Problem Description

Products using the Subscription Entitlement Service (SES) licensing system hang on startup when attempting to retrieve a license. Additionally, the Details tab on Task Manager reveals an instance of Bentley.Licensing.Service.exe running as the SYSTEM user or an administrator.

Steps to Resolve

An instance of Bentley.Licensing.Service.exe running as the SYSTEM user or an administrator will intercept licensing traffic for any users on the machine which is detrimental unless running certain server-based products such as ProjectWise InterPlot Server. To address the immediate problem, either restart the computer or perform the following steps:

1. Right-click on the Windows Start menu, and select Task Manager from the contextual menu. If not running as an administrator, search for Task Manager, and select the option to Run as Administrator instead.
2. Click on the Details tab.
3. End the task for Bentley.Licensing.Service.exe running as the SYSTEM user or an administrator. If you see a task named Bentley.Connect.Client.exe also running as the SYSTEM user or an administrator, end it afterwards.

Determining the underlying cause is important long-term. Following are some scenarios to check.

Server Mode

Some server-based products such as ProjectWise InterPlot Server utilize a special server mode for licensing which uses a SYSTEM instance of Bentley.Licensing.Service.exe. To check whether Server Mode is active, perform the following steps:

1. Search the Windows Start menu for Bentley Health Check Tool.
2. Run the health check, and note in the text box whether server mode is on.
   
3. If on and you are not running a server-based product, refer to the following instructions for turning server mode off.

CONNECTION Client deployment via SCCM

If CONNECTION Client is deployed to machines via SCCM, please refer to the following silent installations instructions, specifically the bold paragraph in the Silent Installation Options section.