Network and licence requirements for IT teams

Desktop Plan is signed by Essential Plugins LLC on both Windows and Mac.

Windows

The installer (Desktop Plan_<version>_x64-setup.exe), the installed program (desktop-plan.exe) and the portable file are each signed through Microsoft’s Artifact Signing service, with a Microsoft timestamp. Every version from 0.58 onwards is signed. 0.57 and earlier are not.

To check a file: right-click it, choose Properties › Digital Signatures, select Essential Plugins LLC and click Details. Windows should say This digital signature is OK. In PowerShell, Get-AuthenticodeSignature '<path to file>' should report Valid, with the signer above.

To allow it in AppLocker, WDAC or endpoint protection, make a publisher rule on Essential Plugins LLC. One rule covers the installer, the installed program and the portable file, and every future version. Don’t use a rule on the certificate’s thumbprint: Microsoft issues a new certificate every few days, so the thumbprint changes from release to release while the publisher name stays the same. A rule on the file’s hash breaks at every update.

SmartScreen. A newly released version can still show Windows protected your PC for a while, until Microsoft’s reputation service has seen enough downloads of it. More info shows Publisher: Essential Plugins LLC. If a file from version 0.58 or later says Unknown publisher, it isn’t one of ours or it has been altered, so don’t run it.

Mac

The Mac app (Desktop Plan.app) and the disk image it comes in (DesktopPlan-<version>-mac.dmg) are signed with Essential Plugins LLC’s Apple Developer ID certificate, with Apple’s hardened runtime turned on. Each build is then sent to Apple to be notarised: Apple checks it for malicious software and issues a ticket, and that ticket is attached ("stapled") to both the app and the disk image, so Gatekeeper can confirm it even with no internet connection. Every Mac version is signed and notarised, from 0.75, the first.

To check it: in Terminal, spctl -a -vv "/Applications/Desktop Plan.app" should say accepted and source=Notarized Developer ID, with the signer above as the origin. codesign -dv "/Applications/Desktop Plan.app" shows TeamIdentifier=C2CDU6684G.

To allow it in a Mac management or endpoint protection tool that allows apps by their signer, use the Team ID C2CDU6684G. It stays the same for every future version, while a rule on the file’s hash breaks at every update.

The first time it is opened, macOS asks Apple’s usual question: "Desktop Plan" is an app downloaded from the Internet. Are you sure you want to open it? Click Open. Any other message, such as cannot be opened or Apple could not verify, means the file isn’t ours or has been altered, so don’t open it.

Besides a one-time welcome page (below), Desktop Plan makes three kinds of connection of its own. Only the first is needed to activate. The third is made only by the free version.

So a blocked network sees a denied request from each running copy about once an hour, not once a day. Nothing connects inbound. Links in the program, such as Manage your computers and Renew updates, open in the user’s default browser, not in Desktop Plan.

The welcome page. The first time a copy is opened, Desktop Plan checks that https://www.desktopplan.com/welcome/ answers (one HTTPS HEAD request on port 443, sending nothing about the user or the computer), then opens that page in the default browser. If it gets no answer, it tries again at later launches for up to a week, then stops. Blocking it changes nothing else.

Link columns in plans. A plan can hold link cells. Clicking one opens a web address in the default browser, an email address in the mail program, and a file or folder (including one on a network share, such as \\server\share\Quote.pdf) in the program the system uses for it. Desktop Plan first checks the file is there, so a link to a share contacts that file server. It never opens a program, script, installer or shortcut, so a plan someone sends cannot start software.

What is sent. For the licence: the email address and licence key the user entered, a product code, the computer name and the user’s account name (so the user can tell their computers apart on our My activations page), and an activation code. That code is a one-way hash: what it is made from never leaves the computer. On Windows that is the machine GUID and the user’s SID; on a Mac, the Mac’s hardware UUID and the user’s account ID. Alongside the daily check, a second request asks whether the licence’s year of updates covers the installed version, and sends only the licence key and that version’s release date. For updates: only the request for the update file, with no user or machine details. For the offer check: only the date this copy of Desktop Plan was first opened, with no licence, user or machine details. No plan data is ever sent.

What is written locally. The licence record, in two places so that either can restore the other: the file %LOCALAPPDATA%\Gantt Excel\Gantt Desktop\licence.json and the registry value HKCU\Software\Gantt Excel\Gantt Desktop\Licence, beside UserInstance (the activation code). The folder names are historical and will stay. No machine-wide keys and no administrator rights are needed. On a Mac the record is kept in ~/Library/Application Support/Desktop Plan and in the user’s Keychain.

While the request is in progress the Activate button reads Activating…. If it gets no usable answer, the window then shows "Could not reach the licence server. Check your connection and try again – nothing has been used up."

