Answer
Error code 500 or 501
Error code -500 (sometimes -501) is supposed to indicate the registration key in the license does not match the registration key of the computer. The registration key is used by FME to limit the license to a single computer so you need to supply it to us to create your license and during registration it has to match. This error usually means it is wrong in the license or you’re trying to register FME on a machine different to the one whose registration key you sent.
Check your registration key (in the bottom left corner of the registration dialog) against what is in the license (open it in a text editor) and let us know if there is a difference. Please note if you are running FME on a virtual machine and you have changed the physical machine the registration key will have changed.
If the key in the license does not match the key on the computer you may need to request a new license. Please email codes@safe.com with your company name, serial number and machine key.
If the registration key on your machine matches the one in your license file and you continue to receive this error, there may be registry entries blocking the license file. Please note: it is always a good practice to back-up your registry before making changed to it. You can resolve this by delete the following registry keys (they may not all be present)
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Safe Software
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Safe Software Inc.
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Safe Software Inc.
Error code 2
Error code -2 indicates the license has expired – probably it is a temporary or an evaluation license which passed the date on which it is valid. For confirmation check the date in the license (open it in a text editor) against the current date.
Remember: A temporary license starts from the date of issue - not the date it is installed.
Q) I got error code 2 because my PC clock was wrongly set. I reset the clock but the license is still reported as invalid. Why?
A) Error code -2 indicates the license end date is before current system date. This can occur when the system date is wrongly set.
However, FME cannot tell between a sneaky attempt to extend a license and a genuine system date mistake; therefore in this situation it deactivates evaluation licensing.
The only solution to this (that I know of anyway) is to apply a permanent license; the moral of the story being always check the system date
BEFORE installing an FME evaluation license.
Error code 98
Error code -98 indicates the vendor daemon is down/not running on the server.
On the server, start lmtools.exe from the flexserver folder and...
- Choose Start/Stop/Reread > Stop Server followed by Start Server to restart the vendor.
- If this works then check that Config Services > Start Server at PowerUp is checked. If not the service won't restart after a reboot. If it is set already then check permissions for the user who tries to start the process on startup (if they can't start it automatically, but you can manually, then it is probably a permissions problem)
- If that failed then click the View Log button to get more info about why the vendor daemon is not running.
Duplicate license file. The license file is already installed on your computer.
In recent FME builds (approx FME2005 onwards) there is a feature whereby an unlicensed FME will try to contact our licensing server to see if there is a license available for that serial number. If so it will automatically license itself.
The above message is caused when a user tries to manually license FME using the same license it has already automatically obtained for itself. It is not an error and FME should still run correctly.
License Dependency is not supported by current version of FME
This error means that the version of FME you are using does not support the functionality you are trying to license. Data Interoperability is one function that might be affected in this way. The solution is to update FME to a newer build that does support this functionality. Contact your account manager or sales@safe.com to confirm your eligibility for an FME upgrade.