License Activation Service FAQ's

What was announced?

On September 08, 2025, Citrix announced the end-of-life for its traditional file-based licensing system. We are transitioning to the License Activation Service (LAS), which is our next-generation technology for product activations across the suite of Citrix products. Customers currently using file-based licensing are required to upgrade to a compatible release and complete this technology transition before April 15, 2026. After this date, LAS will be the exclusive method for activating and licensing Citrix on-premises components.

Note: Unless noted otherwise, this is a technology transformation for licensing. There is no impact on term/commercial/contractual aspects.

Who is this applicable to?

This change applies to customers and partners using Citrix on-premises products including Citrix Platform License, Universal Hybrid Multi-Cloud and other packages/license models.

What is changing with licensing technology?

Traditionally, customers received license files that were applied to customer-hosted license servers or NetScaler consoles, with product activations and features dependent on the context of those files. LAS offers a modern and seamless alternative to this legacy Citrix licensing.

LAS simplifies the Citrix licensing experience by significantly reducing operational overhead. To benefit from LAS, customers simply need to upgrade their license server and register with Citrix Cloud for activation. Once compatible products are pointed to the license server, they can be activated automatically.

Why is Citrix making this change?

Our file-based licensing technology hasn't kept pace with the advancements across the Citrix product ecosystem. To address this, our product teams have developed the new License Activation System (LAS) technology. When architecting the LAS technology, the Citrix product teams reviewed telemetry and support based data to understand the customer administrator pain-points. The new technology simplifies the production activation process for the customer deployments.

What products/components will be impacted by this change?

Currently the following products/components support LAS based activations:

• Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops including optional components like Citrix Provisioning (PVS) and Workspace Environment Mangement (WEM)
• NetScaler
• XenServer
• Unicon Scout

Other Citrix products which rely on the traditional licensing technology will also be upgraded to offer LAS based activations in upcoming releases.

I am only using Citrix Cloud services. Is there an impact for my deployment?

LAS is the next-generation technology for activating on-premises components within the Citrix product portfolio. Customers using only cloud services are not impacted by this transformation.

What is the EOL date for file based licensing?

File-based licenses will be discontinued and no longer be supported after 15th April 2026.

What are the consequences of not transitioning to LAS by April 15, 2026?

As and when upgrading to a LAS compatible product, the specific components will stop recognizing file based licenses. This will result in a loss of functionality and impact end-user access.

License Activation Service

What is License Activation Service?

LAS is a new cloud-based licensing solution that provides an alternative to the traditional file based licensing. LAS introduces new modules for activation of Citrix products, ensuring a seamless and modern approach to license management.

What are the benefits of using LAS for product activation?

LAS simplifies the Citrix Licensing experience by significantly reducing the operational overhead. Here are some key benefits of using LAS for customer deployments:

• No need to maintain license activation codes (LAC).
• Eliminates the need to manage the lifecycle of license files.
• Removes the requirement for product or model-specific license files.
• Eliminates the manual effort associated with maintaining license files per license server host.
• License server is no longer in the path for end-user session launches.

What are the connectivity requirements for using LAS?

LAS offers online activation where the license server or NetScaler console is registered with Citrix Cloud and the LAS endpoint is reachable. The license server communicates with the endpoint daily to ensure activation remains current. LAS improves performance and scalability for products using this technology. If the LAS endpoint becomes unreachable, you have 30 days to re-establish connectivity before the activation becomes invalid. Please refer to the product documentation for detailed activation steps.

Is there a License server version dependency on the LAS?

Yes. LAS was introduced with version 11.17.2 build 51000 or later. 

How do I create a Citrix Cloud account?

All customers with valid Citrix entitlements can create and onboard to Citrix Cloud. To get started visit https://onboarding.cloud.com → Login with your MyCitrix account credentials and establish your Citrix Cloud account.

What information / metadata from the license server is used by the LAS service for activations?

FQDN, Mac Address, CPU ID, Motherboard Serial Number, Hard Drive Serial Number, BIOS Serial Number, Install time are used by LAS while generating activations. However, only FQDN is captured and stored on Citrix Cloud. The other data elements are used to created a secure hash to uniquely identify a license server instance.

What will happen at the end of my contract term? What actions does the admin need to take for renewals?

LAS is directly connected to the Citrix back office systems for entitlement data - eliminating the need for any customer administrator action on renewal. All renewals are automatically made available to LAS and are then communicated to the license server or NetScaler console when LAS activation is used.

What happens in cases when LAS service is not reachable?

There are multiple resiliency measures built into the architecture to ensure consistently high uptime for end-user sessions. You can find detailed information about these fail-safes in the product documentation.

MyCitrix Portal

Are there any changes to the Manage Licenses area of MyCitrix?

Yes. Due to the upcoming end-of-life for file-based licensing, all new license files generated on the MyCitrix portal will now have an expiration date of April 15, 2026. This applies to any new license files created on the portal, regardless of the reason for their generation.

How do I redownload a license file?

The redownload license file option has been removed from the MyCitrix portal as of September 08, 2025.

What are the other changes to MyCitrix portal?

The Manage Licenses node in the MyCitrix portal will retain all its existing functionalities, with the exception of two changes:

• The license file end date will be updated. 
• The option to re-download licenses will be removed.

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops

What versions of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (CVAD) support LAS? 

LAS based activations are now enabled with all actively supported versions of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (CVAD).

