FlexSim Knowledge Base
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Failed to connect to the license server Have you ever encountered this error? ERROR: flxActAppActivationSend - (50041, 41143, 34) "Failed to connect to the license server or Operations server. Recover: check connection and that server is operational." This error indicates that your computer is not able to communicate with FlexSim's license server. If your computer is purposely air-gapped, please use the Manual XML licensing methods listed at the bottom of this article. Protocols, ports, and addresses A license activation or return will attempt to make HTTP (port 80) and HTTPS (port 443) connections, currently with the following servers: license.flexsim.com www.flexsim.com sw.flexsim.com sw1.flexsim.com Make sure these communications are allowed on your network. To make sure you maintain compatibility with any possible future changes to our server configurations, consider configuring your network to allow communication with any *.flexsim.com subdomain. Troubleshooting Any of the following could prevent your FlexSim software from communicating with FlexSim's license servers: Your computer is air-gapped or otherwise blocked from communicating over the Internet. The FlexSim software is not allowed to communicate over the Internet. FlexSim's above-listed addresses are blocked on your network or computer. Your network communicates through a proxy service but you haven't configured the proxy server settings inside FlexSim. FlexSim's license server may be down due to some outage or maintenance. Let's look at solutions for each possibility: 1. No communication / connection issues If your computer is disconnected from the Internet, you will need to connect in order to activate or return a license online. If this is not possible, please use the Manual XML licensing methods listed at the bottom of this article. You may also see this error if you're on a flaky wi-fi connection, or a slow network connection. The communication must be solid enough that it does not time-out, where the client software is able to receive a response in a timely manner. If you are connected to the Internet but on a slow or unreliable connection, you can fall back to the Manual XML licensing methods, or you can retry the online activation multiple times - it may eventually complete successfully after several attempts. 2. FlexSim's communications are blocked If your computer is connected and you can visit other sites, but FlexSim's licensing actions are still blocked, it could be due to an anti-virus solution or other security measure preventing FlexSim's communications. Work with your IT team to disable such measures and test if FlexSim is allowed to communicate. If so, configure your security measures to allow FlexSim to communicate for licensing purposes, or if that is not possible, use the Manual XML licensing methods listed at the bottom of this article. 3. FlexSim's license server is blocked Perhaps one or more of FlexSim's license server addresses (listed above) is blocked on your network. This could be a deliberate blocking of a specific address, or more likely a general block of a wider range of sites or IP addresses. Work with your IT team to determine if this is the case and if the block can be removed. If that is not possible, use the Manual XML licensing methods listed at the bottom of this article. 4. Proxy is not configured If your network settings require that FlexSim communicates through a proxy server, you'll need to configure the software to do so. For FlexSim version 23.0 and higher you'll do this directly in the software. From FlexSim's main menu, navigate to Help > License Activation > Advanced > Proxy Details. Fill in your proxy server information and click the Apply button. If you're using an older version of FlexSim, you can download this attached model. This is an older model file compatible with FlexSim version 5.0 and up. It has a Model Control GUI that is an extension to the License Activation window that includes this extra tab where you can put proxy details. proxy-details-v5.fsm 5. License is already activated but fulfillment is broken The license you're trying to activate may already be activated on your computer, but in a broken or unusable state. Follow the instructions for your license hosting situation to remove the broken fulfillments: Standalone - Delete fulfillment License Server - Delete fulfillment 6. License server offline There are circumstances when FlexSim's main license server can go offline. Most commonly this is due to regular updates or patches being applied. In this case the server will return to normal operation shortly. Please be patient and try again in a few minutes. In cases where longer maintenance is planned you will find a notification at the top of this community indicating the purpose, date/time, and expected duration of such maintenance. This notification will be given as early as possible to help you plan around such downtime. In rare circumstances an outage could be caused by a failure in one or more of the license server's databases, operating system, server hardware, networking, or data center. When such an outage occurs, we will post a notice at the top of this community and work to restore service as quickly as possible. Help! I need support! If none of the above suggestions work for you, please start a new question and include as many details as possible about what you've already tried and what you see happening. Please be aware that if FlexSim's license server is online and other clients are able to activate and return their licenses successfully, that the issue is within your organization's network or on your computer. The proper place to turn to for support will be to your own internal IT teams. The above information, including the protocols, ports, and addresses and the different troubleshooting suggestions should be enough information to solve the issue. Manual XML licensing If you are not able to allow FlexSim to communicate over the Internet, please use our manual XML activation/return methods for offline systems: Standalone - Activation - XML / Offline Standalone - Return - XML / Offline License Server - Activation - XML / Offline License Server - Return - XML / Offline
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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.
