Symptom

BarTender's Licensing Wizard returns error message #1177: "BarTender Licensing Service was not detected on IP address:5160"

Environment

BarTender 2019

Diagnosis

• You've already determined that the Windows Service BarTender Licensing Service is running, and you've attempted to restart this service.
• You are not presented with alternative/offline activation methods at BarTender's Licensing Wizard.

Solution

Recommended Solution

Update BarTender 2019 to its latest Service Release, which can be downloaded from this link.

This is a known issue that existed in BarTender 2019 and that was fixed in Service Release 8 for BarTender 2019.

Alternative Solution

This issue generally happens in environments where outbound traffic is blocked by a proxy server or something similar, and/or server is offline. You can get past this error and get to the Offline Activation option by doing the following.

• Navigate to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc
• Create a new folder and name it "Backup"
• Copy and Paste the hosts file into that "Backup" folder. 

Now:

• Use the Search option and search for Notepad.
• Right-click Notepad and select Run as administrator.
• From Notepad, open the hosts file at: C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts
• At the bottom, add the following lines and save your changes.
  • 127.0.0.1      license1.seagullscientific.com
  • 127.0.0.1      license2.seagullscientific.com

• Execute the BarTender Licensing Wizard again, and you will now get the "Try Browser Instead" option.
• Once the license has been activated, remember to use the backup of the hosts file to revert to default settings.