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Licensing and Installation

Having trouble with your Zemax license? Need assistance activating your software? Find help here!

  • 179 Topics
  • 425 Replies
179 Topics
Allie
Zemax Staff
AllieZemax Staff
posted in Licensing and Installation
License and Installation Directory

This forum category is a space for you to find help with any of your licensing or activation questions. It is monitored by our regional licensing specialists. For your convenience, you can find some self-help guides here:  License & Installation In the event you cannot find what you're looking for there, post your question! Our staff or your fellow community members will be able to help.

3510
Allie
Zemax Staff
PBZ
PBZSingle Emitter
asked in Licensing and Installation
Installing Legacy Zemax on a new PC

I have a legacy “black” USB license for Zemax, and am hoping to install whichever legacy version of the software I have a right to (the old computer in our laboratory, on which Zemax was installed, having finally given up the ghost).Can anyone please assist?

1273
D
Farz
FarzSingle Emitter
asked in Licensing and Installation
OffAxisEvenAsphere3

Hello I get an error that zemax cannot open a file because it cannot load “OffAxisEvenAsphere3” . I copied and pasted the dll into the zemax dll directory but it did not solve the problem. what will be the possible solution for that? 

291
Allie
Zemax Staff
M
Marko.ViršekMonochrome
asked in Licensing and Installation
Change of email

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804
Swati
Deano F
Deano FSingle Emitter
asked in Licensing and Installation
Corrupted Windows using single user Legacy soft key

Hello, We have a perpetual license from 2018 (soft key -- single user/two seats) that recently has become trapped on a Windows machine that has become corrupted and cannot boot. We have OpticStudio installed on other computers, but cannot access the Zemax license manager in order to transfer the soft key to another machine. All of our attempts so far to rescue / repair the windows installation have failed. Is there any way our key can be rescued from the corrupted windows computer?Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.-Deano

490
Deano F
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Mikayel.MusheghyanMonochrome
asked in Licensing and Installation
Current Academic Licensing Options for OpticStudio

Hey everyone,I am going to teach an OpticStudio course at a university and they have an academic license for all Ansys products including OpticStudio.However, what surprised me is that as far as I understood it is not possible for students or me to install and use OpticStudio locally, without a remote connection to the university Ansys server.I distinctly remember that a few years ago I did an online course at a university and got an OpticStudio license which I could use without any problems fully locally.Did the policy change? Is it not possible anymore to just have OpticStudio run locally with an academic license on your private PC? Best regards,Mikayel. 

198120
David.Nguyen
Luminary
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Michael.WeberMonochrome
asked in Licensing and Installation
How to solve "no imaging component found" when trying to save graphics

using the latest release 8Ansys Zemax 2025R1) I can not save a graphics file any more. No png/bmp/jpg export works, nor does printing work. All trials result in “No imaging component suitable to complete this operation was found”.This is the same on both installations I am using.Only work around so far, is to use OS23.2.1

1904
D
En-Lightened
M
MilothInfrared
asked in Licensing and Installation
Cros Platform Zemax

Hi, I would be interesting in understanding if making OpticStudio cross platform is in the roadmap. Especially with the release of .NET 8, which would enable it. Note that I am aware that this is gated by making sure that all the dependencies and calls in the implementation are cross-platform. I think though that compatibility with other OSes is an important feature.Just to give you some context, Zemax is the only unsupported program in my Linux workstation, either natively or through Wine. I have a Win VM for it, but it’s not an ideal situation.

460
M
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Nicholas.CroglioMonochrome
asked in Licensing and Installation
How do we get the New ANSYS licenses to work?

The process to get the new ANSYS licenses to work is a nightmare!They do not have record of me being under support after paying more for support that my original license cost.Noone answers the help line!The instructions are garbage and some of the links do not work.The ANSYS system has no record either. [Mod edit: updated the title of the post.]

42916
J
K
Khaled.HassanSingle Emitter
asked in Licensing and Installation
Inquiry about Zemax Pro License

I found that Zemax pro license doesn’t support “User-Defined Plugin for Surface, Objects, Sources, and Scatter Profiles”, Does this include source DLL and fiber DLL, such that this types of sources won’t be supported in the pro license?  

