Quartus 13.1 License
We're forced to maintain an old design that make use of Cyclone III FPGAs, unfortunately locking us to Quartus 13.1 tools. However some features I need access to require a license. Features such as the SignalTap, infinite PCI Megafunction functionality, and .rbf generation. I read that licenses are not issued for this version of the tool anymore. How do I go about to activate those features without a license? -Phil
jtagserver.exe causing BSOD together with ftdi driver
Dear developers in the same shoe like me, I am facing a strange issue, and would like to ask others whether they have similar problem: Quartus Prime Pro 25.3.0 was installed first and in use with USB Blaster III (evalkit) After some time (probably windows pulled some newer driver components) each time when I plugged in the evalboard it was crashing the system. With WinDBG analyzing the minidump it turned out the responsible was jtagserver.exe calling some unknown function in ftdibus.sys "PROCESS_NAME: jtagserver.exe SYMBOL_NAME: ftdibus+f4d4 MODULE_NAME: ftdibus IMAGE_NAME: ftdibus.sys STACK_COMMAND: .cxr; .ecxr ; kb BUCKET_ID_FUNC_OFFSET: f4d4 FAILURE_BUCKET_ID: 0x139_a_GUARD_ICALL_CHECK_FAILURE_ftdibus!unknown_function OSPLATFORM_TYPE: x64 OSNAME: Windows 10 --> this is windows 11 FAILURE_ID_HASH: {3a7c8e82-5c61-9acf-ceb5-61656fa0b04c}" And here comes the strange part: Reinstalling the driver with dp_inst.exe from Quartus directory helped until next restart or at least for 1-2 hours. Then power cycling evalboard caused a crash again. When I fresh reinstalled driver and plugged in again the evalboard again everything was fine. When I updated to the latest quartus, the driver package in it was causing crash again. And I mean here reinstalling driver from the 25.3.1 quartus version did not change a thing. Anybody facing similar issue: I recommend installing Windows SDK and use WinDBG there for crashdump analysis to confirm this. I am looking forward for any feedback or stable solution idea. Kind regards, Peter
I do not get an eMail with the generated license file
My institute has licenses for the altera FPGA tools via the Europractice program. To get a new license file I signed in to the Intel® FPGA Self-Service Licensing Center, I selected the licenses and clicked on Generate License. After confirming the host id I got the message that a license file will be generated and send to me by mail. But I did not get any mail. I checked my spam folder but there is no mail either. What can I do to get new license files? regards, Holger
Unable to find questa_fe license file
Hello, I installed Quartus Prime 25.3.1 build 100 Pro Edition on Ubuntu 24.04 and the IDE seems to work fine. However, I cannot manage to get questa_fe working. From my understanding, questa_fe is a separate software and I'm initially trying to run it outside Quartus itself (even from Quartus I didn't have any luck). I generated and saved a fixed license file (LR-289450_License.dat). The content of the license file is reported below (some * cover part of it): # Intel Corporation Software and/or Intellectual Property License File # Issued 22 February 2026 # Upgrade to these products will no longer be available after the Maintenance Expiration # date unless licenses are renewed. # Fixed Node License # Primary Machine Name-********** # Primary Machine ID-NIC ID 78AF08436*** # Companion ID-N/A # Companion ID 2-N/A # Product License Summary: # 3 Questa*- FPGA Starter Edition (License: SW-QUESTA), 1 Seat(s) # - Maintenance Expiration of 2027.02 # - License Expires 22-Feb-2027 ################################################################################ # FEATURE START # This is license file for Questasim*-Intel FPGA Starter Edition # Number of seat licenses is 1 # License Expires 22-Feb-2027 DAEMON mgcld path_to_mgcld INCREMENT intelqsimstarter mgcld 2027.01 22-feb-2027 uncounted \ 0F8C7346AFA49755133E VENDOR_STRING=C22E52B3 HOSTID=78af084360ed \ ISSUER=Altera SN=1103017963 SIGN2="0F71 44B7 BF62 8F5A 155B 9D78 DFD6 \ C6C4 D56B 5AA5 E4FB 296C DA68 4A65 0412 152D 1E9E 9B76 B2F8 B30A 0698 \ B49C 7FED 4CF2 A120 **** **** **** **** ****" # FEATURE END ################################################################################ # End of Intel Corporation Software and/or Intellectual Property License File. Issued 02/22/2026 I did 3 different tests adding one by one only one of the following lines to my /etc/environment and rebooted: LM_LICENSE_FILE="/home/****/altera_pro/25.3.1/licenses/questa/LR-289450_License.dat" SALT_LICENSE_SERVER="/home/****/altera_pro/25.3.1/licenses/questa/LR-289450_License.dat" MGLS_LICENSE_FILE=/home/****/altera_pro/25.3.1/licenses/questa/LR-289450_License.dat In each case, the environment variable seems to be correctly set to the path of my license. For example, in the first case: echo $LM_LICENSE_FILE /home/****/altera_pro/25.3.1/licenses/questa/LR-289450_License.dat However, when I run: ./lmutil lmstat I get: lmutil - Copyright (c) 1989-2023 Flexera. All Rights Reserved. Flexible License Manager status on Mon 2/23/2026 21:05 Error getting status: No SERVER lines in license file. (-13,66) and when I try (/altera_pro/25.3.1/questa_fe/linux_x86_64) : ./vsim I get: Unable to checkout a license. Make sure your license file environment variable (SALT_LICENSE_SERVER) is set correctly and then run 'lmutil lmdiag' to diagnose the problem. Unable to checkout a license. Vsim is closing. ** Error: Invalid license environment. Application closing. Any idea about the right way to activate questa_fe using the free license? It seems unreasonably complicated for a license activation. Thanks End note: While trying to experiment with this issue, I managed (for some unknown reason) to have ./lmutil lmstat returning a positive result saying the the license was ok. However, even in that case, I couldn't manage to run ./vsim (same error message reported above).
FlexLM install
A little while ago, I saw this post on FlexLM licensing: https://lnkd.in/euQBFuWh. I have been in the same position with _many_ CAD/EDA tools, so I wrote this: https://lnkd.in/euD8rZZg guide. I'm installing alterad and saltd in the example but it should be useful for anyone trying to get FlexLM working - which is most EDA/CAD tools that I come across.Questa Not Accepting My License
Two weeks ago, I got a fixed license for the 90-day trial of Quartus Prime and Questa. I setup the license for Quartus and got it working fine. But every time I tried to boot up Questa, I would receive this error message. So, I configured that same license file as a system variable SALT_LICENSE_SERVER. I've been trying to figure this out for hours. It seems like it expects a floating license, but I have a fixed license. I don't know why it's like this.
