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TC_954367510-Marble
10-Marble
November 29, 2024
Solved

Creo 11 locked licensing issues with multiple MAC address on same machine

  • November 29, 2024
  • 2 replies
  • 5304 views

Hi all,

 

So we are in the middle of changing our creo 4 to creo 11.0.2.0. I used Creo 4 for years on this machine, never had any issues with licensing (as the way it should be since it is a locked license for a certain MAC address). The machine in question is a workstation laptop, so it has multiple MAC addresses (one for LAN, one for wi-fi 2.4Ghz, one for wi-fi 5Ghz. Creo4 used the lan's MAC address). 

Now, as Creo 11 comes in the picture I face multiple issues:

- at the installation, it sees a different MAC address , so I moved the license to that address, so it allows me to complete the installation

- if I change from 2.4Ghz network to 5Ghz one, creo11 won't start ("Invalid host name")

- if I change from wifi network to lan, creo11 won't start ("Invalid host name")

- after installation, it only works with active internet connectivity

- even if creo11 starts, "license is lost" message appears every 3 minutes or so, if I click on retry, I can continue to work, "Regained floating license" message appears after, which is kinda wierd since it is a locked license

 

Our local support can't really help, they suggested to modify the power options of the network card so it cant go to "sleep", I looked for every possible options and turned off this function, but the problem remains.

What should be done to get creo11 to work as it worked with creo4?

 

Thanks in advance!

-Tibor

Best answer by MartinHanak

Hi,

 

Q1: What Windows version do  you use?

Q2: Is your license locked or floating? Does license file contain SERVER and DAEMON lines?

 

Suggestions (related to my Windows 10):

1.] move license back to MAC address of Ethernet network card

 

2.] open Command prompt window as admin, run devmgmt.msc command and turn off the option highlighted on following picture

MartinHanak_0-1733214234415.png

 

3.] open Command prompt window as admin and run following commands

netsh interface ipv4 set global dhcpmediasense=disabled

netsh interface ipv6 set global dhcpmediasense=disabled

 

4.] OPTIONAL STEP - open Command prompt window as admin and run regedit.exe

go to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkCards folder

it contains subfolders related to network cards ... see example below

MartinHanak_1-1733214649275.png

in my case 2 folder belongs to WiFi and 3 folder belongs to Ethernet -AND- my license is "attached" to Ethernet card

You can rename folder names to set specific order of network cards.

2 replies

T
TC_954367510-MarbleAuthor
10-Marble
November 30, 2024

Another clue that I found is that running the ptchostid.bat gives different results according to the following:

Running ptchostid.bat from creo 4: returns the same mac address regardless of network state

Running ptchostid.bat from creo 11: returns different mac addresses depending of network state (none of which is the same as what the creo 4 returns)

 

Catalina
CatalinaCommunity Manager
Community Moderator
December 2, 2024

Hi @TC_9543675 

Thank you for your question. 

Your post appears well documented but has not yet received any response. I am replying to raise awareness. Hopefully, another community member will be able to help.
 

Also, feel free to add any additional information you think might be relevant. It sometimes helps to have screenshots to better understand what you are trying to do.

 

Best regards,

Catalina | PTC Community Moderator
M
MartinHanak24-Ruby IIIAnswer
24-Ruby III
December 3, 2024

Hi,

 

Q1: What Windows version do  you use?

Q2: Is your license locked or floating? Does license file contain SERVER and DAEMON lines?

 

Suggestions (related to my Windows 10):

1.] move license back to MAC address of Ethernet network card

 

2.] open Command prompt window as admin, run devmgmt.msc command and turn off the option highlighted on following picture

MartinHanak_0-1733214234415.png

 

3.] open Command prompt window as admin and run following commands

netsh interface ipv4 set global dhcpmediasense=disabled

netsh interface ipv6 set global dhcpmediasense=disabled

 

4.] OPTIONAL STEP - open Command prompt window as admin and run regedit.exe

go to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkCards folder

it contains subfolders related to network cards ... see example below

MartinHanak_1-1733214649275.png

in my case 2 folder belongs to WiFi and 3 folder belongs to Ethernet -AND- my license is "attached" to Ethernet card

You can rename folder names to set specific order of network cards.

    T
    TC_954367510-MarbleAuthor
    10-Marble
    December 3, 2024

    Hi Martin,

     

    Thanks for your detailed reply,

    I did every step of your reply but the issue persists. I'll try my best to answer to your questions,:

    1. Windows 11 23H2  build:22631.4460

    2.License is locked, also there is no SERVER no DAEMON lines in the file, however the following line is present, so I suppose it is pretty much locked:

    #################### LOCKED License #####################

     

    To reply to your suggestions:

    I moved the license back to Ethernet's MAC

    By default, there is no "Power management" tab in Win11, so I followed this advice from a microsoft forum:

     

     

     

     

    Disable Modern Standby (Forcing legacy standby S3)
reg add HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power /v PlatformAoAcOverride /t REG_DWORD /d 0

     

    https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/why-is-the-power-management-tab-missing-i-have/037105bc-6c46-4c50-b02c-91d6468fdcb1

     

     

    After this, the Power management tab appeared, so I was able to untick the suggested option, also I disabled "Energy efficient Ethernet" and "Link Speed Battery Saver" and "Ultra Low Power Mode" - all to no avail.

     

    I ran the netsh commands.

    I changed the folder names in the registry: it was 2 for WiFi and 3 for Ethernet, now I swapped them but no changes.

     

    Also it is worth noting that after (and before) all these changes, Creo4 still operates perfectly, so I dont think the network card was unable to respond in any way from the beginning. Creo11 just simply changed the way it looks for a MAC address, so it depends the actual connectivity status of the machine: different for offline, WiFi, LAN, WiFi 5Ghz and it is driving me crazy... 🙂

     

    Any other idea to fix this is much appriciated.

    Thanks and Regards,

    -Tibor

    M
    MartinHanak24-Ruby III
    24-Ruby III
    December 3, 2024

    Hi,

    thank you for providing https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/why-is-the-power-management-tab-missing-i-have/037105bc-6c46-4c50-b02c-91d6468fdcb1 link.

     

    I can use Creo 11.0.2.0 on my notebook without any problem (Windows 10 22H2 19045.5198). But my situation is different from yours, because I use floating license.

     

    Please do following:

     

    • unplug LAN cable from Ethernet socket
    • restart computer

     

    • open Command prompt window and run ipconfig /all command
      • look at Ethernet card
      • can you see Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected message ?

     

    • open Command prompt window and run Creo 11.0.2.0\Parametric\bin\ptchostid.bat
      • what information does it display?
      • you can run the same bat in Creo 4.0 ...

     

    • open Command prompt window and run getmac
      • what information does it display?

     

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