Pools of features, organized by version   A license is actually a set of features. Different license types are made up of different sets of features. This table shows the various features that make up different FlexSim license types (Enterprise, Educational, Runtime, etc):     Each license is set to a given version, and each of the contained features is at that version.   With that background, once a license is activated on a license server, its features are added to a pool of license features at a given version. So for instance, let's say you have the following 2 licenses activated to your license server:   Enterprise 23.0 - 2 seats Runtime 22.2 - 1 seat   Once these licenses are activated to your license server, the server actually has no idea it has 2 Enterprise and 1 Runtime. It sees only the following pools of license features:   dragdropconnect 2 seats [23.0: 2 seats] (the Runtime license didn't provide one of these) compile 3 seats [23.0: 2 seats, 22.2: 1 seat] xmlsaveload 2 seats [23.0: 2 seats] (the Runtime license didn't provide one of these) ... commercialuse 3 seats [23.0: 2 seats, 22.2: 1 seat] createobjects 2 seats [23.0: 2 seats] (the Runtime license didn't provide one of these) modeltree 1 seat [22.2: 1 seat] (not a feature of Enterprise licenses)   FlexSim software is feature-greedy   By default, when a FlexSim install contacts a license server for a license, it will try to get 1 of every feature at the software's version or later. In this way we say that FlexSim software is "greedy". For instance, under the above scenario, when you start FlexSim 22.2, the software will default to pull the following features:   dragdropconnect compile xmlsaveload stochastics consolescript nomodellimit entiretree commercialuse createobjects modeltree   The italicized features are Enterprise-specific. The bold feature is Runtime specific. The software just tries to get one of each feature, so now its feature set is a hybrid of Enterprise+Runtime. In the software it reports a "Custom" license:     If a 2nd person were to open the 22.2 software, they would get that same set, minus the one modeltree feature from Runtime, essentially giving them the 2nd Enterprise seat.   If a 3rd person tried to open the software in version 22.2, they would get a slightly hobbled version of a Runtime license, without the modeltree feature. Any in-software features that relied on that being present would be blocked.   Only checkout features for license type   The software includes an option to limit what features it will ask for:     In this way you can ensure that the right people are getting the right feature set.    

Introduction   A new feature-version of FlexSim Simulation Software is released several times per year. In order for client PCs to be able to run a licensed version of the upgraded software, you may need to upgrade the activated license(s) on your license server. Licenses with a current maintenance subscription are eligible to be upgraded to the latest version.   If you don't understand how licensing works for different FlexSim versions, please review our Answers article FlexSim Version Numbering.   Overview   There are 6 main steps to upgrading the licenses hosted on your lmadmin or lmtools license server:   Check if you need to upgrade your license server files Return the licenses you intend to upgrade Upgrade your licenses Activate the upgraded license Reread the license Upgrade client PCs   Several of these steps have their own fully documented procedures. We'll link you to those resources below.   1. Check if you need to upgrade your license server files   If your organization's license server was installed previously and hosting licenses for FlexSim 25.1 or lower, it may need to be upgraded for compatibility with FlexSim 25.2 and higher. Click here to learn more or go directly to the latest license server files.   After you have upgraded your license server files, move on with the rest of the upgrade process, as outlined below.   2. Return the licenses you intend to upgrade   The steps to return a license-server-based license are fully documented. Choose the link below that best matches your needs, depending on whether your license server can connect to the Internet:   License Server - Return - Online License Server - Return - XML / Offline   Be sure to return ALL licenses you wish to upgrade.   3. Upgrade your licenses   NOTE: Licenses with expired maintenance will not upgrade. Timed licenses do not upgrade. Only permanent (not timed) licenses under current maintenance can be upgraded. Contact your salesperson for extending a subscription or other circumstances.   Log in to your FlexSim Account.   If you were already logged in to your FlexSim Account, in the top navigation menu hover over your initials icon and choose Reload Account.     Now in the top navigation menu, choose Licenses > List.     Check that the available seat count is equal to the total. All of a license’s seats should be returned for it to upgrade.   Click on the Upgrade Licenses button.     If you have several licenses to upgrade and all are owned by or shared with your FlexSim Account, they will all be upgraded at once. Please be patient while the upgrade process works in the background.   When the page refreshes, eligible licenses will have a new activation ID for the latest version of the software. Your license code indicates its version at the end of the code to help you know what versions your license will properly activate. Review license code format.   4. Activate the upgraded licenses   The steps to activate a license-server-based license are fully documented. Choose the link below that best matches your needs, depending on whether your license server can connect to the Internet:   License Server - Activation - Online License Server - Activation - XML / Offline   5. Reread the license   Your license server needs to start serving up your newly activated licenses. You can either restart your license manager service, or use your license manager's option to reread your licenses.   The steps to reread your licenses differ depending on which license manager you are using to host your licenses. Use these links to jump to instructions for the license manager you're using:   lmadmin lmtools+lmgrd   6. Upgrade client PCs   Finally, upgrade your PC with a version of FlexSim appropriate for your new license (learn how licenses work across versions).   After installing a new version of FlexSim, you will need to configure it to get a license from your license server. There are two ways a client PC can be configured. Choose the method below that most closely matches the main use case for your client PC:   Single-user client PCs - this method configures settings that are saved on a per-user basis. Multi-user client PCs - usually appropriate for a university computer lab or other shared-PC situation, where the configuration should be computer-based.   Having trouble licensing your client PC?   Verify client PC licensing to find out if your client PC is successfully getting a license from your new license server. Diagnose Client/Server connectivity issues that may be preventing your FlexSim software from obtaining a license. Discover other issues that may be preventing your client PC from obtaining a license by working through our License Server Troubleshooting tips.  

