License Request File and License Response File

License Request File and License Response File 1:

TwinCAT root directory <TwinCAT_ROOT>

Up to and including TwinCAT 3.1.4024: C:\TwinCAT
From TwinCAT 3.1.4026: C:\ProgramData\Beckhoff\TwinCAT

License Request File

When activating TwinCAT 3 licenses manually via the Beckhoff licensing server, a "License Request File" must be generated in TwinCAT 3 Engineering.

See also: Creating License Request Files

License Request Files are hardware-specific. In addition to a list of the requested TwinCAT 3 licenses, they contain the platform level and the system ID of the individual TwinCAT 3 license dongle (or IPC). The created TwinCAT 3 license applies only for the individual hardware on which the licensing is based. It is not transferable.

A License Request File is a normal XML file. You can easily view the content with a suitable editor (e.g. XML Notepad or Notepad++) and edit the License Request File to remove superfluous licenses from the file, for example. Make sure the inner structure is not damaged.

When the License Request File is signed by the Beckhoff licensing server, it becomes a "License Response File".

License Response File

The License Response File is generated by the Beckhoff licensing server in response to a licensing request (i.e. a signed License Request File) and returned to the requester. The signature validates the content and protects against content changes. You can view the content with a suitable editor, but you are not allowed to edit the License Response File, as it becomes invalid when the content changes (signature no longer matches the content of the file). However, you can change the file name.

The License Response File contains one or more individual TwinCAT 3 licenses for an individual TwinCAT 3 license dongle (or Beckhoff IPC). It is hardware-specific and non-transferable. The License Response File only works with the individual hardware on which the licensing is based.

The License Response File is saved in the TwinCAT 3 license folder (<TwinCAT_ROOT>\3.1\target\license) of the target system. Any subdirectories in this folder will be ignored by TwinCAT 3.

In this directory TwinCAT 3 automatically creates a copy of the license files contained on a TwinCAT 3 license dongle. TwinCAT 3 only works with license files in the above directory, therefore a working copy of the license files from the license dongle must also be available there.

The most important data from the "License Info" section of the License Request/Response File is shown below:

License Request File and License Response File 2:

Representation of the values in the TwinCAT 3 development environment:

License Request File and License Response File 3: