The following article applies to FlexSim versions 26.0 and older. For Autodesk FlexSim 2027 and onward, please visit Autodesk FlexSim 27.0 Licensing and Sign-in Experience   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.    

Interacting with your licenses isn't something you do every day, but it doesn't need to be intimidating. We've documented all the main procedures you'll use to manage your FlexSim licenses like a pro.   When you purchased your FlexSim licenses you chose one of two methods for licensing your software. Click below to jump to the licensing procedures for your style of licenses:   Network Licensing Standalone Licensing Need a refresher on the differences between network and standalone licensing? Our Standalone vs Network Licensing.pdf is a basic intro or check out our in-depth article on License Models. Network Licensing With an in-house license server you don't activate your licenses directly in the software (as in standalone licensing). Instead, your FlexSim software is configured to obtain a seat from a license server in your organization's network. Your organization will need to provision, install, and maintain a license server.   Here are instructions for all the primary server licensing tasks.   Install, Configure, Activate Here are our instructions for installing, configuring, and licensing your server, and for configuring FlexSim to get a seat from your license server. This document covers both online and secure/offline scenarios.   PDF installation guide Online Answers articles index We have some shorter guides focused specifically on just the license activation step. If you already have an installed and configured license server, these guides are provided as a convenience for use in subsequent licensing procedures, like upgrading your licenses.   License Server - Activation - Online License Server - Activation - XML / Offline   Return You may occasionally need to migrate your licenses to a new license server or return your license as part of a license version upgrade.   License Server - Return - Online License Server - Return - XML / Offline   Repair In rare circumstances your activated license can become "broken". This means that even though the license is still activated on your server it is no longer able to serve seats to client PCs. This can happen if your server hardware or operating system changes significantly.   License Server - Repair - Online License Server - Repair - XML / Offline   Upgrade FlexSim releases new feature-versions several times per year. If the licenses activated on your license server are lower than the version of FlexSim software you're trying to run, FlexSim software won't be able to be licensed by your license server. You can learn more about how licensing works for a given version number in our Answers article FlexSim Version Numbering.   In this case you'll need to upgrade the activated licenses on your license server. If your maintenance is current, follow the procedure linked below to upgrade your license server for use with the latest versions of FlexSim. If your maintenance is expired contact your local FlexSim distributor to renew.   This article covers both online and secure/offline scenarios.   License Server - Upgrading your hosted licenses   Miscellaneous These items don't pertain to any particular licensing procedure but may be useful in some situations.   License Server - View licenses License Server - Delete fulfillment License Server - Troubleshooting tips License Server - Client/Server connectivity   Standalone Licensing With standalone licensing you'll activate a license code (also called an Activation ID) directly in FlexSim.   Below are detailed instructions for all the primary licensing tasks used in managing your standalone licenses:   Activation To apply a license to your computer, follow the linked instructions depending on whether your computer or network allows FlexSim to communicate online.   Standalone - Activation - Online Standalone - Activation - XML / Offline   Return Returning your license removes it from your computer and makes your seat available for a new activation. This is useful if you need to free up a seat for a colleague or move your license to a different computer. You may also return your license as part of the upgrade process for a new version of FlexSim - returning the old version so that you can activate an upgraded Activation ID.   Standalone - Return - Online Standalone - Return - XML / Offline   Repair In rare circumstances, your activated license can become "broken". This means that even though the license is still activated on your computer it no longer enables additional features allowed by your license type. This can happen if your computer hardware or operating system changes significantly.   There is no online method available. Please use the XML / Offline method. Standalone - Repair - XML / Offline   Upgrade FlexSim releases several new feature-versions per year. An upgraded version of the software requires an updated license key to enable its licensed features. Licenses with a current maintenance subscription are eligible to be upgraded to the new version. You can learn more about how licensing works for a given version number in our Answers article FlexSim Version Numbering.   If your maintenance is current, follow the procedure linked below to upgrade your license for use with the latest versions of FlexSim. If your maintenance is expired contact your local FlexSim distributor to renew.   This article covers both online and secure/offline scenarios:   Standalone - Upgrading your license   Miscellaneous These items don't pertain to any particular licensing procedure but may be useful in some situations.   Standalone - View licenses Standalone - Delete fulfillment

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.  

The following article applies to FlexSim versions 26.0 and older. For Autodesk FlexSim 2027 and onward, please visit Autodesk FlexSim 27.0 Licensing and Sign-in Experience   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.

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.  

