diff --git a/server/AyaNova/Controllers/LicenseController.cs b/server/AyaNova/Controllers/LicenseController.cs
index 8544a446..2a9627aa 100644
--- a/server/AyaNova/Controllers/LicenseController.cs
+++ b/server/AyaNova/Controllers/LicenseController.cs
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ namespace AyaNova.Api.Controllers
         [HttpPost]
         public async Task<IActionResult> FetchLicense()
         {
-          if (serverState.IsClosed)
+            if (serverState.IsClosed)
             {
                 //Exception for SuperUser account to handle licensing issues
                 if (UserIdFromContext.Id(HttpContext.Items) != 1)
@@ -116,7 +116,11 @@ namespace AyaNova.Api.Controllers
 
             try
             {
-                await AyaNova.Core.License.FetchKeyAsync(serverState, ct, log);
+                var ret = await AyaNova.Core.License.FetchKeyAsync(serverState, ct, log, false);
+                //Log
+                await EventLogProcessor.LogEventToDatabaseAsync(new Event(UserIdFromContext.Id(HttpContext.Items), 0, AyaType.License, AyaEvent.LicenseFetch), ct);
+
+                return Ok(ret);
             }
             catch (Exception ex)
             {
@@ -126,7 +130,6 @@ namespace AyaNova.Api.Controllers
                     rootex = rootex.InnerException;
                 }
 
-
                 if (rootex.Message.Contains("E1020"))
                 {
                     return BadRequest(new ApiErrorResponse(ApiErrorCode.INVALID_OPERATION, "LICENSE_KEY", rootex.Message));
@@ -137,11 +140,6 @@ namespace AyaNova.Api.Controllers
                 }
 
             }
-            var ret = AyaNova.Core.License.LicenseInfoAsJson;
-            //Log
-            await EventLogProcessor.LogEventToDatabaseAsync(new Event(UserIdFromContext.Id(HttpContext.Items), 0, AyaType.License, AyaEvent.LicenseFetch), ct);
-
-            return Ok(ApiOkResponse.Response(ret));
         }
 
 
@@ -210,7 +208,7 @@ namespace AyaNova.Api.Controllers
         [HttpPost("permanently-erase-all-data")]
         public async Task<IActionResult> RemoveAllData([FromBody] string acceptCode)
         {
-           if (serverState.IsClosed)
+            if (serverState.IsClosed)
             {
                 //Exception for SuperUser account to handle licensing issues
                 if (UserIdFromContext.Id(HttpContext.Items) != 1)
@@ -243,7 +241,7 @@ namespace AyaNova.Api.Controllers
 
         //------------------------------------------------------
 
-    
+
 
 
 
diff --git a/server/AyaNova/util/License.cs b/server/AyaNova/util/License.cs
index b99b2a03..a6f91507 100644
--- a/server/AyaNova/util/License.cs
+++ b/server/AyaNova/util/License.cs
@@ -479,29 +479,36 @@ namespace AyaNova.Core
         /// Fetch a key, validate it and install it in the db then initialize with it
         /// </summary>      
         /// <returns>Result string</returns>
-        internal static async Task FetchKeyAsync(AyaNova.Api.ControllerHelpers.ApiServerState apiServerState, AyContext ct, ILogger log)
+        internal static async Task<string> FetchKeyAsync(AyaNova.Api.ControllerHelpers.ApiServerState apiServerState, AyContext ct, ILogger log, bool calledFromInternalJob = true)
         {
             log.LogDebug($"Fetching license for DBID {LicenseDbId.ToString()}");
             string sUrl = $"{LICENSE_SERVER_URL}rvf/{LicenseDbId.ToString()}";
             try
             {
-                string RawTextKeyFromRockfish = await ServiceProviderProvider.HttpClientFactory.CreateClient().GetStringAsync(sUrl);
-                //FUTURE: if there is any kind of error response or REASON or LicenseFetchStatus then here is
-                //where to deal with it 
-                //todo: key should hang off json data object as text version of key
-                //that way we can put other objects on the data return object
-
-                AyaNovaLicenseKey ParsedKey = Parse(RawTextKeyFromRockfish, log);
-                if (ParsedKey != null)
+                // string ResponseText = await ServiceProviderProvider.HttpClientFactory.CreateClient().GetStringAsync(sUrl);
+                var client = ServiceProviderProvider.HttpClientFactory.CreateClient();
+                var res = await client.GetAsync(sUrl);
+                if (res.IsSuccessStatusCode)
                 {
-                    await InstallAsync(RawTextKeyFromRockfish, ParsedKey, apiServerState, ct, log);
+                    var responseText = await res.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
+                    AyaNovaLicenseKey ParsedKey = Parse(responseText, log);
+                    if (ParsedKey != null)
+                    {
+                        await InstallAsync(responseText, ParsedKey, apiServerState, ct, log);
+                        return "ok";
+                    }
+                    return $"E1020 - Error fetching license key: No key was returned";
                 }
+                else
+                    return $"E1020 - Error fetching license key: {res.ReasonPhrase}";
+
             }
             catch (Exception ex)
             {
+                if (calledFromInternalJob) throw ex;
                 var msg = "E1020 - Error fetching license key";
                 log.LogError(ex, msg);
-                throw new ApplicationException(msg, ex);
+                return msg;
             }
         }