Symptoms

After installing a hardware-locked license and plugging in the dongle, FME still does not get a license.  When starting FME the licensing assistant opens because FME does not have a license.

Note: Safe Software has stopped selling this type of license as of FME 2011 but we will continue to support its use for existing customers.

Cause

The most common causes of this issue are problems with dongle drivers or an incorrect hostid in the license file.  Please see the detailed trouble-shooting steps below.

Resolution

Below are some trouble shooting steps to follow when trying to use a hardware-locked license:
  1. Make sure you have manually copied the fme_license.dat file directly into the <FMEInstall>\licenses directory.  Do not use the FME Licensing Assistant in FME 2011 or later.
  2. Hardware-locked licenses cannot be used with 64 bit FME on Windows 7 - there is currently no work-around for this problem.
  3. Hardware-locked licenses cannot be used when you connected to your machine via remote desktop
  4. Confirm that your computer can see the dongle.  When you first plug the dongle in, allow Windows to update the driver if possible. You can also update the driver in Windows using the Device Manager found in the Control Panel. The dongle should appear as a HASP key when you expand the item Universal Serial Bus controllers, and you can right click on the item to update the driver. You may need to install the dongle drivers manually, please look for the appropriate driver here: http://www.aladdin.com/support/hasp.aspx
  5. Confirm that the fme_license.dat file contains the same hostid as your dongle.  Open the license file in a text editor and compare the hostid to the characters printed on the dongle. The hostid in the license file should be a number then a dash and then 8 further characters, any letters must be in lower case.  Here is an example of a valid host id: FLEXID=9-02fa1ddd.  If the hostid in the license does not match your dongle you will need to request another license from codes@safe.com.
  6. To be completely certain that your computer can see the dongle and to be certain of the hostid you can download the small application called lmtools.exe from the Safe Software FTP site here: ftp://ftp.safe.com/fme/floatingLicense/lmtools.exe.  Double click on the file to run this program (no intsallation setting necessary) and look in the tab called System Settings.  The FLEXID box should show the hostid exactly as it should appear in the license. If the FLEXID box is blank your computer cannot see the dongle and you should go back to step #4.