Tenable ties your Nessus activation code to a unique string called a . This challenge code is generated based on your specific machine hardware and installation instance. The "License already in use" error triggers when:
An administrator generates a challenge file but loses network connectivity or gets interrupted. They generate a second challenge file without deleting the first. They then upload the first challenge file to Tenable’s portal, download a license, but attempt to install that license on the scanner that now has a second challenge file active. The mismatch is immediate. The error message appears because the license file contains a hash of the original challenge, which no longer matches the scanner’s current state.
cat /opt/nessus/var/nessus/logs/nessusd.log | grep -i "license" nessus offline activation license already in use full
Select your product type on the left, then click next to the specific license. Click the Reset Product Activation link.
: If you still have access to the old scanner (Host A), you can manually unlink it using nessuscli fetch --deactivate before moving to the new machine. Tenable ties your Nessus activation code to a
I recently encountered an issue with my Nessus offline activation license, which was already in use. I purchased the license to ensure seamless vulnerability scanning for my organization, but the activation process turned out to be a nightmare.
Remember these key takeaways:
"C:\Program Files\Tenable\Nessus\nessuscli.exe" fetch --challenge Use code with caution. /Library/Nessus/run/sbin/nessuscli fetch --challenge Use code with caution.
nessuscli.exe fetch --deregister nessuscli.exe fetch --code-in-use They generate a second challenge file without deleting