Have your licenses expired?

• Open the License Administrator and select the option to Show Expired Licenses. You can also check your account at www.sidefx.com/services.

• If you are an Indie customer, you can purchase a new license here.

• If you are customer using FX or Core, please contact your account manager or sales@sidefx.com.

Have you changed any hardware in your computer?

• If yes, then most likely the SERVER code on your machine has changed. Please see here to fix this issue.

• If you haven't changed anything, try reinstalling the SERVER key. If this is an ongoing issue and you are on Windows, see here about Hyper-V and virtual ethernet adapters.

Have you recently changed the name of your computer?

• Please rename the computer back to the original name used when you licensed Houdini.
• You can see the machine name tied to your licenses when you log into your account.
• Go to Services->License Manager->Manage your licenses for details.

Are you experiencing a licensing loop? You cannot get past the licensing prompt.

• Refer to the section License activation loop.

Are you using OSX and moving between networks?

• OSX has a feature in that it allows network routers to change the machine name. This will invalidate your Houdini licenses. If you notice your machine name has changed, rename it back to what it was.
• You can see the machine name tied to your licenses when you log into your account.
• Go to Services->License Manager->Manage your licenses for details.
• See here for more troubleshooting tips on OSX.

Other things to check

• The reported local hostname matches the name tied to the licenses if running the licenses on the local machine. Did the machine name change? What computer name are the licenses looking for?

• Ensure the license server (sesinetd) and the client program (hserver) are running.

  • If the server daemon does not start

• If connecting to a remote license server, make sure your local machine matches the allowed subnet for the licenses on the server. Also make sure that the local machine (client) can connect to the license server on TCP port 1715.