Tools

Engineer's Toolset (Desktop) upgrade fails with "The installation can't continue because the maintenance associated with the installed license key has expired"

Unable to upgrade the Engineer's Toolset Desktop (ETS Desktop) because of a false license error indicating that maintenance has expired

First published date

7/24/2026 6:06 PM

Last published date

7/24/2026 6:18 PM

Overview

When upgrading to a later version of Engineer's Toolset Desktop (ETS Desktop), users may receive the following error message:

This error occurs even though the product has an active license and the license is activated in the SolarWinds License Manager.

Product section

Engineers Toolset

Cause

This error may occur for one of the following reasons:

  • The installed version of SolarWinds License Manager is not the latest version.
  • The user is upgrading from Engineer's Toolset Desktop 2025.2 or earlier to a later version. Starting with ETS Desktop 2025.3, the product supports both perpetual and subscription (term-based) licensing models, which require the latest version of SolarWinds License Manager to validate the license correctly.

Resolution

If the steps in the following article do not resolve the issue:

SolarWinds ETS Desktop v2025.3 Installer Shows Maintenance Expired Error Despite Valid License

Perform the steps below:

  1. Back up the existing Engineer's Toolset Desktop folders to a safe location. The default locations are:
    • C:\ProgramData\SolarWinds\Toolset
    • C:\Program Files (x86)\SolarWinds\Toolset
  2. Uninstall the current Engineer's Toolset Desktop installation.
  3. Delete the remaining Toolset folders to remove any files left behind from previous installations:
    • C:\ProgramData\SolarWinds\Toolset
    • C:\Program Files (x86)\SolarWinds\Toolset
  4. Install the latest version of Engineer's Toolset Desktop.
    • Before running the installer, right-click the installation file, select Properties, and click Unblock (if the option is available).
    • Run the installer as an Administrator.
  5. Complete the Engineer's Toolset Desktop installation.
  6. Launch SolarWinds License Manager as an Administrator and verify that it is running the latest version. If it is not up to date, download and install the latest version available from the SolarWinds Customer Portal.
  7. Activate Engineer's Toolset Desktop using an available ETS Desktop license. Before activating, verify that the license is not already activated in the SolarWinds Customer Portal.
  8. Launch Engineer's Toolset Desktop and verify that the application opens successfully.