Q100668: How to temporarily remove RLM licenses

Pete

Updated: March 16, 2026 21:51

Created: January 20, 2026 15:58

SUMMARY

You may want to temporarily disable your RLM licenses in order to test a new license or trial a Login license. This article will provide you with the steps on how to do this. If you would like to permanently remove all licenses from your machine please follow the steps in this article: Q100257: How to remove licenses from your machine

MORE INFORMATION

How to temporarily remove your existing RLM licenses

The safest way to temporarily remove your RLM licenses is to rename the license directories.  

NOTE: This will remove all Foundry RLM licenses so please take care if you need to run some Foundry applications whilst testing others.

1. Rename the license directory in your home area from FoundryLicensing to FoundryLicensing_BACKUP. The default locations for this are:
   macOS: /Users/<username>/FoundryLicensing
   Linux: $HOME/FoundryLicensing
   Windows: C:\Users\<username>\FoundryLicensing
2. Rename the system license directory by changing the directory name from RLM to RLM_BACKUP
   macOS: /Library/Application Support/TheFoundry/RLM
   Linux: /usr/local/foundry/RLM
   Windows: (rename both of the following if they exist)
   C:\ProgramData\The Foundry\RLM
C:\Program Files\The Foundry\RLM
   
   NOTE: This may require admin permissions
   
   
3. Check if the foundry_LICENSE environment variable is set.
   You can do this by checking the environment variable settings referenced in the following article: Q100015: How To Set Environment Variables
   If it is, make a note of its value and then unset it.

How to restore your RLM licenses

To restore your RLM license, you will need to do the reverse of the steps above.

1. Restore the license directory in your home area from FoundryLicensing_BACKUP to FoundryLicensing. The default locations for this are:
   macOS: /Users/<username>/FoundryLicensing
   Linux: $HOME/FoundryLicensing
   Windows: C:\Users\<username>\FoundryLicensing
   
   
2. Restore the system license directory by changing the directory name from RLM_BACKUP to RLM. If a replacement directory has automatically been created then check it is empty of .lic files and delete it before restoring the old directory.
   macOS: /Library/Application Support/TheFoundry/RLM
   Linux: /usr/local/foundry/RLM
   Windows: (rename both of the following if they exist)
   C:\ProgramData\The Foundry\RLM
C:\Program Files\The Foundry\RLM
   
   NOTE: This may require admin permissions
   
   
3. If you had previously set the foundry_LICENSE environment variable then please set it again to the old value via these steps: Q100015: How To Set Environment Variables

FURTHER READING

More information about both RLM and Login licensing can be found in our LICENSE HELP section of the support portal.