Uploading the license file for Business Central on-premises

After an administrator or a Microsoft Certified Partner initially installs Business Central on-premises, the next step is to upload the license file that is supplied by Microsoft.

To save the license file, you must have the necessary roles and permissions in SQL Server. See Setting Database Owner and Security Administration Permissions.

Note

Uploading the license file is typically something you do once for each database installation, not once for each client installation. If you need to upload a license for a specific database, see Uploading a License File for a Specific Database.

Initially, Business Central uses CRONUS.flf, which is the demonstration license file. All license files that aren't demonstration license files are named fin.flf or fin.bclicense. The demonstration license file has been given a different name so that it cannot be mistakenly overwritten.

FLF and bclicense file types

Depending on your Business Central version and when you got your license, the license is either delivered as a single .flf file or as a .zip that contains both a .flf and a .bclicense file. The .flf file type is the legacy license format, which was deprecated and removed in 2023 release wave 1 (v22). The .bclicense file type is the newer license format. Both file types provide the same terms and permissions. But the .bclicense file type is better suited for large license files than the .flf file type. With large licenses, you might have problems importing a .flf file. The .flf file type will eventually be deprecated.

So we recommend that you use the .bclicense file if you've gotten one.

Note

The bclicense file type is supported on versions 17.12, 18.7, 19.1 and later.

Upload the License File to SQL Server

To upload the license, use the Import-NAVServerLicense cmdlet.

  1. Start the Business Central Administration Shell as an administrator.

  2. Run the following command:

    Import-NAVServerLicense -ServerInstance <server instance> -LicenseFile "<path to the license>"
    

    Replace <server instance>with your Business Central Server instance name. Replace <path to the license> with the folder path and file name of your license. For example:

    Import-NAVServerLicense -ServerInstance BC -LicenseFile "c:\licenses\fin.bclicense"
    
  3. Restart the server instance. For example:

    Restart-NAVServerInstance -ServerInstance BC
    

Upload the License File to SQL Server using the Dynamics NAV Development Environment

APPLIES TO: Business Central Spring 2019 and earlier.

The following procedure uploads the license for all Business Central databases on the SQL Server instance.

  1. Start the Dynamics NAV Development Environment.

    Note

    On a computer running any version of Windows with User Access Control enabled, you must start the development environment as an administrator.

  2. Verify that you are connected to your database. On the File menu, point to Database, and then choose Open.

  3. Upload the new license.

    1. On the Tools menu, choose License Information.

    2. In the License Information window, choose Upload.

    3. In the Upload License File dialog box, browse to and open the license file.

    You should see the following message:

    The Server license was successfully uploaded.

  4. Restart the development environment to activate the license.

  5. Restart all Business Central Server instances on the computer to activate the license for other clients.

Note

Always review your license file after uploading, to verify that all information is correct and that you have all necessary license granules.

Uploading a License File for a Specific Database

  1. In the development environment, on the File menu, point to Database, and then choose Alter.

  2. In the Alter Database window, choose Integration, and then select Save license in database.

  3. Restart all Business Central Server instances on the computer to activate the license for other clients.

Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide