Resolving Siemens ALM License Transfer Errors and Inactive License Keys

Siemens Automation License Manager (ALM) is the central utility used to handle software license keys for TIA Portal, STEP 7, WinCC, STARTER, and other SIMATIC engineering tools. License transfer errors in ALM are among the most disruptive issues for automation engineers because they block commissioning, prevent engineering station rebuilds, and can strand a project if the source machine is no longer available. The most common and least understood error class is the "inactive license" state, which ALM displays as a grey checkmark in the Status column rather than the normal green checkmark.

This reference covers the exact symptoms, root causes, and field-proven recovery procedures for ALM license transfer failures, with a focus on the inactive-key condition that prevents standard drag-and-drop transfer, requires offline transfer for virtual machines, and forces a Technical Support engagement for reactivation.

1. Problem Overview and Symptom Catalog

ALM license transfer failures manifest in a small number of repeatable patterns. Identifying the exact symptom shortens the diagnostic path significantly.

The grey-checkmark state is the failure mode that drives most escalations to Siemens Technical Support, because the key is still visible in ALM but is treated by the license engine as if it does not exist. Drag-and-drop operations silently fail, the offline transfer wizard reports "no valid licenses to export," and the receiving machine never sees the key on its USB target.

2. Root Cause Analysis

Siemens license keys are cryptographically bound to the host fingerprint at the moment of activation. The fingerprint is computed from hardware attributes including disk volume serial numbers, MAC addresses, and CPU identifiers, with the exact recipe versioned per ALM release. When any of those attributes change after activation, the license engine flags the key as defective or inactive rather than destroying it. This design lets Siemens Technical Support repair the binding without reissuing a new key, but it also means that any of the following common engineering actions can put a license into the grey-checkmark state:

• Disk image restore from backup: Restoring a Windows partition image taken before activation changes the volume serial number the license engine sees on next boot.
• Motherboard replacement or VM clone: CPU ID, MAC address, or disk device path changes, breaking the hardware fingerprint.
• Windows reinstall or major feature update: Reattaches storage devices in a different enumeration order.
• Activation of the same key on a second PC without a prior transfer: The original binding is invalidated when the second activation succeeds.
• Restoring a license that was previously transferred and then re-imported to the source: The transferred copy is deactivated, but if the source key was never re-bound, it can be marked inactive.
• Loss of the original CoL (Certificate of License) or USB hardware dongle before the transfer completed, leaving no proof of ownership for reactivation.

For license transfer between two physical PCs, drag-and-drop is the correct procedure. For transfer between a physical PC and a virtual machine, or between two virtual machines, drag-and-drop is unreliable because ALM cannot always reach the USB target inside the VM, and the offline transfer wizard must be used. The two cases require different procedures and have different failure modes.

3. Standard Drag-and-Drop Transfer Procedure (Physical to Physical)

This is the fastest method when both source and destination are real PCs with locally attached USB ports. It works only on active, green-checkmark licenses.

3.1 Prerequisites

• ALM is installed on both source and destination PCs (the version should match or be newer on the destination).
• A USB stick formatted as FAT32 or NTFS, with at least 16 MB free per license.
• The USB stick has been unlocked if it uses hardware encryption (IronKey, Apricorn, etc.). Siemens ALM cannot write to encrypted volumes.
• Administrative rights on both PCs.
• All TIA Portal, STEP 7, WinCC, and STARTER instances are closed on both machines.

3.2 Procedure

1. Plug the USB stick into the source PC and wait for it to enumerate in Windows Explorer.
2. Start Automation License Manager on the source PC as Administrator (right-click → Run as administrator).
3. In the left navigation pane, expand the source drive and locate the license you want to move. Confirm the Status column shows a green checkmark.
4. Click and hold the license entry, drag it onto the USB drive listed in the left navigation pane, and release. ALM writes a transfer package (a .zip-style bundle) to the USB root.
5. Right-click the USB drive in ALM and select Eject to flush all writes, then physically remove the stick.
6. Plug the USB into the destination PC, start ALM as Administrator, and drag the license from the USB drive onto the destination drive in the left pane.
7. Verify the license now shows a green checkmark on the destination, and that the source no longer lists it.

4. Offline Transfer Procedure (VM, Network-Isolated, or Encrypted USB)

The offline transfer procedure is required whenever ALM cannot reach the USB target directly. This includes all virtual machines, network-isolated engineering stations, and cases where the USB stick is encrypted and ALM cannot see the drive letter. The procedure exports a transfer request file on the source, which must be re-imported on a machine with internet access (or submitted to Siemens) to obtain a transfer response file, which is then re-imported on the destination to apply the license.

