DRM works by issuing a licence to an authorised user when they request a video or audio service. This process is usually unnoticed by the subscriber and is done automatically. However if the receiving computer is not configured precisely that licence can fail to activate. If this happens several times the error message "number of licences exceeded" appears. This is because each username has a limited number of licences per day to prevent one username being used on several computers at once.

The licences automatically reset 24 hours after the last failed attempt.