FLEXnet error -18,xxx "License file does not support this feature"

THIS INFORMATION ONLY PERTAINS TO SOFTWARE VERSIONS IDL 8.5, ENVI 5.3 AND PRIOR

After adding the license file to the license directory, or running the license wizard, a form of the following error message appears when attempting to start ENVI or IDL:

LICENSE MANAGER: License server system does not support this feature
Feature: idl
Filename: C:\Program Files\Exelis\license\license.dat
License path: 1700@my_server;C:\Program Files\Exelis\license\license.dat;
C:\Program Files\Exelis\license\*.lic
FLEXnet Licensing error: -18,147

• One reason for the above error would be attempting to run ENVI+IDL with a license that was built to only run ENVI. This can be confirmed by opening the 'license.dat' file, in a plain text editor, and seeing the following line:

     INCREMENT idl_rt idl_lmgrd 8.x00 1-jan-0000

• If this error comes up in conjunction with FLEXnet error: -21,126 then the problem is the license having been built for a previous version of the software than what is currently installed.  If a new license has been placed in the license directory it may just be that the license manager needs to be stopped and restarted to recognize the change.  To stop and restart the license manager for Windows please refer to Help Article 4358 , and for Unix based systems refer to Help Article 4409

• This error may also occur on client machines connected to a server that is using a license which includes IDL 8.x.  If this is the case the server needs to be updated with the IDL 8.x license manager.  This is available from the Exelis VIS web site via the Downloads menu.