4.1 Generate Transfer Request on Source

1. Open ALM on the source PC as Administrator.
2. Click License Key in the menu bar and select Offline Transfer.
3. Choose Generate transfer request file and select the licenses to include. ALM creates a file named Customer_<timestamp>.WibuCmRac or similar in the chosen output directory.
4. Copy the request file to a USB stick or network share accessible from a machine with internet access.

4.2 Process Transfer Request on Online Machine

1. On any PC with ALM installed and internet access, open ALM as Administrator.
2. Click License Key → Offline Transfer → Process transfer request.
3. Point ALM to the request file. ALM uploads the request to the Siemens license server, validates the request against the source hardware fingerprint, and downloads a transfer response file (Response_<timestamp>.WibuCmRac).
4. Copy the response file back to the source machine or directly to the destination machine.

4.3 Import Transfer Response on Destination

1. On the destination machine, open ALM as Administrator.
2. Click License Key → Offline Transfer → Import transfer response.
3. Select the response file. ALM binds the license to the destination hardware fingerprint and registers it on the chosen drive.

5. Inactive License (Grey Checkmark) Recovery Procedure

The grey-checkmark state requires Siemens Technical Support engagement for reactivation. The procedure is well-defined and reproducible; the timeline depends on the support region and whether the original Certificate of License (CoL) or USB dongle is available.

5.1 Information to Gather Before Contacting Support

5.2 Channel for Support Engagement

Siemens has consolidated license support into the SiePortal. In the US, phone-only intake for new cases is restricted; the recommended entry points are:

• SiePortal support requests: sieportal.siemens.com
• Local Siemens Industrial Customer Support; contact details are listed under Support → Contact in SiePortal.
• The original reseller from whom the software was purchased. Resellers have direct escalation channels and can submit the reactivation request on the customer's behalf.

For engineers in Singapore, the regional Siemens support contact is reached through the same SiePortal entry point, with the country selector routing the case to the APAC team. Email intake has historically been available at [email protected], but the SiePortal web form is the current preferred channel and produces a tracked ticket.

5.3 What Siemens Support Will Request

Siemens Technical Support will request the Computer ID of the target machine and the CoL number. They will then issue a new license file (.zip bundle) bound to that Computer ID. The bundle is imported by dragging it onto the destination drive in ALM, at which point the grey checkmark becomes a green checkmark and the license is fully active.

6. USB Authorization and Encryption Issues

A common drag-and-drop failure is the "USB not authorized" error, which is reported by ALM when the destination USB stick is hardware-encrypted and Windows presents it as read-only or refuses to expose the underlying FAT/NTFS volume. Siemens license transfer requires a writable, unencrypted target volume.

The lack of encryption on the USB stick is, ironically, the source of the authorization error. Siemens ALM uses the Wibu-Systems CodeMeter runtime, which refuses to write to encrypted volumes because the license transfer package itself contains cryptographic material that must remain accessible to the next host. The transfer package is a one-time-use artifact bound to the destination fingerprint, so the security exposure is limited, but it must be physically moved on a writable medium.

7. ALM Administrative Privileges and Windows Compatibility

ALM must be run with elevated privileges on every operation that touches the license store. On Windows 10 and Windows 11, the default user context for double-clicked applications does not include write access to the %ProgramData%\Siemens\Automation\License tree, and a failed write inside ALM can leave the license store in an inconsistent state where the source key is removed but the destination key has not been written.

7.1 Verified Failure Mode Without Elevation

On some non-Siemens license managers (notably Rockwell EVRSI), the documented failure mode is that the license is first deleted from the source and then the destination write fails, leaving the customer with no license at all. The same hazard exists for ALM under specific combinations of TIA version and Windows version, and the safe practice is to always run ALM as Administrator regardless of UAC settings.

7.2 Windows 11 Specific Considerations

Windows 11 introduces additional UAC prompts for COM and WMI access, and on first launch after installation ALM may fail to enumerate license targets until the elevation is accepted. If the elevated prompt is dismissed, ALM starts in a degraded mode that reads the license store but cannot write. The symptom is identical to the inactive-license state but is resolved by a right-click → Run as administrator relaunch.

8. TIA Portal Interaction Constraints

The single most common reason a license appears "inactive" during a transfer is that TIA Portal is holding a license handle. TIA Portal checks out licenses at startup and holds them for its entire session; while a license is checked out, ALM cannot move it, and the Status column will reflect the checked-out state with a different icon than the normal green checkmark. Closing TIA Portal, including all open project instances, releases the handle and restores the green checkmark.

