Workaround To Remove Protexis Licensing Service From Your PC

Workaround To Remove Protexis Licensing Service From Your PC 

Whenever a user tries to install Corel software products, whether it is a trail version or a paid licensed version, a third-party software application known as PSIService.exe makes an unannounced entry to your system. This PSIService.exe program by Protexis automatically installs a service known as Protexis Licensing service (PLS) or Protexis Licensing Version 2 (V2) into Windows OS.

Protexis’s copy protection Digital Rights Management (DRM) and the license management software basically protect an application or software from being illegally copied or pirated and PSIService is a part of it. This is the reason why this service is generally installed by other applications like Coral PaintShop Pro Photo X2, Pro XI (X1) and Pro X.

These applications or software use this licensing service to authenticate user and ensure copy protection. However, this service, once installed slows down the booting process of the PC. Corel PaintShop Pro stops working and warns you about using an illegal or non-genuine copy if you try to disable this service. Also this PSIService does not get uninstalled even if you uninstall the software that installed it.

If you wish to remove Protexis service but still wish to keep the software dependent on it running properly or if you want to remove PSIService spyware manually as it was not removed automatically even when you uninstalled the software that had installed it, you may do so by using an easy procedure. The procedure to be followed to uninstall this PSIService is mentioned on the website of Protexis.

If you have ensured that the PSIService is still running on your PC even though none of the applications installed on your PC are dependent on it, you can easily get rid of it using the following procedure.

• Go to the Start Menu and click on Run. Type in regedit and press Enter to open the Registry Editor.
• Navigate to the registry entry mentioned below.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ProtexisLicensing]

• Once found, delete the registry entry and close the Registry Editor.
• Finally, restart your PC.
• Next, look for the below mentioned files and delete them.

            %windir%\System32\PSIKey.exe

            %windir%\System32\PSIService.exe

For applications like Corel PhotoShop Pro to run smoothly even without the PSIService, you cannot remove the service completely. Instead, you need to follow the below mentioned workaround.

• Click on Start button to open the Start Menu and go to the Control Panel. Open Administrators Tools and go to Services (i.e. services.msc).
• Look for ProtexisLicensing. It might also be titled as Protexis Licensing service. In case you see that the service installed on your PC is Protexis Licensing V2, you need to follow the next procedure instead of this one.
• Once found, you need to stop PLS and its Startup Type needs to be set as “Disabled”.
• Now, navigate to %SystemDrive%\Windows\System32 folder. You need to copy the original file PSIKey.dll and paste it within the program files into the folder of the software/application that is dependent on this service.

For instance, in case of Corel, you need to paste the file at %SystemDrive%\Program Files\Corel\Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo XI\.

• Then, you need to rename the file PsiClient.dll with a .bak extension (i.e. PsiClient.bak). You may as well delete the file.
• You need to also rename the file PSIKey.dll to make it PsiClient.dll. The file PSIService.exe also needs to be renamed to PSIService.bak. You may even delete the file PSIService.exe.

If the PLS installed on your PC is the V2 service, you need to follow the below mentioned steps.

• Go to Start Menu and open the Control Panel. Open Administrators Tools and go to Services (i.e. services.msc).
• Find Protexis Licensing V2 and stop it. Also its Startup Type needs to be set as “Disabled”.
• Navigate to the folder %SystemDrive%\Program Files\Common Files\Protexis\License Service.
• Copy the file PSIKey_2.dll and paste it within the program files into the folder of the software/application that is dependent on this service.
• You need to rename the file PsiClient.dll with a .bak extension (i.e. PsiClient.bak). Alternatively, you may delete it.
• Also rename the file PSIKey_2.dll to make it PsiClient.dll. The file PSIService_2.exe also needs to be renamed to PSIService_2.bak. You can also delete PSIService_2.exe.

PLS is now totally disabled and won’t run anymore. Moreover, the applications dependent on this service will also function properly.