Authorizing your software

You must authorize CityEngine before use. Visit My Esri to obtain authorization numbers (similar in format to ESU123456789) for use in the software or to create a provisioning file that can be used to complete the authorization process.

After the installation is complete, the CityEngine 2024.1 Administrator wizard appears. To start this wizard to select or change a product at a later time, click ArcGIS > CityEngine 2024.1 > CityEngine 2024.1 Administrator.

To run the CityEngine 2024.1 Administrator executable or script use the ${HOME}/arcgis/cityengine2024.1/ArcGISAdmin installation location.

You can use CityEngine 2024.1 Administrator to configure CityEngine. Choose the Concurrent Use, Single Use, or Named User license type.

CityEngine Administrator

License types

Concurrent Use

To use CityEngine 2024.1 with the Concurrent Use license type, you must have ArcGIS License Manager 2024.1 installed and authorized with a CityEngine 2012-2024 Concurrent Use license, though the newest version of License Manager is recommended.

  1. Select CityEngine Concurrent Use.
  2. Under License Manager, set the license manager to the ArcGIS License Server (port and URL) defined by your administrator in ArcGIS License Manager. Once the license manager is defined for concurrent-use products, the application is ready to use. To install and authorize ArcGIS License Manager, see the License manager installation and startup.
Note:

Certain environments where there is higher than normal latency between the client Esri software and the ArcGIS License Manager may experience unexpected behavior when using concurrent-use authorization. This unexpected behavior can include the ArcGIS Administrator incorrectly reporting the ArcGIS License Manager as invalid, or the client Esri software failing to authorize. To address these issues, set an environment variable called FLEXLM_TIMEOUT to a reasonable value such as 10000000 (10 seconds). This environment variable increases the maximum allowed latency between the client Esri software and the ArcGIS License Manager. For more information, see this Esri Technical Support article.

Single use

Single-use products require authorization for use on individual machines. You need the authorization codes that are sent from Esri Customer Service to the contact email address referenced in the sales order during the authorization process. This email includes the authorization codes issued for each license in the order. In addition to finding the information in the email, if you have an existing Esri Global Account, you can sign in to the Esri Customer Care site, click Authorization & Provisioning, and click a product name to obtain its authorization code. If you do not yet have an Esri Global Account, you can create one at My Esri and click Create Account. You will receive an email confirmation and have access to Authorization & Provisioning on the Customer Care site.

For a CityEngine single-use license, the authorization code starts with the letters ESU or EVA, followed by nine numeric digits, for example, ESU123456789. The following steps are based on the ArcGIS Administrator wizard image above to complete the single-use product authorization. (Contact information is available on the Esri Contact Us page.)

  1. Select one of the two single-use products.
  2. Click Authorize Now to open the Software Authorization Wizard.

Use the wizard to complete the online or offline authorization process.

Named User

Named user licensing (NUL) allows CityEngine to use licenses saved to your ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise organization. To use NUL to sign in, select the CityEngine Named User option in the ArcGIS Administrator wizard, and click OK. Start CityEngine 2024.1. You are prompted to provide the credentials to your ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise account. Click Sign in. CityEngine starts with the named user license just created. Check the Sign me in automatically check box to have CityEngine start without the sign-in prompt the next time you open it.

Named user sign in

Click Sign in using browser when the account configuration doesn't allow signing in through the CityEngine dialog box. When you sign in with a social login ( (GitHub, Facebook, Google, or Apple), the sign-in is authenticated by the system browser. See sign in with a social login for more information.

Types of authorization processes

There are two types of authorization processes provided for single-use licenses: online and offline.

Online authorization

With online authorization, the Software Authorization Wizard connects directly to the Esri authorization site using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) from the deployed machine. Online authorization can be used if the machine on which the software is installed is connected to the internet and can connect to service.esri.com. Online authorization can be performed by directly entering the authorization code in the Software Authorization Wizard or by creating a provisioning file (.prvc) at My Esri.

For more information, see Provisioning files.

Offline authorization

Offline authorization is used if the machine where CityEngine is installed does not have internet connectivity. In this case, the authorization process creates a text file that can be uploaded to the Esri authorization server from an internet-connected machine or can be sent in an email to Esri Customer Service to obtain an authorization response file (.respc). This authorization response file can be copied to the machine where CityEngine is installed and used to authorize CityEngine without a direct internet connection.

Use the Software Authorization Wizard

To use the Software Authorization Wizard dialog box, the steps are as follows:

  1. When the Software Authorization Wizard opens, two authorization options are available:
    • I have installed my software and need to authorize it

      Select this option to proceed with the authorization process by providing the authorization code you received from Esri Customer Service.

    • I have received an authorization file and am now ready to finish the authorization process

      Select this option if you have a provisioning file from Esri Customer Care.

    Click Next.

    Software Authorization Wizard options

  2. On the Authorization Method dialog box, select the authorization method (online or offline authorization, or single-use licensing from a local license server).

    Authorization Method dialog box

  3. Provide your contact information and details on the next two dialog boxes. If you are using a provisioning file, this information is automatically populated from the file.
  4. Provide your CityEngine authorization code starting with ESU or EVA followed by nine digits.
  5. Depending on the type of authorization process selected, follow the appropriate process below.
    • Online authorization

      Use the online authorization and click Next to connect to the Esri activation site. Upon completion, you will receive a message that authorization was successful and the applications are ready for use.

    • Offline authorization

      Follow the steps below to complete the offline authorization process:

      1. Save your authorization information to disk as a file named authorize.txt when prompted. Then do one of the following:
        • Option 1 (using secure site authorization)—Sign in at the activation secure site (https://my.esri.com/#/activations/secure-site) and follow the steps provided to download a response file (*.respc).
        • Option 2 (using email)—Send the authorization file, deauthorization file, or repair file as an attachment to authorize@esri.com and a response file will be returned as an attachment .
      2. After receiving the response file, start CityEngine 2024.1 Administrator—click ArcGIS > CityEngine 2024.1 > CityEngine 2024.1 Administrator—and complete the authorization process.
      3. In CityEngine 2024.1 Administrator, click the CityEngine folder, select the appropriate single-use product, and click Authorize Now.
      4. On the Authorization Options dialog box of the Software Authorization Wizard, select the I have received an authorization file and am now ready to finish the authorization process option and browse to the authorization response file received in step a.
      5. Click Next. The application is authorized and ready for use.