The instructions below are for offline/Manual XML licensing. If your server successfully connects to the Internet and to FlexSim's main license server, you can try our simpler online 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 returning/upgrading by highlighting the Fulfillment ID and pressing Ctrl+C. Generate return request If your license server cannot connect to the Internet, you need to return manually. In the FlexSim ServerActUtil program, select Tools > Manual Activation > Generate Request. Choose the Return option. Paste the Fulfillment ID into the field using Ctrl+V. Browse to select a location and file name for your XML return request. Press the Generate button. Repeat for all licenses you wish to upgrade. This creates a return request XML file for each license you are upgrading. Copy the XML return request files to a location with Internet access. Log in to your FlexSim Account. Use the top page navigation to select your Licenses page, then choose Manual XML in the Licenses submenu: Drag your XML requests onto the dropzone (alternatively you can click the dropzone and browse to a file to upload). Your XML request will be uploaded and processed. If there are any errors, you will get more information about the problem which you can use in contacting your local FlexSim representative for help. If the XML request is successfully processed, you will be prompted to download the response XML file. Download your XML responses and transfer them back to your license server. Process each response XML file by opening flexsimserveractutil.exe and going to Tools > Manual Activation > Process Response. Browse to each response XML file and Process. Your licenses should be successfully returned. 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.

FlexSim licenses can either be standalone or network-based. Each license model has its pros and cons. Learn more about these two different license models. You're here because you've chosen network licensing and you're ready to get started. A license manager by any other name FlexSim is licensed using technology from Revenera's FlexNet. FlexNet is one of the top software licensing technologies and is used by many large software companies, including several others in the engineering software space. FlexNet offers two different license managers: lmtools and lmadmin. You decide which platform will work best for your organization's needs. (Spoiler alert: we like lmtools best). lmtools Hosting your FlexSim licenses with lmtools lmtools is a simple utility for creating and managing the licensing service that will serve your FlexSim licenses to your organization's client PCs. This basic utility isn't installed - it is a simple executable. It has no 3rd party dependencies. For maximum security, compatibility, and simplicity, FlexSim recommends using lmtools. Many organizations that add FlexSim to their toolkit already use lmtools for managing their license hosting services for other software, so using lmtools to manage your FlexSim licenses just makes sense. Even if your FlexSim purchase marks the first time your org has set up a license manager, lmtools is a great way to go, and is our recommended license manager. Visit Hosting your FlexSim licenses with lmtools for a complete reference on configuring your license server using lmtools. lmadmin Hosting your FlexSim licenses with lmadmin lmadmin is FlexNet's newer, shinier license manager. It includes a web-based front end, so all the administration is done from your web browser. It is more complex than lmtools, serving both the licensing service and a management front end, and lmadmin relies on Java, which you will need keep up to date with patches and security updates. FlexSim usually does not recommend lmadmin, mainly because of the more complex configuration needed to host and manage the web front end (including additional firewall considerations, an extra username and password, etc.), its reliance on Java, and the fact that many FlexSim users already host other software licenses using lmtools. Visit Hosting your FlexSim licenses with lmadmin for a complete reference on configuring your license server using lmadmin.

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.

Have you received this licensing error? An error occurred in the activation request Operations error: 7189 Client activation is not allowed to activate: Check the license model to make sure a client can activate. You may encounter this error if you attempt to activate a network license directly within FlexSim software. A network license is intended to be installed on a license server using a FlexNet license manager - either lmtools or lmadmin. Please see our instructions for installing a license server, which also include directions for connecting your client software to the license server to obtain a license.

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.

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).  

Does your license server randomly stop serving your FlexSim seats? When you check the logs, do you see error messages like the following? 5:34:42 (flexsim) Trusted storage binding change detected! Vendor daemon is being shutdown. 5:34:42 (flexsim) EXITING DUE TO SIGNAL 65 Exit reason 42 5:34:47 (lmgrd) flexsim exited with status 65 (Trusted storage binding change detected.) 5:34:47 (lmgrd) Vendor daemon shutdown - trusted storage binding change detected. Hosting your license server on a VM Many organizations host their license servers on virtual machines and this is a perfectly fine and fully supported way to host your licenses. However, you should be aware that some common virtual machine workflows can disrupt your license server. For instance, you may encounter the errors above if you restored your VM's state to a live snapshot. A live snapshot takes a snapshot of memory as well as disk. Hyper-V is an example of a hypervisor that allows live snapshotting. If a virtual machine does a revert-to-live-snapshot operation, restoring the memory and disk to a previous state, it can interrupt the integrity of your server's trusted storage. To prevent any corruption of your Trusted Storage state, Trusted-Storage-based license servers poll Trusted Storage every 90 seconds to determine if a snapshot restore has occurred. Hence, within at least two minutes of a Trusted-Storage-based license server being reverted, it will shut down, with server log messages similar to the log block above. This shutdown helps preserve the integrity of your license server's local trusted storage. Restoring functionality As you can see at the bottom of the error message, the resultant state of your license server is that your vendor daemon is shut down. This means that your license server is no longer serving FlexSim seats. To restore full functionality, simply start (or restart) the service from Windows services: Or if you're hosting your licenses with lmadmin, start (or restart) the vendor daemon:

