Fatal Error -7159

[#1]

Summary

When building an InstallShield project using the InstallShield Standalone Build, Fatal Error -7159 may occur.

Symptoms

When building an InstallShield project using the InstallShield Standalone Build, the following error occurs:

ISDEV : fatal error -7159: The product license has expired or has not yet been initialized

This can also occur when Building a Visual Studio solution that contains an InstallShield project using Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server (TFS).

Cause

This problem can occur if one or more of the following is true:

1. The license file for the Standalone Build is not in the correct location or is not named, "license.lic".
2. The Host ID of the License file used to license the Standalone Build does not match the Host ID of the machine.
3. When using TFS, this error is known to be thrown if the Build Controller service's configuration is set to run using credentials that do not have administrator privileges, such as the NT AUTHORITY\NetworkService account.
4. The build machine is not connected to a FlexNet Licensing Server.
   
5. InstallShield IDE and SAB are on the same machine however the SAB has Service Pack 1 installed and the IDE does not (and vise versa)??
6. When using MSBuild.exe from a Visual Studio Developer command prompt when Visual Studio was not launched with administrative privileges.

Resolution

Perform the correction for the specific cause of the problem:

License file is not located in the correct location

During the Standalone Build installation process, the license file is copied to the System folder of the Standalone Build. Browse to the following folder and verify the license.lic file is located there:

InstallShield 2011:
32 bit machine C:\Program Files\InstallShield\2011 SAB\System

64 bit machine C:\Program Files (x86)\InstallShield\2011 SAB\System

InstallShield 2012:

32 bit machine C:\Program Files\InstallShield\2012 SAB\System

64 bit machine C:\Program Files (x86)\InstallShield\2012 SAB\System

InstallShield 2012 Spring:
32 bit machine C:\Program Files\InstallShield\2012Spring SAB\System

64 bit machine C:\Program Files (x86)\InstallShield\2012Spring SAB\System

InstallShield 2013:
32 bit machine C:\Program Files\InstallShield\2013 SAB\System

64 bit machine C:\Program Files (x86)\InstallShield\2013 SAB\System

InstallShield 2014:
32 bit machine C:\Program Files\InstallShield\2014 SAB\System

64 bit machine C:\Program Files (x86)\InstallShield\2014 SAB\System

InstallShield 2015:
32 bit machine C:\Program Files\InstallShield\2015 SAB\System

64 bit machine C:\Program Files (x86)\InstallShield\2015 SAB\System

InstallShield 2016:
32 bit machine C:\Program Files\InstallShield\2016 SAB\System

64 bit machine C:\Program Files (x86)\InstallShield\2016 SAB\System

InstallShield 2018:
32 bit machine C:\Program Files\InstallShield\2018 SAB\System

64 bit machine C:\Program Files (x86)\InstallShield\2018 SAB\System

The Host ID of the license file and the build machine do not match

Return the current license file and generate a new license file from the Product and License Center using the correct Host ID. To return a license in the Product and License Center, please perform the following:

1. Login to the Product and License Center

   Note: If you are not the purchaser and a user account has not been created for you, create an account by visiting the Join New Account page. Enter your Account ID and Serial Number (Please refer to the InstallShield Product Order Confirmation email message). For detailed information about signing in to the Product and License Center, see the Product and License Center's section FAQs about InstallShield Standalone Build Licensing

2. In the left navigation under Entitlements, click Product List. The Product List page shows all the product lines your account is entitled to. If you do not have access to multiple products, clicking the Product List link opens the Product Information page directly.
3. If the Product List page shows multiple products, click the InstallShield link. The Product Information page opens.
4. Find the item that you want to return, and then, in the Description column, click the license link for that item. The Product Download page opens.
5. Click the License Keys link. The License Information page opens. It shows the licenses that have been generated for the selected license.
6. Find the license that you want to return, and click its Return button. Note that if you or someone in your organization has already returned a license for the entitlement that is associated with the selected license, the Return button is not displayed.
7. The Product and License Center processes your return request and refreshes the License Information page so that the license you returned is no longer displayed. Now you can generate a new license with the correct Host ID.

Note: To verify the Host ID, do one of the following:

a) Run the attached exe on the build machine

b) Execute the command, ipconfig /all, on the build machine, and locate the physical address (The Host ID is the physical address without the hyphens)

8. If you already have the Standalone Build installed and would prefer not to uninstall/reinstall it, you can browse to the System folder (from step 1), remove the old license file and replace it with the new license file.

Note: There is a limit to the number of times a license can be returned; a license can be returned only one time per entitlement per year.

Error occurs when using Microsoft Team Foundation Server (TFS)

1. Reboot the TFS Build Agent.
2. Ensure you can use Standalone Build outside of the TFS environment.
3. Use the Team Foundation Server Administration Console to change the Build Configuration of the Build Service. This can be done by selecting Properties under the Build Service and changing the Credentials to an account that has administrator privileges.

When using Concurrent Licensing

The FlexNet Licensing Server manages concurrent licenses. If you are using a concurrent license, the FlexNet Licensing Server should be specified in the Server.ini file located in the following directory:

<InstallShield Standalone Build Program Files Folder>\System

The Server.ini file should contain the following lines:

[FlexNet Publisher Server]
Server:<Port>@<ServerName>

Where:

<Port> is the port number. This is only required when a custom port number has been implemented. In most cases, the port number is omitted.

<ServerName> is the name of the system where the FlexNet Licensing Server software is installed.

This build error will also be raised if the InstallShield Standalone Build product is activated with concurrent licensing, but the FlexNet Licensing Server is down or not responding.

To obtain additional details about the error, generate a verbose build log by passing the -v parameter to ISCmdBld.exe on the command-line.

Following is an example of additional information in the verbose build log:

License server machine is down or not responding.
(-96,7:11001 "WinSock: Host not found
(HOST_NOT_FOUND)")

In the case of a node-locked license, the Standalone Build does not run without the license file. In the case of a concurrent licensing, the Standalone Build does not run without being connected to a FlexNet Licensing Server. To resolve this error, ensure that licensing is configured correctly.

InstallShield IDE and SAB are on the same machine however the SAB has Service Pack 1 installed and the IDE does not (and vise versa)

Below are a few possible fixes to this issue:

• Uninstall the SP1 version of the SAB/IDE and install the version without the Service Pack 1
• Upgrade the outstanding software (IDE or SAB) to Service Pack 1
• Uninstall the SAB and install it on another machine
• Uninstall the SAB and use the ISCmdbld.exe that is provided with the InstallShield IDE (found in the System folder of the installation directory).

Related KB Articles

Q212154
Q208910

public_FlexNetHostIDExe.zip