- Go to https://www.mathworks.com/licensecenter and login to your account
- Select the license you want to update
- Open the “Install and Activate” tab
- Click on Get the license file for the license file you wish to update
- Stop the license manager.
- Open both license files: the one already used by the license manager and the one you just downloaded. The old license file will contain SERVER and DAEMON lines at the top, but the new one will not.
- In the old license file, delete everything except for the SERVER and DAEMON lines at the top of the file.
- Copy the contents of the new license file beneath the SERVER and DAEMON lines in the old license file.
- Save the updated license file.
- If you have an options file , depending on how it is configured you may need to update it. If you do not have an options file, skip this step.
- Start the license manager.
How do I update the license file used by the Network License Manager?
1,344 views (last 30 days)
Show older comments
MathWorks Support Team
on 20 Sep 2012
Edited: MathWorks Support Team
on 10 Jan 2023 at 20:44
How do I update the license file used by the Network License Manager?
Accepted Answer
MathWorks Support Team
on 10 Jan 2023 at 5:00
Edited: MathWorks Support Team
on 10 Jan 2023 at 20:44
These instructions explain how to update the license file used by the Network License Manager without updating the license manager software itself. If you need to also update your license manager program, please follow the link below: How do I update the Network License Manager?
Note: This procedure can only be performed by license administrators. In the license center, click the “Contact Administrators” tab when viewing the license to determine who your license administrators are.
To update the license file used by the license manager:
You can perform a status inquiry to confirm that the license file has been updated.
5 Comments
Linda Xiong
on 9 Jul 2019
The license file I have, has the SERVER and DAEMON lines before the "BEGIN" line in the file and is working perfectly fine. I tried using a license file without the SERVER and DAEMON line and it kept giving me errors when I did stop>start>re-read.
This is for R2019A version
More Answers (4)
antonio Carlos Caetano
on 22 Jun 2020
hello, would it be possible to obtain a student license completely free of charge ?, if so, could you please send it to me?
Thank you
Antonio Carlos Caetano
Master student at UEM State University of Maringá
pg402890@uem.br
+55 034-98817-9133
1 Comment
Cody Lamke
on 23 Jun 2020
Edited: John Kelly
on 22 Dec 2022
Hello,
Many universities have access to licenses for student use; you can associate your university email address with an existing license or access MATLAB for free. Go to
If you require help, please contact MathWorks support:
-Cody Lamke
tahir khalil
on 26 Sep 2020

2 Comments
Walter Roberson
on 26 Sep 2020
I would suggest deleting or renaming all of the files mentioned in that "license path" and then re-activating.
The trial license should be deleted; it is not doing you any good anymore and having it there can cause problems.
The license.dat and license.lic in the same directory can exist for two possible reasons:
- You were running a license server on what appears to be your personal desktop machine. If that were the case then you would follow the instructions there to update your license server executable and then you would re-activate to pull down a new license file. This situation would require action from either the license technical contact or the license purchasing administrator; OR
- that particular combination of files can occur on systems in which someone installed a license crack to pirate MATLAB.
If you are not the owner or adminstrator of the machine, you should get the owner or adminsitrator to fix the problem.
If you are the owner of the machine, then you should review your email correspondance with Mathworks, as they would have sent you the license activation information at the time of your purchase of R2017a.
See Also
See Also
Products
Community Treasure Hunt
Find the treasures in MATLAB Central and discover how the community can help you!
Start Hunting!