Invalid License for Civil 3D 2010

[waner21]

Hello all,

Before I describe my problem I'm having with reading the license on our work's server, I think it would be helpful to give some additional information about my work's setup for Autodesk products.

My work has three (3) network licenses for Civil 3D 2010.  Only two of us use Civil 3D at work, and the third is a just-in-case license.  I created a deployment for Civil 3D 2010 (32 bit) on the server and have successfully installed Civil 3D 2010 on the applicable workstations from said deployment.  I can communicate with the server to receive a license with no problem whatsoever.

Now I want to check-out a license from the server in order to use Civil 3D 2010 on a laptop.  In order for me to do this, I need to install Civil 3D 2010 onto a laptop computer, but the laptop needs a 64 bit deployment installation on the server (the 32 bit deployment of Civil 3D 2010 will not install with this laptop).  So I created another deployment on our work's server for the 64 bit version.  I can successfully install the 64 bit version of Civil 3D 2010 onto the laptop, and when I load the 64 bit Civil 3D 2010 software and Civil 3D asks where the licenses are, it finds where the licenses are, but then it says the licenses are not valid.  Yet I am using the licenses on two workstations in the office with no problems for the 32 bit Civil 3D software.

I was under the impression the licenses I received from Autodesk for Civil 3D 20110 will work with both 32 bit and 64 bit versions.  Does anyone have any ideas on what I can do?

[aaronhai]

Please add the license server name in the Environment Variable (under Control Panel - Systems) and see if that works for you. Refer to attached document.

By the way, what is the error code displayed?

[waner21]

Thank-you for the reply.  I have now gotten around to trying our your suggested solution per the instructions attached to your reply and I received the same error as before.  The error message that pops up immediately after I direct the Civil 2010 software to the server reads:

A valid license could not be obtained by the network license manager.

If you are still unable to access a license, contact your system administrator.

Error [-96.491.0]

Is there another possible solution to my debacle?

[TravisNave]

-96 License server machine is down or not responding.
See the system administrator about starting the server, or make sure that you're referring to the right host.

Essentially, there is a problem with your laptop communicating with the NLM.  Disable your firewall or add ports 2080 and 27000 thru 27009 to the exceptions.  Make sure you can ping the server by hostname and that it responds with a valid IPv4 address instead of a IPv6 address. 

[waner21]

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@TravisNave wrote:

-96 License server machine is down or not responding.
See the system administrator about starting the server, or make sure that you're referring to the right host.

Essentially, there is a problem with your laptop communicating with the NLM.  Disable your firewall or add ports 2080 and 27000 thru 27009 to the exceptions.  Make sure you can ping the server by hostname and that it responds with a valid IPv4 address instead of a IPv6 address. 

---

I assume the server machine is working properly due to the two workstations in the office using Civil 3D with no problems (note: the workstation computers are running 32 bit, while the laptop computer is running 64 bit) using the licenses on our office's server.

I disabled the firewall completely prior to installing Civil 3D on the laptop (the problematic machine I'm working with at the moment) in hopes that I would minimize the amount of errors or trouble I might receive.  I did try pinging the server name from the laptop computer and it said it sent 4 packets and received 4 packets.  I assume it is communicating fine, but in regards to one comment you mentioned in your reply, you said to make sure that it responds with a valid IPv4 address instead of a IPv6 address.  How would I distinguish the difference between the two?

Note:  I'm not real computer savy and might have questions that seem silly to some readers.  Sorry.

[TravisNave]

Based on the fact that you other machines work, I would also assume that your NLM server is running fine.

As for your client pinging the server, the IPv4 address will look like the normal IP address that you are used to.  It will have four sets of octets.  For example 192.168.0.100

Whereas an IPv6 address is a 128-bit ridiculous number like:  3ffe:1900:4545:3:200:f8ff:fe21:67cf

What did your PING command reply with?  IPv4 or IPv6? 

[waner21]

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@TravisNave wrote:

What did your PING command reply with?  IPv4 or IPv6? 

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I received a IPv6.

[TravisNave · Accepted solution]

Okay, that's the problem.

What you need to do is make a modification to your HOSTS file so that the hostname of the NLM returns an IPv4 address.

The file is located at C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc.  Open HOSTS with notepad.  You need to make the following entry:

IP-address  Hostname

Save the file (it might be read-only so turn that off) and try the ping again.  You might have to verify the IPv4 address from the server or by pinging it from your other working machines, especially those running Windows XP. 

[waner21]

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@TravisNave wrote:

Okay, that's the problem.

What you need to do is make a modification to your HOSTS file so that the hostname of the NLM returns an IPv4 address.

The file is located at C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc.  Open HOSTS with notepad.  You need to make the following entry:

IP-address  Hostname

Save the file (it might be read-only so turn that off) and try the ping again.  You might have to verify the IPv4 address from the server or by pinging it from your other working machines, especially those running Windows XP. 

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That solved it.  I was successful in running Civil 3D on the problematic machine.

You are a genius.  Thank-you so much for your help and very quick replies.

[TravisNave]

My pleasure.  Glad you are up and running.