How can I resolve the decryption error after activating the limited-time license key in n8n?

Below is a breakdown of the situation and some recommendations, based on n8n’s documentation and behavior:

Issue Analysis

• The error:

  Credentials could not be decrypted. The likely reason is that a different “encryptionKey” was used to encrypt the data.
  error:1C800064:Provider routines::bad decrypt
  

  indicates that the encrypted credentials in your database can’t be decrypted because the key provided at runtime doesn’t match what was used during encryption.

• Even though you mentioned that the N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY environment variable hasn’t been changed, this error often happens when two different keys or sources are in play. For example, if your instance automatically generated a key on first launch and you later set a custom key (or vice versa), the stored data might have been encrypted with one key while the instance now uses another.

• Applying the limited time offer Enterprise license key can change the behavior of your instance (for example, by unlocking enterprise features), but it does not inherently change the encryption key. However, if part of your deployment process or startup routine was inadvertently modified when switching plans, the environment might be picking up a different or a newly generated key.

Reverting to Community Edition

• n8n does not provide a dedicated “cancel license” button to revert from Enterprise to Community edition. You can, however, remove the Enterprise license key from your configuration. This means:

  • If you’ve set the Enterprise license key via an environment variable (e.g. N8N_LICENSE_ACTIVATION_KEY), you can unset or remove it.
  • If you applied it via the UI, you can remove or clear the license key from Settings > Usage and plan.

• Important: Removing the enterprise license key will revert your instance back to Community Edition features, but it won’t “fix” the credentials decryption problem if the underlying encryption key situation isn’t resolved. In other words, the decryption issue is most likely tied to the key used to encrypt the credentials, not directly to the license key.

Recommendations

1. Verify Your Encryption Key:
   Confirm that the N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY environment variable is set correctly and consistently on all deployments and workers (if running in queue mode). Your deployments should use the exact same key that was used when the credentials were first encrypted.
   Example setting:

   BASHCopied
   export N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY="your-unique-random-string"

2. Backup Your Credentials Data:
   Before making any changes, back up your database and the ~/.n8n folder. This ensures you can recover your credentials if changes are needed.

3. Remove the Enterprise License Key if Desired:

   • Via Environment Variables: Remove or unset the N8N_LICENSE_ACTIVATION_KEY variable.
   • Via UI: Navigate to Settings > Usage and plan and remove the activated license key.
     After removal, your instance will run without the Enterprise features, essentially reverting to the Community Edition setup.

4. Restart the Instance:
   Once you’ve verified or updated your encryption key and/or removed the license key, restart your n8n deployment. Monitor the logs to confirm whether the credentials load correctly.

5. Double-Check Configuration Documentation:
   Review the official documentation on setting a custom encryption key to ensure there are no deployment-specific instructions that were missed.

By ensuring you’re using the same encryption key that was used at the time of encryption and by removing the Enterprise license key if you want to revert to the Community Edition, you should be able to clear up the decryption error. However, if your credentials were already encrypted with a different key, you may need to consider restoring from a backup or reconfiguring those credentials with the correct key.

Let me know if you have further questions on configuring these aspects.