How to Restore Licenses on Your PS5

If your PS5 games have a padlock icon next to them, or you are having trouble accessing your downloadable content, you may need to restore the licenses on your console. While the process is easy, it can also be intimidating if you don't fully understand what's involved. If you need to restore licenses on your PS5 console, here's how.

What Does Restoring Licenses on My PS5 Do?

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Restoring licenses on your PS5 is a process designed to help resolve any issues you may be experiencing with accessing games or content you’ve purchased.

Occasionally, the information in your game library is different from the information stored on the game servers. Restoring licenses syncs this information so that you can regain access to your games.

There are a variety of reasons why these discrepancies occur. These include PlayStation Network issues, license verification errors, issues with game sharing between consoles, or even account detail changes. This issue can arise when you change your PSN name, for example.

Restoring licenses on your PS5 does not disrupt or affect your data in any way. It is a safe and simple process that you can run whenever you are having trouble accessing your games and content.

When Should I Restore Licenses on My PS5?

You should restore the licenses on your PS5 whenever you see a padlock icon next to your game title, when you are having trouble launching or playing games, or if you see error messages informing you that you don’t own the content even though you’ve purchased it.

You should also consider restoring your PS5 licenses to troubleshoot DLC issues, such as if you can't find your downloaded content. Restoring licenses can also be beneficial after switching to a new PlayStation console to ensure your information is all up to date.

How to Restore Licenses on a PS5

If you’re having trouble accessing some of your games and would like to restore your licenses, you can do so in just a couple of minutes with minimal stress.

First, head to your console’s settings by selecting the gear icon in the top right corner and selecting Users and Accounts.

Head to Other and select Restore Licenses. Then choose Restore to begin the process.

It should only take a few minutes before the process is complete, and you can press Okay to continue gaming as normal.

What to Do if Restoring Licenses on a PS5 Doesn't Work

Occasionally, the license restoration process might not work due to issues or outages with the PlayStation Network. If that’s the case, wait a little while until the network is back up and running before trying the process again.

If you have successfully restored your licenses, but are still having trouble accessing your games, you may have to try other troubleshooting methods.

If you’re attempting to access your games on a secondary console, it might not be able to recognize that you have access to the game you’re trying to play. In that case, enabling Game Sharing on your PS5 could help solve your problems.

To do so, follow the same process as before to reach the Restore Licenses section, but select Console Sharing and Offline Play instead. Choose Enable to activate Game Sharing. That should allow your secondary console to sync with the information on your primary console and restore your access to the content you’re trying to play.

Restoring the licenses on your PS5 may seem intimidating, but it is completely safe and won’t affect any of your console’s data negatively.

The process is simply designed to sync your console’s data with the data stored on the PlayStation Network, so you can regain access and keep playing the games that you are entitled to.