You've installed, configured, and started your license server. FlexSim is installed and your client PCs are set to get a license from your license server. How can you tell if they're communicating and licensing properly?   You can check both the client PC and the license server to make sure that licensing is happening:   Client PC   Within FlexSim software on the client PC, go to the main menu, Help > About FlexSim. The popup should indicate the activated license type. Test licensed features to see if they work. Check the article FlexSim Feature Limitations by License Type to see what features should be available given your license type (Enterprise, Educational, Student, Runtime). For instance, the Experimenter feature should be available to each of those license types.   License Server   In lmtools logs (Config Services > View Log…), you should see that a seat is in use. (See How do I read/analyze my vendor daemon logs? What do the various lines mean?). . In lmadmin logs you should see that a seat is in use.   If your client PC is not getting licensed and/or your license server logs don't indicate communication with a client PC, check the license server troubleshooting steps.  

tl;dr   must be stable and persistent, always able to maintain a constant connection with the client software don't use a user's personal computer as a license server use a currently supported Microsoft OS bare-metal hardware, virtual hardware, cloud hosted - all are fine if the hardware meets the OS specifications, it meets the license server specifications configure your network and firewalls to allow the client-server communication   Use an always-on, accessible server (not a user's PC)   Your license server should be on a stable, persistent system that is always on and always accessible via a stable IP address or fully qualified domain name. A user’s personal system is not a good license server, unless they are only serving licenses to themselves, in which case please consider contacting your local FlexSim distributor to exchange for a standalone license.   Operating System   Hosting FlexSim licenses requires a currently supported version of Windows (desktop or server versions are supported). FlexSim and FlexNet do not support Windows operating systems that have reached their end-of-life. See Microsoft guidance on product lifecycle.   You should perform all Microsoft Updates so that your operating system is fully patched prior to installing the license server software.   In the future we hope to allow FlexSim licenses to be hosted on Linux or Mac license servers, in addition to Windows. Work toward multiplatform is ongoing. We do not currently have an estimated timeline.   Server Hardware   If your license server hardware meets the specifications required for the chosen Microsoft OS, it will be adequate to run the license server software. Hosting licenses is generally NOT a demanding workload.   Please do not confuse these minimal license server hardware requirements with the different and more demanding system requirements for running FlexSim Simulation Software.   Cloud Hosting   Your license server could be hosted by a cloud provider or on premises, on a virtual machine, or a bare-metal OS.   Keep in mind that your license server should be a stable, persistent server that client PCs can remain connected to. If your server setup works by creating and destroying new instances of a virtual machine each time you reboot, it is NOT suitable for use as a license server. You will lose your Trusted-Storage-based FlexSim licenses when the virtual machine is terminated.   Networking, firewalls, connectivity   For the client software to remain licensed, it must maintain a constant network connection to your license server. The exact details of such a configuration are up to you.   If you want to limit client-server connections to the local network, allow access to the license server worldwide over a VPN, or make your licenses available over the public Internet, these are all decisions you must make and configure your network and firewalls accordingly such that your FlexSim client PCs can maintain a constant connection to the license server.   Further networking guidance, including information regarding firewalls and port numbers, is found in the individual instructions for lmtools or lmadmin.  

Not sure about the differences between network and standalone licenses? No worries! Read on for an in-depth explanation of each license model:   Standalone Licensing (Client-Activatable) Network Licensing (Server-Concurrent)   You can also download our printable reference, which includes some example scenarios: Standalone vs Network Licensing.pdf.   Standalone Licensing (Client-Activatable)     Once a standalone license is activated to a PC it remains there permanently until it is returned. The PC could be rebooted, taken offline, or even have FlexSim uninstalled - the license remains on the PC.   The steps to activate and return a license are user-accessible from within FlexSim software. Once FlexSim is installed, there are no special PC permissions required to activate or return licenses.   See our licensing procedures article for instructions for managing your standalone licenses (activate, return, repair, upgrade).   User-managed license movement   The ability for the user to activate and return their license at will is a big advantage. It allows teams the freedom to share a license, while still giving individuals the freedom to take a license off-site or off-Internet. As long as a team sharing a license communicates effectively, the license can be passed around to whoever needs it at the moment, by returning the license from one PC and activating to another.   History Log   FlexSim's main license server logs a license's activation/return history, including who last activated (in case you need to contact someone about returning it!). The license history log can be viewed by any FlexSim account that can view the license. This includes the license owner and any account the owner has shared with.   Your activation IDs (the license codes copied into FlexSim to activate your license) can be shared and visible - including the activation history - with every member of your group. See the Sharing tab on your FlexSim account's Licenses page.   Trusted Storage   Your standalone FlexSim licenses are activated to a special holding area on your computer called Trusted Storage, which exists outside and independently of FlexSim software. FlexSim's activation process will authenticate your computer with our main license server and store your license credentials in Trusted Storage, completely outside of any FlexSim installation.   You could uninstall FlexSim, but your license will still reside in your computer's Trusted Storage. You would need to reinstall FlexSim in order to access the return functionality to move your license off of your computer.   So, you can go ahead and use ANY version of FlexSim to activate ANY version of your license so that it will be stored in your computer's Trusted Storage. Whether the activated license will enable features in your version of the software is a separate question - and as a quick reminder, FlexSim's licenses are backward-compatible, meaning that if you have a 21.2 license, you can use that with any version of the software up to version 21.2.x, including all older versions back to 5.0.   The crux is, your standalone license can be accessed by any version of FlexSim installed on your computer, regardless of what version was used when activating the license, because all versions just put your license into Trusted Storage, and all versions check license rights by reading out of Trusted Storage.   Standalone pros   User-level control of the license gives flexibility in who has the license at any given moment. FlexSim maintains the license server, so you don't have to (avoids complexity of installing, configuring, maintaining, and upgrading your own separate license server). Online tools to see the license history and who currently has the license (via your FlexSim Account). In-software auto-upgrades makes upgrading your license easy.   Standalone cons   People sharing the license need to coordinate who will use it when and remember to return the license when unused. Lost, stolen, or broken licenses require interaction with your local FlexSim rep to fix.     Network Licensing (Server-Concurrent) Let's begin with an overview of the setup (simplified from our license server installation instructions) :   Provision a computer/VM to act as the license server. It should remain powered on and attached to the network at all times. Activate your FlexSim licenses to your local license server. Install and configure the license manager software. Configure firewalls and permissions on the server and/or network to allow communication with FlexSim client PCs.   Next, the client PCs:   Install FlexSim on the client PC. Configure licensing settings in the client software to point to the license server. Configure firewalls and permissions on the client PC and/or network to allow communication with the license server. The network connection between client and server must be maintained throughout use of FlexSim software. If the network connection breaks, FlexSim software reverts to the feature-limited Express mode.   This sort of setup is great for computer labs at universities, for instance, where there are many client PCs, and license server hardware or virtual machine is easy to obtain or already exists. Also, where the client PCs are stationary and always on the network, and where network topology makes it easy for the clients to stay connected to the server.   Opening FlexSim software requests a seat from the organization's license server. Closing the software returns the seat.   Network pros   Allows for management of many licenses (seats) from a single location. Some server settings are customizable (Options files can be quite powerful - see chapter 13). Licenses can never become lost or stranded on client PCs. If a client PC loses its connection to the server, the server will reclaim the seat after a timeout period (default timeout is 15 minutes).   Network cons   Complexity of installing, configuring, maintaining, and upgrading a separate license server. Client PCs must maintain a constant connection to the server. No online record of activations/returns (but you can examine your own raw server logs).  

