• 0

Where does FNPLicensingService.exe come from?


Question

Recommended Posts

  • 0
go with foxit you wont get this kinda stuff with it,adobe is very big apps and very hungry too ffor resources.

Huh???

I guess that'd be fine...for people only wishing to >view< PDFs.

It's been said before: Acrobat is not just a reader, whereis Acrobat Reader >is< just a reader.

  • 0

I have Acrobat Pro 8 and Photoshop CS2

I do not like at all the idea that such a silent service could spy us...

It is against private rights to not explicitly indicate to the user what kind of services will run with the installed software

so, it is essential to crack such a service

I am not a specialist in computer, but I block connexion of FNPLicensingService.exe with internet throught the Vista firewall options

It seems that Acrobat is running ok, but I am not sure that the FLEXnet service can not much communicate with the outside...

also, is there no way to indicate to Acrobat (via the the registry or a patch) that the FLEXnet service is on whereas the service would be turn off?

bye

Seb

  • 0

CutePDF Writer is a free PDF writer.

How exactly can I block a program (eg. FNPLicensingService.exe) from accessing the Internet. Is a Firewall indispensable for this?

Thx in advance

Sandro aka Merecumb?

Yes, a firewall is what you would use to block an application from accessing the internet.

My problem with FNPLicensingService.exe is not the activation spying or accessing the internet, but with the buffer overflows I see associated with its use.

Though I am not personally aware of any exploit(s) that take advantage of a bug in the application, it is certainly probable that someone has looked into it:(:(

For what it's worth, this PDF from Macrovision is the FLEXnet licensing end user guide.

For those looking to keep FNPLicensingService.exe from running again, you can try this:

1) make sure you're not running any application that relies on the service

2) make sure the service is not running...you can either stop it via the services control panel app or by killing it in task manager, etc.

3) search your HD for FNP_Act_Installer.dll and rename it (i.e. FNP_Act_Installer.dll.OLD)

Apparently, that's the only way to keep the service from getting restarted. As you know, disabling in the Services Control Panel Applet does not actually disable it as Adobe utilizes svchost.exe to re-enable it.disclaimer: if you stop/disable FNPLicensingService.exe and rename all instances of FNP_Act_Installer.dll, your Adobe products may not function properly or may even crash. If you run into problems, simply rename the file back to its original name. I provide this information for educational purposes, only. I do not advocate attempting to circumvent licensing schemesb>

[edited to add PDF url & add suggestion on how to keep FNPLicensingService.exe from running again]

Edited by earthsound
  • 0
So far aftr disabling it .. it's running well. My CS3 Photoshop that is.

Are you referring to disabling the FLEXnet service via the Services Control Panel app? If you do that and do not rename FNP_Act_Installer.dll, then Adobe will re-enable it eventually via svchost.exe. I don't have Photoshop CS3 to confirm what it does, but I know that Acrobat Pro 8 will do this.

If you didn't rename the .dll, then check your running processes again after a while & see if FNPLicensingService.exe is running. :|

  • 0
I see what keeps putting it back in play. The Acrobat Assistant seems to be the problem. Here is how I stopped it from showing up anymore.

First kill Acrobat Assistant from your HKLM / Run registry entry.

Then stop and disable the FLEXnet Licensing Service.

Or, I've included a reg file that will remove the Acrobat Assistant autorun entry and disable the FLEXnet Licensing Service in case you aren't registry or services savvy. Run that file and kill the FNPLicensingService.exe from Windows Task Manager and you shouldn't see it anymore.

Thanks Mike!

  • 0

Came across this thread scouring google for answers to my dilemma. The FNPLicensingService has been recently seemingly out of the blue (when not using Acrobat or reading PDF's) trying to access my Kaspersky Anti-Virus security settings. Kaspersky pops up with a warning that this service is trying to change KAV. The problem is, when I block it, it keeps trying at an alarming rate of what seems like hundreds of times per minute (I checked after 10 minutes and it was at roughly a hundred thousand and counting) This process was slowing down my system considerably.

