A Siemens problem with license recognition

Hi... All was well, then suddenly.. The horror! For no apparent reason, I no longer have a license key for TIA basic V11 .. sniff. It worked great about a week ago. I have "System Manager" which likes to get me to turn off all unnecessary start-up programs .. I think I turned off something related to auto license manager .. then when I got the notice "no license key" when I tried to run the TIA, I went back and turned on all programs that were turned off.. (now have 33 start-up programs .. sigh!) Anyway.. that didn't help.

look at what I got for pop up windows from Siemens: (see attachment(s)

Tried to run Auto license manager.. couldn't do that either..it said "the auto License manager service hasn't been started" ... DUH! what does that mean.. how does one do that.

Any clues out there on how to fix this?... Thanks, Regards, Michael

Tried to add some pics of the windows that popped up from Siemens.. trying again:

Note that these windows provide no help whatever.. hopefully, there's some Siemens engineers out there

Since you are running XP, you could try to run (start->run) "services.msc"
This shows a list of all services on the system and if and how they are started. You might look there to find the service and start it manualy or put it in automatic.

Lamboom said:

Hi... All was well, then suddenly.. The horror! For no apparent reason, I no longer have a license key for TIA basic V11 .. sniff. It worked great about a week ago. I have "System Manager" which likes to get me to turn off all unnecessary start-up programs .. I think I turned off something related to auto license manager .. then when I got the notice "no license key" when I tried to run the TIA, I went back and turned on all programs that were turned off.. (now have 33 start-up programs .. sigh!) Anyway.. that didn't help.

look at what I got for pop up windows from Siemens: (see attachment(s)

Tried to run Auto license manager.. couldn't do that either..it said "the auto License manager service hasn't been started" ... DUH! what does that mean.. how does one do that.

Any clues out there on how to fix this?... Thanks, Regards, Michael

Click to expand...

You can start the Automation License manager, wait an then fire up your step7 (TIA portal).
If all is well and you haven't deleted the jeys, you should be up and running in no time, as long as you do have a valid lecense.
Re-boot, start the License manager, wait until it is loaded and then fire up the TIA portal software.

Or as wimpiesplc suggested, try to find what you have stopped under services.

Thanks for the reply bkottaras .. Turns out I cannot "start" Automation License Manager. If i right-click "Open" only this window pops up: (see attachment) nothing will happen until I do what it wants.. however, I don't know how to do what it wants...sigh!) when I click the OK.. nothing happens.

I turned off 2 Siemens programs, then turned them on again.. and restarted..

Basically.. there is no way to "install" a license key. I know the license number. but, there is no way to install it. When the TIA portal is installed.. the "key" is automatically installed.

By the way.. I just tried to install TIA portal V13 on a different computer. The software came with a small USB memory stick.. labeled "license key" .. there were no instructions as to how to install this software... it's just automatically happens when you insert the DVD.. 'cept it doesn't... you have to double-click on START in the root directory of the DVD.

When the install had almost finished, a window asked for the license key... I plugged in the memory card.. hit the "install" button .. and the install failed. so I continued without installing the license... Later when I tried to run the V13 it wanted the key. nothing I did with the memory stick worked.

They have a massive "read this" file that would take several hours to wade through, and is totally unintelligible .. sigh.
I've sent eMail to the Siemens rep, where i purchased both programs .. perhaps they will know what to do. I just hopped someone on this list had experienced the same problem.

Another thing... unlike the Auto License manager for V11, the Version 13 does open! However it only displays information about license keys you have installed.. but, offers no way to install one.. DUH!

Where do these Siemens programmers learn their user unfriendly craft?

Regards, Michael

as Wimpiesplc suggested, click Start>Run and type services.msc. This will bring up a list of all the services running. Somewhere in that list will be your Siemens license manager - you might have to look through carefully to find it but it should be there. Once you find it, set the startup type to automatic and reboot your computer

Dear Wimpiespic.. Thanks for the suggestion.. I can't believe I killed the record of the license key by turning off, then turning back on the Siemens Automation License Manager program. .. I know all programs are on and running .. It just doesn't know the key.. but, I do.. too bad, there's no way to re-install it. sigh! I'll get Siemens on the phone .. it's probably best that way ... Thanks again.

PS... I will try what Wimpiesplc said... thanks

Have you tried just de-installing and re-installing the automation license server?

Hi boneless .. That's too much work.. because it was updated 5 steps.. and, perhaps that's the problem.. Siemens likes to re-issue a license if you do too many updates... I'll do that if i have to.. then again.. why so much trouble installing TIA version 13.. How hard could it be to simply enter directly, a license key code, like everyone else in the world does?

I agree that the TIA license system is a pain!! I am working from memory here, plug in the USB key, start up License Manager, navigate to the USB key, then an option in one of the menus lets you transfer the key to the computer.

With a floating key you would have thought that you could just plug the key in to a computer, but no, you have to transfer it to the computer, then if you want to use it soemwhere else you have to transfer it back to a USB stick, and then transfer on to the new computer. PIA!! (not Pakistan International Airline).

I also think :
a) Licence Manager should start whether or not there is a licence installed. It would just give an empty list if not.
b) the licence was previously installed on the harddrive (C: ) (in some hidden map) and is not gone unless you did weird things with your hard-drive like formatting it.

boneless said:

Have you tried just de-installing and re-installing the automation license server?

Click to expand...

Lamboom said:

Hi boneless .. That's too much work..

Click to expand...

No it is not.
It does not take very long to reinstall ALM. Much less than you have already spent posting on this forum !
No guarantee that a reinstall will fix it, but it is definitely the 1st thing to do.

I suspect that your PC is quite old since it is XP. Have you ever had it reinstalled (Windows and everything). My experience is that PCs starts to "act funny" after a couple of years. Reinstalling it clears up a lot.

Besides, you should seriously consider to get a new PC with at least Windows 7. To run TIA on an old PC, its just painful to even think of.
And, Microsoft has ended support of XP. This is a very serious issue, with security holes not being closed.

Hay BryanG .. Thanks!... I will try that too!