Assumed configurations   All steps below assume that you followed the installation instructions as described in our license server installation instructions, and that all FlexSim's license server files were extracted to the location C:\FlexSim_LMTOOLS. Throughout these instructions we will reference files inside that folder.   Reread the license   Within your FlexSim_LMTOOLS folder, right-click lmtools.exe and choose Run as administrator. You may need to accept a permissions prompt. Go to the Start/Stop/Reread tab. Choose the FlexNet License service for your FlexSim licenses. The name of the service could be FlexSim_License, but the service could have been given a different name. Press the ReRead License File button. Close lmtools.

You should have already completed all preceding steps found in the article Hosting your FlexSim licenses with lmtools, including all those under the headings "Preparation and Prerequisites" and "Activate licenses to your license server". Your license server will communicate with client PCs using two executables, the lmgrd.exe licensing service and the flexsim.exe vendor daemon.   This article shows how to add exceptions for these applications through Windows Firewall. If you have additional firewalls or network appliances that need to be configured, please check the section Port Considerations at the end of this article.   Allow an app through Windows Firewall Port Considerations   Allow an app through Windows Firewall   Windows Firewall allows you to specify certain applications that will be allowed through different network types. If you're not sure about firewalls and networking, be sure to contact someone in your organization that administers these things.   You will need administrator privileges on your license server to add firewall exceptions.   Open the Allowed apps interface   Click the Start button or press the Windows key, then type Firewall into the search box. Choose the option to Allow an app through Windows Firewall.     If you don't see that option, you can choose the option Windows Defender Firewall at the top of the search results. This will open the Windows Defender Firewall topic the Control Panel. There you can choose Allow an app or feature through Windows Defender Firewall in the side panel:     Add a firewall exception for lmgrd.exe   In the Allowed apps window, click the Change Settings button, then the Allow another app… button.     In the Add an app window that opens, click the Browse… button. Navigate to extracted license server downloads. Double click lmgrd.exe to choose the file.     Click the Network types… button.   Check the boxes for the various network types that the firewall should allow. We recommend allowing your FlexNet licensing to communicate across all network types, but contact your server or network administrators if you're not sure.     Click Okay to close the Choose Network Types window.   Back on the Add an app window, click the Add button.   Add a firewall exception for flexsim.exe   Repeat the steps above for flexsim.exe:   Click the Allow another app… button. Browse… to your extracted license server downloads. Select flexsim.exe. Click Network types… and choose the appropriate networks to allow access to lmgrd.exe. These should be set to the same settings chosen for lmgrd.exe, and you can usually allow all network types - domain, private, and public. Click the Add button. Click OK to close the Control Panel window.   Port considerations   You may need to allow communication through other firewalls or network appliances, depending on your network topology and specific licensing plans for how and from where client PCs will connect to the license server. Usually for such firewalls or devices you will configure inbound and outbound port exceptions to allow your license server communications to pass through.   A FlexSim license server has its ports defined in a flexsim.lic license file, specified when you configured your FlexSim_Licensing service.   Our default ports are as follows:   lmgrd.exe - licensing service - port 26914 - TCP flexsim.exe - vendor daemon - port 56914 - TCP   There is a chance you specified custom your port numbers. If you're not sure you can check your flexsim.lic license file. Read more about FlexSim's license file and default vs custom port numbers in our article FlexSim's license file.

