ERROR: Activation library initialization failed – Error 4

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Marcello Rosadini asked Jan 9, '17 Ben Wilson edited Jan 31, '17

ERROR: Activation library initialization failed – Error 4

Hi,

one of our customers is trying to activate a server license.

They already have LMTOOLS installed for other software.

When they run

flexsimserveractutil.exe (as admin) tehy get :

ERROR: Activation library initialization failed – Error 4

They continued to try to activate anyway, but obviosuly, as expected, it didn't work.

Could you help us?

Thanks

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server license installation and activation error

· 4

Ben Wilson ♦♦ commented · Jan 31, 2017 at 04:50 PM

@marcello.rosadini, is there any update on this case? Were you able to get things working?

Another customer has the same error with flexsimserveractutil.exe. Wondering if you got past it and what the solution may have been. If possible, please send us an update.

Thanks!

0 ·

Marcello Rosadini Ben Wilson ♦♦ commented · Jan 31, 2017 at 05:04 PM

Ben, our customer got it solved, but commented that it consumed a lot of time. Their feedback:

"The problem was that geetting to a certain point, the document asks for starting the service "lmadmin" that is installed. In our case, the system gave an error 1067.

Windows services run with a user, and for this service in particular, the user was not correct (it doesn't ask for it, but i assume it uses the default). We changed it for "System local" and not "Network Service". With this, the system started and we could continue.

Then, inside FlexSim the manual indicates to fill the name or IP of the license server. Even with a screen shot. But it doesn't mention that you need to add "@" before the name.

With these 2 things, is running now.

We'll test it tomorrow, but we believe it is ready now"

Hope this helps!!!

1 ·

Ben Wilson ♦♦ Marcello Rosadini commented · Jan 31, 2017 at 05:30 PM

Thanks @marcello.rosadini, that is useful. Both issues (lmadmin service permissions and using the @ sign in configuring client PCs) are mentioned in the installation instructions, but perhaps they need to be more prominent?...

What about the specific flexsimserveractutil.exe error message mentioned in the question above:

ERROR: Activation library initialization failed – Error 4

Any idea how they got past that error? This error is unrelated to both the issues your client mentioned in their previous comment. If they have any further info on that particular error, it could be helpful.

Also, if you or they have any suggestions for improving the installation instructions, we'd love to have them.

Thanks again to your and your customer!

0 ·

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Answer 1 · 2017-01-09T17:19:38Z

Ben Wilson answered Jan 9, '17 Ben Wilson edited Jan 31, '17

UPDATE: We think that "Error 4" may be caused by not having the latest Flexnet licensing service (or "anchor service") installed.

First you need to uninstall the old anchor service. You can manually uninstall the old Flexnet licensing services following the method outlined here.

You may need to reboot after uninstalling the old services to allow your system to complete the uninstall cleanup. After rebooting you should find that the Flexnet licensing services are no longer listed in Windows view services.

Now that the old services are gone, use flexsimserveractutil.exe (running as Administrator) to install the new licensing service. This is done from flexsimserveractutil.exe, Tools > Licensing Service > Install Anchor Service.

Original answer continues below.

==========

First, make sure you (they) are using the latest version of the License Server tools.

Next, depending on the Operating System, you may need to right click the flexsimserveractutil.exe and choose a compatibility mode to run in. We have seen this be necessary with Windows Server 2003 (which you shouldn't use any more since Microsoft has dropped support for this 14 year old OS). You can do this by right-clicking and selecting Troubleshoot compatibility to automatically try to determine the best settings:

You could also manually choose to run under Windows XP compatibility mode, or any other available modes, by right clicking, selecting Properties, then under the Compatibility tab choosing your own custom settings:

Finally, flexsimserveractutil.exe must be run as Adminstrator. Not only should you be logged in to an account with administrative privileges, but you should right-click the .exe and select Run as administrator:

After successfully opening flexsimserveractutil.exe with administrative privileges, be sure to install the anchor service:

If there was already an anchor service installed, and you are upgrading this license server for use with FlexSim 2017, you should first uninstall the old anchor service. You may need to reboot the computer between uninstalling the old anchor service and installing the new anchor service. If you cannot reboot this license server (it may be hosting other mission-critical services or licensing), you will probably have to uninstall the Flexnet anchor service manually.

After all this, you should be able to activate your licenses by continuing to follow the installation instructions for either lmadmin or lmtools.

2017-01-09-10-09-08-flexsimserveractutil.png (9.5 KiB)

2017-01-09-10-15-02.png (6.9 KiB)

flexsimlicenseserver-installation.jpg (18.3 KiB)

2017-01-10-07-53-26-flexsimserveractutilexe-proper.png (16.3 KiB)

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