Intel® FPGA Software Installation and Licensing

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ID 683472
Date 9/26/2022
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Document Table of Contents
Document Table of Contents x
1. Answers to Top FAQs 2. Introduction to Intel® FPGA Software Installation and Licensing 3. System Requirements and Prerequisites 4. Downloading and Installing Intel FPGA Software 5. Licensing Intel® FPGA Software 6. About Intel® FPGA Software License Files A. Getting Hardware Information for License B. Intel FPGA Software Installation and Licensing Archives C. Document Revision History for Intel® FPGA Software Installation and Licensing
2. Introduction to Intel® FPGA Software Installation and Licensing x
2.1. Intel® FPGA Download Center 2.2. Intel® FPGA Self-Service Licensing Center
3. System Requirements and Prerequisites x
3.1. Minimum Hardware Requirements 3.2. Cable and Port Requirements 3.3. Software Requirements 3.4. Interaction with Third-party Software
3.3. Software Requirements x
3.3.1. Installing Windows* Subsystem for Linux* (WSL) on Windows* 3.3.2. Intel® High Level Synthesis Compiler Software Requirements 3.3.3. Questa*-Intel® FPGA Edition Software Requirements
4. Downloading and Installing Intel FPGA Software x
4.1. Software Available in the FPGA Software Download Center 4.2. Installation Path 4.3. Downloading and Installing with Individual Executable Files 4.4. Downloading and Installing Using .tar Files 4.5. Setting Intel® Quartus® Prime Environment Variables 4.6. Starting the Intel® Quartus® Prime Software 4.7. Installing Programming Cable Drivers 4.8. Installing and Configuring a JTAG Server 4.9. Adding Device Support and Other Intel FPGA Software to Existing Installation 4.10. Managing Multiple Versions and Copies of Intel FPGA Software 4.11. Updating Intel FPGA Software 4.12. Uninstalling Intel FPGA Software
4.3. Downloading and Installing with Individual Executable Files x
4.3.1. Downloading Individual Executable Files 4.3.2. Installing Intel FPGA Software at the Command Prompt
4.3.2. Installing Intel FPGA Software at the Command Prompt x
4.3.2.1. Command-Line Options
4.4. Downloading and Installing Using .tar Files x
4.4.1. Downloading .tar Files 4.4.2. Installing from .tar Files 4.4.3. Using the Same Installation Files on Multiple Systems
4.7. Installing Programming Cable Drivers x
4.7.1. Installing Drivers on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7 or Above and Ubuntu Versions 18 and 20 OS
4.8. Installing and Configuring a JTAG Server x
4.8.1. Installing and Configuring jtagserver on Windows 4.8.2. Installing and Configuring a Local JTAG Server (jtagd) on Linux
4.12. Uninstalling Intel FPGA Software x
4.12.1. Uninstalling on Windows* 4.12.2. Uninstalling on Linux
5. Licensing Intel® FPGA Software x
5.1. Checking the IP License Status 5.2. Evaluating the Intel® Quartus® Prime Software 5.3. Licensing Intel® FPGA Software Walkthrough 5.4. Types of Intel FPGA Software Licenses 5.5. Configuring the License Manager Server 5.6. Other Licensing Actions 5.7. Syntax of license.dat License File
5.3. Licensing Intel® FPGA Software Walkthrough x
