Troubleshooting Siemens ALM Error Code 0086:000008 in TIA Portal

Overview of Siemens ALM Error 0086:000008

Siemens Automation License Manager (ALM) version 6.0 SP8 is the central license service for TIA Portal V13 through V18 and for legacy STEP 7 V5.x, WinCC, and StartDrive product families. The error code (0086:000008) surfaces during device configuration in TIA Portal when the ALM service attempts to validate a license against a remote license server and the validation transaction aborts. The visible symptom is that TIA Portal fails to bind a license, the ALM Log panel records the failed check-out, and configuration cannot continue.

Engineers observing this error typically report three concurrent symptoms:

1. The ALM service starts, runs momentarily, and stops when a TIA Portal device configuration request is initiated.
2. The server-side ALM log records the requesting workstation attempting to pull multiple licenses (commonly eight, matching the maximum simultaneously bound licenses per ALM 6.x transaction) in a single transaction.
3. The local workstation My Computer Log only displays trial licenses (those generated automatically by TIA Portal when no licensed product is found).

In addition, the Synchronize button in the ALM management console is grayed out, indicating that the local ALM does not currently own a transferable license and therefore cannot perform a peer-to-peer reconciliation with the server.

Affected Software Versions and Environment

The error is not exclusive to TIA Portal; any Siemens product that requests a license through the SLS shared library (s7libs7.dll, tiaxomls7.dll) can reproduce it.

Error Code Decomposition: What 0086:000008 Means

Siemens license diagnostics encode errors as (ModuleID:SubErrorCode) tuples. For ALM 6.x, the ModuleID is a 16-bit identifier assigned at compile time, and the SubErrorCode is the lower 32-bit error returned by the SLS internal API.

The combination signals that the ALM client successfully contacted the license server, requested a license, but the server either refused the request (administrative policy) or returned a license file the client could not accept (corrupted, expired, signature mismatch).

Root Cause Analysis: Why ALM Pulls 8 Licenses But Returns None

When a workstation requests licenses, ALM 6.x tries to satisfy all license types required by every Siemens application currently open on the client. TIA Portal V16 opens several integrated products in parallel (PLCSIM, Startdrive, WinCC Unified, Safety, etc.), and each product declares a license entitlement. The eight-license pull in the server logbook is the union of entitlement types the workstation is requesting.

When the server returns zero entitlements despite being asked for eight, the transaction has been blocked at one of the following layers:

1. License server policy. The ALM service on the server may be configured to deny remote checkouts to certain machines, AD groups, or IP ranges. In this configuration, the server accepts the TCP connection (so no socket error is logged), parses the request, evaluates the policy, returns an empty entitlement block, and logs the rejected request.
2. Local license cache corruption. The local workstation's license database (C:\ProgramData\Siemens\SLC\slc.db or similar) is out of sync. The client believes it has a license locally and asks the server for confirmation; the server returns nothing because there is nothing to confirm.
3. Trial-license entanglement. TIA Portal V13 left a trial license footprint that was never cleaned. On startup, ALM prefers local trials to remote entitlements and breaks the transaction.
4. DNS / NetBIOS / RPC issue masked as license failure. The ALM service performs RPC over TCP 4410 (default). If name resolution between workstation and server is broken, the SLS handshake may use the cached SID and fail with a generic entitlement error rather than a network error.
5. Registry-level conflict. A previous install of TIA Portal may have left behind stale HKLM\SOFTWARE\Siemens\Sls keys pointing at a decommissioned server.

Pre-Diagnostic Checklist

Before opening the ALM console, capture the following baseline data. If the issue must be escalated to Siemens Technical Support, attach this data to the SR.

1. Screenshot of the ALM main window showing installed licenses on the local workstation.
2. Screenshot of the ALM main window on the license server showing all licenses available for checkout (server-side).
3. SIEMENS log file from %ProgramData%\Siemens\Automation License Manager\Logs\ on both client and server.
4. Output of services.msc filtered to SlsService and SlsShared.
5. Output of netstat -ano | findstr 4410 from both client and server while TIA Portal is requesting a license.
6. Result of ipconfig /all and nbtstat -n on the client to confirm DNS suffix and NetBIOS node type.

Diagnostic Procedure: Network, Service, and License Database

Step 1 - Confirm ALM service health on the local workstation

Open an elevated PowerShell session and run:

Get-Service -Name SlsService, SlsShared | Format-List Name, Status, StartType, PID
sc.exe qc SlsService

Both services must show Running with StartType = Automatic. If the service is stopped, attempt a restart:

Restart-Service SlsService -Force
Start-Sleep -Seconds 5
Restart-Service SlsShared -Force

If the service refuses to start, examine the Windows Event Viewer under Applications and Services Logs > Siemens SLS for a startup error. A common entry is "The Siemens License Service could not read the SLS configuration. The service has been stopped.", which points at a corrupted sls.cfg in %ProgramData%\Siemens\SLC\.

Step 2 - Confirm TCP 4410 reachability to the license server

From the client, open an elevated command prompt:

telnet <license_server_fqdn> 4410
Test-NetConnection -ComputerName <license_server_fqdn> -Port 4410

A successful TCP handshake proves only that the socket is open; the SLS RPC layer above may still refuse. If Test-NetConnection returns TcpTestSucceeded = False, the failure is at the firewall or network layer and is not the root cause of the 0086:000008 error reported in this case.

Step 3 - Inspect the local SLS configuration

The ALM client reads its target server list from the registry:

reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Siemens\Sls" /s
reg query "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Siemens\Sls" /s

Look for a value named SERVERNAME or SERVERLIST. If multiple entries exist pointing at different servers, the client may be racing between them. Remove obsolete entries.