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Node-locked   Node-locked can only be activated once. Be sure that you install the license where you would like it to be installed for the next year. FlexSim can assist with one migration for extenuating circumstances, such as a crashed computer, but there will be fees for any additional migrations. Please contact your distributor to receive assistance with moving your license. The node-locked license feature of terminal server usage (remote desktop) is disabled and cannot be enabled.   Transferable   There is no limit to the number of times a license seat can be activated and returned. If the transferable license is not a network license, then by default the license feature of terminal server usage (remote desktop) is disabled.    Please reference other articles or our documentation for further information about licensing.
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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.
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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).
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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.  
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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.
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Preparation   You will need to be able to transfer plaintext XML license files to and from your offline computer.   Create manual return requests   Open FlexSim Software. In FlexSim's main menu, Go to Help > License Activation. Click the Advanced tab. Go to the Manual Return sub-tab. Each of your activated licenses is listed in the dropdown selector. Select a license you want to return. Click the Generate Request button. You will be prompted to save an XML file. Choose a location and filename to save your XML return request. Repeat for all licenses you wish to return, so that all your XML return request files can be transferred at one time.   Submit your manual return requests   Transfer your XML return 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 your FlexSim Account's page header. Click the Manual XML link in the submenu. Upload your XML file by dragging it onto the drop zone, or click the drop zone and browse to your XML file. Your uploaded XML request will be processed. Upon completion, you will be prompted to download the XML response. Download the response XML file. Repeat for any licenses you are manually returning, so that all your XML return response files can be transferred back to your offline PC at one time.   Process your manual return responses   Transfer your downloaded XML return responses to the offline computer you are un-licensing. In FlexSim, using the same licensing interface where you generated your request, click the Process Response button. Browse to an XML return response file. FlexSim should give you an indication of successful processing of your return, and your return will be complete. Repeat to process the XML return responses for any other licenses you are manually returning.   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.
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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 Tools > Manual Activation > Generate Request. Select the Repair option. Paste the Fulfillment ID into the field (Ctrl-V). Delete any spaces that may have been included before or after the pasted Fulfillment ID. Browse to a location where you will save the XML repair request. Choose a file name for the saved file. Press the Generate button. Repeat steps 4-10 for any broken licenses. Transfer the XML repair request files to an Internet connected computer. The files are plain text XML and can be manually examined in any text editor if necessary for security purposes. Be sure not to modify the files, including line endings. If the file is modified in any way, the various hashes in the file will register the change and the request will fail. Log in to your FlexSim Account. Click the Licenses link in the top navigation menu, 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. Transfer the XML response files back to your license server. In flexsimserveractutil.exe (your instance opened above in step 1 using Run as administrator), from the main menu, choose Tools > Manual Activation > Process Response. Process each response by browsing to an XML response, then pressing the Process button. The license should be successfully repaired. After repair it should be usable and returnable. 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.
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You may find occasion to check the status of your licenses. Perhaps you're trying to diagnose some issue, or you want to check which license is activated, or how many seats. Here we explain how to view the licenses activated to your license server, and their status. 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. View License Rights 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. An information block is printed for each license activated to your license server. You will find listed the unique fulfillment ID for each activation, along with the license code (also called an activation ID and listed here as entitlement ID), its status (fully trusted/enabled, broken, etc.), the number of seats activated, and for timed licenses, an expiration date. Take Action Check the article Licensing Procedures under the Network Licensing heading for instructions if you need to repair or return your license or do any other sort of license maintenance.
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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.
