Why do I receive MathWorks Licensing Error 8?
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Why do I receive the following error:
MathWorks Licensing Error 8
A licensing error occurred while trying to use <PRODUCTNAME>.
The license file in use is invalid.
Activate your license to get a new license file.
Accepted Answer
MathWorks Support Team
on 10 Dec 2025
Edited: MathWorks Support Team
on 10 Dec 2025
21 votes
This issue generally indicates that the license file is served from the Network License Manager and that there is a problem with the license.dat file on the machine running the Network License Manager. The cause of this error may be due to one of the following:
- Missing corrupt, or incorrect characters in license.dat file
- Network license being used to activate MATLAB
- System time, date, or locale issue
Missing, corrupt, or incorrect characters in license.dat file
If your license file has been manually modified (excluding lines starting with SERVER, DAEMON, or #), then your license file has likely been corrupted. Please obtain a new copy of your license file from the License Center.
This error may also be the result of having line breaks in your license file. In order to avoid this, ensure that the following strings all begin on a left justified line: #, SERVER, DAEMON, or INCREMENT. Sometimes an INCREMENT line can get wrapped on the end of the preceding INCREMENT line, causing it to be omitted.
Network license being used to activate MATLAB
It is also possible for this error to occur if a network license is attempting to be used in place of an Individual or Designated Computer license. If you are trying to activate MATLAB for a network license, you need either a license.dat or network.lic from the person who maintains the Network License Manager. If a Network License Manager has not already been setup, then it needs to be in order to use the license. Read more information from the link below about the differences between license files types:
What are the differences between the license.lic, license.dat, network.lic, and license_info.xml license files?
System time, date, or locale issue
This error can sometimes occur if the system time and date are not set properly. Check to make sure that the date and time are correctly set on the machine before proceeding.
If you are located in Turkey, or the default language of your computer is Turkish, please refer to the article below:
Why do I see MathWorks Licensing Error 8 when launching MATLAB on Linux when my locale is set to Turkey?
1 Comment
xingxingcui
on 13 May 2018
Edited: xingxingcui
on 13 May 2018
Not clear! my matlab version is R2017b,win10,64bit:
1,My .lic files don't have a SERVER line also.
2,my matlab install root do't have "license.dat" file
3,what is "license server machine"? Where and How can I find it?my matlab activation without internet.
More Answers (1)
tingting jiang
on 28 Apr 2020
Edited: Walter Roberson
on 28 Apr 2020
13 votes
我并没有看懂解决方法，也不知道哪里出错了，作为一个电脑小白，我希望有有图片或者视频指导。
I don't understand the solution, and I don't know what's wrong. As a person who doesn't know much about computers, I hope to have a picture or video guide.
1 Comment
Walter Roberson
on 28 Apr 2020
I have tracked down three possible causes for this problem on MATLAB installations. All three of them are problems with remote license servers, and require that the license server administrator make changes. If you are someone who does not know much about computers, then you are not the license server administrator, so you should ask your license server adminstrator to repair the problem.
The one case that I tracked down that involves something on the user's machine, involves cases where the user is using a cracked version of MATLAB. People who are running cracked versions of MATLAB should purchase MATLAB.
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