Retrieving a Named-User or Single-Machine or Single-Use license

To obtain a Gurobi license key you'll need to run the grbgetkey command on your machine. Note that the machine must be connected to the Internet in order to run this command. An Internet connection is not required after you have obtained your license key.

If your computer isn't connected to the Internet or if your network security system does not allow the command below to function, we also offer a manual license key process. You'll find manual instructions at the bottom of the License Detail page (by following the link labeled click here for additional instructions).

The exact grbgetkey command to run for a specific license is indicated at the bottom of the License Detail page (e.g., grbgetkey 253e22f3-...). We recommend that you use copy-paste to copy the entire grbgetkey command from our website and paste it into a shell window.

The grbgetkey program passes identifying information about your machine back to our website, and the website responds with your license key. Once this exchange has occurred, grbgetkey will ask for the name of the directory in which to store your license key file (gurobi.lic). You should see a prompt that looks like this:

You can store the license key file anywhere, but we strongly recommend that you accept the default location by hitting Enter. Setting up a non-default location is error-prone and a frequent source of trouble.

Using a non-default license file location

When you run the Linux version of the Gurobi Optimizer, it will look for the gurobi.lic key file in three different default locations. It will always look in your home directory. In addition, Gurobi Optimizer 6.5.0 will also look in /opt/gurobi and /opt/gurobi650.

If you would like to use a non-default license key file location, you can do so by setting environment variable GRB_LICENSE_FILE to point to the license key file. Important note: the environment variable should point to the license key file itself, not to the directory that contains the file.

You can set an environment variable by adding a line to your .bashrc file:

  export GRB_LICENSE_FILE=/usr/home/jones/gurobi.lic

For csh shell users, you should add the following to your .cshrc file:

  setenv GRB_LICENSE_FILE /usr/home/jones/gurobi.lic

Set the variable to point to the actual location of your license key file.

Next steps

If your license includes the Distributed Add-On and you plan to use any of the Gurobi distributed algorithms, you'll also need to set up Gurobi Remote Services on your distributed worker machines.

Once you have followed the steps above and have obtained a license key file, your next step is to test your license.