These instructions are to be performed on a license server hosting FlexSim licenses. You will need the license server files. If you do not already have a copy of those linked files on your license server, download them to your license server then extract the entire archive to a convenient location.   Run flexsimserveractutil.exe as an adminstrator by right-clicking the .exe and selecting Run as Administrator. Go to the main menu, Tools > View License Rights. Scroll through the displayed license information. Find any activated licenses that indicate they are broken. Find each broken license's Fulfillment ID (starts with FID_). Copy the Fulfillment ID to the clipboard (highlight including the FID_ prefix, through to the end of the line. Ctrl-C to copy). Go to the main menu. Select Connect > Repair. Paste the Fulfillment ID into the field (Ctrl-V). Delete any spaces that may have been included before or after the pasted Fulfillment ID. Press the Repair button. The utility will attempt to contact FlexSim's license server in order to repair the license.   If you have any questions or problems, please search our Answers Community for possible solutions. There is a good chance someone else has already asked your question. Still not finding what you're looking for? Submit a new question and we'll check it out. If you're including any confidential information, such as license codes, be sure to mark your question as private! You can also contact your local FlexSim distributor for live phone, web, or email help.

Have you ever encountered this error?   --- Status... Status: 4 Creating request Status: 5 Request created Status: 6 Context created Status: 7 Connected to remote server Status: 0 Error ERROR: flxActAppReturnSend - (50018,41145,32) "Failure to send request or receive a response for an unspecified reason. Recovery: check parameters used for the request." ---   We're looking for more information on this error. If you're encountering this error, please comment below.   This error appears to be a communication error where the client PC may have an Internet connection, but is not successful in contacting the license server. This may be due to a firewall misconfiguration or a proxy server.   You may want to make sure your client PC can connect to FlexSim's servers (addresses and ports listed in this article).   You may also need to configure FlexSim to communicate through your proxy server:  

Introduction to lmtools   This article is a sort of table of contents to the various articles that will take you from start to finish in installing, licensing, configuring, and running your FlexSim license server using the lmtools license manager.   background info   Server-based vs Standalone licensing - Learn the differences between these two license models, and when you might choose one over the other. License managers - lmadmin vs lmtools - FlexSim supports these two FlexNet license managers. Learn the differences, and why FlexSim recommends lmtools.   Let's get started   When installing a new license server, start here at the top and work your way down the list of articles linked below. By the end you should be in good shape to properly host and serve your FlexSim licenses.   Each link should open in its own browser tab, so once you complete a sub-task just close that tab. Then back here in this main tab click the link to the next step.   The list of links below might seem intimidating, but conceptually it's just 4 main things we're about to work through:   Preparation and Prerequisites Activate licenses to your license server Configure the licensing service Configure client PCs   If you run into any problems, you can also find additional helpful resources linked at the end of this article:   Troubleshooting Related links     1) Preparation and Prerequisites   System Requirements - almost any Windows computer could act as your license server. Click inside for the details. Download files - download the required lmtools files and extract them to an appropriate folder on your license server. FlexNet Licensing Service 64 - FlexSim is licensed using Revenera's industry-standard FlexNet licensing platform. This article prepares your license server with the background service necessary for hosting your FlexSim licenses.   2) Activate licenses to your license server   Choose the right steps below to license your server, depending on whether or not your license server can communicate over the internet directly with FlexSim's main license server.   • Online, Internet-enabled systems   License Server - Activation - Online - Activate your FlexSim licenses to your license server directly over the Internet. Should be easy-peasy. • Secure / Offline / Air-gapped systems   If your license server will not connect to the Internet (or if for any reason it cannot communicate with FlexSim's license servers) there are a few extra steps to get up and running. You've got this!   Configure Trusted Storage - Your new license server has a secure storage area for holding license info, but first it must authenticate with FlexSim's main license server. License Server - Activation - XML / Offline - the manual steps to activate your FlexSim licenses onto your license server.   3) Configure the licensing service   Configure your license service - use FlexNet's lmtools license manager to create and configure the service that will serve up your FlexSim seats. Add Windows Firewall exceptions - your licensing service needs to communicate with other PCs on the network. This will get you started.   4) Configure client PCs   With your license server installed and configured, it's finally time for your license server to fulfill its destiny and serve licenses to your client PCs.   Make sure you know the IP address or fully qualified domain name for your license server, as well as the license service port number (see #1 under Check the service status). You'll use your server's address/name and service port when configuring the client PCs.   FlexSim Version Numbering - your FlexSim license is for a particular version of FlexSim. If your software maintenance is not current, you may need to use an older version of the software. In this article you'll learn how licensing works for a given version number and where to download an appropriate version of FlexSim that will work with your license. With an appropriate version of FlexSim installed on the client PCs, you're ready to configure them to communicate with your license server. There are two ways a client PC can be configured. Choose the method below that most closely matches the main use case for your client PC:  Single-user client PCs - this method configures settings that are saved on a per-user basis. Multi-user client PCs - usually appropriate for a university computer lab or other shared-PC situation, where the configuration should be computer-based. Verify client PC licensing - Not sure if your client PC is getting licensed properly? Dive in to find out how to tell your client PC is successfully getting a license from your new license server   Troubleshooting   Isn't there a law in the universe that if something can go wrong, it will? If you're stuck in a licensing black hole, these tips might be just the thing to help you get moving.   Client/server connectivity - if the client PC and the license server can't communicate, the client PC won't be able to get a license. Troubleshooting tips - when you're pretty certain that connectivity isn't an issue, but your client PC still isn't getting a license, check here for some ideas.   Related Links   FlexSim's license file - your new licensing service uses a license file to specify port numbers. Get more background on license files and ports here.  