932
Sean Turner
Ultraviolet
S
Shih-Heng.LinMonochrome
asked in Licensing and Installation
Ansys Zemax's discriminatory policy against Asia(or only Taiwan) users

First, I have been a Zemax user since 2007, and have purchased Zemax on-behalf of companies I worked for three times. The 1st purchase is for Foxconn, the 2nd purchase is for s startup company called Light Blue Optics, and the 3rd has been for my current company, starting from 2013 and continue to the present.    Recently, Ansys Zemax required all users to migrate to the Ansys customer portal for issuing technical support questions, and I discovered that I don’t have the "open a case" option available. After confirming with Ansys Taiwan, I was informed that their policy has changed, and I am no longer permitted to directly contact Zemax technical support through the “open a case” button. Instead, all my technical questions must be submitted to the local agent in Taiwan, and the agent’s engineer must open a case on my behalf. Additionally, I cannot monitor the status of the case through my portal. At first, I though that was a same policy for all users purchasing Zemax through local dis

1872
Allie
Zemax Staff
Sean
SeanMonochrome
asked in Licensing and Installation
using red key on a new computer

I have a Zemax 16.5 SP3 with a red key. I want to use it on my new computer with Windows 11. After installing the Zemax 16.5 on the new computer and plug in the red key, there was no key information in the Zemax License Manager and I couldn’t run Zemax. The red key was light on for a couple of seconds and became light off.Could anyone please assist? Thanks!

922
Sean
D
En-Lightened
Don DickinsonEn-Lightened
posted in Licensing and Installation
Zemax software compatibility with new Apple M1 computers

Hello! Apple recently introduced a Macbook with a new “M1” CPU, rather than the usual Intel CPU. This new CPU requires that any software written for standard Intel or AMD processors has to either be re-written for the new CPU or emulated via virtual machine software such as Virtualbox, VMware Fusion, or Parallels. Zemax products (OpticStudio, OpticsViewer, and OpticsBuilder) are WIndows based rather than native Apple applications, so they will not be rewritten for the M1 CPU.  Zemax software has worked fine with virtual machines on Apple computers in the past. However, as reported by some Zemax customers, it appears that Parallels is still in Beta on this platform, and that there is also a “preview edition” of Windows 10.  Zemax uses Thales (formerly Sentinel) licensing technology which does not support preview or beta editions of Windows 10. This means even if Opticstudio installs, you cannot access a license (either a black USB key red key , green key, or software-based (softkey) lic

366016
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En-Lightened
F
Francis.DeckSingle Emitter
asked in Licensing and Installation
Can I run the latest OpticStudio on a Windows 365 virtual machine?

I’ve been given a chance to switch from Windows to Apple Mac. My company supports using Windows 365 VM on the Mac, but I wonder if I can use OpticStudio that way. 

831
D
En-Lightened
Thaniga
ThanigaInfrared
posted in Licensing and Installation
License Disconnection Issue - Seeking Suggestions

Hi everyone,I've been experiencing frequent disconnections with my license. It's becoming quite a nuisance. Does anyone have any insight into what might be causing this problem? I'd really appreciate any suggestions or advice you could offer. Thanks in advance! Regards,Thanigachalam P

431
jhimavanth
M
MilothInfrared
asked in Licensing and Installation
Windows ARM Support

Hi, more and more team members are being issued ARM machines. Windows 11 ARM has a pretty decent x64 emulation, still Zemax runs very, very slow. I am not referring to raytraces, but simply loading the UI for the empty lens.zos takes a lot of time. Note that I do not believe this is a problem with the processor speed, because they should be capable of pretty intensive operations.Would it be possible to compile and package the Zemax installers for ARM64 as well?Thank you.

1341
D
En-Lightened
A
Alain.GilliotteSingle Emitter
posted in Licensing and Installation
Installation of an old version on a new computer

Old zemax version 15.5.0 user with permanent USB softkey. (W/o support) I need to install this version on a new computer. I have the sentineldriver installer as well as the prerequisite executable file but i miss the main installation zemax executable ... Some one of the users have still this file in storage ? thanks

1711
TosB
A
Ultraviolet
AsukuUltraviolet
asked in Licensing and Installation
Preferred method to uninstall older OpticStudio versions ?