• LTSR Releases
• CVAD 2203 CU7
• CVAD 2402 CU3
• CVAD 2507
• Current Releases: CVAD 2411

All future releases of CVAD will also support LAS based activations.

What versions of Citrix Provisioning (PVS) support LAS? 

LAS based activations are now enabled with the following versions of PVS.

• PVS 2203 CU7 LTSR
• PVS 2402 CU3 LTSR
• PVS 2507 LTSR

All future releases of PVS will also support LAS based activations.

What versions of Workspace Environment Management (WEM)? 

LAS based activations are now enabled with the following versions of WEM.

• WEM 2507

All future releases of WEM will also support LAS based activations.

My CVAD deployment uses file based licensing. What are the steps to transition to LAS?

See detailed steps for LAS activation in the product documentation.

My CVAD deployment is on perpetual licenses. Is this supported with LAS?

Perpetual license deployments with active maintenance is supported with LAS. The steps to transition to LAS is similar to any other license type.

NetScaler

What versions of NetScaler support LAS? 

Below mentioned are the minimum NetScaler versions/builds that support LAS:

• NetScaler ADCs : 14.1 51.x, 13.1 60.x, 13.1 37.x (FIPS) 
• NetScaler SVM: 14.1 51.x, 13.1 60.x
• NetScaler Console Service: Early September 2025

Note: LAS supports NetScaler Flexed licenses (CPL/UHMC), legacy NetScaler Pooled licenses, and NetScaler Fixed term Bandwidth licenses. All other forms of legacy NetScaler licenses such as Pooled vCPU, CICO, perpetual are not supported with LAS.

My NetScaler deployment uses CPL/UHMC (Flexed), Pooled Bandwidth, Fixed term bandwidth file based licensing. What are the steps to transition to LAS based licensing?

• If you are a current CPL/UHMC (Flexed) license customer or NetScaler Pooled license customer using File based licensing and want to switch to Flexed/Pooled LAS based licensing, please refer to Migrate existing licensed instances to LAS.
• If you are a current NetScaler Fixed term BW license customer using File based licensing and want to switch to Flexed/Pooled LAS based licensing, please refer to License NetScaler instances with LAS.
• If you are a current NetScaler Fixed term BW license customer using File based licensing and want to switch to Fixed term BW LAS based licensing, please refer to License Activation Service.

My NetScaler deployment uses Pooled vCPU or CICO licensing. What are the steps to transition to LAS based licensing?

NetScaler Pooled vCPU and NetScaler CICO licenses are not supported on LAS. If you are a customer using these licenses, please contact support or your ATS representative for further information.

What is the guidance for customers who do not have access to LAS based activations?

Due to regulatory requirements, the License Activation Service (LAS) is not yet available to all customers. If your current deployment was not provisioned with LAS activation, please continue to manage your licenses using your existing method. We are actively working to meet these regulatory requirements and will expand eligibility for LAS-based activation as progress is made.

XenServer

What versions of XenServer support LAS?

• XenServer 8.4: updates on or after August 21, 2025 (Early Access), updates on or after August 28, 2025 (Normal and Offline).
• XenCenter version 2025.3 or later.
• Citrix License Server version 11.17.2 build 53100 or later.

My XenServer deployment uses file based licensing. What are the steps to transition to LAS?

1. Install or upgrade Citrix License Server to version 11.17.2 build 53100 or later.
2. Register your License Server with Citrix Cloud and ensure XenServer entitlement is included in your Customer Account of Citrix Cloud that used to onboarding License Server
3. Install XenCenter version 2025.3 or later.
4. Update XenServer 8.4 to the latest version.
1. If you are using the Early Access channel, the update should occur on or after August 21, 2025.
2. If you are using the Normal channel, the update should occur on or after August 28, 2025.
3. If you are using Offline update, the bundle should be released on or after August 28, 2025.
5. Open Tools → License Manager in XenCenter.
6. Click “Assign License…”.
7. Enter the URL/IP address of the license server, then click OK.

For detailed information, please refer to Licensing your hosts and pools section in the product documentation.

Unicon Scout

What versions of Unicon Scout support LAS? 

• Scout 15 2508 LTSR (available from August 29, 2025) or later.

My deployment of Unicon Scout uses file based licensing. What are the steps to transition to LAS?

1. Update your current Scout installation to Scout version 15 2508 LTSR or later
2. After the update use Scout Board’s License information dialogue to switch to the license server
1. Start Scout Board and log in
2. Click on the “(?)” icon at the top right next to the search field and open “License information”
3. Click on [Switch to Citrix License Server] in the License information dialog
4. Enter the license server name, then click [Confirm] 

XenMobile

What versions of XenMobile support LAS? 

Support for LAS with XenMobile is in development and will be available in an upcoming release.

uberAgent

What versions of uberAgent support LAS? 

Support for LAS with uberAgent is in development and will be available in an upcoming release.

Effective April 15, 2026, Citrix is moving to a modern, cloud-based licensing architecture across the Citrix platform, enabling us to continue innovating and improving our products to support your business, while also making your licensing experience simpler and more reliable. This new approach means you will no longer need to manually manage license files. It also helps us build better products and resolve issues faster by understanding how our technology is being used.

From April 15, 2026 on, file-based licensing will no longer function. As this is a change that requires advanced planning, we encourage you to begin taking the steps you need to experience a smooth transition now.