Licensing

Troubleshoot the License Server

If any of the licensing services fail to start, the cluster detects that licensing is offline and tries to restart the service three times (by default). When these attempts are unsuccessful, fail over to the next node begins. The cluster tries to start the services on the second node. When the attempts fail on the second server, the process might enter into an infinite loop. In this case, the computers running the Citrix products fall into the License caching mode. During the License caching mode, client connections are not affected.

Troubleshoot the cluster-enabled License Server

When troubleshooting a cluster-enabled License Server, try the following:

  • If you move the resources to the other node, do you still see the issue?
  • If the installation fails, ensure that you don’t enable the User Account Control (UAC) when installing on a cluster.
  • For Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016, and Windows Server 2012 R2:

    1. In the Failover Cluster Management window, from the left pane, select the cluster. In the middle pane, the summary information for the cluster appears.
    2. Select the Cluster Core Resources title to expand the section.
    3. Verify that the cluster resources are all online (green arrow).

The “-evaluation license-” warning message

After you replace the evaluation license files on the License Server with new license files, the Citrix product might display the following license expiration message when users log on:

Warning: The following Citrix Product is using an Evaluation license. This license will expire in...

To resolve this issue:

  1. Delete the old evaluation license files from the License Server. For more information, see Delete license files.
  2. At the License Server, restart the Citrix Licensing service.
  3. At the Citrix product server that needs license validation, point to a fictional License Server and then point the product back to the actual License Server. (See your product documentation for information about changing these settings.)
  4. If the problem persists, restart the product server (for example, Delivery Controller).

Required product licenses are not installed on Director or Studio

The following error message is displayed on the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Director or Studio UI:

  • Required product licenses are not installed
  • The trial period has expired

The following reasons can cause the error messages:

  • No valid licenses are installed on the License Server
  • Product Edition and Product Model are not set correctly on Citrix Studio
  • If the maintenance dates of the licenses are not compatible with the product version installed

To resolve this issue:

  1. On Citrix Studio, check if the licenses are reflecting the correct maintenance dates. If not, reallocate and import renewed licenses. For more information, see the Citrix article CTX134629.
  2. Verify if Citrix Studio is pointing to a valid License Server.
  3. Click Edit Product Edition under Actions and choose the correct licensing edition or model as per the licenses applied.
    • If the right edition or model is set and still the error remains, toggle between the license editions. Then choose the correct one.
    • If the above steps do not work, click “change license server” under actions and click connect.
  4. Relaunch Citrix Studio and then reboot the product server if the issue persists.

Note:

License Server VPX is not compatible with Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (Version 7.x and above).

Troubleshoot the License Server