Error: "You have exceeded the number of licensed workstations" when starting AO Classic

This support note applies to:

AO Classic Tax (AU)
AO Classic Practice Management (AU)
AO Classic General Ledger (AU)
AO Classic (NZ)

Article ID: 30358

When opening MYOB Accountants Office (AO) Classic you may experience the error "You have exceeded the number of licensed workstations".

To successfully open MYOB AO, delete the LIC.DBF file located in your Data folder.

Ensure that you have a backup of your data before performing the procedure. For more details on backing up your data, refer to

Backing up my AO Classic data

Ensure that all users have logged out of Accountants Office before performing the procedure and that no-one logs in to Accountants Office while performing the procedure.

To delete the file

Close the error message if it's still present, and then open Windows Explorer or Computer. The Explorer window opens.
Navigate to and open your Data folder. For example, MYOBAO\Data. The contents of the folder appear.
Right-click the file named, LIC.DBF, and select Delete. The message "Are you sure you want to send 'LIC.DBF' to the Recycle Bin?" appears.

If file extensions aren't visible, this file will be named LIC. For more details regarding enabling file extensions refer to KB 36413: How do I show hidden files, folders and drives or enable file extensions?
Click Yes. The file is deleted and no longer appears in the folder.

You can now restart Accountants office without experiencing this error.

If you are still experiencing the error after performing the procedure,