ArcGIS CityEngine: Unable to connect to portal https://<portal_url>/portal

Error Message

Attempts to set up the initial sign in to the ArcGIS Enterprise portal to consume a license for ArcGIS CityEngine fail and the following error is returned:

Error:   
Unable to connect to portal https://<portal_url>/portal

Cause

• The network is configured with a transparent proxy that CityEngine cannot automatically detect, preventing it from routing portal connections through the proxy.
• CityEngine uses its own certificate store, and certificates trusted by the Windows certificate store or web browsers may not be trusted by CityEngine. This can lead to SSL certificate validation errors during portal connections.

Solution or Workaround

Depending on the cause, the workarounds provided are applicable.

Configure the CityEngine network using the explicit proxy host and port

1. Close the CityEngine project.
2. Create a backup copy of the CityEngine.ini configuration file located in the following path:

C:\Program Files\Esri\CityEngine\CityEngine.ini

3. Open the original CityEngine.ini configuration file from Step 2 in a text editor.
4. Press CTRL + F on the keyboard and search for the following code:

-Djava.net.useSystemProxies=true

5. Replace the previous line of code with the code below. Specify the proxy server's IPv4 address for <PROXY_HOST> and specify the HTTP and HTTPS proxy port values for <HTTP_PORT> and <HTTPS_PORT>.

-Djava.net.useSystemProxies=false
-Dhttp.proxyHost=<PROXY_HOST>
-Dhttp.proxyPort=<HTTP_PORT>
-Dhttps.proxyHost=<PROXY_HOST>
-Dhttps.proxyPort=<HTTPS_PORT>

6. Save the file and restart the computer.
7. Relaunch the CityEngine project and sign in using Named User licensing. Refer to ArcGIS CityEngine: Authorizing your software for more information.

Manually add the certificate to CityEngine’s trust store using keytool.exe

1. Export the server certificate. Refer to How To: Export Certificates from ArcGIS Server and Portal for ArcGIS for instructions.
2. Locate the cacerts certificate file from the CityEngine Java Runtime Environment (JRE) trust store. Refer to Oracle: keytool for more information. An example of a certificate path can be found at the following location:

C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\CityEngine2025.1\plugins\org.eclipse.justj.openjdk.hotspot.jre.minimal.stripped.win32.x86_64_17.0.4.v20220903-1038\jre\lib\security\cacerts

3. Open Command Prompt and change the directory by running the following code:

cd "C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\CityEngine2025.1\plugins\org.eclipse.justj.openjdk.hotspot.jre.minimal.stripped.win32.x86_64_17.0.4.v20220903-1038\jre\lib\security"

4. Import the certificate into the trust store by running the following code:

keytool.exe -importcert -trustcacerts -keystore "C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\CityEngine2025.1\plugins\org.eclipse.justj.openjdk.hotspot.jre.minimal.stripped.win32.x86_64_17.0.4.v20220903-1038\jre\lib\security\cacerts" -storepass changeit -file "C:\install\certificatepath.crt" -alias "mykey"

Sign in to CityEngine via ArcGIS Online and switch to ArcGIS Enterprise for licensing

1. Sign in to CityEngine using ArcGIS Online. Refer to ArcGIS CityEngine: Sign in to ArcGIS CityEngine for instructions.
2. Re-add the portal URL under Manage Portals. Refer to ArcGIS CityEngine: Manage portals for instructions.
3. In the Certificate verification failed dialog box, check the Always trust this certificate checkbox and change the licensing portal. Refer to ArcGIS CityEngine: Change your licensing portal for instructions.