaspFirmwareUpdate.exe ONLY if your version of key is not 3.21 or later. After these installs, if you cannot find the key, then contact web support.
3)   If the network key is found at http://localhost:1947/_int_/devices.html on the server machine, but not on the workstation you want to use E-Prime from, then navigate to http://localhost:1947/_int_/config.html on the workstation and ensure that the “Allow Access to Remote Clients”, “Broadcast Search for Remote Licenses” are both checked. Click submit if you made any changes.
4)   If the network hw key is still not seen, then ensure the “Aggressive Search for Remote Licenses” is checked or list the IP or DNS name of the server machine in the Specify Search Parameters box.
5)   Note that for any changes or physical removal or attach of the network key, there can be a 1-5 minute delay to update the information, so continued attempts may be necessary.

As for the specific error messages you are receiving:

1) "Violation of the license agreement" - this error message is handled using the steps in the sections above.

2) "The preview version of E-Prime 2.0 has expired" - this error means that you are currently using a version of the software that included a built-in expiration. The purpose of the expiration is to ensure that all users have the most up-to-date version of E-Prime 2.0. We have since released an Expiration Patch that will remove this message.

You can download and install the Expiration Patch from the web support site at http://www.pstnet.com/e-prime/support/. A patch is available for two different versions of E-Prime 2.0. Verify your version number in E-Studio by selecting "About E-Studio" from the Help menu. Then download the appropriate patch.

3) "Too many activations" - this error indicates that you are using your BETA activation credentials to activate the software. This BETA activation is limited to 10 machines. Since you have purchased a license for the software, you should use the serial number and hardware key shipped with your system. That is, after installing, you will be prompted to enter a serial number. Enter the serial number shipped to you instead of the BETA serial number provided in the prompt.

If you have already entered a serial number, you will need to uninstall and reinstall the software to remove your registration information. After reinstalling, you will be prompted again for your serial number. If you continue to have difficulty with this, please submit a request to web support and we will be happy to help you.

- Matt
PST Technical Consultant
http://pstnet.com