5.3.1. Obtain Necessary Hardware Information 5.3.2. Request a License File from the Self Service Licensing Center 5.3.3. Set Up a Fixed License 5.3.4. Set Up a License in a Network License Server
5.3.4. Set Up a License in a Network License Server x
5.3.4.1. Set Up a License File in the License Server 5.3.4.2. Launch the Licensing Server 5.3.4.3. Specify a Network License Server in the Intel® Quartus® Prime Software
5.4. Types of Intel FPGA Software Licenses x
5.4.1. Intel® Quartus® Prime Software License 5.4.2. Intel® Quartus® Prime Lite Edition Software License 5.4.3. Questa*-Intel® FPGA Edition and Questa*-Intel® FPGA Starter Edition Software License Generating the License Setting Up the Questa* Intel® FPGA Starter Edition Software License Renewing the License 5.4.4. Intellectual Property (IP) Cores Licenses 5.4.5. Development Kits Containing the Intel® Quartus® Prime Software 5.4.6. Nios® II Embedded Design Suite License 5.4.7. Siemens EDA* AXI Verification IP Suite License (Intel FPGA Edition) 5.4.8. University Program Software Licenses
5.5. Configuring the License Manager Server x
5.5.1. Installing the FLEXlm License Manager Server Software on Another License Server 5.5.2. Upgrading the FLEXlm License Manager Server Software 5.5.3. (Windows Only) Starting and Stopping the License Server 5.5.4. (Windows Only) Starting the License Server Automatically 5.5.5. Rereading an Existing License File on a License Server
5.6. Other Licensing Actions x
5.6.1. Managing Licensed Users 5.6.2. Renewing a License 5.6.3. Managing a Computer Profile 5.6.4. Transferring a License File to Another Computer 5.6.5. Adding Floating Seats
6. About Intel® FPGA Software License Files x
6.1. License File Troubleshooting 6.2. License File Components 6.3. Using a FLEXlm Options File 6.4. License.dat Example Files
6.2. License File Components x
6.2.1. License File Header 6.2.2. SERVER, VENDOR, and USE_SERVER Lines 6.2.3. FEATURE and INCREMENT Lines
6.4. License.dat Example Files x
6.4.1. Fixed PC Software Guard License Example 6.4.2. Floating Network License Example
A. Getting Hardware Information for License x
A.1. Identifying Host's NIC ID A.2. UNIX Host ID A.3. Locating Your Hard-Disk Serial Number A.4. Identifying the USB Software Guard ID
A.1. Identifying Host's NIC ID x
A.1.1. Finding the NIC ID for Windows A.1.2. Finding the NIC ID on Linux A.1.3. Finding the NIC ID in the Intel® Quartus® Prime Software A.1.4. Find NIC ID on Windows* Using FLEXlm Utilities
A.3. Locating Your Hard-Disk Serial Number x
A.3.1. To find the hard-disk serial number on a Windows* PC A.3.2. To find the hard-disk serial number if the Intel® Quartus® Prime software is installed on your computer
1. Answers to Top FAQs
2. Introduction to Intel® FPGA Software Installation and Licensing
3. System Requirements and Prerequisites
4. Downloading and Installing Intel FPGA Software
5. Licensing Intel® FPGA Software
6. About Intel® FPGA Software License Files
A. Getting Hardware Information for License
B. Intel FPGA Software Installation and Licensing Archives
C. Document Revision History for Intel® FPGA Software Installation and Licensing

