PTC license server and FlexNet licensing describes the technical layer through which PTC enforces its on-premises licenses for Creo and other desktop products. PTC states that its software “must be licensed for use” and that licensing “authorizes the installed software to run”.[1] The enforcement technology is Flexera’s FlexNet Publisher, which PTC integrates with its software, together with a PTC vendor daemon named ptc_d.[4][3] Entitlements are generated and assigned to hosts in PTC’s Manage Licensing application.[15]
The license server enforces how many sessions run. It does not decide what the customer is entitled to. That comes from the Quote, the PTC Customer Agreement and the Licensing Basis documents, which define metrics such as Concurrent User and Designated Computer and add location and virtualization rules. Those rules are covered in PTC Creo and Windchill licensing and the overview PTC licensing. This article is based on the Creo Schematics 13.0 Installation and Administration Guide, which documents the license management software shared by the Creo applications, and on the Manage Licensing FAQ, as retrieved on 2026-10-01.
License types
PTC’s installation guide distinguishes licenses by how they are served and by how long they last.[2]
| Type | What PTC’s documentation says | Usual contractual counterpart |
|---|---|---|
| Node-locked | “Restricts the use of the software to a particular machine (independent workstation).”[2] | Designated Computer |
| Floating, single server | Served by one license server and usable on any machine connected over the network.[2] | Concurrent User |
| Floating, triad | Three machines on the same network “work together to manage a pool of floating licenses”, giving redundant backup. “An identical license file is used for each Triad partner.”[2] | Concurrent User |
| License extension | Makes floating licenses available for locked modules.[2] | Optional modules on a base license |
| Borrowed | Lets a user work temporarily without a connection to the license server.[2] | Concurrent User taken off-network |
By duration, PTC distinguishes a perpetual license, which does not need renewing, from a subscription license, which is “valid for a fixed period” and can be renewed for further fixed periods.[2] By purpose, it distinguishes commercial, educational and evaluation licenses. Educational licenses are time-sensitive, and objects created with them “are not compatible with the commercial version of the same software”. Evaluation licenses are limited to a specified period.[1]
License server components
License server manager and vendor daemon
The license server manager handles the first contact from PTC software that uses FlexNet licensing and passes the connection to the right vendor daemon. PTC ships two versions: lmadmin, with a graphical user interface, and lmgrd, with a command-line interface. The current installer sets up lmadmin with the ptc_d vendor daemon at version 11.19, as a replacement for the lmgrd-based manager of earlier releases. Sites still on lmgrd with ptc_d 10.8.x are advised, but not required, to migrate.[3] Customers who stay on lmgrd must still update the license server with license codes for the new release. Migration to lmadmin involves shutting down lmgrd, saving the existing license.dat file and uninstalling the previous installation.[20] To run the current release of Creo Schematics, PTC states that FlexNet Publisher version 11.19.6.1 must be installed.[4]
FlexNet license servers are downward compatible. PTC’s example is that “a Creo Parametric 12.0 license can run Creo Parametric 11.0 software”, because both releases use the same PTC License Server.[17]
Sharing a server with other vendors
One FlexNet server can manage PTC and other vendors’ applications. Each vendor still has its own vendor daemon, and PTC warns: “You cannot combine a PTC license file with a license file of another vendor.” Mixing PTC feature lines with another vendor’s in a single file makes the licenses invalid. If all daemons are FLEXlm 10.8.x or later, lmgrd or lmadmin can process several license files on the same node.[6][5]
Triad servers
A triad server is configured in the Creo Installation Assistant’s advanced license entry by giving the host ID, port number and host name of the other two servers.[14] Since the Manage Licensing release of 2025-06-09, a triad (three-server) host configuration can also be set up in the Manage Licensing app “when supported by a product”.[15]
License files and entitlement identifiers
Product codes, sales orders and SCNs
PTC sends a Sales Order Number (SON) or product codes when an order is confirmed. Product codes “are nontransferable” and “can be used by only one individual on only one computer”.[13] Under PTC’s license simplification scheme, all Creo licenses and options can be combined into one Service Contract Number (SCN), and one SCN can be assigned to a license server.[7]
Feature lines
Each PTC product appears in the license file as a feature line with a unique feature name, such as PROE_Engineer, served by the ptc_d daemon. With license simplification the SCN “is no longer a part of the feature name” and appears under the SN tag. Optional modules can be delivered as License Extensions, marked by the keyword STARTUP in the vendor string. License extensions can be checked out only when a base license starts, and cannot be added or released inside a running Creo session.[7] If an administrator has assigned an alias to a feature, PTC’s flush utility still needs the original feature name.[10]
For an asset manager, the feature lines are the most direct technical record of what has been delivered: feature name, version, expiry date, quantity, SCNs and whether the BORROW keyword is present. They should be reconciled against the Quote and the installed base, not treated as the entitlement itself.
