License Activation Service
Citrix announcement:
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.
Official Citrix notification:
Notification FAQ:
https://support.citrix.com/support-home/kbsearch/article?articleNumber=CTX695107
Impacted solutions:
Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (CVAD)
Citrix Provisioning (PVS)
NetScaler
XenServer
Unicon Scout
Customers using only cloud services are not impacted by this announcement.
Net operational impact:
On April 15, 2026, legacy licensing will cease to function. Deployments using legacy file-based licensing mechanisms will have end-user impacts.
Remediation efforts:
License Activation Service (LAS) onboarding:
https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/licensing/current-release/license-activation-service
CVAD remediation efforts:
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 and after
Migrate a traditional file-based license infrastructure to LAS as outlined in the following documentation:
CVAD licensing FAQ:
https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/manage-deployment/licensing/licensing-faq
Citrix Provisioning LAS notification:
Updating to the latest versions and CUs of PVS LTSR versions has a known bug with continuing to use the legacy downloaded license files. The current fix is to switch to the new LAS function, or adjust the registry key in this support article.
NetScaler remediation efforts:
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 Service: Early September 2025
LAS supports the following license models:
NetScaler Flexed licenses (CPL/UHMC)
Legacy NetScaler Pooled licenses
NetScaler Fixed term Bandwidth licenses
All other forms of legacy NetScaler licenses such as Pooled vCPU, CICO, and perpetual are not supported with LAS.
Migrate existing NetScaler Console flex/pooled licensed NetScaler instances to LAS as outlined in the following documentation:
Migrate existing fixed-capacity NetScaler instances to LAS as outlined in the following documentation:
https://docs.netscaler.com/en-us/citrix-adc/current-release/licensing/ns-license-activation-service
XenServer remediation efforts:
Transition from file-based licensing to LAS as outlined in the following documentation:
Unicon Scout remediation efforts:
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?
Update your current Scout installation to Scout version 15 2508 LTSR or later
After the update use Scout Board’s License information dialogue to switch to the license server
Start Scout Board and log in
Click on the “(?)” icon at the top right next to the search field and open “License information”
Click on [Switch to Citrix License Server] in the License information dialog
Enter the license server name, then click [Confirm]