Am I the only one that finds the licensing process extremely painful?

Just found out after reading the licensing info that you are only allowed to return your license twice?
So what happens if you want to return a 3rd time to install on a different machine? Over the course of 2-3 years I see this as a fairly common scenario.

And after installing my license strings via the License administrator it seems I still have to redownload & reinstall Houdini Indie, I can't simply enter license info within Apprentice.

Finally installed Indie (half day later) but when launching I am now informed my version of License Server is too old??

So then tried uninstalling everything via the uninstaller, and reinstalling Indie once more.
Launched Indie, License Administrator launches, chose ‘I have a paid license…’clicked ‘License Settings’…same error.
Can anyone tell me how I upgrade JUST the license server?
wow
If I can get past this then learning Houdini by comparison should be a breeze

Being an inexperience user I can't comment on your difficulties.

But on the issue on returning the license.

I suspect when you have to renew your Indie license when the year is up its a new one. So you should be able to return the license twice a year.

BabaJ, thanks. that makes sense. Submitted my issue to support.

Yep licensing is silly: it punishes those who do the right thing while pirates enjoy great hassle-free service…

cpb, couldn't agree more <sigh!>

Hi, I recently transferred my license to a new machine without any issues so I might be able to help.

Are you installing the latest production build? That error is asking for the license server that comes with 15.5.480 (not the latest, but close). I'm not sure if it was 15 or 15.5 that changes were made to how the license server works for Indie. It might be that you have installed a license server version that was released prior to those changes. (Hence why it's asking you to upgrade the license server.)

Inside your Houdini folder, HKEY.exe is the license server and the properties/details window should show which version it is.

hope that helps
Rob

Thanks Rob
Finally up and running.

Yeah resolved the issue with server versions.

Also some confusion about how the License Administrator actually works

Seeing licenses already installed when it launched was throwing me off
I didn't realize you must choose File>Install new licenses any time the Admin popup appears and it should ONLY appear once before installing any new licenses.

I still think the whole process could be streamlined and made less error prone for newbies like myself…