Symptom

At print time, you receive the following error:

BarTender: Error Message #1401

You have exceeded your maximum number of <number> licensed printers.

BarTender will not print or export printer code templates until this is corrected.

Environment

BarTender 2016 and earlier/Automation and Enterprise Automation Editions

BarTender 2019 and later/All Editions

Answer

It is likely you will see this error message when consistently printing to more printers than what your license is entitled to.

Another possibility may be that you're indeed printing to the correct amount of printers, but for a number of reasons, some of those printer entries appear as duplicate printer entries. The most common causes for this behavior are:

• Each computer on the network is connecting to the same printer using a different method (e.g. some use its IP address, others use a shared UNC name to connect to it).
• You're working on a Remote Desktop Protocol(RDP)/Citrix environment and haven't installed the Seagull License Server Remote Assistant on the client computer(s).
• You're working with a USB printer and have been physically moving the printer around different computers. When you move the printer to a new USB port, Windows considers this a new printer, and subsequently so does the License Server.
• BarTender client computers running on distinct versions of Windows are printing to the same shared network printer, but Windows uses different nomenclature for the UNC share.

To ensure you have a healthy license server and printing environment, review the following:

• USB printers do not move locations or between computers.
• Network printers are all installed in the same manner on all computers across your network.
• Different PDF and document printers will count as different printers on your License Server (only applies to BarTender 2016 and earlier).
• Each printer has the same information for all three of these attributes:
  
  • printer model (driver version)
  • port number
  • printer location
• You are up to date on the most recent revision or service release. You can find our latest releases here: Service Releases.
• Set up notifications in your License Server to email you when you've exceeded your printer count.
• Set up Printer Groups in advance, which will help you to set your priority-based printers (only available in BarTender 2019 and later)
• If you are using a Citrix or RDP environment, please install the Seagull License Server Remote Assistant: Using BarTender with Remote Desktop Services and Citrix XenApp

What Happens If I Go Over?

• You have a 30-day grace period to correct the issue. Once the 30 days are over, the issue must be corrected, or the printer limit will be enforced by BarTender.
• Printers will drop off after seven days of not being used.

For more information about printer-based licensing, refer to the following technical documents.

• Printer-Based Licensing (applies to BarTender 2019 and later)
• Licensing for the Automation and Enterprise Automation Editions of BarTender (applies to BarTender 2016 and previous versions)

If you are having problems controlling your printer count in your environment, please contact support for further assistance: Contact Us.