Step 4 - Inspect the local license database

Close TIA Portal. Stop the ALM services. Rename the existing database:

net stop SlsService
net stop SlsShared
ren "%ProgramData%\Siemens\SLC\slc.db" slc.db.bak
ren "%ProgramData%\Siemens\SLC\slc.lg" slc.lg.bak
net start SlsService
net start SlsShared

Restart TIA Portal. The ALM client will rebuild slc.db from scratch and re-request licenses from the server. If the error clears, the corruption was in the local cache.

Step 5 - Verify the air-gap fallback

Disable the network adapter (or place the workstation in airplane mode and remove any USB Ethernet dongle). Open TIA Portal. If TIA Portal falls back to a trial license and configures the device, this confirms the server-to-client transaction is the failing component, not the local TIA Portal installation.

Solution A: Repair the ALM Service and SLS Shared Configuration

Apply this solution when diagnostics indicate corrupted SLS configuration or when the SlsService is failing to start.

1. Open Control Panel > Programs and Features.
2. Locate Siemens Automation License Manager V6.0 SP8. Click Uninstall/Repair.
3. Select Repair, not Uninstall, to keep existing license files.
4. Reboot when prompted.
5. Open the ALM console as Administrator. Verify the Synchronize button is no longer grayed out.

If Repair does not clear the error, uninstall ALM 6.0 SP8, manually delete the contents of %ProgramData%\Siemens\SLC\ (after backing them up), and reinstall from the latest TIA Portal installation media.

Solution B: Clear Corrupted License Cache and Re-Activate

Apply this solution when the local workstation holds stale license stubs that block remote check-out.

1. Stop all Siemens processes:

taskkill /F /IM "Siemens.Automation.Portal.exe"
taskkill /F /IM "s7oiehsx64.exe"
taskkill /F /IM "almservicex64.exe"
net stop SlsService
net stop SlsShared

2. Back up the SLS cache:

robocopy "%ProgramData%\Siemens\SLC" "D:\Backup\SLC_%date:~10,4%%date:~4,2%%date:~7,2%" /E /R:1 /W:1

3. Delete all files inside %ProgramData%\Siemens\SLC\ except the Logs subfolder.
4. Delete the SLS service registration and re-register it:

cd /d "%ProgramFiles%\Siemens\Automation License Manager\bin"
slssvc.exe -unregserver
slssvc.exe -regserver
slssvc.exe -start

5. Reboot. Open ALM and confirm the management console loads without the 0086:000008 tuple appearing in View > Log.

Solution C: Verify License Server Trust and AD Group Membership

Apply this solution when the workstation is a member of the correct Active Directory OU but the server ALM is not honoring the client because of host-filter or user-filter rules.

1. On the license server, open ALM as Administrator.
2. Navigate to Edit > Connectable hosts (or in older builds, Options > Server Settings > Host Filter).
3. Confirm the client workstation's FQDN or hostname appears in the allow list. Wildcard characters such as * or *.corp.local are accepted.
4. Navigate to Edit > Connectable users. Confirm the user account running TIA Portal is permitted. AD group membership is evaluated by SID; nested groups must be flattened in the allow list if the server runs on Windows Server 2008 R2.
5. Click Apply. Restart the SlsService on the server:

net stop "Siemens Automation License Manager"
net start "Siemens Automation License Manager"

6. From the client, retry the device configuration in TIA Portal.

Solution D: Offline / USB License Transfer Procedure

Apply this solution when the client cannot reliably reach the license server over the network or when the server ALM is intentionally configured to not serve remote requests.

1. On the license server, insert a USB drive formatted as NTFS or exFAT.
2. Open ALM as Administrator. The USB drive appears under Connectable computers with a small removable-media icon.
3. Drag the desired license (for example, TIA Portal V16 Pro Combo) from the server pane onto the USB drive pane.
4. Safely eject the USB drive.
5. On the client workstation, with the network cable disconnected and wireless radios disabled, insert the USB drive.
6. Open ALM as Administrator. Drag the license from the USB drive pane onto the My Computer pane.
7. Reconnect the network. Reopen TIA Portal. The license should now be visible in Help > License management.

The offline transfer writes a signed .lic file plus a time-bounded ticket that the client ALM presents to TIA Portal. If TIA Portal still reports the 0086:000008 error after a successful transfer, the client's slc.cfg still references the old server and must be edited manually.

Verification Steps and Acceptance Test

After any solution is applied, perform the following acceptance test:

1. Open the ALM console on the client. Confirm at least one license (not trial) appears under My Computer.
2. Confirm the Synchronize button is no longer grayed out. Clicking it should re-pull current entitlements from the server.
3. Open TIA Portal. Add a device that requires the licensed feature (for example, an S7-1500 CPU that requires the Pro entitlement).
4. Confirm the device is added without the 0086:000008 error.
5. Open View > Log in ALM. Confirm no new error tuples have been recorded.
6. Close TIA Portal. Confirm the license is released back to the server within 60 seconds (server logbook should show the seat as available again).

Escalation: When to Contact Siemens Support

If the four solutions above do not clear the error, escalate to Siemens Technical Support through the Siemens Industry Online Support portal. Open a Service Request (SR) and include:

• Siemens SR number from Help > About > Show license information.
• ALM log files from both client and server covering the failed transaction.
• Output of the diagnostic commands from the Pre-Diagnostic Checklist.
• A screenshot of TIA Portal's Help > License management showing the error.

When filing the SR, reference the article number of this troubleshooting guide and the exact tuple (0086:000008). Siemens Technical Support can request a per-machine entitlement re-key that bypasses the broken local cache.

Cross-Reference: Related Siemens License Errors