Preparation   You may want to brush up on how a license version is related to a product version.   When you understand what version of FlexSim will work with your license, download and install an appropriate software version for your license.   If your computer is not connected to the Internet, you will need to transfer FlexSim's installer to your computer on a USB drive or some other method.   You will also need to be able to transfer XML license files to and from your offline computer.   NOTE: If this is the first time a license has been activated on this computer, an initial XML request/response communication will be needed to configure your local Trusted Storage.   This means that for a first ever license activation on a given computer, complete the steps below for just a single Activation ID - that will configure your computer's Trusted Storage.   Once that is complete, repeat again the entire Manual XML activation process for that initial Activation ID and any other Activation IDs that will be installed to this computer.   Find your licenses   Log in to your FlexSim Account, click the Licenses link in the top menu. In the Licenses submenu, choose List. Expand the various product and version folders to find the Activation ID you wish to activate. An Activation ID looks similar to this example: yourcompany.com01-ABCDE-FGHIJ-KLMNO-FSENT16.2   Create manual activation requests   Open FlexSim Software. In FlexSim's main menu, Go to Help > License Activation. Click the Advanced tab. Go to the Manual Activation sub-tab. Enter a valid Activation ID into the field (see the Find your licenses heading, above). Click the Generate Request button. You will be prompted to save an XML file. Choose a location and filename to save your XML activation request. If this is your first time ever activating any FlexSim licenses on this PC, only generate an XML request for one activation ID (see red-highlighted note above). Otherwise, repeat steps 4-6 for all licenses you wish to activate on this PC, so that all your XML activation request files can be transferred at one time.   Submit your manual activation requests   Transfer your XML activation requests to a computer with Internet access. From your Internet-connected computer, open a web browser and login to your FlexSim Account. Click the Licenses link in the header, then choose Manual XML in the Licenses submenu. Upload your XML files by dragging them onto the drop zone. Your uploaded XML requests will be processed. Upon completion, you will be prompted to download each XML response.   Process your manual activation responses   Transfer your downloaded XML activation responses to the offline computer you are licensing. In FlexSim, using the same licensing interface where you generated your request, click the Process Response button. Browse to an XML activation response file. FlexSim should give you an indication of successful processing of your activation, and your activation will be complete. Repeat to process the XML activation responses for any other licenses you are manually activating.   IMPORTANT NOTE   If this is the first time a license has been activated on this computer, an initial request/response communication will only serve to configure your local Trusted Storage.   This means that for a first ever license activation on a given computer, after this first request/response has been successfully processed on the offline computer, a 2nd request using the same license code will need to be generated/uploaded/processed/downloaded/processed to fully activate your license.   This is a one-time event per-computer. Subsequent license activations to the same system require only one request/response XML pair. If you have any questions or problems, please search our Community for possible solutions. There is a good chance someone else has already asked your question.   Still not finding what you're looking for? Licensed users can submit a support request and we'll check it out.

You should have already completed all preceding steps found in the article Hosting your FlexSim licenses with lmtools, including all those under the headings "Preparation and Prerequisites" and "Activate licenses to your license server". At this point you're ready to install, configure, and start the service that will serve your FlexSim licenses.   Create the service Configure service permissions Start the service Check the service status Troubleshooting problems with the service   Create the service   We'll use lmtools to create your new licensing service.   On your license server, in your extracted download folder of FlexSim license server materials, right-click lmtools.exe and choose Run as administrator. Go to the Config Services tab. Create a new licensing service by typing FlexSim_License into the Service Name input field. The Service Name field looks like a dropdown selector, but you can click in it to type a new name. Use the 3 Browse buttons to specify the paths to files (lmgrd.exe, flexsim.lic, log.log) that are also included with the FlexSim license server materials. Check the boxes for Use Services and Start Server at Power Up. Press the Save Service button in the upper right. Confirm the save by choosing Yes. You may receive an error message regarding "Windows preferred path". This is normal and this message can be safely ignored.   Configure service permissions   Your new FlexSim_License service needs permissions set to function properly.   Click the Windows Start button or press the Windows key, then type “Services” into the search box in the Start menu, and press Enter. Windows will search for and open Windows Services Manager. Find FlexSim_License in the list of services. If it is missing from the list, see the section Troubleshooting the licensing service below. Open the FlexSim_License service’s Properties window by double-clicking its name. Go to the Log On tab. Choose the option to Log on as: Local System account. Press OK to close the FlexSim_License Properties window.   Start the service   While still in Windows Services Manager, use the Start link to start your new FlexSim_License service.     You should see a status bar showing the startup progress. The service usually starts in under a minute.   If there are any errors or other problems with starting the service, skip to the section Troubleshooting problems with the service.   Check the service status   After the service is started, head back to lmtools to check the log. You can view the service log from the Config Services tab, press the View Log... button, located toward the lower right of the Config Services panel.   You should find the following information in your log file:     lmgrd.exe is listening on port 26914. This is the port the licensing service will use when listening for client PC communication. The bootstrap license file flexsim.lic was found and loaded. (This is not a license file specific to you and does not contain your license info. FlexSim licenses use Trusted Storage and licenses are activated to your license server using flexsimserveractutil.exe). The flexsim.opt Options file was found and loaded. A list of product features activated in your server's Trusted Storage. Your feature set may differ somewhat from this example, depending on your license and product, but you should see several of the features above. 900 seconds is the minimum timeout allowed by FlexNet, and we configure our installation to use this minimum value using the options file. The flexsim.exe vendor daemon is using port 56914.   To close the log, press the Close Log button, toward the lower right of the Config Services panel in lmtools.   Troubleshooting problems with the service   Did everything work? If not, perhaps you have one of these issues:   The FlexSim_License service is not listed as an installed service in Windows’ services. The FlexSim_License service does not start manually. The FlexSim_License service does not start up automatically when the computer restarts.   If any of these apply to you, please check the following:   You ran lmtools as a user with admin rights, and right clicked the program to choose Run as Administrator. On the Config Services tab, you checked the boxes Use Services and Start Server at Power Up. There isn’t already a process running or service installed named FlexSim_License. lmgrd.exe, flexsim.exe, and all other files downloaded together with them are in the same folder, and in a file path that does not contain any folder named “FlexSim” (case insensitive). The FlexSim_License service must run as an account with proper permissions. It’s possible that the Local System Account setting specified in Configure service permissions above does not have adequate permissions, and you will need to specify the service to run under a different account. Work with your server administrator or IT department to determine an account with the proper permissions to run your license service. You could have a port conflict, where one or both of the ports specified in your flexsim.lic license file are in use by another service on your license server. Check the section Resolving port conflicts. Some anti-virus solutions prevent unrecognized services from running or accessing necessary functionality. If your license service won't start, try temporarily disabling any anti-virus solution installed on your license server. If this fixes the issue, work with your IT administrator to modify your anti-virus settings. Remember to reactivate your anti-virus software after this experiment.  

