Troubleshoot Wowza Streaming Engine licensing errors at startup

Wowza Streaming Engine™ media server software periodically tries to connect to the Wowza license server when it starts. If your license is invalid or the computer running Wowza Streaming Engine isn't connected to the Internet, you'll encounter an error.

Below are some common errors. Follow the instructions for the error you've encountered to resolve the issue. If multiple solutions are provided, try them in the order in which they're presented.

Error: The license key you entered is not valid, or Error: The license key you entered is expired

Error: Wowza Streaming Engine could not connect to the Internet to validate your license

• Check your network cables and make sure they're properly seated.
• Check your power cords and make sure they're plugged in and seated.
• If you're on Wi-Fi, check that you're trying to connect over the right network and using the correct username and password.
• Unplug your modem or hub, wait a few minutes, and then plug them back in.
• Check with your ISP to make sure no outages are affecting your connection.
• Ensure your server, firewalls, and routers are configured to allow outgoing HTTP traffic over TCP port 80. Outgoing traffic is normally allowed without restriction, but some corporate firewalls may block outgoing traffic on certain ports. A DNS lookup for wowzalicense-all.wowzamedia.com will return the current list of IP addresses used for the license servers, so firewall rules can be restricted to these IP addresses if needed. To determine if the server can resolve the host names, you can query the DNS server for the IP addresses associated with the wowzalicense-all.wowzamedia.com domain:

// Run the following on Linux
dig wowzalicense-all.wowzamedia.com

// Run the following on Windows
nslookup wowzalicense-all.wowzamedia.com

Once you get the current list of IP addresses, you can add them to an outgoing firewall rule. In most cases, if the server is connected to the internet, it should be able to resolve DNS host names. Check that DNS is configured correctly on the server and that the firewall isn't blocking DNS lookups.

Error: Wowza Streaming Engine could not access the home directory

Verify the Streaming Engine install directory and environment variables (Windows)

1. In Windows Explorer, navigate to the default install directory for Wowza Streaming Engine, /Program Files (x86)/Wowza Media Systems/Wowza Streaming Engine [version number]/, to confirm its existence. Or search your computer for "Wowza Streaming Engine" to determine its install location.
   
   If you can't locate Wowza Streaming Engine, reinstall it. For help, see Install and configure Wowza Streaming Engine. After you've confirmed that Wowza Streaming Engine is installed and that you know its location on your system, proceed to step 2.
    
2. In Windows, open the System Control Panel and do one of the following:
   • (Windows 8) Click Advanced.
   • (Windows 7) Click Advanced system settings and then choose the Advanced tab.
3. Click Environment Variables.
   
   
    
4. In the System variables list box, select WMSAPP_HOME, and then click Edit.
   
   
    
5. Ensure the Variable value points to the path for your installed version of Wowza Streaming Engine, as identified in Step 1, and then click OK.
   
   
    
6. In the System variables list box, select WMSCONFIG_HOME, and then click Edit.
   
   
    
7. Make sure the Variable value points to the path for your installed version of Wowza Streaming Engine, as identified in Step 1.
    
8. Click OK to close the Edit System Variable dialog box. Then, click OK to close the Environment Variables dialog box, and click OK to close the System Properties dialog box.
    
9. Restart Wowza Streaming Engine. 

Verify the Streaming Engine install directory and environment variables (Linux)

Wowza Streaming Engine configures environment variables automatically on Linux. They reside in a file called setenv.sh, located at /usr/local/WowzaStreamingEngine/bin.

1. Navigate to /usr/local/WowzaStreamingEngine/bin/ and open setenv.sh in a text editor.
    
2. Make sure the following variables are defined:
   
   Linux

   _EXECJAVA=java
   WMSAPP_HOME=/usr/local/WowzaStreamingEngine
   WMSCONFIG_HOME=/usr/local/WowzaStreamingEngine
   WMSCONFIG_URL=
   export JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS='-Djava.awt.headless=true'
   export WMSAPP_HOME WMSCONFIG_HOME JAVA_OPTS _EXECJAVA

3. Save your changes, if you made any, and restart Wowza Streaming Engine.

Note: We don't typically recommend editing the setenv.sh file. Any manual updates you make to this file may be lost when you update your server. You may want to back up your setenv.sh file before updating your server.

Error: Wowza Streaming Engine could not write to the server license file (conf/Server.license)

Check permissions (Windows)

1. In Windows Explorer, navigate to [install-dir]/conf/Server.license.
   For example, if you installed Wowza Streaming Engine in its default location, go to /Program Files (x86)/Wowza Media Systems/Wowza Streaming Engine [version number]/conf/.
    
2. Right-click Server.license and choose Properties.
    
3. Click the Security tab and select your username from the Group or user names list.
    
4. In the Permissions for Users list, make sure Write has a checkmark in the Allow column.
    
5. If Write permission isn't allowed, click Edit.
    
6. In the Permissions for Server.license dialog box, select your username from the Group or user names list.
    
7. In the Permissions for Users list, select the Allow box for the Write permission.
   
   
    
8. Click OK to close the Permissions for Server.license dialog box, and click OK again to close the Server.license Properties dialog box.
    
9. Restart Wowza Streaming Engine.

Check permissions (Linux)

1. Type ls -l /[install-dir]/conf/.
   
   For example, if you installed Wowza Streaming Engine in its default location, type
    

   ls -l /usr/local/WowzaStreamingEngine-[version number]/conf/

   The command returns output that looks something like this:
   
   -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2453 Feb 19 16:25 /usr/local/WowzaStreamingEngine-[version number]/conf
   
   The first three cluster of dashes and letters indicates permissions for the folder for the owner, the group, and other users, respectively:

   • r means read permission.
   • w means write permission.
   • x means execute permission.
   • - means no permission.
2. To apply write permissions to the contents of the conf folder, type sudo chmod -R ugo+rw [install-dir]/conf/.
   
   For example, if you installed Wowza Streaming Engine in its default location, type
    

   sudo chmod -R ugo+rw /usr/local/WowzaStreamingEngine-[version number]/conf/

3. Restart Wowza Streaming Engine.

Error: The license key does not match the host's IP address/MAC address

1. Validate that Wowza Streaming Engine is using the correct license key.
   
   The license key that Wowza Streaming Engine is using when it starts is located in the Server.license file located at [install-dir]/conf/Server.license. Compare that key value to the key that you received in the email from Wowza when you purchased Wowza Streaming Engine. The keys should be the same. If they're different, try changing the key in the Server.license file to the key that you received in the order confirmation email. Then, restart Wowza Streaming Engine.
    
2. Confirm that Wowza Streaming Engine is installed on the original, intended server.
   
   Confirm that Wowza Streaming Engine is installed on the same, original computer according to the instructions received with your license key in the email from Wowza. If you've installed Wowza Streaming Engine on new or different hardware, the license key won't work anymore.
    
3. Contact Wowza for further troubleshooting.
   
   If you still can't start Wowza Streaming Engine, reply to the email that you received from Wowza that includes your license key. Explain the problem you're having and attach a zip file that contains the contents of the [install-dir]/conf and the [install-dir]/logs folders.

Generate a temporary license