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jthweatt's avatar
jthweatt
Icon for Occasional Contributor rankOccasional Contributor
1 month ago

Repeat of a Questa License Issue

Questa licenses generated since approximately January 29 (the last date I was able to help a student configure a properly generated license) have contained the following message in place of what I presume is the normal license key:

################################################################################
# FEATURE START
# This is license file for Questasim*-Intel FPGA Starter Edition
# Number of seat licenses is 1
# License Expires 02-Feb-2027
300 Your license version is outside the range of the contract.
# FEATURE END
################################################################################
# End of Intel Corporation Software and/or Intellectual Property License File. Issued 02/02/2026

This appears to be the same thing that happened in December 2025, and may be a sign that the licensing site is down or suffering some issue.

Questa License Issue | Altera Community - 247818

Any advice would be appreciated.

Installation & Licensing

24 Replies

  • spalbird's avatar
    spalbird
    Icon for New Contributor rankNew Contributor
    1 month ago

    I have the same problem. The problem is that the Questa license is not correctly created.
    There is a message "300 Your license version is outside the range of the contract." where there should be an encrypted licensing key.

    Can somebody give a hint why this occurs? I tried 3 times to get the license.

    Altera sends a defective license to me without any warning? Wouldn't it be state of the art to scan the license for correctness before sending out?
    => grok was able to identify this error and even show how a correct license has to look like.


  • IanP's avatar
    IanP
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    1 month ago

    I was wondering if this issue is related only to SW-QUESTA, the free license for Intel Questasim Altera FPGA Starter Edition so tried generating the Quartus Prime 90 day evaluation license EVALUATION-LIC instead, which I think includes a license for Intel Questasim Altera FPGA Edition.

    That license file generated mostly correct, feature lines for various Quartus components looked OK apart from the feature line for Questasim, which had the same 300 error as others have reported. 

    I have to specify a floating license to support remote access to the FPGA developer workstation; I don't know if this issue occurs if a node locked license is generated instead.

    • jthweatt's avatar
      jthweatt
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      1 month ago

      Hello, and thanks for your contribution to the thread.

      I tried generating an evaluation license for Quartus Prime where I specified Questa as an optional product and used an existing fixed-node computer as the target for the license. It also contained the same 300 error.

    • pepepopo's avatar
      pepepopo
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      1 month ago

      When i generated  Quartus Prime 90 day evaluation license have same problem. But this license do not contain license for Questa, i added it like optional and get same thing, so the problem related only to Questa SW license.
      I don't know what to do know(

       

      ################################################################################

      # FEATURE START

      # The following is the license file for Questa*-Intel FPGA Edition - Questa Plus

      300 Your license version is outside the range of the contract.

      # FEATURE END

      ################################################################################

  • Lmenzie's avatar
    Lmenzie
    Icon for New Contributor rankNew Contributor
    1 month ago

    Same issue- the self service generating license states “300 outside of contract range” pls help!!!!

  • RichardT_altera's avatar
    RichardT_altera
    Icon for Super Contributor rankSuper Contributor
    1 month ago

    Hi All, 
     
    The Altera team is aware of this issue, and it should be fixed soon.
    Sorry for the inconvenience caused, and we appreciate your patience while this is being addressed.

    Regards,
    Richard Tan

    • RichardT_altera's avatar
      RichardT_altera
      Icon for Super Contributor rankSuper Contributor
      1 month ago

      This issue continues to persist.
      I will follow up with the team immediately and push to have this expedited.

      Regards,
      Richard Tan

      • CatCooke's avatar
        CatCooke
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        1 month ago

        Hi Richard, is there an update on this please? Is there a timeframe for when we can expect it to be fixed? Thanks

    • pepepopo's avatar
      pepepopo
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      1 month ago

      Hello,

      Keep us in touch with solution. 
      Thanks for information. Have a nice day)

  • pepepopo's avatar
    pepepopo
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    1 month ago

    same problem. Dont know what to do. After refreshing token some problems with LM_LICENSE_FILE, but everything set correctly.

  • pepepopo's avatar
    pepepopo
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    1 month ago

    Now We can generate good license file.
    Thanks to Altera Team for fast solution and keep us in touch with problem.

    • RichardT_altera's avatar
      RichardT_altera
      Icon for Super Contributor rankSuper Contributor
      1 month ago

      You’re welcome! Glad to hear that license generation is working properly again.
      If you encounter any further issues, please feel free to reach out.

      Regards,
      Richard Tan