Had a previously installed Ansys OpticStudio 2023 R1.02.Installed Ansys OpticStudio 2023 R2.02 did not prompt for removal of previous version.Now I have two versions of OpticStudio on my system and I would only like to keep only the latest version. Is there a preferred/recommended method (clean way) to uninstall OpticStudio which will remove all the traces and leftovers (folders, temp files, etc.)? Thanks

3017
D
sihart
sihartStudent
asked in Licensing and Installation
Silent uninstallation of Opticstudio

Is there a way to silently uninstall Optictudio 2024 R1 when there is no uninstall file?For context, I am currently trying to provide an SCCM deployment for Optictudio 2024 R1 using the Powershell App Deployment Toolkit. Silent installation is no problem but I need a way to silently uninstall.

1201
sihart
JJP
JJPSingle Emitter
asked in Licensing and Installation
OpticStudio Professional 15 Install Files

I have a perpetual license for OpticStudio Professional up to version 15.5, with Black USB dongle, but have lost the install files. Apparently Zemax only keep these files on their servers for 2 years. If anyone knows where I can download the install files for version 15 or 15.5, I would be extremely grateful. Regards, JJ.

1851
David.Nguyen
Luminary
Donna.Waters
Ultraviolet
Donna.WatersUltraviolet
asked in Licensing and Installation
Unreliable FlexNet Licensing

Nearly every time I try to open OpticStudio, I get a license error and it won’t open.  I’ve had this problem since the migration. I only have one seat on this license, so it’s unclear why it needs a “license server”.  Why doesn’t the application just look in the folder where the license file is saved?   The Ansys License Utility pops up.  When I hit enter, it says “No Ansys products were detected.  Check the license settings…” I can start OpticStudio by opening the license manager, which takes me to the Ansys website where I can select a button that says “Stopped”, but what a bother and it requires me to be online to use the software.  Are other people having this issue or does my configuration need repair? Thanks!

841
David.Nguyen
Luminary
A
Atchariyasart.PhongsaSingle Emitter
asked in Licensing and Installation
RENEWING MY LICENSE

Dear Zemax Support Team,   My license has expired. I want you to help renew my license. How can you suggest about Zemax software. Do I have to register again?For previous my license information is below: License Number: L119203 Product: Premium Subscription SUL License activation code:  ZU-a5460f23-1a94-4f78-ae34-83ecd5aa616b License Expiration: Saturday, June 19, 2021ฺBest Regards,Atchariyasart PhongsaAcademic Physics at Suranaree University of Technology

6153
Allie
Zemax Staff
Hannahooo
HannahoooStudent
asked in Licensing and Installation
Zemax 30-day Free Trial registration

I signed up for the 30-day free trial of Zemax OpticStudio four working days ago, but I haven't received any follow-up emails yet. I'm wondering how long it typically takes to receive confirmation. Thank you! 

2561
D
En-Lightened
Siddharth
SiddharthSingle Emitter
asked in Licensing and Installation
How to use license on a different machine

Our company has a license for Ansys Zemax OpticStudio Pro. One license for one system. Its a license that starts with 1-#####.Now we want to use this license on a different computer then the computer we currently use. I could install Ansys Zemax optics studio on this new computer but its not clear how to “transfer” the lciense. Can someone advice?ThanksSiddharth 

1092
Siddharth
R
Fully Spectral
RayFully Spectral
asked in Licensing and Installation
Recovering disconnected licenses

We have just switched to ANSYS subscription version (from Zemax + dongles) and I wonder how the other users  here handle the problem I had yesterday:I went to a meeting with my laptop and AZOS open (in the background during that meeting) and when I came back and plugged back to the docking station, I had several pop-ups (all the same, something like 5 in a row) telling me no license was found. I closed Zemax and restarted, but noticed the license was a now professional instead of the premium I was using before closing. The license server still though I was using that license and counted it as in use. The IT had to restart the license server service (fortunately I was the only user that day as my colleagues are in vacations). I know this happened before to another colleague.How do you (everyone’s feedback is welcome) handle this kind of problem ? Is there a duration of inactivity after which the license is freed ? Is there a trick to free a license that is unsused ?I can’t imagine that

1493
jwbeenakker

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