Seems like every time a major Windows 10 update rolls around, it breaks my license in zbrush. I’m currently reinstalling right now (since the deactivation tool threw an error as well) - but does anyone have any tips to avoid this in the future? Blaming Microsoft on this one, not Pixologic, but this is seriously a pain.
There really isn’t a way to avoid it. The error happens when the Windows installation changes enough that it affects the digital thumbprint that ZBrush uses to recognize the computer. Basically, the machine isn’t matching the data in the activation itself, resulting in a corrupt license error.
It’s normally very, very simply to just reset the licensing system using the Pixologic Deactivation Manager, clearing out the old data so that you can reactivate. It’s very rare to have a situation where you end up having to reinstall ZBrush itself. In fact, you most likely didn’t have to do that, but without knowing the error that the deactivation manager gave you it’s impossible to say more.