Start11 v2 Business Edition Activated Without Purchase

I would like to inquire about an unusual situation regarding my Start11 license.

- I purchased Start11 (v1, personal license) on March 30, 2022.  

- According to your upgrade policy, only customers who purchased Start11 v1 after October 2023 are eligible for a free upgrade to v2. Therefore, I understand that I am not eligible for a free upgrade.  

- I have never purchased Start11 v2 separately, and I do not see any purchase history for v2 in my Stardock account, email, or Steam.  

- In April 2025, I freshly installed Start11 on my current PC using the installer from the official Stardock website and activated it with my personal license.  

- However, the program is showing as **Start11 v2.53 Business Edition** and reports that it is up to date.  

- This PC is company-issued and linked to a corporate Microsoft account, but I only applied my personal Start11 license key during installation.  

 

My questions are:  

1. Why is my installation recognized as “Business Edition” when I never purchased such a license?  

2. Is my original personal v1 license actually being used, and is the “Business Edition” display just a labeling issue?  

3. Could the linkage with my company Microsoft account have caused Stardock’s system to mistakenly tag my installation as Business Edition?  

 

I would greatly appreciate it if you could clarify this issue. Please let me know whether my license status is correct and if I need to take any action.

 

Thank you for your support.

 

Best regards

828 views 2 replies
Reply #1 Top

Hello,
From what I understand, you should/could not activate Start11v2 with Start11v1 key. Unless it is ObjectDesktop pack key and your subscription is currently active. Or, you have activated it under 30 days free trial.

Thank you,
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

Reply #2 Top

Sent you a DM asking for more info so that we can look into this.