Autodesk Network License Manager (FlexLM) and Windows Server 2008

We ran into a situation today where we upgraded a server from Windows Server 2003 R2 to Windows Server 2008.  We thought we had covered all the bases, but we had to jump through a few hoops to get the Autodesk Network License manager to work. 

First, a disclaimer.  Autodesk does not support Windows Server 2008 with ANY version of the license manager.  However, we were able to get version 11.5 to load. 

  1. Version 10.4 of the license manager will not load at all in Server 2008.  We upgraded to 11.5 to get past that problem.
  2. On the Autocad install DVD the installation package for FlexLM is named NLM.msi.  If you need to install on a remote server you only need to copy this file across the WAN.
  3. Copy all the settings from your old installation into notepad and copy the files off to a backup directory.  You do not want to mess up and delete your license file.
  4. Remove the old version via “Programs and Features” in Control Panel.  In case you didn’t know, Microsoft has renamed the old reliable “Add/Remove Programs”.
  5.  We moved from a 32 bit (x86) version of FlexLM to the 64 bit (x64) version of FlexLM.  This messed up the path in LMTools because the directory names changed from “c:\program files (x86)\” to just “c:\program files\” .  You have to change the path to the lmgrd.exe executable.  That path was automatically imported from the old installation.

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