AutoCAD 2012 hanging at checking license.

[nelsonweeks]

Posted this elsewhere and it was suggested I move to this forum.

A user posted this:

"AutoCAD 2012 freezes on startup at the point it says checking license at the bottom left hand corner.

If I Control Alt Delete and close down AutoCAD and restart the application it comes up fast and right away.

It has been happening frequently on a few machines now. Any suggestions on a fix?"

and I added:

I am having the same issue except when I kill the application and restart it, I still can't obtain a license.  This is happening not only in AutoCAD 2012, but also AutoCAD 2011 which makes me think it is possibly an issue with the license server software.  I have submitted a case on this, but on the off chance someone in support is monitoring the forum and would like to help out.

We have done quite a bit of testing and so far think it may be related to an environment variable we had set to look for license servers (one of which no longer existed).  There wasn't an issue prior to installing the new NLM software and it only seemed to affect AutoCAD, not Revit. Still testing to see if getting rid of the variable has resolved the issue completely.

[nelsonweeks]

I appreciate your efforts.

[TravisNave]

I noticed you are getting a -18 error in one of your screen caps.  Please verify that your NLM is version 11.9 as well as your adskflex.exe version and that your license status is showing your available 2012 products.  You can also test connectivity from the client by opening Internet Explorer and typing http://servername:2080 from the address bar.  Servername being the hostname of your NLM server, of course.  If it is working, you should see garbage characters similar to:

Wê-60Wê-60Wê-60Wê-60Wê-60Wê-60Wê-60

If you get a page cannot be displayed or other DNS error, then you are not making a client connection to the NLM server.  Make sure you can ping the server and receive the correct IPv4 formatted address and that ports 2080 and 27000~27009 are open in your firewall. 

Please post any debug.log and status enquiry from your LMTOOLS that may be helpful.

[nelsonweeks]

Thanks for the suggestions.  Connectivity proved fine.  Confirmed the version of NLM is 11.9.  All the Autodesk 2012 products are able to get licenses...just AutoCAD 2012 that is very sluggish for some reason.  Hashim did open a case, and I am scheduled for a webex tomorrow. Should we find the issue, I will try and remember to post it.

[kmiller]

Did anything ever come from your findings with autodesk?  We have the same issue and are trying to trouble shoot it.

Thanks.

[nelsonweeks]

Below were three suggestions presented by David Lau with Autodesk Support.  The first worked for me.  When all the registry entries matched, AutoCAD opened quickly.  Hope it helps!

1.   confirm that the following entries if they exist have the same value.  i.e. @computername.

  *   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Flexlm License Manager \ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE

  *   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Session Manager\Environment\ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE 

  *   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Control\Session Manager\Environment\ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE 

  *   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment\ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE

  *   HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-2340522973-3312589127-2506886367-500\Software\FLEXlm License Manager\ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE
2.  Solution for setting environment variable:  (This will show up in CurrentControlSet!)

http://usa.autodesk.com/getdoc/id=TS1065268

3.  Confirm the following is set correctly:

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2011/06/general-licensing-what-license-file-or-license-se...

[jehayes54]

I have the same license check stall problem on launch of AutoCAD 2013 LT using Win8 64bit version. Here is one thing from Autodesk to try that sometimes works:

Whenever possible, it is strongly recommended that you try to repair your installation from the Windows Control Panel before you remove and reinstall your Autodesk software. To perform a repair installation

1. On the      Start menu (Windows), click Settings > Control Panel.
2. In Control      Panel, double-click Add or Remove Programs (Windows 2000/XP) or      Programs and Features (Windows Vista/Windows 7).
3. Select the      Autodesk product, and then click Change or Modify.
4. Follow the      prompts to repair/reinstall the software.

If a repair/reinstall from the Control Panel does not resolve the problem, you may need to completely remove the Autodesk software, and then reinstall it. Note: The above was found at:

 http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=10243968&linkID=9240617

In some subsequent stalls, the above windows software uninstall procedure did not offer the repair option. I learned if I launch the windows task manager while AutoCAD is in the stalled state a service called AutoCAD Licensing Service is shown. Sometimes the task manager lists the service as “Activation Licensing Service”. In this case when expanding the name (click arrow icon to open) it is further described as “FLEXnet Licensing Service 64”. Selecting this on the task manager and then clicking "end task" allows AutoCAD to proceed and load normally.

Hope this helps.