Dell BIOS update interfering with 2020 products?

[gregb]

I've been working on a new office template for Revit 2020 but when I tried to open Revit this morning it tells me the network license file is not working. My Revit 2019 is working fine and the one other machine which has 2020 is working fine so I know that's not true.

I ran the Dell 2.13.1 BIOS update on my computer this morning so I'm thinking that is probably the issue. I tried rolling back to the previous BIOS with no luck. Has anyone seen this type of issue before and found a solution?

[BlackBox]

The Dell BIOS (which is likely UEFI) update has nothing to do with Network License Manager (NLM) behavior.

Your CAD Admin needs to ensure that the current license & options files for 2020 products has been loaded into your NLM server, then 2020 will serve to your workstation as expected.

HTH

[gregb]

I guess I wasn't clear in my original post. The network license manager is working fine as evidenced by the fact that Revit 2020 opens right up on a different machine. I was working in Revit 2020 all last week. I can't get into any of my 2020 programs this morning. The only thing that has changed since last week was the BIOS update which is why I thought it was the source of the problem.

[BlackBox]

I am no NLM expert, so perhaps I am mistaken and someone smarter than I will be along to educate us both.

As I understand it, using NLM 11.16.2 (which 2020 requires), the included LicenseAdministration.pdf only mentions the word BIOS five times, all of which are under the "Hostids for Supported Platforms" chapter (page 44), "TPM Hostids" section (page 51) and are explicitly in the context of implementing FlexNet Publisher on a Windows server that has TPM (Trusted Platform Module) enabled in that server's BIOS (UEFI), for the purposes of node-locking a given server (not the client):



<snip>

TPM Hostid

FlexNet Publisher supports the TPM (Trusted Platform Module) hostid for to uniquely identify a computer, specified as
TPM_ID1 in license files. The TPM hostid is currently supported on Windows platforms only.

As a prerequisite to obtaining and using the TPM hostid, a TPM version 2.0 device must be available and enabled. In
addition, the FlexNet Licensing Service must be installed.

The TPM hostid is only supported on the SERVER line. It is supported as a served node-locked hostid from FlexNet Publisher
version 11.15.0 onwards. The TPM hostid is not supported for trusted storage–based licensing.

You can identify the TPM status using the utilities lmtpminfo and lmhostid, or the API lc_tpmstatusget, or natively in
Windows by using the Microsoft Management Console with tpm.msc specified, or by using WMI and the Win32_Tpm class.

For TPM status values as output by lmtpminfo, see lmtpminfo on page 139.
Troubleshooting

If you encounter problems when trying to obtain the TPM hostid, check that the following requirements have been met:
• The FlexNet Licensing Service must be installed. Contact your software publisher for information on how to install the
FlexNet Licensing Service.

• The TPM must be turned on and enabled in the machine’s BIOS. To enable it, do the following:


1. Restart the machine. During the restart, follow the instructions on the screen that explain how to interrupt
normal startup and enter the BIOS setup utility. Locate the Security Settings and enable the TPM. Reboot the
system. Run lmtpminfo or lmhostid to identify the TPM status. If the status cannot be obtained, continue with
step 2.

2. Open the TPM management console (tpm.msc). If the status is TPM not fully enabled, it may be necessary to
enable UEFI mode in the machine’s BIOS.

<snip>


Given that, I'd reiterate that the issue was not your upgrading a client workstation's BIOS (UEFI)... That NLM is behaving normally... As evidenced by the fact that 2019 products are still working normally on your workstation where 2020 products are no longer working, and posit that the NLM Options file your CAD Admin has loaded neglected to include or accidentally removed your username, workstation name, IP, etc (depending on what Options Keyword[s] your CAD Admin is using in that Options file), as evidenced by the fact that both versions are working on another workstation in the same NLM environment.

Nonetheless, I can only speculate based on the behavior you're reporting; what did your CAD Admin say when you asked them to look into this?

Cheers