Pointing clients at licenses
Client sessions find their licenses through license sources such as a port@hostname value or a license file path. Node-locked licenses entered in the installer are not remembered in later sessions “unless you add them specifically to the PTC_D_LICENSE_FILE variable”.[19]
Session behaviour
Timeouts
FlexNet and Creo exchange regular messages so that idle licenses return to the pool (FlexNet inactivity timeout: 120 minutes default, 20 minutes minimum).[8]
| Parameter | Value | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Inactivity timeout (TIMEOUTALL) | 120 minutes by default; minimum 20 minutes | After this period without activity, “the license can be reclaimed by the license server and used by another license client”. Activity means active menu selections.[8] |
| License refresh | 1 minute | If the server is not found, the client loses its license to run; if the client is not found, the server reclaims the license.[8] |
| Startup | 10 seconds | Time within which a new session’s license request must be validated.[8] |
The timeout is set in the FlexNet option file ptc.opt. Values below 20 minutes default to 20 minutes, and removing the TIMEOUTALL parameter makes the timeout infinite.[9] The same option file mechanism lets administrators “reserve or deny licenses based on user name, host name, display name, or IP address”.[5] A longer timeout keeps idle sessions holding Concurrent User licenses, so it raises the peak count a site needs.
Status and recovery utilities
The ptcstatus utility lists each feature with the number in use and free, and marks license extensions and borrowed licenses.[18] The ptcflush utility frees a license only when a client fails to shut down and leaves its TCP/IP connection open. It can be used once every 10 minutes, and on lmadmin servers it requires licenseReclaimAllowed=“true” in server.xml.[10] If a session ends abnormally, the server “automatically reclaims the PTC license”.[5]
License borrowing
Borrowing lets a Creo user run without a connection to the license server. The server must run FlexNet Publisher 10.8.x or later with a License Pack of version 33 or later, and a license is borrowable only if its feature line carries the BORROW keyword. If the keyword is missing, PTC directs customers to PTC License Management to regenerate the file.[11] Since 2025-06-09, borrowed license files are no longer issued by default: customers “must opt in and configure this setting at the Host level” in Manage Licensing.[15]
The installation guide sets the borrowing period through the LM_BORROW_DURATION environment variable (FlexNet borrowing duration: up to 29 days (perpetual) or 179 days (subscription)):[12]
- up to 29 days for a desktop perpetual license
- up to 179 days for a desktop subscription license
A borrowed license is cached on the client and must be used on the same computer by the same user. Several licenses with different expiry dates can be borrowed, and expired ones are removed at the next start.[12] Other PTC products set shorter periods: Creo View help gives 14 days, as noted in PTC Creo and Windchill licensing.
Manage Licensing application
PTC’s Manage Licensing app, part of the eSupport portal, replaced the older License Management web tool. It launched on 2024-05-13 for ThingWorx and Windchill. Creo, Mathcad, Arbortext, Codebeamer FlexLM (excluding the legacy version), Integrity, CADDS5 and PTC Modeler moved to it on 2025-06-09, and further products followed on 2026-01-12.[15] Its main functions, as PTC lists them, are:
- installing products on one or more licensing hosts, and saving host configurations
- showing where products are installed and “how many licenses are still available”
- moving products between hosts and changing quantities in real time
- showing a license file’s end date, “which is aligned to the contract end date”[15]
Several features matter for compliance. Creo and Mathcad home use licenses need a distinct host identified for home use, which PTC says helps customers “stay in compliance more easily”. For Windchill and ThingWorx, a host can be flagged as non-production and combined with a “Disable License Control” setting. App reporting replaced the Customer Detail Report (CDR) and Business Asset Summary Web Tool (BSWT), covers all active products in the installed base, and can be exported.[15] Windchill, ThingWorx and Navigate can also use License Online (called Connected Mode in ThingWorx), which activates licenses by connecting to PTC’s servers instead of using license files.[15]
Subscription license files carry an end date. Before expiry, Creo shows a renewal warning, 15 days ahead by default (configuration option daystoshow_expirydialog). After online renewal, the license file is updated automatically on the computer or server.[16]
Practice for license position
The FlexNet layer gives an asset manager three evidence sources for PTC desktop products. These points are commentary drawn from the documents cited above:
- Delivered licenses: the feature lines on each license server, cross-checked with the host list and reports in Manage Licensing.[7][15]
- Peak use: in-use counts from ptcstatus or the FlexNet server, which measure concurrent sessions against the Concurrent User quantity.[18]
- Configuration risk: the timeout set in ptc.opt, borrow settings per host, home use hosts and server locations, each of which changes how the technical count relates to the contract.[9][15]
PTC’s audit rights, which allow it to request a certified usage report, are described in PTC licensing. For the general method, see license compliance.
Out of scope
- The contractual licensing bases and Licensing Basis documents, covered in PTC Creo and Windchill licensing.
- Creo+ and other SaaS products, which use named and shared licenses in the PTC Portal with no customer license server.
- Windchill and ThingWorx license groups and License Online in detail.
- FlexNet Publisher administration beyond what PTC documents; Flexera’s own FlexNet Publisher License Administration Guide is not cited here.
- Hardware and operating system requirements for license servers.
Catalog rows
- Metrics: Concurrent User, Designated Computer
- Rules: FlexNet borrowing duration: up to 29 days (perpetual) or 179 days (subscription), FlexNet inactivity timeout: 120 minutes default, 20 minutes minimum, FlexNet license borrowing: BORROW keyword required; borrowed license files opt-in per host since 9 June 2025, Concurrent User: users in the country of installation; traveling users may check out a license (most products two weeks)
- Sources: Creo Schematics 13.0: License Borrowing, Creo Schematics 13.0: Using the <creo_app>_borrow.bat File, Creo Schematics 13.0: Understanding Timeout Parameters