Could not obtain a license for SOLIDWORKS CAM. Invalid (inconsistent) license key
“Could not obtain a license for SOLIDWORKS CAM. Invalid (inconsistent) license key. (-8,544,0)” or “Error: Invalid block name (-5,147,0)” Error Resolution
If you are launching SOLIDWORKS and you see an error similar to the messages below, then this article is for you.
SOLIDWORKS CAM Standard (And some other products as well) is included with SOLDIWORKS CAD licenses on active subscription. If companies do not renew subscription for their licenses, they will lose access to these products. This error is usually caused by one of two things:
- 1. The SOLIDWORKS License Manager needs to be refreshed with the updated subscription expiration date.
- 2. Your company decided not to update your subscription.
If your company is on activate subscription, then all you have to do is reactivate the license to bring in the updated subscription date. To do this for network licenses, follow the steps below:
- 1. Login onto the computer/server that the SOLIDWORKS License Manager is on.
- 2. Open up the “SolidNetWork License Manager Server XXXX” Application (You can search for it in Windows Search)
- 3. On the “Server Administration” tab select “Stop” and confirm that you want to stop (See “3” on screenshot below)
- 4. Select “Modify” (See “4” on screenshot) and in the dialog select the option to “Activate/Reactivate your product license(s)”. In the following dialog box, you most likely can keep the options the same as previously configured for your company. Step through the activation wizard and at the end of the activation, you should see a confirmation window with the maintenance end dates listed.
- 5. Restart the license server by selecting “Start” (See “5” on screenshot)
If your company decided to not update your SOLIDWORKS subscription, then you won’t be able to use the SOLIDWORKS CAM license (As well as Software updates and Tech Support) included with active subscription, but you can disable the CAM add-in so that the error won’t show up again. To do this perform the following steps:
- 1. Open SOLIDWORKS
- 2. Open Add-ins by clicking the arrow next to the System Options Gear Icon and Selecting “Add-ins…”
- 3. Uncheck the Box for “SOLIDWORKS CAM XXXX” under the “Start Up” Column
As always, if MLC CAD Systems is your reseller, do not hesitate to reach out and we would be happy to help.