"Trial/Valid license was not found" message still appears even when licenses are available

Error or Warning Message

On computercomputers running Windows 8, the following message appears when opening STAAD.Pro even when product licenses are available:

"Trial/Valid license was not found or trial period has expired! Switching to Restricted Mode..."

Explanation

STAAD.Pro uses registry entries to store licensing-specific settings. The settings are stored in a location accessible by all users, but only an administrator can modify them. Starting with Windows Vista, a copy of the settings is also maintained in a location that can be modified by a user. If the settings are never written to the location accessible by all users, the program may encounter a licensing error.

How to Avoid

Option 1 Run STAAD.Pro as an administrator one time.

1. Right-click on the desktop shortcut for STAAD.Pro, and select Run as Administrator. The program should open without licensing errors.
2. Activate any design codes/modules.
3. Close STAAD.Pro
4. Open it as a normal user. It should open without licensing errors now.

Option 2 Explicitly run the STAAD.Pro installer as an administrator.

1. Uninstall STAAD.Pro from the Programs and Features control panel if present.
2. After running the InstallShield extractor, navigate to C:\BentleyDownloads, and open a folder beginning with stpst followed by a version number. For example, the installer for STAAD.Pro 20.07.09.31 is located in a folder named stpst20070931en.
3. Right-click on the executable stored in this folder, and select Run as Administrator from the contextual menu.
4. The installer will reinstall the program and write the missing registry entries.

See Also

[[SELECTsupport TechNotes and FAQs]]