Questa Starter Edition 25.1 - svverification license checkout fails (valid license per lmdiag)

Hi, I'm running Questa*-Altera FPGA Starter Edition 25.1std on Windows 10.

My design compiles and elaborates successfully, but simulation fails when

loading a testbench that uses SystemVerilog classes, randomize(), and

covergroup:

** Error: Failure to checkout svverification license feature.

** Error: (vsim-1) Unable to checkout verification license - required for

testbench features (randomize, randcase, randsequence, covergroup).

License details:

- License: SW-QUESTA (Non-Commercial Software SW-QUESTA), FIXED, NIC ID

- Feature: intelqsimstarter, v2027.01

- Node-locked correctly to my machine's NIC ID (confirmed via lmutil lmdiag)

- License Expires: 26-Jul-2027, currently active and valid

lmutil lmdiag output confirms the license is valid and correctly bound:

"intelqsimstarter" v2027.01, vendor: mgcld, expiry: 26-jul-2027

uncounted nodelocked license, locked to ethernet address "d053493e9348"

starts: 26-jul-2026, expires: 26-jul-2027

This is the correct node for this node-locked license

Both LM_LICENSE_FILE and SALT_LICENSE_SERVER are correctly set to the

license file path (verified spelling, no typos, no spaces in path, full

system restart performed). The GUI itself launches without any license

error - the failure only occurs specifically when loading a design that

uses randomize/covergroup.

Is svverification/testbench verification simply not included under the

free Starter Edition license (intelqsimstarter), or is there an additional

configuration step needed to enable it? Any guidance appreciated.