If the error text does not explicitly mention a license conflict, still follow the troubleshooting steps outlined in Part 3. Many seemingly unrelated error messages in Nessus trace back to underlying licensing problems.
If you see a "license already in use" error during , it means your activation code is currently linked to another machine’s hardware footprint . Because Tenable restricts an activation code to one active host at a time , you must "release" it before it can be used for a new offline registration. Phase 1: Resetting the Activation Code
: After clicking submit, scroll to the bottom of the page to download the nessus.license file. 4. Apply the License to the Offline Scanner
: Rebuilding a virtual machine (VM) without deactivating the old instance first. nessus offline activation license already in use full
This tells Tenable to release the activation slot immediately.
Configure and license your Nessus VM cloning from a template, not before. Or use sysprep (Windows) or cloud-init (Linux) to reset machine IDs before licensing.
sudo /Library/Nessus/run/sbin/nessuscli fetch --register-offline /path/to/nessus.license If the error text does not explicitly mention
The "License Already in Use" error indicates that the Tenable licensing server believes the activation code is already bound to a different machine (or an older installation of the same machine). Because offline machines cannot communicate directly with Tenable to "release" the license automatically, the licensing system locks the code to prevent over-utilization. Common Causes
Enter your freshly reset into the bottom text box. Click Submit .
sudo systemctl start nessusd
Back at the terminal, he uploaded the new nessus.license file. The screen flickered. The red text vanished, replaced by a soothing green progress bar: Initializing Plugins.
Copy nessus.license to the appropriate directory: Linux: /opt/nessus/etc/nessus/ Windows: C:\ProgramData\Tenable\Nessus\conf\ Run the Register Command:
sudo /opt/nessus/sbin/nessuscli update /path/to/all-2.0.tar.gz Because Tenable restricts an activation code to one
/opt/nessus/sbin/nessuscli fetch --register-offline /path/to/nessus.license Troubleshooting Tips Plugin Updates : Offline activation also provides a unique URL