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First things first Sometimes the easiest method for fixing a standalone license is to simply activate the same license again. No need to return first. Just get the full activation ID for any broken licenses and activate them again. Look for the broken licenses within FlexSim by going to Help > License Activation > View Licenses tab and pressing the View Licenses button. Scan the license information for licenses that indicate they are **BROKEN**. For licenses that are broken, look up the full activation IDs in your online FlexSim Account. Using the full activation IDs for each broken license, activate the licenses normally within FlexSim by going to the Activate tab and pasting and activating each activation ID in turn. No need to return the licenses first. In case you need more detailed activation instructions, see: Standalone - Activation - Online Standalone - Activation - XML / Offline If you completed the 3 steps above but encountered error messages, it is time to manually repair your licenses. Okay, time to repair Standalone licensing does not have a method for repairing online. Here are the steps to manually repair your license. These instructions apply to FlexSim 2016 and later. If you are using an older version of FlexSim, please download FlexSim's latest version and follow these instructions. You can manage your older FlexSim licenses from the latest software - the License Activation window will still show your older licenses and you'll be able to complete all these steps for your broken pre-version-16.0 licenses. Open FlexSim as an administrator by right clicking the program icon and selecting Run as Administrator. From the main menu, go to Help > License Activation. Go to the Advanced tab, then the Repair tab. For each broken license listed in the License selector box, click the Generate XML Request button. Save each XML file to a convenient location on your computer. Log in to your FlexSim Account. From the top navigation header click the Licenses link, 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. In FlexSim (your instance opened above in step 1 using Run as administrator), you should still be on the same License Activation > Advanced > Repair tab. Process each response by pressing the Process Response button and browsing to an XML response. FlexSim should successfully repair the license. After repair it should be usable and returnable. 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.
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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.
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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.
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Have you received this licensing error? An error occurred in the activation request Operations error: 7174 Only deployed entitlement line item can be fulfilled. You may encounter this error if your license code is no longer valid or is in need of support. Here are some common scenarios where this might happen: If this was a timed license that has expired, it is no longer viable and was likely obsoleted. If the license was upgraded, you need to make sure you're using the latest version of the activation ID, as any older versions of the license code will not work once an upgrade of the same license has been used. If the license model was changed from standalone to license-server (or vice-versa) you may be trying to use an old license that was replaced. If your license was put into a support state and was not changed back. If you are encountering this error, please start a new Private Question and include your activation ID. We'll be able to look up the specific situation for your license. Or you can reach out to your local distributor for direct phone, email, or web support.
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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.
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Staying up-to-date FlexSim recommends staying up-to-date and using the latest Software version. New features, improvements, and bug fixes make your simulations more stable, more powerful, and easier to build.   In addition, the Software is developed for use with contemporaneous hardware, operating systems, and drivers. Among other reasons, as third parties phase out these technologies, FlexSim must discontinue support for Software versions developed for use with those technologies.   Finally, as usage of older versions decreases, FlexSim must devote its resources to supporting more recent Software versions to best serve the majority of our customers who stay current on Software maintenance and updates.   Lifecycle and Support Policy If you must use an older Software version, understanding the Software Support Lifecycle will help you make informed decisions about when to upgrade.   A Software release is generally supported until it is four (4) or more versions prior to the current release. For the most up-to-date lifecycle and support policy information, please see section 17. Software Support of FlexSim's Software License Agreement.   Lifecycle status terminology Supported - FlexSim will maintain licensing infrastructure necessary for a given Software version and will provide technical support for that version for licensed users under current maintenance or subscription. Bugfixes - Bugfixes are issued periodically for the latest Software version, as needed. A Software version typically receives bugfixes until the next Software feature release. Learn more about FlexSim version numbering and bugfixes. LTS - Long-term support versions receive bugfixes for a longer period, typically 12-15 months. Beta - Preview the next version of FlexSim Software for demonstration, testing, and validation. Beta versions may not be suitable for day-to-day production use. Beta versions are superseded by their production-release version. No support - After a Software version is 4 or more versions older than the latest release it is no longer supported. Such a version may continue to work on the computer where it is installed and licensed, but it is no longer eligible for technical support and FlexSim cannot guarantee that licensing infrastructure will remain in place to move the license key to another computer. Supported Versions The following Software versions are currently supported.    