Have you received this licensing error? Operations error: 7284 Cannot perform support actions on inactive fulfillment record FID_ ... (entire fulfillment ID listed) You may encounter this error during an attempted license return or repair. This error means that the fulfillment was already returned. A fulfillment is an activation of a license. Once that activation has been returned to the main license server, the fulfillment becomes inactive. It is meaningless to return or repair a fulfillment that has already been returned. So, how do you have an inactive fulfillment still on your computer if it was supposedly returned? There are a couple of ways this can happen: Someone requested that the license be force-returned. Sometimes a license can be lost, so a client contacts their local distributor to force the license back. Later on, the license is found activated on a PC, however it will not be returnable because the license was already force-returned. You returned your license normally, but later restored your computer from a backup or otherwise rolled back to a previous state. This may break your license, but in trying to repair the old fulfillment, the main license server reports to you that actions cannot be taken on that inactive fulfillment - it was already returned. The point with this error is that FlexSim's main license server has a record that your fulfillment was already returned. The fulfillment you are trying to return or repair is inactive - no actions can be taken on it. The solution is to delete the fulfillment record from your PC: License Server - Delete fulfillment Standalone - Delete fulfillment

Open FlexSim Software. Click Help in the main menu. Choose License Activation. Click the Return tab. Each of your activated licenses will be listed in the dropdown selector. Select a license you want to return. Click the Return button. Please wait while your FlexSim Software communicates with the license server. The status text will update, and should end with an indication of success. Repeat to return any other Activation IDs that need to be returned.

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:  

Verify Connectivity   Issues with client-server licensing can often be traced to communication issues that prevent the client PC and server from communicating. The first step is to verify whether the client PC can connect to the license server over the licensing ports.   Even if you successfully establish connectivity, remember that server configuration or license issues can also keep a client PC from becoming licensed. See our Troubleshooting Tips article for guidance.   Basic connectivity (ping test)   On the client PC, click the Start button or press the Windows key, then type “cmd” into the search box in the Start menu, and press Enter. Windows will search for and open the Command Prompt.   From the command prompt, enter ping [server name or IP address]. For example, if your license server has a local IP address of 10.0.0.135, then type on the command line ping 10.0.0.135.   If you are referencing your license server by name in FlexSim software’s License Activation interface, use the same fully qualified domain name here instead of the IP address:     If your client PC receives a response from your license server, then the server is visible across the network, by name or IP address, from the client PC.   Advanced connectivity - ports test   If you can pass the ping test the next step is to see if the required ports are open for communication. There are a couple of methods you can use to test if your client PC can connect to your license server over the ports specified in the .lic file.   PowerShell Test-NetConnection   From Windows PowerShell, enter Test-NetConnection [server name or IP address] -Port [port number]. For example, if your license server has a local IP address of 10.0.0.135, and is hosting FlexSim licensing over our default ports 26914 and 56914, you should run the following two commands:   Test-NetConnection 10.0.0.135 -Port 26914 Test-NetConnection 10.0.0.135 -Port 56914   If both of these commands include in their response TcpTestSucceeded : True, then the required connectivity is available. Test-NetConnection documentation   Telnet   Check out our tutorial video at https://flexs.im/telnet that guides you through the basic steps of enabling telnet on your client PC, then using it to test port connections from a client PC to your license server.   Double check your configurations   If you can't establish a ping connection or a port connection, use the suggestions below to double-check your settings. Or perhaps you passed the connection verification checks but FlexSim Software is still not getting licensed? These connectivity tips may reveal the solution:   CLIENT PC SETTINGS - You may have a typo or otherwise have misconfigured the settings that point your client PC to the license server. Double check that your settings are entered using the correct format (single-user client PC, multi-user client PC).   PORT & ADDRESS - Double check the port number and server address/name used in activating licenses on your client PC. Make the port number specified is the number in use for your license service. Our default port number is 26914 but enter your custom port number if you set your own.   SERVER FIREWALL - Did you add the required exceptions to your license server’s firewall (lmtools, lmadmin)? To any other network appliances and firewalls (lmtools, lmadmin)?   Connectivity suggestions   You've triple-checked your client PC settings. You've set firewall exceptions. The port test still shows that you can't connect from the client PC to the server. What can you do?   These aren't fixes, but they can help you narrow the source of the problem so that you can find a solution.   CHECK THE LICENSE SERVER - Maybe your license server isn't actually serving your licenses. You can install the FlexSim simulation software locally on your license server, then using the port you specified (default is 26914) and the local IP address 127.0.0.1, you can point your local FlexSim installation to the local license server to see if your license server can license itself. If it can't, check out these license-server troubleshooting tips (where you'll also read about this local test troubleshooting method).   DISABLE FIREWALLS (temporarily as a test) - A connection issue could be caused by a firewall configuration problem on the client PC, on the license server, or on some network appliance in between. One at a time, disable intervening firewalls on the client PC, the license server, and appliances in-between, as applicable. With each disabled firewall, retest connectivity. If connectivity is established after disabling a firewall, work on that firewall's configuration, then reenable it. Test again. Repeat for each firewall until a connection between client and server can be established.   DISABLE ANTI-VIRUS (temporarily as a test) - Some anti-virus solutions will block application communications. Disable anti-virus software on the client PC. If nothing changes, also disable anti-virus on the 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.   ASK YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD ADMIN - Your network may have settings, topology, filtering, etc. that affect the client PC’s ability to communicate with the license server. Work with your network administrator to make sure the client PC can communicate with the license server across your network using both port numbers - for the licensing service and the vendor daemon. See default and custom port numbers.

