This issue generally indicates that the license file is served from a network license manager and that there is a problem with the license.dat file on the machine running the license manager. The cause of this error may be due to one of the following:
- The Host ID for which the license.dat file was generated is not the Host ID of the license server machine
- Missing, corrupt, or incorrect characters in the license.dat file itself
- The system time and date are not set properly. Check to make sure that the date and time are set correctly on the machine before proceeding below.
It is also possible for this error to occur if a network license is attempting to be used in place of an Individual or Designated Computer license. If you are trying to activate MATLAB for a network license, you need either a license.dat or network.lic from the person who maintains the Network License Manager. Read more information from the link below about the differences between license files types:
What are the differences between the license.lic, license.dat, network.lic, and license_info.xml license files?
This issue may also occur if you are using MATLAB R2007b or below with a standalone license file generated for R2008a or higher.In this case, generating a license file for the correct release of MATLAB will resolve this issue.
If the time and date are set correctly, and you are not using R2007b or below with a standalone license file for R2008a or higher, see the steps below for troubleshooting the license file:
The first step is to locate the license file (license.dat) for the license manager. The license.dat file on the server machine is located in:
$MATLABROOT/etc
Where are the license files for MATLAB located?
(where $MATLAB is the MATLAB installation directory)
Please check for the following:
1) Make sure that the Host ID specified in the license file matches the Host ID on the "SERVER" line of the license file. Also if the Host ID is not proceeded by "ID=", it must match the Host ID of the license server. For more information on obtaining your Host ID, see the related solution listed below.
The Host ID of the license file will be in a comment line in the license file. For example:
# BEGIN------cut here------CUT HERE-----BEGIN
# MATLAB license passcode file.
# LicenseNo: 123456 HostID: 001122334455
In this example, the Host ID is the MAC address 001122334455. This same MAC address should be in the SERVER line of the license file. For example:
SERVER my-license-host 001122334455 27000
If the wrong Host ID is used in the SERVER line, or if the license file was generated for a different Host ID, this error will occur. Individual licenses use a Host ID that is ID= and the license number. If you have an individual license, this should be the Host ID in the SERVER line. For example:
SERVER my-license-host ID=123465 27000
NOTE: Changing the Host ID listed in the commented section of the license file will not resolve the error. If your Host ID is incorrect, you will need to obtain a new license file generated for the correct Host ID.
2) This error may be the result of having extra carriage returns in your license file. In order to avoid this, ensure that the following strings all begin on a left justified line: #, SERVER, DAEMON, or INCREMENT. Sometimes an INCREMENT line can get wrapped on the end of the preceding INCREMENT line causing it to be omitted.
3) If you are located in Turkey, or the default language of your computer is Turkish, please refer to the article below:
Why do I see license manager error -8 when launching MATLAB on Linux when my locale is set to Turkey?
