How to Disable and Uninstall Protexis Licensing Service (PSIService.exe)

If you have installed trial or paid licensed version of Corel software products, you probably may notice a third-party unannounced software application makes its way into your computer too. The program is PSIService.exe by Protexis, which installs a Protexis Licensing service or Protexis Licensing V2 service in Windows operating system.

PSIService is part of Protexis copy protection DRM (digital rights management) and license management software, which intends to protect a software or application from piracy and illegal copying. Thus PSI service is normally installed by another program, such as Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2, Corel Paint Shop Pro XI (X1), Corel Paint Shop Pro X, that uses its service to gather licensing information to send home much like spyware, ensure copy protection and authenticate user that uses genuine version of the program.

To make matter worse, the ProtexisLicensing service may make PC boots up slower, and when disabled, will cause Corel Paint Shop Pro to stop working, in addition to warn you of running illegal copy of non-genuine software. Besides, PSIService.exe does not uninstall together with the application that installed it, when the application is uninstalled and removed.

In any case, whether you want to get rid of Protexis while keeping the application that dependent on it still working properly and able to run (contrary to popular belief, Protexis Licensing service is not required for program to run), or now need to clean the Protexis PSIService spyware manually due to non-removal by original application that installs it, the procedures to complete uninstall and remove Protexis is easy. In fact, the instructions to uninstall PSIservice is provided on Protexis website.

If you are certain that no applications using PSIService are still installed on your system, and this service is still running, you can remove it manually by following these instructions:

1. Remove the following registry entry: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ProtexisLicensing]
2. Reboot your computer.
3. Delete the following files:

   %windir%\System32\PSIService.exe
   %windir%\System32\PSIKey.exe

Of course, in order to keep applications such as Corel Photo Shop Pro continue running without error, the complete removal instructions cannot be followed. Use the following workaround instead:

1. Open Services (services.msc) in Control Panel’s Administrators Tools.
2. Locate ProtexisLicensing or Protexis Licensing service. If you are seeing Protexis Licensing V2 service, use the next guide. Stop the service and then set the Startup Type to Disabled.
3. Bowse to %SystemDrive%\Windows\System32 folder.
4. Copy original PSIKey.dll to program folder of application that relies on Protexis, e.g. %SystemDrive%\Program Files\Corel\Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo XI\.
5. Rename PsiClient.dll to PsiClient.bak, or simply delete it.
6. Rename PSIKey.dll to PsiClient.dll
7. Rename PSIService.exe to PSIService.bak, or simply delete it.

If the Protexis DRM softare installed on your system is of version 2, follow these steps instead:

1. Open Services (services.msc) in Control Panel’s Administrators Tools.
2. Locate Protexis Licensing V2 service. Stop the service and then set the Startup Type to Disabled.
3. Bowse to %SystemDrive%\Program Files\Common Files\Protexis\License Service folder.
4. Copy original PSIKey_2.dll to program folder of application that relies on Protexis, e.g. %SystemDrive%\Program Files\Corel\Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2\.
5. Rename PsiClient.dll to PsiClient.bak, or simply delete it.
6. Rename PSIKey_2.dll to PsiClient.dll
7. Rename PSIService_2.exe to PSIService_2.bak, or simply delete it.

Now, Protexis Licensing Service is tamed and disabled properly so that PSIService no longer run in background, without affecting functionality of installed application.