A license file? What's that? License not included Default port numbers Custom port numbers Automatic port numbers Resolving port conflicts A license file? What's that?   When you set up a license server to host your FlexSim licenses, you'll configure settings for a FlexNet licensing service (lmtools, lmadmin). Some settings are specified in a plain text file ending in the .lic file extension.   You'll find FlexSim's license file, flexsim.lic, alongside the other downloaded license server materials (lmtools, lmadmin). The license file is just plain text. You can open it and examine its contents using your favorite text editor (Notepad, Notepad++, VSCode, etc.).   If you've used FlexNet licensing before, you know that often a .lic license file contains license codes and hashes that authenticate a product license on a computer system. However, this isn't the case for FlexSim.   License not included   FlexSim's license file doesn't contain any license information. Instead FlexSim licenses are held in FlexNet's Trusted Storage. That's why every customer downloads an identical license file alongside all our other license server materials.   FlexSim's flexsim.lic license file is a bootstrapper that tells FlexNet's licensing service to find FlexSim's license information in Trusted Storage, and to specify port numbers that will be used for serving the licenses.   Here are the complete contents of FlexSim's default flexsim.lic license file:   SERVER this_host ANY 26914 VENDOR flexsim port=56914 USE_SERVER FEATURE serverfeature flexsim 1.000 permanent uncounted HOSTID=ANY \ SIGN="05CB 6F61 116D 06E3 A08D CAFB FC5C BEF3 DF53 BDC6 AF68 \ 060C 27B8 9968 CB94 0515 2BE7 E30C 2FAF C0D6 1D77 CCEB 878E \ 2D67 1434 0E3F 6BA5 1FDA BD35 F98D"   Default port numbers   You can see on lines 1 and 2 above where we've defined FlexSim's default license server port numbers:   26914 (lmgrd.exe - the licensing service. Client PCs specify this port on the license server.) 56914 (flexsim.exe - the vendor daemon)   Custom port numbers   While we recommend using FlexSim's default port numbers, you can edit your flexsim.lic file to specify your own custom port numbers. Simply replace the default port numbers in your plain text license file with any valid, available port numbers you wish to use.   Automatic port numbers   Also not recommended - you can also remove the port numbers (and the “port=”) from the flexsim.lic file to allow the FlexNet Licensing Service to auto-assign port numbers, like this:   SERVER this_host ANY VENDOR flexsim USE_SERVER FEATURE serverfeature flexsim 1.000 permanent uncounted HOSTID=ANY \ SIGN="05CB 6F61 116D 06E3 A08D CAFB FC5C BEF3 DF53 BDC6 AF68 \ 060C 27B8 9968 CB94 0515 2BE7 E30C 2FAF C0D6 1D77 CCEB 878E \ 2D67 1434 0E3F 6BA5 1FDA BD35 F98D"   We don't recommend auto-assigned port numbers since the FlexNet Licensing Service could auto-assign new, different port numbers any time the licensing service is restarted (such as when your server restarts to install Windows updates, etc.).   Port numbers that change regularly can make it more difficult to maintain the firewall exceptions or other network settings needed for your license server to communicate properly with client PCs.   Resolving port conflicts   If your licensing service has trouble starting or properly hosting licenses, or if other licensing services fail after starting your FlexSim licensing service, you could have a port conflict.   You could try specifying your own custom ports as described above. This is a good solution if you know what port numbers are in use with existing services and can choose unused port numbers. After changing the port numbers defined in your flexsim.lic license file, restart your FlexSim_Licensing service.   If you’re not sure what port numbers to try, you could allow FlexNet to auto-assign port numbers itself – it tries to find and use free ports, though it isn’t foolproof. After modifying your flexsim.lic license file to allow automatically chosen port numbers, restart your FlexSim_License service. Then check the log file (lmtools, lmadmin) to see what ports were auto assigned.   If everything works, we suggest that you take the port numbers automatically assigned by FlexNet and hardcode them into your license file. This way you can maintain static exceptions more easily in your firewall. Be sure to configure your client PCs to use the new license service port number.  

