Problem

Abaqus license files are machine-specific, so a new license file will need to be generated when needing to move a license. This article goes through the steps for moving an Abaqus FLEXNet license server to a new Windows machine.

Solution Step 1: Generate a new license file

Please contact our Technical Support team so that we can generate a new license file for the new machine. To generate the new license file, we will need the "MAC Address" of the new machine that will be hosting the license server. This can be found by typing "ipconfig /all" into the Windows Command Prompt and sending us the "Physical Address" for one of the network components, such as the wifi adapter.

After we receive the new MAC address, we can generate a new license file to send to you, and you can proceed to install the FLEXnet License Server in the next Section.

Solution Step 2: Install FLEXnet License Server

The installation files can be obtained at https://software.3ds.com/, but if you previously downloaded the file set, you could use that as well. Running the setup.exe will start the installation, and you can select to install only the FLEXnet License Server. Further download instructions and installation PDFs can be found in this article:
How To Download And Install Desktop SIMULIA Products – Hawk Ridge Systems

We also recommend adding the firewall exceptions to the License Server as mentioned in the following article:
Abaqus Firewall Exceptions – Hawk Ridge Systems

After the License Server is installed, continue to the next section.

Solution Step 3: Point Clients to the New Server

After the FLEXnet License Server has been installed, the client machines will need to point to this license server.  This can be done by editing the "custom_v6.env" file on the client machine. 

1. Open the Client Machine
2. Locate the "custom_v6.env" file in C:\SIMULIA\EstProducts\<year>\win_b64\SMA\site 
   Note: Versions older than 2020 have this file located in: 
   C:\Program Files\Dassault Systemes\SimulationServices\<year>\win_b64\SMA\site
3. Edit the file in a text editor such as Notepad 
4. Edit the line for "abaquslm_license_file" to point to the new server machine so that it reads as:
   abaquslm_license_file = "<port>@<server name>" 
5. Have the client machines attempt to open Abaqus to pull licnesing