15 days without being able to open Arcgis Pro

[adscabanillas]

I bought a $100 license, (Arcgis For Personal Use) and so far I can't use the ArcgisPro. I have sent several emails to technical support and they have not been able to solve the problem and it has been 15 days! The problem lies with my organization's account. In MyEsri I have the license activated; when I try to log in to ArcgisPro they ask me for an organizational account; a support member gave me remote assistance, he maneuvered my PC and was able to confirm that something was wrong and I'm on hold for days. This is so cumbersome.

[AndyAnderson]

Can you use a different e-mail address for the personal license?

— Andy

[KimGarbade]

When you ordered did they send you an order fulfillment confirmation email... something like that. I seem to remember you need to go to the link provided there and i think they give you step by step directions. I just did this a few months ago myself and I think I'm remembering right. You've probably done this already, but if not I would start there. The only other thing I can think is that maybe you have an old email/account that is confusing the system. 

[adscabanillas]

Hello, they sent me a link and I followed the procedure. The problem is when I have to create an organizational account; It sent me an error and the organization is the same as my name when I should have a second (organization) account. I know this because I bought and activated the account for my wife, the same type of license. She does not enter with her personal account but with her organization account.

[ChristopherCounsell]

When activating a personal use subscription you should get two emails and then do the following:

1. Create ONE Esri user account (free) to be connected to My Esri and ArcGIS Online
2. Use email 1 to activate your organization in My Esri
   • You will be prompted to create or use an existing esri user account (remember goal is to have just ONE - so do NOT create a second one at any point in this process, as it will confuse you)
   • Here you can download software, training, support, since/concurrent licences, renew $ etc
   • A user account connected to My Esri is still 'public' or free. This is great for larger organizations who want to have users (e.g. IT) without taking up $$ licences
3. Use email 2 to activate your organization in ArcGIS Online
   • You will be prompted to use an esri user account or create one; use the SAME esri user account as the above, or you will have two accounts and it'll confuse you
   • Your ArcGIS Online subscription will have a GIS Professional Advanced user type. This gives you access to ArcGIS Pro by signing in with the same user type
4. Download ArcGIS Pro through My Esri and sign in to licence it through your ArcGIS Online user account.

To troubleshoot::

• If you want to see if your ArcGIS Online account is activated:
  • https://my.esri.com/#/arcgis-online/usage
  • It will show activation date, members (1 = you activated it)
• If you want to see if your My Esri user account is public (not connected to ArcGIS Online) or organizational (connected) go to the below page and click on the username:
  • https://my.esri.com/#/permissions/users
• If you want to activate your ArcGIS Online subscription:
  • Check your emails for the one, and use the SAME esri user account (don't create another one)
• If your subscription is not activated and the above email is lost/broke
  • Ask support to resend you an activation link. They may need to manually create it and send via the case
• If you have created a second user account, so that you have one Esri user account for My Esri and a separate one for ArcGIS Online:
  • Use the forgot email/password to identify usernames associated with your email address
  • Invite the ArcGIS Online username into My Esri, make admin, and then remove
  • If you want to change ArcGIS Online username, tech support can  help with the admin swap

Remember the goal - one esri account, connected to both My Esri and ArcGIS Online, which you can then use to licence ArcGIS Pro.

It seems complicated, but it's a result of being given flexibility in licencing and options. For personal use accounts it's confusing as we are just one person. But for larger organizations with a variety of users it's actually rather good - e.g. IT can get access to licencing, support and downloads, without taking up a $ seat in ArcGIS Online. 

Would strongly recommend all the general resources for personal use subscriptions to help with activating your account. There's loads of licencing. I find them great value.

https://esriaustralia.com.au/arcgis-personal-use-support

https://esriaustraliatechblog.wordpress.com/2021/03/30/getting-started-with-arcgis-for-student-use/

https://doc.arcgis.com/en/arcgis-online/reference/faq.htm#anchor1

https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/2.8/get-started/named-user-licenses.htm

[adscabanillas]

Yes! When I was asked to create the organizational account I used my personal account. This led me to an error. It was confusing, because in the comments it said that if you already had an account to use it, and the real way was to create a new one. This generated an error which so far they have not been able to solve.

[ChristopherCounsell]

User accounts can be 'public' or 'organization'. The latter means connected to an ArcGIS Online organisation. This can be a personal use or other type of ArcGIS Online subscription.

A public or organisational user account (username) can be connected to no, one, or more organisations (accounts) in My Esri

An esri user account (username) can only be connected to up to one ArcGIS Online organisation.

A person can have one or more user accounts. For example, I have one for private use that I use to post on the forums. I used this user account to activate my ArcGIS for Personal Use organisation in My Esri and associated ArcGIS Online subscription.

I hope this and the earlier resources helps readers understand user accounts. 

If you are doing everything correctly but are hitting errors, or need assistance activating your account or performing admin swaps, I don't believe anyone on the Esri Community will be able to help. Your best avenue will be to continue to work with support. 

Please let us know if you have any specific questions.