A license server hosting FlexNet enabled products like FlexSim relies on a service called FlexNet Licensing Service 64. As of FlexSim version 25.2, FlexSim requires FlexNet Licensing Service 64 version 11.19.8.0 or higher.   Is FlexNet Licensing Service 64 already installed?   There is a chance that you already have a version of FlexNet Licensing Service 64 installed. Let’s check: Click the Start button or press the Windows key, then type “Services” into the search box in the Start menu, and press Enter. Windows will search for and open Windows Services Manager. If the list of services is not already sorted by name, click the Name column heading. Scroll down to services beginning with F. Do you see a FlexNet Licensing Service 64?   If you find that FlexNet Licensing Service 64 is not installed, or if you only have the 32-bit version (missing the ‘64’ in the service name), skip below to the heading Install the FlexNet Licensing Service.   Check the installed version of FlexNet Licensing Service 64   If FlexNet Licensing Service 64 is already installed, we should make sure it is version 11.19.8.0 or higher. If your FlexNet Licensing Service 64 has a lower version number, you will need to remove the older service and upgrade. We’ll get to those steps soon, but first, let’s check what version is installed:   In Windows Services Manager, scroll down to the entry for FlexNet Licensing Service 64. Double click the service name to open its Properties window. In the middle of the General tab, find the Path to executable. Copy the path location from just after the opening double quote (“) until the final backslash (\) before the filename. This is the path. It is probably something like C:\Program Files\Common Files\Macrovision Shared\FlexNet Publisher\. With the path now copied to your clipboard, note the name of the .exe. It is probably FNPLicensingService64.exe. Open a file explorer (Windows Key + E) and paste the path into the Address bar. Hit Enter to navigate to the path. Right click the .exe file that the service's Properties indicated is the service executable. Select Properties to view the .exe file’s properties. Navigate to the Properties window’s Details tab. The Product version should be version 11.19.8.0 or greater. Make sure that the Product name indicates 64-bit.   If you found that you don’t have FlexNet Licensing Service 64 installed, skip below to the heading Install the FlexNet Licensing Service.   If you found that your version number of FlexNet Licensing Service 64 is lower than 11.19.8.0, you will need to upgrade the service.   Upgrade FlexNet Licensing Service 64   To upgrade your FlexNet Licensing Service 64 to version 11.19.8.0, first complete the following: In Windows Services Manager, right click FlexNet Licensing Service 64 and choose Stop. Navigate to the Path to executable shown in the service’s properties. Rename the service’s .exe file by putting an underscore (_) in front of the .exe’s name. Continue with the instructions below under the heading Install FlexNet Licensing Service 64.   Install FlexNet Licensing Service 64   In your extracted download folder of FlexSim license server materials, navigate into the folder flexsimserveractutil. Right-click flexsimserveractutil.exe and select Run as administrator. Select the menu option Tools > Licensing Service > Install anchor service.   You should receive a confirmation that FlexNet Licensing Service 64 is now installed.     For further information on compatibility of various Flexnet licensing components, see Version Compatibility Between Components.  

Background   The method for licensing a single-user client PC saves client PC license settings to the Windows profile data of the signed in user, so license settings are saved on a per-user basis.   In cases where the exact number or identity of PC users is not predetermined, such as in a university computer lab, it is impractical to license users individually in this manner. Another use-case for this method is when FlexSim Software is automatically pushed or deployed to client PCs. Having the licensing as part of the deployment is useful.   For this mult-user method we'll use a license file on the client PC to license FlexSim software generally for any user of the PC.   Use a license file   Create a plaintext license file   On the client PC create a plaintext license file named flexsim.lic with the following 2 lines (exclude any line numbers):   SERVER 127.0.0.1 ANY 26914 USE_SERVER   If your Windows settings do not show file extensions, it is possible that your flexsim.lic license file is actually named flexsim.lic.txt, which will not work. Be sure to show file extensions and make sure your license file ends with the .lic file extension. The actual name of the file is not important (it could be helloWorld.lic, for instance), but it needs to end in .lic.   Modify   On the client PC, modify your new license file with the following changes:   On line 1 change "127.0.0.1" to the IP address or fully qualified domain name of your license server. If you modified your license server with custom port numbers, on line 1 replace the default port 26914 with your custom port number.   Install   With FlexSim software installed on a client PC, your new license file should be copied into FlexSim’s installation directory in the following location:   C:\Program Files\FlexSim <version>\program\   Your exact folder path could differ based on custom installation locations or FlexSim version, but it should be placed into FlexSim’s program\ folder.   Multiple license servers?   If your FlexSim licenses/seats are spread across multiple license servers, you can configure your client software to try to pull a license from any of your multiple license servers. Simply create a new license file for each possible license server and save each to the same program\ folder. In this scenario, in your program\ folder you would have multiple license files listed, like this:   flexsim1.lic flexsim2.lic flexsim3.lic etc. Each license file should reference a different license server and its port number.   Next   Check out the next article to learn how to verify that your client PC is licensed, and what to do if it isn't: License Server - Verify client PC licensing.  

The instructions below are for Internet-connected license servers.   If your server cannot connect to the Internet or to FlexSim's main license server, try our offline/Manual XML license return instructions.   Assumed configurations   All steps below assume that you followed the installation instructions as described in our license server installation instructions, and that all FlexSim's license server files were extracted to the location C:\FlexSim_LMTOOLS. Throughout these instructions we will reference files inside that folder.   Find your fulfillment ID   On your license server, run the flexsimserveractutil.exe program (C:\FlexSim_LMTOOLS\flexsimserveractutil\flexsimserveractutil.exe) by right-clicking and selecting Run as Administrator.     In the FlexSim ServerActUtil program, go to Tools > View License Rights.     Copy the Fulfillment ID for the Activation ID you are upgrading by highlighting the Fulfillment ID and pressing Ctrl+C.     Attempt online return   When your license server returns a license over the the Internet, flexsimserveractutil.exe will communicate with the following FlexSim servers via HTTP (port 80) and HTTPS (port 443):   www.flexsim.com sw.flexsim.com sw1.flexsim.com license.flexsim.com   In the FlexSim ServerActUtil program, select Connect > Return.     Paste the Fulfillment ID into the field using Ctrl+V, and press the Return button.     After a few seconds and several status messages, you should receive an indication of success.     If you have any questions or problems, please search our Answers Community for possible solutions. There is a good chance someone else has already asked your question. Still not finding what you're looking for? Submit a new question and we'll check it out. If you're including any confidential information, such as license codes, be sure to mark your question as private! You can also contact your local FlexSim distributor for live phone, web, or email help.

