Floating license troubleshooting guide

Please find below information to help you troubleshoot a GWB floating license installation.

I. Common error messages

A. On a client in the GWB Activation Utility

  • License server machine is down or not responding
    The client cannot connect to the server machine at all. An incorrect hostname may have been specified, or a firewall may be blocking access.
  • Cannot connect to license server system
    The client can find the server machine, but it cannot connect to the specified port. An incorrect hostname or port was specified, or there may be firewall issues.
  • Cannot read data from the license server system
    The client connected to the server on the specified port, but a non-FLEXlm service is running there, the FLEXlm service needs to be restarted, or possibly it is a drastically different LMGRD version running. Double check the hostname and port are correct and that you are using the provided version of lmgrd.exe.
  • License server system does not support this feature
    The client connected to a FLEXlm service, but could not find any GWB packages. Verify the license is activated on the server, check the LMGRD log file to see if any errors show, and make sure LMGRD is set to use the correct license file.
  • The desired vendor daemon is down
    The client connected to a FLEXlm service, but the HYDROKEY daemon is not available. Check the LMGRD log file for errors and verify that LMGRD is set to use the correct license file.
  • Version of Vendor daemon too old
    The client can find the server, but it cannot check out a license. Update your GWB license server to the latest version.

B. On the server in the debug log

  • (time) (hydrokey) Unable to initialize access to trusted storage: 15
    This error can appear if the service does not have proper rights to access the FlexNet Licensing service. Make sure that "FlexNet Licensing Service Required" was checked when configuring the service. If it is already checked, toggle it by unchecking the box, saving the service, rechecking the box, and then saving the service again.
  • (time) (hydrokey) Unable to initialize access to trusted storage: (not 15)
    This error can occur if the hydrokey.exe file was moved from the default installation location without the other files that it depends on. If the vendor daemon needs to be moved to a different location, all files in the GwbLicenseServer folder should be moved along with it.

II. Running LMGRD and HYDROKEY directly

You may find it useful at times to run LMGRD directly, rather than from the LMTOOLS program. Follow these steps to do so:

  1. Open a command prompt:
    press +r, enter cmd, and click OK or hit the return key
  2. Change to the GwbLicenseServer installation folder:
    cd "\Program Files\GwbLicenseServer"
  3. Start LMGRD:
    lmgrd.exe -c gwb.lic -z
  4. To stop LMGRD and HYDROKEY, hit ctrl+c or close the command prompt

III. Service won't stop

If you were unable to stop the service from LMTOOLS, you will need to go to Windows Task Manager to end the application. Hit the Windows key, search for and launch Task Manager. Click on “More details” if the default view is in the “Fewer details” mode. Locate lmgrd.exe on the Details pane, right-click, and select End Task. There may be multiple instances of lmgrd.exe that need to be closed.


   If you have multiple services configured you may want to be more selective about which lmgrd.exe processes you want to stop. To differentiate instances in Task Manager you can right click on a column name (e.g. Name, PID, Status, etc.) select select columns and then tick the box for image path name. You will then be able to see which lmgrd.exe processes are in the GwbLicenseServer folder.

IV. Slow license checkout

Licenses should check out from a server quickly, with the network speed being the limiting factor. If checkout seems to be taking a long time, please check the following:

  • The server hostname needs to be set correctly. Compare the result of the “hostname” command on the server to the name the clients are using. If they are not the same, adjust the server's license file accordingly, as set under Server hostname.
  • Remove any license servers from the client that have errors, are not needed, or are not current.

V. Connecting to HYDROKEY directly

While the FLEXlm documentation doesn't mention this setup, it is possible to have clients connect directly with the HYDROKEY vendor daemon. This process is most useful if you are unable to get the hostname specified in the server license file to match the hostname the clients use. To do this you need to set an explicit port for HYDROKEY (see Server ports) and then specify that port when setting up the client.

VI. Running client and server on the same machine

You can test if the server is able to connect to itself and get a license by running the client software on the server.

  • To do this, you must first install and configure the GWB licensing server and also run the client installer on the same computer.
  • Once you have done so, launch the GWB Activation Utility, click New... and then specify “@localhost” for the server and then click Activate.
  • Launch the GWB dashboard from the Windows menu (workbench.exe) and opening a licensed application from the Apps pane.

VII. Antivirus programs

Antivirus programs have been known to interfere with license checkout, on both the server and client sides. The conflicts have for the most part been resolved, but if you encounter issues not otherwise addressed in this guide, check whether temporarily disabling the antivirus program resolves the problem.

Further support

If you have followed the relevant steps for the server and client setup but still cannot resolve your issue, you may send an email to support@gwb.com. Be sure to include a copy of the LMGRD debug log (see the step regarding Configuring services), as well as any error messages shown in the client's activation utility.

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