Enter the computer name of the license server system autocad

Obtain the Server Host Name and Host ID Manually

If you are unable to use the Network License Activation utility to obtain your server host name and host ID, you can obtain this information manually. Autodesk uses the server host name, host ID, and product serial number to generate a license file.

To obtain the information manually, you can use the Windows command prompt or you can run the lmtools.exe utility. If you use lmtools.exe, do not run it on a remote workstation.

To obtain the host name and ID using the Windows command prompt

Click Start menu (Windows) All Programs (or Programs) Accessories Command Prompt.
At the Windows command prompt, enter the following command, and then press ENTER: ipconfig /all
Locate the Host Name line, and write down the host name.
Locate the Physical Address line. Write down the physical address without the dashes. This is your twelve-character host ID.

Note If your server has more than one network adapter, select the one that corresponds to a physical network adapter. To determine which adapters are physical: in the Windows command prompt, enter ipconfig /all, and then view the Description field above each physical address. If there is more than one physical network adapter, it does not matter which one you use. You just need to make sure that it is properly installed and is functional. Devices such as VPN adapters, PPP adapters, and modems are not valid.

To obtain the host name and ID using lmtools.exe

You should be logged in with Administrator rights when working with the LMTOOLS utility.

Do one of the following:
- Click Start menu (Windows XP & 2000) All Programs (or Programs) Autodesk Network License Manager LMTOOLS.
- Right-click the LMTOOLS icon (Windows Vista) on the desktop and click Run As Administrator.
In the Lmtools program, click the Systems Settings tab.
On the Systems Settings tab, locate the Computer/Hostname box. Copy the host name and paste the information into a text editor.
Locate the Ethernet Address box. The ethernet address is the host ID. It consists of twelve characters. Write down the information. If your ethernet address is more than twelve characters, write down the first twelve characters only.

Note If your server has more than one ethernet adapter, select the one that corresponds to the physical network adapter.

How to switch to a new License Server

This is the file that tells the product where to find the license server. Typically, that file is found in every Autodesk program’s root folder (for example, C:\Program Files\Autodesk\”Product” 20XX\) or in C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\CLM\LGS\ then in a folder starting with the product key number. e.g 001I1_2017.0.0.F for AutoCAD 2017, or 001J1_2018.0.0.F for AutoCAD 2018.

Open the Licpath.lic file in Notepad and you will see what server the software is trying to pull the license from.The formatting will be something like:

“Server Servername 000000000000”

Update the “Servername” text to the correct server name and save the file.
Copy that file to any other effected machines and programs so that they point to the correct server.

Option 2: Use the ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE environment variable.

Setting this environmental variable on a system will override the Licpath.lic files and direct all Autodesk software on a system to a specified server.

Retire the old server

Once all the clients are getting their license from the new server you can safely retire the old server.

Finding Your New Autodesk License Server

Many large organizations use Network Licensing to manage their pools of software licenses. It’s pretty painless to set up, easy to leverage and can be a smart move for groups of users. A small application sits on a server and end users PCs point to that license server to «check out» licenses as they need them.

But, as we all know, sometimes a server dies or it’s time to upgrade it. Reinstalling the license software on a new server is about just as easy as it was on the first server. But a question often comes up: how do the end user PCs find the new license server now?

Where a PC Keeps Its License Server Information

Typically when you install an application like Revit or AutoCAD, you tell the software what kind of license it uses. And if you tell it to use a network license, you then have to tell the software what the computer name or IP address of the license server is. That server name gets baked into some files on the PC, and there isn’t always a straightforward way to point to the new server.

Once you know where to look, it’s not bad, but there are a couple of places that old server name could be stored. I’m going to quickly run through the places it can be kept, and then let you know my favorite way to tell a PC where to find a license server and why.

LICPATH.lic File — Not My Favorite

The licpath.lic file is just a text file that sits either in the program folder, or in one or more subfolders under C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\CLM\LGS. There is one per application. When you open it up it looks like this:

SERVER LICENSE-SERVER-NAME 000000000000 USE_SERVER

So updating it is just a matter of changing «LICENSE-SERVER-NAME» to the name of the new server. Pretty easy, but tracking down the licpath.lic file for each piece of Autodesk software installed on your PC can be a time sink.

Autodesk License Server Registry Setting — DEFINITELY Not My Favorite

In what feels like a very antiquated way to store data, there also is a registry key you can update. In the Windows registry under [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\FLEXlm License Manager] look for the ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE key. The value in this key can either be the licpath.lic file or a server name.

I’m not a fan of poking around the registry when I really don’t need to. Combine that with having either or both of the lic path and the server name makes this method one to avoid.

Environment Variables — My Favorite Way

I’m certainly not alone in this, this is the preferred method of identifying license servers for many users. You can create a Windows environment variable called ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE and the value of that variable can point to the server name or IP address.

Formatting is simple. It should look like this:

@LICENSE-SERVER-NAME

A really nice feature is that if you have redundant servers, you can just string them along in an easy pecking order:

@LICENSE-SERVER1;@LICENSE-SERVER2;@LICENSE-SERVER3

Why is this especially good when you are moving to a new license server? Because even before you shut down the old server and have the new one up and running, you can set up Windows to look for both servers. If Windows doesn’t find one license server, it will simply try the other one. The transition will be invisible to your end users:

@OLD-SERVER;@NEW-SERVER

Some other reasons this is my favorite method:

The environment variable trumps the other methods of license finding (registry, and licpath.lic), so if I have it set here correctly, it doesn’t matter if it’s wrong in the other places.
I can easily update this without uninstalling, reinstalling, reconfiguring, re-whatevering software and deployments.
In a typical Windows Active Directory network, I can easily push these settings to workstations.
I don’t even need to have Autodesk software installed on a PC before I set the environment variable, so setting up a PC out of the box can be a little less rigid.

Some More Resources

If you need some help setting up an environment variable in Windows, check out this link to open up the environment variable dialog box and then hop over here and start at step 3 once you have it open.

If you want some more details on syntax for ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE, check out this link.

Want to read about another useful license server environment variable? Take a look at FLEXLM_TIMEOUT.

Use the adskflex_license_file system variable to point to a license server

When you keep getting the License Finder Dialog instead of obtaining a network license or you have created a new Autodesk license server and need to point your users to the new server(s) (multiple single servers or distributed servers).

Solution:

1. In the Windows 10, type environment variable in the “Type here to search” in the lower left.

2. Start to type Environment Variable and then click on “Edit the system environment variable”

3. Click “Environment Variables…”

4. Click New… under “System variables”

5. Type ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE for “Variable name:” and type 2080@ServerName (ServerName = your license server) for “Variable value:”
Note: When adding multiple servers use a ; (semicolon) between them.

6. Click «Ok», Verify that it is set it in the window and now it’s set!

7. Click «Ok» once more to close the environment variable window and start the program.

About the Author

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