The instructions below are for Internet-connected license servers.   If your server cannot connect to the Internet or to FlexSim's main license server, try our offline/Manual XML license activation instructions.   Getting ready   If you're configuring a new license server, please stop now and follow the complete license server installation instructions.   This shorter guide just focuses on one piece of the installation instructions: license activation. We've broken the activation step out into this standalone article for convenience in subsequent licensing procedures, like upgrading your license server.   These instructions assume that:   you followed the steps outlined in our license server installation instructions including download of all required files and installation of the FlexNet Licensing Service; FlexSim's license server files were extracted to the location C:\FlexSim_LMTOOLS.   Online vs XML/offline licensing   Online activation is faster and easier, so if your license server connects to the Internet, follow the instructions below to activate your seats to your server. If your server is not connected to the Internet, or communication with FlexSim's servers is blocked, you can try the offline/XML activation method.   Endpoints, protocols, firewalls   When your license server activates a license over the the Internet the FlexSim server activation utility communicates with one or more of the following FlexSim servers via HTTP (port 80) and HTTPS (port 443):   www.flexsim.com sw.flexsim.com sw1.flexsim.com license.flexsim.com   Your license server should be able to communicate across the Internet with these addresses in order to successfully activate your licenses online.   Activate your license   On your license server, run the flexsimserveractutil.exe program (C:\FlexSim_LMTOOLS\flexsimserveractutil\flexsimserveractutil.exe) by right-clicking and selecting Run as Administrator.     In the FlexSim ServerActUtil program, go to Connect > Activate.     Enter the Activation ID and Count (seat quantity) for your license.   NOTE: If you have a 20-seat license but want to host 12 seats on this server and 8 seats somewhere else, you can do so. Simply enter 12 for the Count value.   Press Activate.   After a few seconds, and several status messages, you should receive an indication of success.     Repeat the steps above to activate any other license codes you are hosting on this license server.   Reread license files   If this license activation follows a license return, either as part of upgrading the license on your license server or some other procedure, don't forget to reread license files.   If you have any questions or problems, please search our Answers Community for possible solutions. There is a good chance someone else has already asked your question. Still not finding what you're looking for? Submit a new question and we'll check it out. If you're including any confidential information, such as license codes, be sure to mark your question as private! You can also contact your local FlexSim distributor for live phone, web, or email help.

It may be necessary in rare circumstances to manually delete a fulfillment from your license server. You may need to do this if you mistakenly requested a force-return of your license, if FlexSim's main license server was rolled back to an earlier point in time, or some other rare circumstance.   This manual process occurs exclusively on your license server without any communication with FlexSim's main license server. This procedure applies to both online and offline/secure/air-gapped license servers.   Assumed configurations   All steps below assume that you followed the installation instructions as described in our license server installation instructions, and that all FlexSim's license server files were extracted to the location C:\FlexSim_LMTOOLS. Throughout these instructions we will reference files inside that folder.   Find your fulfillment ID   On your license server, run the flexsimserveractutil.exe program (C:\FlexSim_LMTOOLS\flexsimserveractutil\flexsimserveractutil.exe) by right-clicking and selecting Run as Administrator.     In the FlexSim ServerActUtil program, go to Tools > View License Rights.     Copy the Fulfillment ID for the Activation ID you intend to manually delete by highlighting the Fulfillment ID and pressing Ctrl+C.     Delete the fulfillment   In the FlexSim ServerActUtil program, go to Connect > Delete.     Paste your fulfillment ID into the field. Press the Delete button.     You should receive an indication of success.     If you have any questions or problems, please search our Answers Community for possible solutions. There is a good chance someone else has already asked your question. Still not finding what you're looking for? Submit a new question and we'll check it out. If you're including any confidential information, such as license codes, be sure to mark your question as private! You can also contact your local FlexSim distributor for live phone, web, or email help.

You may find it necessary to check the status of your licenses. Perhaps you're trying to diagnose some issue, or you want to check which license you have activated.   Here we explain how to view the licenses activated to your PC, and their status.   View your licenses   Open FlexSim. From the main menu, go to Help > License Activation. Go to the View Licenses tab. Press the View Licenses button. You should see a list of fulfillment information, or a message indicating that there are no licenses on your PC.   What does it all mean?   If you have licenses on your PC, each license listed includes a block with status and license info, including whether the license is fully trusted and enabled or broken, the unique fulfillment ID that pertains to this specific license activation, and more. You'll also see INCREMENT blocks for each feature that makes up your license.   Take action   Check the article Licensing Procedures under the Standalone Licensing heading for instructions if you need to repair or return your license or do other sorts of license maintenance.

Preparation   You may want to brush up on how a license version is related to a product version.   When you understand what version of FlexSim will work with your license, download and install an appropriate software version for your license.     Find your licenses   From your FlexSim Account, click the Licenses link in the top menu. In the submenu, choose List. Expand the various product and version folders to find the Activation ID you wish to activate. An Activation ID looks similar to this example: yourcompany.com01-ABCDE-FGHIJ-KLMNO-FSENT21.2 Highlight and copy the Activation ID you will activate.   License your software   Open FlexSim Software. Click Help in the main menu. Choose License Activation. Paste your Activation ID into the field. Click the Activate button. Wait for an indication of success. Repeat for any other Activation ID you wish to activate to this computer.   Your license activates via the Internet, so make sure your computer is connected!   If your computer is offline or has trouble connecting to FlexSim's license server, try the Standalone - Activation - XML / Offline instructions.     If you have any questions or problems, please search our Answers Community for possible solutions. There is a good chance someone else has already asked your question.   Still not finding what you're looking for? Submit a new question and we'll check it out. Please do not include any confidential information, such as license codes, since anything posted on the forum is public! You can also contact your local FlexSim distributor for live phone, web, or email help.