Application   Version   General Availability     Lifecycle Status  FlexSim 25.1 2025-04-14   supported + bugfixes FlexSim 25.0 2024-12-11   supported + LTS FlexSim 24.2 2024-08-05   supported FlexSim 24.1 2024-04-08   supported   Unsupported Versions The following Software versions are past their supported lifecycle. We recommend updating your software to a supported version.    Application   Version   General Availability   End-of-Life   Lifecycle Status  FlexSim 24.0 2024-12-06 2025-04-14 no support FlexSim 23.2 2023-08-07 2024-12-11 no support FlexSim 23.1 2023-04-03 2024-08-05 no support FlexSim 23.0 2022-12-05 2024-04-08 no support FlexSim 22.2 2022-08-02 2024-04-05 no support FlexSim 22.1 2022-04-04 2024-04-05 no support FlexSim 22.0 2021-12-06 2024-04-05 no support FlexSim 21.2 2021-08-09 2024-04-05 no support FlexSim 21.1 2021-04-02 2024-04-02 no support FlexSim 21.0 2020-12-04 2024-03-26 no support FlexSim 20.2 2020-08-11 2024-03-26 no support FlexSim 20.1 2020-04-10 2024-03-26 no support FlexSim 20.0 2019-12-06 2023-12-31 no support FlexSim 17.0 - 19.2 various 2023-12-31 no support FlexSim 7.7 - 16.2 various 2022-06-30 no support HC 5.3 2017-10-13 2022-06-30 no support FlexSim < 7.7 various 2020-12-31 no support HC < 5.3 various 2020-12-31 no support   Notes The date format used is YYYY-MM-DD Bugfix releases follow the same lifecycle as the major release with which they are associated. Versions not listed should be assumed as past their supported lifecycle.
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Why would I delete a fulfillment? You may need to manually delete a fulfillment from your PC if: Your license is broken. Sometimes you can fix this problem yourself by attempting a repair. However, you may get a message that the repair failed. "Repair: failure. Online return/repair request for the activation ID is not originated from the original client machine." In this case contact your local FlexSim distributor to explain the situation and let them take a look. Reference this post. If they determine it is best to delete the broken fulfillment, follow the instructions below to do so. Your distributor will then force-return the broken license so that it will be available for a new activation. You mistakenly requested a force-return of a license. If you later find the fulfillment that you thought was lost, that fulfillment is no longer able to be returned normally (because it was already force-returned). In these cases, and in a few other rare circumstances, you may find it necessary to manually remove a fulfillment from your computer. This process occurs exclusively on your computer without any communication with FlexSim's main license server. Delete your fulfillment FlexSim 23.0 or greater For FlexSim version 23.0.1 or greater, you can delete fulfillments using the License Activation window. From FlexSim's main menu, choose Help > License Activation. Under the Advanced tab, find the Delete sub-tab. Choose the fulfillment you'd like to remove from your computer and click Delete. Confirm your choice to remove the fulfillment from your computer. Currently licenses that are *BROKEN* do not show up in this list (how do licenses become broken?), so if this applies to your situation you will need to use the Older versions method below. Older versions Older FlexSim versions do not have a graphical interface for removing fulfillments, but you can still do so using a FlexScript command. Find the fulfillment ID The first step is to find the fulfillment ID of the license you want to return. This is an identifier unique to the activation you're removing. View your licenses to find the fulfillment ID you wish to remove from your PC. Prepare your delete command Once you know your broken fulfillment ID, you're ready to build the command that will remove it from your computer. licenseactivation(LA_DELETE_FULFILLMENT_RECORD, "paste entire 'FID_...' fulfillmentID here"); Be sure to paste the complete fulfillment ID into the 2nd parameter. Depending on your software's licensed state, you may be able to run this command directly in a script window. If not, we'll work around that limitation by using an object's reset trigger. Execute the delete command There are two ways to manually delete your fulfillment: Run the command in a script window Use a 3D object's reset trigger Run in a Script window If your FlexSim installation is still licensed, you can open a Script window to run FlexScript commands: Run the command console. You will be prompted to confirm that you truly want to remove the fulfillment: Choose Yes to remove the fulfillment. Use a 3D object's reset trigger If your FlexSim software is not licensed the Script command console is not available. Instead, do the following: Create a new model. Drag any object into the 3D view. Create a reset trigger on that object. Enter the FlexScript command into the reset trigger. Press OK to save the script. Reset the model. Choose Yes to confirm that you truly want to remove the fulfillment. 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.
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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:
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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.
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