• A common issue with OSX is that the machine name may change when moving between networks. This name change will invalidate the installed Houdini licenses.
• With OSX Catalina, sometimes it disables the license server program from starting.

First Issue (machine name changed)

Change the name of your machine back to the name your licenses are tied to. If you don't have this information, you can log into your account at www.sidefx.com/services. Under License Manager, go to Manage your licenses and look at the SERVER column heading.

To prevent OSX from changing your computer name when moving between networks:

Go to Utilities and open the Terminal.

Run the following two commands but substitute your computer name where it says yourmachinename below.
You can use the machine name without the .local or .lan etc.

sudo scutil --set HostName yourmachinename
sudo scutil --set LocalHostName yourmachinename

You will be asked for your machine password (the password you use to log into your computer).

For example, if the machine is called toronto.local or toronto, the commands would be:

sudo scutil --set HostName toronto
sudo scutil --set LocalHostName toronto

After renaming your machine, reboot the computer.
Open the License Administrator and select the Change License Server option and enter the name of your machine.

Second Issue ("service is disabled")

Launch the Terminal from Utilities and type the following command:

sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.sidefx.sesinetd.plist

You will be prompted for a password. This is your password for the machine.

Third Issue (IP address mismatch)

Open the Terminal from Utilities and type the following command on one line and press Enter:

sudo echo 127.0.0.1 machinename.local machinename| sudo tee -a /etc/hosts

You will be prompted for a password. This is the password you use to log into the machine.