FATXplorer beta 28 is available now and the primary highlight is the new licensing system. From this version onwards, you can now enter your serial number/license key if you have one. A common question beta users have asked is “When/where can I enter my serial number?” The answer is: now! Just enter it when FATXplorer asks for it.🙂

The new licensing system is all-new and extremely lightweight. v2.5 used a heavy, third-party licensing system that is no longer supported. It has been replaced with a custom-developed solution. There is a lot of good news to share about it:

  • An internet connection is not required. This isn’t anything new, but we’re in a world where everything requires an internet connection, so it’s important to make this clear. The one exception to this is if you enter a now-deprecated FATXLIC serial number, FATXplorer will need to go online to convert it into the new license key format. You do not need to be online when entering a license key.
  • The trial period is the same (7 days).
  • Trials can now be automatically extended at the click of a button. This does require an internet connection to work, but it’s a big improvement over the previous system where you had to send a limit code to support and wait for an extension code. There are some limits on these automatic extensions to prevent abuse. If you do not have an internet connection on the device running FATXplorer and you need a trial extension, there is also an offline option where you can copy an ID, send to support from an online device, and then enter an extension code similar to how it works in v2.5.
  • The licensing window is no longer shown on startup. FATXplorer will only display it when a paid feature is being accessed, or you invoke it from the Help menu.

You should find the new licensing system more user friendly in every aspect. Please report any issues if you run into any!

Another question you may have is what features are now restricted to paid users only. In this update, only one feature is: device mounting. All formatting features, XL patches, etc remain free to use for all. If you want to use device mounting past the trial period, please support the project by purchasing a license!

There are only a few other small changes in beta 28. Many people complained about their Xbox 360 cache partitions being corrupt, so a new message was added to explain the situation and block mounting in these cases.

Also, work has almost concluded on combined XL HDD & USB patches. There unfortunately wasn’t enough time to include them in beta 28, but they should be in the next one!

Release Notes

Download Beta 28