Category Archives: Licensing

Tech notes on standalone licensing

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On the train in to work, I spent a little time getting familiar with Standalone licensing. I found a couple of ways to get the there is no interactive license available to run Softimage error:

  • Corrupt or missing ProductInformation.pit
    In %TEMP%\SoftimageLicense.log, you’ll see an entry that mentions the Product Information Table File. For example:

    VendorError=24 [Unable to locate the Product Information Table File]
  • Softimage cannot start the FLEXnet Licensing Service.
    Softimage tries to start this service at startup, and if it cannot start the service (for example, if the service is deactivated), you’ll see this in %TEMP%\SoftimageLicense.log:

    VendorError=101 [The license cannot be accessed/loaded/opened]

    By default, the service is set to start Manual, but you can change that to Automatic and Softimage will still get a license.

Upgrading to Windows 7

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What happens to your Softimage license when you upgrade to Windows 7?

If you have a Standalone license, you can use the License Transfer Utility to transfer the license. Export the license, upgrade, and then import the license on the new machine/upgraded machine.

If you have a network license, the same license will work, as long as the Ethernet address of the computer does not changes. Network licenses are tied to the Ethernet address (aka MAC address or Physical address). If the Ethernet address changes (for example, if you get a brand new computer) then you need to contact the Business Center for a new license.

If you need to contact the Business Center, you can log a service request from the Subscription Center (don’t log a technical support request, log a business service request: there is a separate tab for that).

Moving from XP to Windows 7 means you will be dealing with User Account Control (UAC) for the first time. For some users, this means they have to Run as administrator to use the Softimage command prompt or the UserTools utility.

Also, when you install the Autodesk Network License Manager, most likely the folder C:\Program Files\Autodesk Network License Manager will be read-only, so you won’t be able to save your license file in that folder. In some cases, LMTOOLS won’t be able to write to its log file in that folder, which prevents the license server from starting.

If Softimage and the license server are installed on the same Windows 7 (or Vista) computer, then you have to do one of the following:

Also, if you cannot get a license, check that the ports 2080 and 27000-27009 are open in the Windows firewall.

Softimage and Windows 7

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Softimage and the FLEXnet license server seem to work fine on Windows 7. Here are the most common issues we see here in support:

  • The folder C:\Program Files\Autodesk Network License Manager is read-only. This prevents the license server from running, because it cannot write to the log file.

    Solution: Make the folder read-write.

  • Ports 2080 and 27000-27009 are blocked by the firewall

    Solution: Add exceptions for the ports.

  • Access denied errors when you try to save changes to setenv.bat

    Solution: When you open a Softimage command prompt or start UserTools, right-click the shortcut and click Run as Administrator.

Recent Webex cases…

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Last week I used Webex to resolve a number of licensing/startup cases. I find Webex a handly tool, because I don’t have to get my information second hand 😉 I can see it with my own eyes.

License Manager won’t start
This was on Windows 7. The folder C:\Program Files\Autodesk Network License Manager folder was read-only, so LMTOOLS could not write the log file. Unfortunately, the license server won’t start if the log is not writeable. The strange thing was that the customer had been able to save the .lic file in the folder, and LMTOOLS had written to the log file before. But now the folder was read-only, so somehow the permissions changed.

Ping general failure
Everything seemed set up properly, until I tried to ping the local machine and got “General Failure”. Not good. We could ping the outside world, but not the local machine. I tried resetting winsock and the TCP/IP stack, booting in Safe Mode, Safe Mode with Networking, to no avail.

Unable To Locate Component
At startup, XSI.exe reported “This application has failed to start because adlmint.dll was not found”. Sure enough, adlmint.dll was missing from Application\bin. This was a bit surprising, because all required files should be installed no matter what licensing method you choose during Setup. So I had to reinstall Softimage for the customer.

Combining license files

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This keeps coming up in the support queue, often in this form: “I have 12 licenses but I can only run Softimage on 3 machines at a time”. This happens because somebody tried to combine license files.

