Activation Failures with older ArcGIS products

Description

If you receive an HTTP 404 error while trying to activate ArcGIS products through the Software Authorization Wizard (SAW), there are two possible reasons:

• The Esri Software Activation Service (SAS) may be unavailable due to maintenance or other temporary issues.
• You are trying to activate an older ArcGIS Product where online activation is no longer supported. The list of affected products is as follows:
  • ArcGIS Desktop 10.0 and prior (Windows)
  • ArcGIS Engine 10.0 and prior (Windows)
  • ArcGIS Engine (all versions – Linux)
  • ArcGIS Server 10.0 and prior (Linux)
  • ArcGIS License Manager 2020.0 and prior (Linux)
  • ArcGIS CityEngine 2015.1 and prior (Linux)

Solution or Workaround

If your product is not in the above list, please try authorizing again after a few hours.  If the problem continues to persist, please contact Esri Technical Support or the support team at your local distributor.

If your product is in the above list:

• Upgrade your software, if possible, to a later version and retry authorizing.
• If upgrade of your software is not possible, please use the offline authorization method available in the Software Authorization Wizard:

1. Launch the Software Authorization Wizard (this may need to be launched from the ArcGIS Administrator or License Server Administrator).
2. In the second dialog, after choosing what you will authorize, choose Authorize at Esri’s website or by email to receive your authorization file.
   
3. Step through the next dialogs adding, your authorization information as applicable.
4. In the final dialog, choose to Save your authorization information, browse to a save location, and select Finish. A file named “authorize.txt” will be generated.
   
5. In your preferred email client, attach the “authorize.txt” file created in step 4 and send it to: authorize@esri.com. Write authorization file in the subject line.
6. After a short period of time, a file will be returned to your email address containing either a *.respc, *.resps, or an *.ecp file. Copy this to the host machine being authorized and double-click the file. The relevant Software Authorization Wizard will be automatically opened.
7. Step through all dialogs of the Software Authorization Wizard by pressing Next. At completion of authorization, a summary will be displayed confirming a successful authorization.

If you are still unable to authorize after attempting the above steps, please contact Esri Technical Support or the support team at your local distributor.