Home / Knowledge Base / Mentor Standard Licensing – Manual Installation Guide (Windows)

Mentor Standard Licensing – Manual Installation Guide (Windows)

07/08/2024 . Technical Note

Relevant product(s): Siemens EDA
Operating systems: Windows
Versions affected: Up to and including 2023.x releases 
Relevant area(s): Licensing

Summary

To use Siemens EDA software, the FlexNet license server needs to be installed. This tech note is for setting up the Mentor Graphics license server on Windows devices, applicable for floating and node-locked licenses.

N.B. With the 2022.1 release the Questa / ModelSim products began transitioning to Siemens Advanced Licensing Technology (SALT), however, with the previous Mentor Graphics Licensing still the preferred option during the transition phase. As of the 2024.1 product release, SALT is the correct licensing technology to use, please see our guide here for setting up the SALT license server (Windows).

Details

Step 1 – Find the daemon and utility files

  1. Create a new, easy-to-navigate to directory at the top level, for this technical note we use “C:\flexlm”. This folder will contain all of the License Server related daemons, utilities, and files.
  2. Navigate to the installation directory of your Siemens EDA tool, and open the <platform> (“win64pe” / “win32”) folder, e.g. “C:\MentorGraphics\modelsim_dlx64_2022.3\win64pe”. Locate the following daemons and utilities:
    • lmgrd, lmtools, lmutil, mgcld
    • N.B. post the 2023.4 product release license daemons are no longer shipped within the products
  3. Cut and paste these four files into the newly created “C:\flexlm” folder.
  4. Save your license file in the same folder.

Step 2 – Modify the License File

  1. Open your license file and find the SERVER and DAEMON lines as shown below:
License File - Server Daemon
  1. Make the following changes:
    1. Replace “put_server_name_here” with the name of your Computer/Server.
      • You can obtain the Computer/Server name by issuing the command “hostname” in a CMD prompt
    2. Replace “path_to_mgcld” with the path to the mgcld file from Step 1, e.g. “C:\flexlm\mgcld.exe”.

Your Server and Daemon lines should now look similar to this:

SERVER Cashew 12AB34CD56EF 1717
DAEMON mgcld C:\flexlm\mgcld.exe

Step 3 – Configure the License Server

  1. Navigate to the directory from Step 1 “C:\flexlm” and open lmtools.exe.
  2. Complete the “Config Services” tab as shown below (modifying Names and Paths as required).
License Server Configuration
  1. Once complete (with the check boxes ticked), click the “Save Service” button.
  2. Navigate to the “Start/Stop/Reread” tab, and click the “Start Server” button.

Step 4 – Create the Environment Variable

  1. On the end-user’s PC navigate to the “Environment Variables” window. This can be found via the search bar on your Windows desktop.
Environment Variables
  1. Create a new User variable called LM_LICENSE_FILE, with a value of “port”@”hostname” as they are listed in your license file, e.g.

Variable = LM_LICENSE_FILE
Value = 1717@Cashew

Step 5 – Test

  1. Open your Siemens EDA tool (e.g. ModelSim) and confirm that it opens with no errors.
    • Some compilers do not check out a license on open, so simulate a design to confirm the license has been installed correctly.
  2. If the tool fails to open and error messages are received, please have a look at our troubleshooting guide:

Support

If further support is required, please get in contact with us –

support@saros.co.uk

Useful Links

License Server troubleshooting: https://www.saros.co.uk/knowledge-base/license-server-troubleshooting/

SALT Licensing – Manual Installation Guide (Windows): https://www.saros.co.uk/knowledge-base/salt-licensing-windows/

Mentor Standard Licensing Manual: https://docs.sw.siemens.com/en-US/product/905395197/doc/DC202102052.release_docs.mgc_licen.en_us/html/manualtitle

Scroll to Top