---
publishDate: 2026-07-03T09:34:00Z
lang: en
translationKey: teamviewer-commercial-use-detected
draft: false
title: 'TeamViewer Commercial Use Detected: How to Fix It'
excerpt: "Flagged for commercial use on TeamViewer? Here's the official appeal process, what actually counts as commercial use, and the self-hosted way to avoid it."
image: ~/assets/images/blog/teamviewer-commercial-use-detected-og.webp
category: Troubleshooting
tags:
  - TeamViewer
  - troubleshooting
  - licensing
author: RustDesk Team
faq:
  - question: 'How do I fix "commercial use detected" on TeamViewer?'
    answer: 'TeamViewer publishes an official reset/appeal process: go to teamviewer.com/reset, enter your name and the email on your account, briefly describe your actual usage, list every TeamViewer ID involved, then accept the privacy policy and submit. TeamViewer states a review-time target (about a week at the time of writing); confirm the current figure on its reset page.'
  - question: 'What counts as commercial use in TeamViewer?'
    answer: "Per TeamViewer's own definitions, commercial use includes providing support to clients or customers, working from home (even just checking work email), any inbound or outbound connection in a commercial setting, server administration or monitoring, and salaried work at a non-profit. Personal use means helping family and friends or connecting to your own non-server devices."
  - question: 'Will the reset request work if my use is genuinely commercial?'
    answer: 'No. A reset clears the flag only when it was raised in error; if your actual usage is commercial, TeamViewer will correctly identify it, and the lasting fix is software whose license covers that work.'
  - question: 'Does RustDesk have a commercial-use detector?'
    answer: "No. RustDesk's community server can be self-hosted without a commercial-use classifier, while Server Pro is licensed by login users and managed devices, with unlimited concurrent connections on standard plans and a defined allowance on Customized V2."
  - question: 'Can I avoid the flag with ID-reset scripts or by deleting config files?'
    answer: 'No. Do not use unofficial ID-reset scripts or delete configuration files to evade the classification; they do not change the license terms and can create additional security or support problems.'

metadata:
  description: "Flagged for 'commercial use detected' on TeamViewer? Here's the official reset process, what counts as commercial use, and how self-hosted RustDesk avoids it."
  keywords: 'TeamViewer commercial use detected, TeamViewer reset commercial use, TeamViewer commercial use appeal, TeamViewer personal use flagged'
---

You sat down to help a client, a colleague, or your own second machine, and TeamViewer greeted you with a banner: [**commercial use detected**](https://www.teamviewer.com/en-us/global/support/knowledge-base/teamviewer-classic/licensing/personal-use/commercial-use-suspected/). Then the sessions started dropping after a few seconds, or the connection was blocked outright until you either stopped using it or bought a license. If that's why you're here, you're not imagining it, and you're not alone.

This guide first walks through **how to actually get the flag reviewed and lifted** on your existing TeamViewer account, then explains why it keeps happening and how teams who are done with the cycle move to a self-hosted setup with no commercial-use detection built in at all.

## How to fix "commercial use detected" on your TeamViewer account

TeamViewer publishes an official [reset/appeal process](https://www.teamviewer.com/en-us/global/support/knowledge-base/teamviewer-classic/licensing/personal-use/commercial-use-suspected/) for exactly this situation. Here's what it involves:

1. **Go to [teamviewer.com/reset](https://teamviewer.com/reset)** and click the start button.
2. **Enter your name and the email address on your TeamViewer account.**
3. **Briefly describe your actual usage pattern** — e.g. "I only use this to help my elderly parent with their PC." Write it in your own words and keep it truthful.
4. **List every TeamViewer ID involved**, both the device you connect _from_ and any you connect _to_ (the form accepts a limited number of IDs per submission).
5. **Accept the privacy policy and submit.**

TeamViewer states a review-time target of roughly a week at the time of writing, though it can take longer during high-volume periods — check your spam folder if you don't hear back. From there, the review ends one of two ways: TeamViewer resets your ID because personal use is confirmed, or it declines the reset and offers you a "declaration of private use" to sign instead. If your actual usage is commercial, neither outcome changes that — a reset request can only clear a flag that was raised in error.

### What actually counts as "commercial use" here

Per TeamViewer's own definitions, **personal use** means helping family and friends, or connecting to your own non-server devices outside a commercial environment. **Commercial use** — the kind that won't be reset regardless of how the appeal goes — includes:

- Providing support to clients or customers
- Working from home, including simply checking work email
- Any inbound or outbound connection happening in a commercial setting
- Server administration or monitoring
- Salaried work at a non-profit organization

If you're doing any of that, the appeal process will correctly identify you as commercial, and the lasting solution is software whose license actually covers your work — which is where the rest of this guide picks up.

## Why TeamViewer flags "commercial use" in the first place

TeamViewer's free tier is licensed for personal use only, and the product can classify use as commercial. A classification can be wrong, which is why TeamViewer provides the reset process above. TeamViewer does not publish a formula that users can rely on, so do not treat connection counts, session length, or device totals from third-party posts as official thresholds.

For anyone doing commercial support work, this is not a bug to work around; it is the product enforcing its licensing terms. Compare current paid plans or alternatives rather than relying on private renewal anecdotes.

So if the appeal doesn't apply to you — because your use genuinely is commercial — the real question becomes: pay up, or move to something without a commercial-use tripwire at all?

## If the flag is correct, compare licensed options

When the usage is genuinely commercial, there is no legitimate reset workaround. Compare three paths:

| Path                        | Best fit                                                        | Trade-off                                                                |
| --------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Buy TeamViewer              | You want to preserve the current workflow and managed service   | Ongoing vendor plan, terms, and feature packaging                        |
| Choose another managed SaaS | You want no server operations but a different commercial offer  | Sessions and administration remain vendor-operated                       |
| Pilot a self-hosted tool    | You want to operate the ID, relay, console, and deployment data | Your team owns hosting, patching, certificates, monitoring, and recovery |

RustDesk belongs in the third row: you self-host the community server with no commercial-use classifier watching sessions — [why self-hosting removes that tripwire](/blog/why-self-host-remote-desktop-software) — while Server Pro is licensed by login users and managed devices, with a defined allowance on [Customized V2](https://rustdesk.com/pricing#custom2).

## A safe migration path

Do not uninstall TeamViewer as the first step. Stand up a test RustDesk server, validate the workflows behind your commercial usage, then compare the operating cost with the current TeamViewer quote. The [self-hosted TeamViewer alternative guide](/blog/self-hosted-teamviewer-alternative) covers the full migration and feature comparison. If the reset is approved, your free personal-use access continues; if any of your use is commercial, licensing is the durable fix — either TeamViewer's paid tier or a tool licensed for how you work.

## What to do next

- Submit the official reset request if the classification is genuinely wrong.
- If the use is commercial, compare current written quotes and license terms.
- If self-hosting is a requirement, test the free community server before evaluating Server Pro features and plans at [rustdesk.com/pricing](https://rustdesk.com/pricing).

And skip the ID-reset scripts and config-file deletions that circulate on forums: they leave TeamViewer's license terms exactly where they were and tend to create security or support problems of their own.
