FlexNet licensing error -5: The provided license does not enable these tools

 

Summary

An Arm tool reports an error containing one or more of the following:

Flex error code: -5
FlexNet licensing error -5
The provided license does not enable these tools.

What causes this error, and how do I solve it?

Answer

This error means that a license file was found, but did not contain a license (valid or invalid) for the feature you are trying to use.

Typically, this is caused by:

  1. A corrupted license file. It is possible that part of your license file has been deleted. In this case, you should download a fresh copy of the license from your account on the Arm licensing portal (https://developer.arm.com/support/licensing).
  2. Using a product feature that is an optional add-on, for which you do not have a license.
  3. Having a license that is for a different product than the one you want to use.
  4. Installing a different product to the one you have licensed.

For example, for cause 4, you have purchased a license to 'Arm Compiler 6.6 for Functional Safety' and installed the original 'Arm Compiler 6.6' release from https://developer.arm.com/tools-and-software/embedded/arm-compiler/downloads/version-6. When you invoke the compiler, it reports:

armclang.exe: error: Failed to check out a license.
The provided license does not enable these tools.
Information about this error is available at: http://ds.arm.com/support/lic56/m5
 General licensing information is available at: http://ds.arm.com/support/licensing/
 If you need further help, provide this complete error report to your supplier or license.support@arm.com.
 - ARMLMD_LICENSE_FILE: '<path-to-your-license>'
 - LM_LICENSE_FILE: unset
 - ARM_TOOL_VARIANT: unset
 - ARM_PRODUCT_PATH: unset
 - Product location: C:\Program Files\ARMCompiler6.6\sw\mappings
 - Toolchain location: C:\Program Files\ARMCompiler6.6\lib\tt_default\bin
 - Selected tool variant: product
 - Checkout feature: compiler5
 - Feature version: 5.0201611
 - Flex error code: -5
Product: ARM Compiler 6.6 Professional
Component: ARM Compiler 6.6
Tool: armclang [5c77f600]

Your license provides the 'compiler_em66' feature, but this version of Arm Compiler 6.6 is trying to checkout the 'compiler5' feature. The 'compiler_em66' feature is specific to the qualified 'Arm Compiler 6.6 for Functional Safety' branch, meaning releases from 'Arm Compiler 6.6.1' onwards. Here, the solution is to install one of the qualified 'Arm Compiler 6.6.x' releases from  https://developer.arm.com/tools-and-software/embedded/arm-compiler/downloads/arm-compiler-for-functional-safety