Open https://licence.desktopplan.com in a browser on the same computer. The licence server answers "Desktop Plan licence server. If you can read this, this computer can reach it.":

• It doesn’t load. The network blocks the address. Allow it by name at the firewall or web filter.
• It loads, but activation still fails. The browser has a route that Desktop Plan doesn’t. This is almost always a proxy, or HTTPS inspection (see Letting activation through).
• It loads, and none of that applies. Look in your gateway’s logs for Desktop Plan’s request. A gateway that answers it with its own block or login page, rather than refusing the connection, gives the same message. If the request did leave your network, our server may have been busy or down: try again later, then contact support.

These messages come back from our server, or from the computer itself, so no network change is needed:

1. Allow a direct route. Let Desktop Plan reach licence.desktopplan.com and shop.desktopplan.com (older versions use the second) on port 443 without the proxy. Activation does not use the proxy set in Windows or in a Mac’s System Settings, a PAC script, automatic proxy detection, the WinHTTP setting or the HTTPS_PROXY variable, so on a network where web traffic must go through a proxy this is the only fix. Allow the address by name rather than by IP address.

2. Exclude it from HTTPS inspection. Activation checks the server’s certificate against a list of public certificate authorities built into Desktop Plan. It does not read the Windows certificate store or the Mac’s Keychain, so a certificate re-signed by your gateway’s own authority is refused, even though browsers on the same computer accept it.

3. Let it through without a proxy login. Desktop Plan does not sign in to a proxy, so the direct route must not ask for authentication.

4. Check web filtering and endpoint protection. Category filters may place the address under shopping or e-commerce, so allow it by name. If your endpoint protection limits which programs can reach the internet, allow Desktop Plan to reach this address. An installed copy is %LOCALAPPDATA%\Desktop Plan\desktop-plan.exe. The portable copy is a single file named with its version, such as Desktop Plan 0.61.exe, kept wherever the user puts it, so a rule on its path or name breaks at every update. Both are signed by Essential Plugins LLC: a publisher rule on that name covers both, and every future version (see Code signing). On a Mac it is /Applications/Desktop Plan.app, or Desktop Plan.app in the Applications folder in the user’s home folder. A rule on the Team ID C2CDU6684G covers it and every future version.

• No connection is needed to work. An activated copy opens, edits and saves plans with no network at all. Being unable to reach us never removes a licence.
• The daily check confirms the licence is still in good standing, for example that the order wasn’t refunded and the computer wasn’t removed from the licence on our My activations page. If it can’t connect, the user sees nothing, and it tries again at the next launch and every hour while the program is open.
• Each licence covers a year of updates. A version released after that year is over runs as the free version for that user, while every earlier version keeps working in full. If you deploy versions centrally, check that the users’ licences cover the version you roll out.

A licence is for one person, on up to 3 of their own computers. Each Windows user on each computer counts as one activation (on a Mac, each user account), identified on Windows by the machine GUID together with the user’s SID, and on a Mac by the hardware UUID together with the user’s account ID. The computer name is shown on our side but is not part of the identity, so renaming a computer does not use another activation. Two set-ups need care:

• Profiles that are wiped at sign-out. The licence record is kept in %LOCALAPPDATA% and in HKCU. If either is kept between sessions, the other is rebuilt from it. If neither is, the user must activate again after each sign-in. On the same computer that doesn’t use another activation, but it does need the connection each time. Keep AppData\Local or the user’s registry hive in the profile.
• Pooled desktops that get a new machine GUID each session. Every new GUID counts as a new computer, and a licence allows 3 (a team licence, 3 for each person). After that the user sees "This licence is already active on all 3 of its computers.", or on a team licence "You are already using this licence on all 3 of your computers." Assign the user a desktop that keeps its identity. If that is not possible, contact support before rolling Desktop Plan out.

Re-imaging a computer gives it a new machine GUID, which counts as a new computer in the same way. Have the user click Deactivate this machine in App settings (Help › Licence…) first, while it is still connected, so the old activation is handed back. A computer that is already gone can be removed on the My activations page (https://shop.desktopplan.com/my-activations/): enter the licence key, and a sign-in link goes to the email the licence was bought with.

Why does the site open in the browser when Desktop Plan cannot reach it?

Desktop Plan’s licence request doesn’t use the browser’s or the system’s network settings. It ignores every proxy setting, and checks the certificate against its own list of authorities, so a proxy or HTTPS inspection that the browser handles stops it. Endpoint protection can also allow the browser and block Desktop Plan. Letting activation through covers each case.

Does Desktop Plan need the connection every time it starts?

No. Only activation needs it. After that one check a day is enough, made in the background. If it cannot connect, the user carries on working with no message.

Do failed attempts use up activations?

No. An attempt that never reached our server isn’t counted. Activating again as the same Windows user on a computer that is already activated doesn’t use a second activation either.

Can you activate the licence from your side, or send an offline licence file?

Not at present. The licence is registered to the computer and the user’s account, so the activation has to be made from that computer while signed in as that user. If your network cannot allow licence.desktopplan.com, or the steps on this page don’t get it through, contact support with the message shown and whether https://licence.desktopplan.com opens in the computer’s browser.

Does Desktop Plan work at all without activation?

Yes. Without a licence it runs as the free version, which needs no connection. Activation only lifts the free version’s limits.