5.4.3. Questa*-Intel® FPGA Edition and Questa*-Intel® FPGA Starter Edition Software License

Both Questa*-Intel® FPGA Edition and Questa*-Intel® FPGA Starter Edition require a valid software license. This license expires 12 months after the date of purchase.
Note: If you are looking for instructions to download and install Questa*-Intel® FPGA Edition and Questa*-Intel® FPGA Starter Edition, then follow the instructions provided in Downloading Individual Executable Files to obtain the software and Installing Intel FPGA Software at the Command Prompt to install.

Generating the License

You can obtain a license for the Questa* Intel® FPGA Edition and Questa* Intel® FPGA Starter Edition software from the Intel® FPGA Self Service Licensing Center (SSLC). If you do not have access to SSLC, you must first complete registering to SSLC and create an account by visiting Register for Intel® FPGA Self Service Licensing Center (SSLC).

Note: The Questa* Intel® FPGA Edition software license does not support Remote Desktop access with node-locked, uncounted licenses.

Follow these steps to generate the license:

  1. Go to the Intel® FPGA Self-Service Licensing Center (SSLC).
  2. Select the Sign up for Evaluation or Free Licenses option on the menu bar.
  3. In the list of products displayed, select the Questa* Intel® FPGA Starter Edition SW-QUESTA option.
  4. Under the # of Seats column, enter the number of seats you require.
  5. Read the license terms of use.
  6. Select the "I have read and agree to the terms of use of this license as listed below" check box.
  7. Click Get License. A pop-up window displays asking you to which computer should the license be assigned. You can use one of the following options:
    • Option 1: Click Create a New Computer if you want to assign the license to a new computer. You must provide information about the required hardware and license type. For information about the license type, refer to Intel® FPGA Software License Types. For information about how to extract information about your computer hardware, refer to Hardware Information Required When You Request a License.
    • Option 2: Click Assign an Existing Computer and search for the computer name/NIC ID that you have created previously in your My Intel® account. To view your list of computers, use of the following options:
      • Visit the License Assistant and select Regenerate License by Primary Computer > View all computers and select
      • On the SSLC menu bar, click Computers and License Files and select the desired option.
  8. Click Generate. You receive an email with the license attached to your registered email address.
  9. Save the license.dat file on your computer (for example, ~/intelFPGA_pro/LR-xxxxxx_License.dat).
Note: Before using Questa* Intel® FPGA Edition and Questa* Intel® FPGA Starter Edition software, you must set an environment variable to point to the location of the license.

Questa*-Intel® FPGA Edition and Questa*-Intel® FPGA Starter Edition licenses appear as a FEATURE line inside the Intel® Quartus® Prime license.dat file.

Setting Up the Questa* Intel® FPGA Starter Edition Software License

After you receive and save the license.dat file on your computer, follow these instructions:

Note: The Questa* Intel® FPGA Edition software license does not support Remote Desktop access with node-locked, uncounted licenses.

On Windows System

  1. Go to This PC, right-click, and select Properties.
  2. Click Advanced System Setting.
  3. In the Advanced tab, select Environment Variable.
  4. Under System variables, create a new variable with the name as LM_LICENSE_FILE and value as <license.dat file path>.
  5. Click OK and restart the Questa*-Intel® FPGA Edition software.
Alternatively, open a command prompt and run the following command to set up the LM_LICENSE_FILE environment variable: 
setx LM_LICENSE_FILE <path_to_license_file>;%LM_LICENSE_FILE%

For example: setx LM_LICENSE_FILE C:\intelFPGA\license.dat;%LM_LICENSE_FILE%

You can also set up the Questa* Intel® FPGA Edition software license using the Siemens EDA license daemon mgcld, which you can find in the <Questa - Intel FPGA Edition system directory>\ directory. Before starting the Questa* Intel® FPGA Edition software, set the MGLS_LICENSE_FILE environment variable to the location and file name of the Questa* Intel® FPGA Edition license file. For example: 
MGLS_LICENSE_FILE (<Questa installation directory>/licenses/eda/license.dat)
or with the <port>@<hostname> notation, where <port> is the license port number and <hostname> is the license server’s host name. For example, 1900@my_lic_server.

On Linux System

Run one of the following commands in a command prompt window: 
export LM_LICENSE_FILE=<path to license>:$LM_LICENSE_FILE
setenv LM_LICENSE_FILE "<path_to_license_file>"
You can also set up the Questa* Intel® FPGA Edition software license using the Siemens EDA license daemon mgcld, which you can find in the <Questa - Intel FPGA Edition installation directory>/ directory. Before starting the Questa* Intel® FPGA Edition software, set the MGLS_LICENSE_FILE environment variable to the location and file name of the Questa* Intel® FPGA Edition license file. For example: 
MGLS_LICENSE_FILE (<Questa installation directory>/licenses/eda/license.dat)
or with the <port>@<hostname> notation, where <port> is the license port number and <hostname> is the license server’s host name. For example, 1900@my_lic_server.

Renewing the License

The software license expires 12 months after the date of purchase. To renew an expired license file, revisit the SSLC. You can renew a license only for the version that you purchased.

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