Product evaluation license requirements – Lumerical Support

This page describes the behavior and requirements of free product evaluation licenses. Evaluation licenses use the Node trusted storage license model, but with a few additional restrictions as described below.

Internet connection required

An active Internet connection is required at all times when accessing the simulation tools.
Activate your trial license using the online method.
Offline Activation is not supported for Trial licenses.

Obtaining a trial license

The easiest and fastest way to request for a trial license is from the Product (registration required).
Download and install the Lumerical Suite unto your Windows or Mac computer.
Open and Run the Lumerical Product Launcher.
Go to the Products section on the left.
Request a 30 day evaluation license, using the "Evaluate" button.
Sign in with your account when prompted.
Complete the form and submit your request.
Trial license will be provided and activated on your local computer.

Trial request done in the past

If a trial license has been requested for a product or feature sometime in the past, you will not be able to obtain a trial license automatically.
You can send your request for another trial license using the 'Open email client' button on the new window and email your request to Lumerical. Please provide details or reasons for your request.

Trial license for Linux

The default product evaluation licenses do not support Linux. When requesting a trial license from Linux, you will be prompted to email your request to Lumerical.

TIP

For instant access to our simulation tools, please 'Evaluate' them using a supported Windows or Mac computer.

Virtual Machines

VM activation is not supported. Trial licenses can only be activated on supported physical machines.

Proxy servers

Trial licenses should have an Internet connection to connect to our 'trial validation servers'.
Some computer networks are configured so that individual computers access the internet via a proxy service.
In these situations, the individual computers can not connect to the internet directly but instead send their requests through a designated proxy server.
Our design software generally detects the proxy server and works without the need for any additional action from the end-user.
However, if you are having trouble with the license validation and your network uses a proxy server, you may need to manually configure your proxy server settings.
A new window will appear if the automatic proxy detection fails, as shown below, enter the proxy server IP address and Port number, then click OK.
If your proxy server requests a username and password, a second window will appear. Enter you username and password and click OK.

Internet Options

The standard Windows proxy server settings can be configured using the settings in the "Internet Options" within the Control Panel.
These settings are the same ones that are used by Internet Explorer. Normally if Internet Explorer is configured correctly then the product will find the appropriate settings.
If you are having trouble with the automatic proxy server settings, check your proxy server settings in the Tools -> Internet Options -> Connection -> LAN settings menu of Internet Explorer.

Firewalls

Many computers use firewall software to improve security. Most firewalls are configured to allow all outgoing connections to the Internet but to strictly control incoming connections. The trial license validation process only requires an outgoing connection to the Internet, so normally no firewall configuration is required.

If you are using very strict firewall settings you may have to add exceptions for to your firewall settings to allow outgoing connections. The best way to test whether your firewall is interfering with the license validation process is to temporarily disable it. If disabling the firewall allows the license validation process to complete, then you should re-enable the firewall and add the following firewall exceptions:

For FDTD: fdtd-solutions.exe, fdtd-engine.exe
For MODE: mode-solutions.exe, fd-engine.exe, varfdtd-engine.exe, eme-engine.exe
For INTERCONNECT: interconnect.exe
The rest of Lumerical solvers: device.exe, device-engine.exe, thermal-engine.exe, dgtd-engine.exe, feem-engine.exe

Next steps