Troubleshooting Licensing Errors in the Hub

Update 02/06/20 - Please refer to this thread instead

Hello everyone!

Lately we're seeing some of our Windows users experiencing problems with their Unity licenses.

Thanks to this wonderful community, some people were able to resolve their issues and even assisted others with similar problems.

I would like to cover some common licensing scenarios and provide workarounds for a couple of problems we're seeing currently. Rest assured that our teams are working to address many of these problems!

Bear with me, this is going to be a fairly long post as I'll cover the most common problems. To help you find your case, here's a table of contents:

Table of Contents

1. I just did a Windows update and can't open my Unity projects anymore!
2. I just did a hardware update and can't open my Unity projects anymore!
3. I am getting 'Unity is already in list...' on Windows!
4. I'm getting 'Machine identification is invalid for current license' on Windows!
5. Help! My problem was not covered!

1. I just did a Windows update and can't open my Unity projects anymore!

Major Windows revisions will alter the OS Product ID. Unity uses this value to issue licenses and therefore previously-issued licenses may no longer be valid. Please go through the steps below to re-license Unity after a Windows update.

That this also applies to 'Blue Screen of Death' (Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart screen as of Windows 10) because Windows will attempt to revert recent OS updates to recover from the problem, thus changing the Product ID.

1. Open Unity Hub
2. Click the 'gear' icon to access Preferences
3. Navigate to License Management
4. Click Return License
5. Confirm that you want to return the license
6. Click Activate New License
7. Proceed through the New License Activation flow

Note: if you get an error message at step 4, navigate to %PROGRAMDATA%\Unity and delete Unity_lic.ulf manually.

If you want to be extra-thorough, follow these additional steps:

1. Close all Unity applications (to quit Unity Hub on Windows, right-click the system tray icon and select 'Quit Unity Hub')
2. Re-launch Unity Hub

​

2. I just did a hardware update and can't open my Unity projects anymore!

Computer components can fail and get replaced. Certain hardware updates will require re-licensing Unity (and other applications, including the OS itself). To do that, please follow the instructions posted in the previous section.

Note: to quit Unity Hub on macOS, use the Command-Q keystroke

3. I am getting 'Unity is already in list...' on Windows!

Some people reported getting the following error in Unity Hub: Unity is already in list. You cannot locate the same version. There are two different workarounds we can try.

First, you might an external device that is conflicting with the primary network adapter on your system. The device can be any of the following:

• Xbox Wireless Adapter for Windows
• USB network adapter
• Detachable dock/hub
• Keyboard attachment for 2-in-1 modular computers (Microsoft Surface Book, Lenovo Yoga, ASUS ZenBook Flip...)

As a first workaround, disconnect all external network devices and re-license Unity (see section 1). This should solve the issue.

​

Alternatively, you can try activating Unity through the command line:

1. Close all Unity applications (to quit Unity Hub on Windows, right-click the system tray icon and select 'Quit Unity Hub')
2. Open Windows a Command Prompt or PowerShell terminal
3. Navigate to the folder where Unity is installed (e.g., C:\Program Files\Unity\Editor\Unity.exe)
4. Run the following command:
   Code (CSharp):

   1. "C:\Program Files\Unity\Editor\Unity.exe" -batchmode -username name@example.edu.uk - password XXXXXXXXXXXXX -serial E3-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX –quit
   (remember to replace the values with your own Unity user name, password and Unity serial number)
5. Wait for the process to finish
6. Open Unity Hub and try opening the project again

For more information on Unity CLI commands, consult the Unity Manual.

4. I'm getting 'Machine identification is invalid for current license' on Windows!

A couple of users reported seeing the following error in Unity Hub: Machine identification is invalid for current license. As part of this workaround, we will toggle the primary network adapter and see if this solves the issue.

1. Close all Unity applications (to quit Unity Hub on Windows, right-click the system tray icon and select 'Quit Unity Hub')
2. Press Start
3. Type Control Panel into Windows search
4. Navigate to Network and Sharing Centre
5. Navigate to Change Adapter Settings
6. Right-click on your primary network adapter
7. Select Disable from the context menu
8. Wait about 15 seconds
9. Right-click on the primary network adapter again
10. Select Enable from the context menu
11. Open Unity Hub and re-license Unity (see section 1).

5. Help! My problem was not covered!
If you issue was not covered here, please contact Unity support and they will reach out to us. In order to help us classify and troubleshoot issues, we would really appreciate the following information:

• info-log.json (Hub usage logs)
• Editor.log (Editor usage logs)
• Unity.Licensing.Client.log (Licensing Client logs)

To find these files, navigate to the following directories depending on your OS.

Unity Hub:

• Windows:

  %APPDATA%\UnityHub\logs\

• macOS:

  ~/Library/Application\ Support/UnityHub/logs/

• Linux:

  ~/.config/UnityHub/logs/

Unity Editor:

• Windows:

  %LOCALAPPDATA%\Unity\Editor\

• macOS:

  ~/Library/Logs/Unity/

• Linux:

  ~/.config/unity3d/

Unity Licensing:

• Windows:

  %LOCALAPPDATA%\Unity\

• macOS:

  ~/Library/Logs/Unity/

• Linux:

  ~/.config/unity3d/Unity/

In addition, if you're on Windows, please send us the output of the following PowerShell command:

Code (CSharp):

1. Get-WMIObject MSFT_NetAdapter  -Namespace root\StandardCimv2 | select Name,InterfaceDescription,InterfaceOperationalStatus,ConnectorPresent,PermanentAddress,NetworkAddresses,PNPDeviceID