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.  

Sometimes things don't work out the way you thought they would. Usually, at least with license servers, it just means that you missed a step, or there is some issue that wasn't considered. Below we'll outline some things you should check:   Server configuration   - Check the service   Is the FlexSim_License service you created using LMTOOLS up and running? When you created and configured your licensing service, did you check the log file? Look for any errors or issues in the log. Troubleshoot the service if necessary.   - Local test   You can rule out configuration issues by installing FlexSim locally on your license server. Configure the local FlexSim installation using the port you specified (default is 26914) and the local IP address 127.0.0.1, to point your local FlexSim installation to the local license server to see if your license server can license itself.   - Connectivity problems   If your local test works, then your client PC licensing issues may actually stem from connectivity problems. In that case, check out our article Client/Server connectivity.   - Check, check again   Double check that your server is configured properly. When viewing your license service’s log file, you should see indications of ports in use, features being served, etc. (lmtools, lmadmin). If no features are listed, or port numbers are different than what was expected, please revisit the configuration guide (lmtools, lmadmin). Carefully read and execute each step of the instructions to make sure that you have properly configured your license server.   Overzealous anti-virus   Some anti-virus solutions prevent unrecognized services from running or accessing necessary functionality. If a local test (above) works, you may only need to test disabling anti-virus solutions on the client PC. Or if you're trying to get the license service to run on the server, you may need to test there also. Remember to reactivate your anti-virus software after this experiment.   Version or product mismatch   Your actual license, activated to your server using flexsimserveractutil.exe (online, manual), must be for a FlexSim version the same or greater than the software’s version number.   Your license is also for a specific product (FlexSim vs FlexSim Healthcare vs FlexTerm, etc.).   See the article FlexSim Version Numbering, for more information regarding FlexSim versioning and how it relates to licensing.   Seats all in use   If your FlexSim client software is not obtaining a license from the server, it’s possible that all seats are already in use on other client PCs. Check the log files (lmtools, lmadmin) to determine where your seats are currently in use.

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.  

Background   Often a client PC is used by a single user who should have access to change license settings.   This method saves licensing settings to the user’s Windows profile. In this manner licensing is saved on a per-user basis and should be completed in advance for each FlexSim user on this client PC.   In some situations it is better to license the PC once for any user who might log in. This can be the case for a university computer lab, for instance. If your situation would be better served by licensing the software one time for all users of the PC, please check out our guide to license a mult-user client PC.   Configure Licensing   To license an individual Windows user, do the following while logged into Windows as that user:   Open FlexSim software on the client PC by right clicking the program icon and choosing Run as Administrator. You won't normally need to start FlexSim under elevated privileges, but sometimes licensing the PC for the first time requires it. Go to the software’s main menu and select Help > License Activation. Navigate to the License Server tab. Check Use concurrent licensing. Enter the License Server Address using the form port@host, where host is an IP address or fully qualified domain name (FQDN). For example, if your license server is reachable via the FQDN licenseserver.mycompany.com: If you used FlexSim’s default license service port number, enter [email protected]. If you specified a custom port, use that number instead. For example, if you entered 27500 as your custom port number, you should enter [email protected]. Click Apply Configuration.   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 enter all available license server options, separated using a semi-colon, like this:   [email protected];[email protected];[email protected]   Here is an example image:   The software will attempt to contact each license server in turn until it obtains a seat or has attempted all license servers and failed.   In the example above, lic.server.one and lic.server.two are fully qualified domain names to properly configured license servers, with lmgrd serving on ports 26914 and 27001 respectively. You could also use an IP address instead of a FQDN.   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.