Introduction

This article tells how to update a Zemax license for all products and licenses that have a serial number starting with "L" or "T" such as L100000. This includes red and green USB licenses or legacy softkey licenses. It does not apply to Ansys issued licenses.

Before proceeding, please read:

If you are using an Ansys issued license and a 2022 R2 or newer Zemax software version and have renewed, do not follow this article. You will receive a separate email with instructions. 

If you have a black USB license dongle (where the license serial number is 22000-40999), see this article.

You can identify your license type using the guide located here: How to identify your legacy Zemax license. 

This article assumes you have already received an email with an update code for a renewal or other license change. You will need access to the currently activated machine to perform the update.

If your licensed machine has internet access, continue to the below section. If it does not have internet, move to Update a license without internet.

Update a license with internet

This option is no longer available as the license activation transfer and update servers were shut down in Jan 2025. Please see "Update a license without internet" section below. 

Update a license without internet

This section describes how to apply a license update on machines without access to the internet, or if the auto-update fails. Before getting started, you should note:

• Updates need to be applied on the machine where the license is installed. For network licenses, this means you need to log in to the keyserver machine that hosts the license rather than an OpticStudio client machine. 

To apply an update to your license on a machine without internet access, follow the steps below. 

1. Request the update file. Contact Customer support with a subject of "Offline license update request: L1XXXXX" . Replace L1XXXXX with your actual license number or numbers (if updating multiple licenses).
   
   
2. Within one business day, you will receive an email containing a .v2c file type attachment. Save the .v2c file to the machine where the license is currently activated. We recommend a convenient folder such as Documents or Downloads. 
   
   
3. Open the Zemax License Manager on the licensed machine, normally located in the Windows Start menu under either the Zemax OpticStudio or Zemax License Manager folder. 
   
   
4. Locate the license number that you received an update code for. Make sure the "Update" button is not grayed out, and move to step 5.
   
   If "Update" is grayed out or if the license is not listed: This means you are not logged into the machine where the license is installed. This most often happens with a network license when you are not logged into the machine where the license is activated. Forward the update email and .v2c file to someone with access to the server listed under "hosted on" in the "License type" column to apply the update. 
   
    
5. Click Launch Sentinel Admin Control Center located on the Troubleshoot tab or at the top of the Zemax License Manager.
     

6. Click on Update/Attach in the left-hand Options column. Click Choose File and locate the .v2c file you saved. Click Apply File, and you should get a short message saying the update was applied. If you receive any errors, see the Getting Help section below. 
   
   Note: You may delete the .v2c file we send you after following this procedure as it cannot be reused.
   
   
7. Open the Zemax License Manager again to verify your updated license matches the information in the update email you received. If the license information still isn't updated, move to the Getting Help section below to see what to provide when contacting support.
   
   

Frequently asked questions

This section details some of the common questions that occur when updating softkey licenses.

If I update a network license while seats are in use or checked-out from the network, will there be any interruption? 

Any client machines using the network license will see the updated license information immediately. If you have any checked-out (offline) seats, they will not display the updated information until they are checked back into the license pool. Updating the license while they are in use will not interrupt client's use of the license. 

Getting help

If you receive any error messages while updating, open a support ticket for further help. Please include:

• Your license number (such as L000001)
• Any error messages you received and whether you are doing an online or offline update.
• A screen shot of the Sentinel Keys page located in the Sentinel Admin Control Center from the licensed machine.
• A screen shot of the "View license" or "License Information" section of the Zemax License Manager application