Error when (de)activating or renewing NEO licenses: Invalid binary header. Either incompatible or not a binary message.
Topic T1253
Applies to all NEO products
Background
When (de)activating or renewing a NEO license the following error message may appear: Invalid binary header. Either incompatible or not a binary message.
Renewing NEO licenses can be executed automatic (e.g., when using a subscription license) or can manually be done by going in NEO to Help, License and clicking the 'Extend License' button.
While we are looking for a permanent solution to this issue, the following is a work-around to get your license (de)activated or renewed/extended.
Work-around to activate or renew your license
To activate or renew the license, follow these steps:
To activate a new license go in NEO to Help | License, copy/paste the license information and click Activate
To renew an existing license go in NEO to Help | License and click Extend License (twice)
In the error dialog that shows, press 'OK' to launch a web browser which obtains the activation/renewal information (while NEO opens a dialog box for this information)
In the web browser, select and copy the entire string which shows in the textbox
Go back to NEO and copy the entire string into the dialog box that has opened
Press 'OK' to finalize the activation/renewal process
To deactivate your license, follow these steps:
Go in NEO to Help | License and click Deactivate (twice)
In the error dialog that shows, press 'OK' to launch a web browser which will deactivate your license using a different process
Check the web browser to verify that the license has been deactivated
Go back to NEO, where NEO confirms that the license has been deactivated
If you now click 'OK' NEO will close as it isn't licensed any longer