The same constraint applies to the following processes, all of which must be closed before any ALM transfer:

• TIA Portal (all versions, V13 through V19)
• STEP 7 (V5.x and TIA-based)
• WinCC flexible, WinCC (TIA), WinCC Explorer, WinCC Runtime
• STARTER and Startdrive (SINAMICS commissioning)
• S7-PLCSIM and S7-PLCSIM Advanced
• SINEC NMS, SINEMA Server, and any other Siemens engineering tool that depends on a license
• Wibu-Systems CodeMeter Control Center if it is open and has a slot reserved

To verify nothing is holding the licenses, open Task Manager → Details, sort by publisher, and confirm that no Siemens AG or Wibu-Systems process is running. If CodeMeter.exe is the only remaining process, that is expected and is the ALM runtime service.

9. Virtual Machine (VMware, Hyper-V, VirtualBox) Considerations

Engineering stations are increasingly deployed on VMs, and ALM behavior inside a VM is the source of recurring tickets. The two issues are (1) USB passthrough for the transfer media and (2) VM cloning, which always invalidates licenses.

9.1 USB Passthrough

ALM in a VM cannot write to a USB stick on the host unless the stick is passed through to the guest. The supported configurations are:

• VMware Workstation / VMware Player: VM → Removable Devices → [USB stick] → Connect
• Hyper-V: USB passthrough requires the enhanced session mode on the host, and a USB redirector on the guest. The offline transfer procedure is generally the simpler option for Hyper-V environments.
• VirtualBox: Devices → USB → [USB stick]

If USB passthrough is unreliable, the offline transfer procedure (Section 4) is the recommended path for VM-based engineering stations. It avoids the USB enumeration problem entirely by exchanging request and response files through any writable share.

9.2 VM Clone or Snapshot Revert

Cloning a VM is functionally identical to restoring a disk image: the Wibu-Systems CodeMeter hardware fingerprint changes, and every license on the cloned VM enters the grey-checkmark state. The same is true for any revert to snapshot operation that restores a CPU ID, MAC address, or disk serial number that differs from the running VM. The only safe practice is to license the VM after it has been deployed to its final hardware configuration, and to never clone a licensed VM. If cloning is unavoidable, expect to contact Siemens Technical Support for a full license reactivation on each clone.

10. TIA Portal and ALM Version Compatibility Matrix

ALM version is independent of the TIA Portal version, but the license keys issued for one TIA generation are not always usable on an older TIA Portal. The following compatibility table reflects the rules Siemens uses when issuing new licenses and is the basis for choosing the correct ALM version on the destination PC.

ALM is forward-compatible: a newer ALM can read and manage older licenses. A license issued for TIA V17 cannot, however, be used by a TIA V15 installation, and ALM will display the key with a grey checkmark because the local CodeMeter runtime does not recognize the license certificate version.

11. Verification Checklist After Transfer

Run the following checks after every license transfer to confirm the operation succeeded and the licenses are usable:

1. Open ALM as Administrator on the destination and confirm the transferred license shows a green checkmark in the Status column.
2. Confirm the source machine no longer lists the license (i.e., the move was destructive, not a copy).
3. Launch TIA Portal on the destination and open the project that requires the license. Verify the Licenses dialog in TIA Portal (menu Options → License management) lists the key as valid.
4. Open a sample project, compile it, and start a download to the PLC to confirm the runtime path is functional.
5. Record the new Computer ID for the destination, the CoL number, and the transfer date in a license register. This accelerates any future reactivation request.
6. If the license shows a grey checkmark after the transfer, do not retry the drag-and-drop operation; the key is now in an unrecoverable state on both machines and requires Siemens Technical Support for reactivation.

12. Troubleshooting Matrix

13. Preventive Engineering Practices

The cheapest license to reactivate is the one that was never broken. The following practices prevent the most common ALM failure modes:

• Image engineering workstations after license activation, never before. If a restore is required, document the original Computer ID and CoL number so the reactivation can be filed immediately.
• Maintain a license register listing every CoL, the host Computer ID, the TIA Portal version, and the engineer responsible. This is the single biggest time-saver when a reactivation request is filed.
• Never clone a licensed VM. License after clone, never before. Treat every VM template as unlicensed.
• Run ALM as Administrator by default, on every PC, for every operation.
• Close TIA Portal before any ALM operation, including license checks. The error "license is inactive" is often a TIA-is-holding-the-handle error.
• Use a dedicated, plain USB stick for license transfers. Label it, store it in a known location, and never encrypt it.
• Subscribe to ALM updates in SiePortal. CodeMeter and ALM updates include hardware-fingerprint algorithm refreshes that can prevent false inactive flags on newer hardware.