Troubleshooting License Errors
If you have questions or problems with your installation, start by checking the COMSOL Support Knowledge Base at www.comsol.com/support/knowledgebase/ for up-to-date information about installation and license issues. If this does not help, then please contact COMSOL technical support at support@comsol.com.
the comsol support knowledge base
The most important Knowledge Base entries for installation questions and license errors are the following:
Subject
Knowledge Base Entry
Could not obtain license for COMSOL Multiphysics GUI
www.comsol.com/support/knowledgebase/903
Running COMSOL in parallel on clusters
www.comsol.com/support/knowledgebase/1001
Updating the COMSOL License Manager
www.comsol.com/support/knowledgebase/1022
COMSOL Installation Companion
www.comsol.com/support/knowledgebase/1077
Error: An error has occurred. See the log file C:\Users...
www.comsol.com/support/knowledgebase/1083
Selecting hardware for clusters
www.comsol.com/support/knowledgebase/1116
Error: Error downloading file. Connection refused: connect
www.comsol.com/support/knowledgebase/1149
You can also view videos about installation at: www.comsol.com/videos.
License Errors
This section summarizes the most common post-installation error messages generated by the COMSOL software, and it gives some advice how to troubleshoot them. For a complete list of error messages, see the FlexNet license manager documentation. This documentation is shipped with your COMSOL installation; see FlexNet® License Manager Documentation on where to find it.
If you need to review the license manager log file, or send it to COMSOL technical support, this is where you usually find it (depending on choices you made during the installation):
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Windows: C:\ProgramData\COMSOL\comsol60.log.
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macOS: /var/tmp/comsol60.log
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Linux: /var/tmp/comsol60.log
If you need to access the license file, this is where you usually find it:
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Windows: C:\Program Files\COMSOL60\Multiphysics\license\license.dat
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macOS: /Applications/COMSOL60/Multiphysics/license/license.dat
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Linux: /usr/local/comsol60/multiphysics/license/license.dat
Error Message
Explanation
License error
A general license error has occurred. Check the error message for details that might help solve the problem. If you need help in interpreting the information, see the FlexNet License Manager documentation or send the complete error message to support@comsol.com.
License error: -1. Cannot find license file.
The license file is missing or your system settings don’t allow you to read the file. Review the license manager installation steps above and check that you have administrative rights on your computer.
License error: -2. Invalid license file syntax.
There is a formatting problem with your license file. This can happen if you edit it with a word processing software such as Microsoft Word which inserts extra (invisible) characters. Use a plain text editor instead (on Windows: Notepad, WordPad, or similar). Formatting problems can also happen if the file is damaged while being copied or emailed from one computer to another.
License error: -4. Licensed number of users already reached.
The license manager has detected that all available licenses of a certain COMSOL product have been used by other users. Contact your license administrator and report this problem. You might need more licenses of one of the add-on products.
License error: -5. No such feature exists.
The license manager has encountered a problem during startup. Check the license manager log file for error messages.
Please send the log file to support@comsol.com if you want help in interpreting the information.
NOTE: The license manager creates the log file. If there is no log file, make sure to first start the license manager. Please refer to one of the License Manager Installation sections of this manual for instructions how to install and start the COMSOL license manager.
License error: -10. Feature has expired.
This error message indicates that you have a time-limited (trial) license and that your license has expired. Contact your license administrator to see if a more recent license file is available. You can also contact a COMSOL representative to renew your time-limited license.
License error: -12. Invalid returned data from license server system.
Check that no firewall on the COMSOL client is preventing the connection from the COMSOL client to the license server. Temporarily disable any firewall on the COMSOL client to see if that helps.
Check that no firewall on the license server is preventing the connection from the COMSOL client computer to the license manager, or the connection from the lmgrd daemon and the LMCOMSOL daemon.
If the problems remain, send the license manager log file to support@comsol.com.
License error: -15. Cannot connect to license server system.
The COMSOL license manager has not been installed or started yet. If the first line of your license.dat file looks like this:
   SERVER mylicserver 000123456789 1718
a license manager is required. Please refer to the License Manager Installation sections of this manual for instructions on how to install and start the COMSOL license manager.
Check that no firewall on the COMSOL client is preventing the connection from the COMSOL client to the license server. Temporarily disable any firewall on the COMSOL client to see if that helps.
Check that no firewall on the license server is preventing the connection from the COMSOL client computer to the license manager.
Check that the license.dat file on the COMSOL client computer points to the correct license server hostname. First, find the license.dat according to the instructions above.
Check that the first line has the correct license server hostname. For example, if your license server hostname is apollo, the first row in the license.dat file should look like this:
   SERVER apollo 000123456789 1718
If the COMSOL client computer does not recognize apollo as a proper hostname, it might help to instead use the fully qualified domain name (apollo.thecompany.com) or the IP address. If neither of these work, there might be a problem with DNS or the HOSTS file on the client. Please ask your system administrator for advice on how to connect with TCP/IP to the license server.
Finally, the license manager might have encountered a problem during startup. Check the license manager log file for error messages.
Note: The log file is created by the license manager after it has been started.
Please send the log file to support@comsol.com if you want help in interpreting the information.
For information about a loss of connection to the license server while running the COMSOL Multiphysics software, see License Server Interruptions below.
License error: -39. User/host not on INCLUDE list for feature.
The error means that your username does not match the one listed in the license-manager options file, LMCOMSOL.opt. To get access to COMSOL, ask your license/system administrator for help. When the username in the options file is changed, the license manager must be shut down and restarted to give the new user immediate access to COMSOL.
License error: -88. System clock has been set back.
The software has detected that a system clock has been set back.
Please make sure that your computer’s clock is set to the current local time and date. If the problem remains check that there are no files on your hard drive that have a future date.
License error: -96. License server machine is down or not responding.
Please make sure that the SERVER hostname in the license.dat file is valid and that the TCP/IP network connection between the application computer and the license server is working properly.
This error could also indicate that your firewall is not configured properly in order to let the license manager and vendor daemon network traffic through (typically ports 1718 and 1719). It could also indicate problems with other network security settings. Contact your systems administrator for help.
License error: -97. The desired vendor daemon is down.
The license manager has encountered a problem during startup. Check the license manager log file for error messages.
NOTE: The log file is created by the license manager after it has been started.
Please send the log file to support@comsol.com if you want help in interpreting the information.
License Server Interruptions
If the license server does not respond during a COMSOL Multiphysics session so that the COMSOL Multiphysics software cannot connect to the license server, you will see the following effects:
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The following error message appears after a few minutes:
Click Save and Exit to save the current COMSOL Multiphysics model and then exit, or click Exit to exit from the COMSOL Desktop without saving. You could also wait to see if the connection can be reestablished. If you choose to save the mode, you get a choice of location for the file. In addition, if there are models on the server that are not used by the COMSOL Desktop, they are saved immediately in their original locations with autosaved appended to their filenames in order not to overwrite the original files. Models that have never been saved are saved in the recovery folder also when recovery is not enabled. However, if there is no recovery file and the program has stopped when executing a runnable, it is not possible to save the model. If you are running a COMSOL batch job, the output file is used if it is not identical to the input file.
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As soon as the connection to the license servers has been lost, you will not be able to add feature nodes with license requirements to the Model Builder. Trying to add such nodes result in an error message such as “Could not obtain license for Floating Potential 1 {fb1}, Required product: AC/DC Module” and a license error -15 (see list of license errors above).