You cannot combine license files of the same product. For example, if you have one Softimage Advanced license for 9 seats, and another Advanced license for 3 seats, you cannot put them together in one .lic file. You’ll end up either with 9 or 3 licenses, depending on the order of the licenses in the .lic. The last license in the file supersedes the others.

You can combine licenses of different products. For example, Max 2010 and Softimage 2010. Or Softimage and Softimage Advanced.

Home Use licenses

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Home Use is a Subscription benefit that allows you to install a second copy of Softimage. For example, you could install Softimage at home, either for work or for personal education and training. A Home Use license is a standalone license.

To get a Home Use license, you can fill out a request form on the Subscription Center. Login, click Contract Administration, and then click Request Home Use.

Note To request a Home Use license, you must be the Contract Administrator for your account. If you are not the Contract Administrator, you won’t see the Request Home Use form.

If you have problems with the request form, log a Business Service Request and tell them you want to apply for a Home Use license of Softimage.

  1. Go to the Support Request page
  2. Click Subscription Help, and then click New.

FLEXnet Licensing error:-1,359. System Error: 2 “No such file or directory”

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This FLEXLM_DIAGNOSTIC error indicates that the @ symbol is missing. For example, you will see this error if setenv.bat has this:

set _ADSK_LicServers=mtl-licserver

instead of this;

set _ADSK_LicServers=@mtl-licserver

When there is no @ symbol, “mtl-licserver” is interpreted as a file path, not as the name of a computer. Softimage 7.5 used this syntax to specify that the file C:\Softimage\Softimage_7.5_x64\adlm\licenses\Autodesk.lic contained the location of the license server.

Here’s the actual FLEXLM_DIAGNOSTIC message. Notice how it lists “Filename” and “License path”, which indicate that Softimage is trying to find a file.

—————————
FLEXible License Manager
—————————
FLEXnet Licensing checkout error: Cannot find license file.
The license files (or license server system network addresses) attempted are
listed below. Use LM_LICENSE_FILE to use a different license file,
or contact your software provider for a license file.
Feature: 84000SFTIM_2010_0F
Filename: mtl-server
License path: mtl-server;
FLEXnet Licensing error:-1,359. System Error: 2 “No such file or directory”
For further information, refer to the FLEXnet Licensing documentation,
available at “www.acresso.com”.
—————————
OK
—————————

Firewall, ports, and licensing

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Autodesk licensing uses the ports 2080 and 27000-27009, so check that your firewall does not block these ports. Check the firewalls both on the workstations and on the license server.

If 2080 is blocked, you’ll see this error in the FLEXLM_DIAGNOSTICS output:

FLEXnet Licensing error:-15,570. System Error: 10035 “WinSock: Operation would block”

Changing the vendor port number from 2080

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A network license (.lic) file includes this line

VENDOR adskflex port=2080

which suggests [to me] that you can change the port number.

So I changed the port number in the .lic, saved the file, and restarted the license server.
But adskflex still used 2080:

8:33:58 (lmgrd) License file(s): C:\Program Files\Autodesk Network License Manager\SFTIMA2010.lic
8:33:58 (lmgrd) lmgrd tcp-port 27000
8:33:58 (lmgrd) Starting vendor daemons ... 
8:33:58 (lmgrd) Starting vendor daemon at port 2080
8:33:58 (lmgrd) Using vendor daemon port 2080 specified in license file

That last log entry “Using vendor daemon port 2080 specified in license file” makes it look like I didn’t save my changes, but I know I did. My license file says 2082, not 2080.

After a little research, I found this KB article, which explains that the port 2080 is officially registered to Autodesk through the IANA, and you should “reassign the port in the conflicting application, or unblock the port”.

If for some reason you must use a different port, delete the “port=2080” from your license file. The adskflex vendor daemon will automatically find an available TPC/IP port.