Stopping it in Administrative Tools, Services, didn't work for me, and the Task manager didn't work either. So this is for anyone that has my issue and wants to just stop it cold without uninstalling it. I used a program called IceSword, which is a Chinese Rootkit eliminator (the English version) and sort of like a more comprehensive version of Task Manager/Process Explorer (I've yet to run in to a program/dll/exe that it couldn't stop cold). It can see everything on your computer (even under the API). With that open I just looked in current processes and found FLexNetLicensingService and killed it dead with Terminate.

Hope that helps anyone that has my issue.. IceSword is quite powerful.

Edited by PsiKnife
  • 0
i think its the adobe licensing service (if that hasn't been said yet :p)

To answer/solve the entire topic (bump)!

About:

This is the running process of a security lock-out program distributed by Macrovision

It creates/recreates a hardware spicific key to lock a serial number/access number for software to a spicific computer

It "phones home" every time the locked program is loaded to verify that the software is being used on the correct computer.

What installs it:

As said before, mainly high end software AND MOST current Adobe products, (ALL current Adobe multi-program packages)

The licensing fee for the software is astronomical so you probably won't find it on anything costing less than a few hundred dollars, nor from a non-party company that has a small intended user base.

Why remove:

It "phones home"

It falls into the liberal (free from spying) definition of spyware, as it sends a complete list of installed hardware and software information in a low-encryption translation to the licensee.

On Acrobat alternatives; Foxit Pro is a PDF CREATOR, a fraction of the cost (pricing that matches the task, not ego inflated), NO spyware included, and includes all the functions that the vast majority of PDF readers/creators would need.

  • 0

If you've got the time and the savvy, I would think that another way to stop it would be to run Ethereal/Wireshark and find out where it's trying to connect to, and then kill access to that IP at your router/firewall.

  • 0
On Acrobat alternatives; Foxit Pro is a PDF CREATOR, a fraction of the cost (pricing that matches the task, not ego inflated), NO spyware included, and includes all the functions that the vast majority of PDF readers/creators would need.

Thread is dead but..

Acrobat still does allot more then just making pdf file. believe it or not.

  • 0
i have the same problem, FNPLicensingServer, after i installed adobe acrobat pro 8.

my solution is:

1. kill the process "FNPLicensingService.exe" from the Task Manager

2. go to \Program Files\Common Files\Macrovision Shared\FLEXnet Publisher\ and delete the 2 files "FNPLicensingService.exe" and "fnp_registrations.xml" and instead create 2 folders with the same name/extension.

when you start acrobat now it wont be able to create those 2 files which you have deleted and replaced with the folders, so FNP service wont be able to start.

i hope this helps for everyone.

:whistle:

Yes this works on "killing the process" however all other Adobe programs wont start...I get an error message stating "this program can not be used at this time. Please uninstall and reinstall to correct the problem" after I follow this procedure all it does recreate the FNPLicensingService.exe and fnp_registration.xml all over again.

  • 0

I've been living with this service hogging my resources for some time, never really found a way to kill it as I had covered every way mentionned in this thread.

My trick is not a hack or patch or anything like that, I blocked the service from accessing the net and i just kill it everytime i use any adobe product. I think you should get used to this because, IMO, I really doubt there will ever be a way to circumvent this spying aptely named licensing.

Cheers!

  • 0
I see what keeps putting it back in play. The Acrobat Assistant seems to be the problem. Here is how I stopped it from showing up anymore.

First kill Acrobat Assistant from your HKLM / Run registry entry.

Then stop and disable the FLEXnet Licensing Service.

Or, I've included a reg file that will remove the Acrobat Assistant autorun entry and disable the FLEXnet Licensing Service in case you aren't registry or services savvy. Run that file and kill the FNPLicensingService.exe from Windows Task Manager and you shouldn't see it anymore.

If you install this guys regedit like me all of your adobe aps will quit working, jsut try opening different programs by adobe untill one works then go back and open your other one (photoshop and flash for me) it will be fixed.

Edited by certa
  • 0

Hi. I'm facing the same problem as all of you are. I installed photoshop CS3 and the mentioned process appeared. I am a bit frightened about the "calling home". I have taken all of it's rights to access internet in zonealarm pro, but still, maybe someone with good programming skills should make a dll injection which would kill the process everytime the product runs?

Cheers

Cadaveryne

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • That reminds me. Now that i have Quest 3 I should go back and try the first one in VR. ... last time i did that I tried it in some janky VR setup which was still really good.
    • It's amazing that anyone still uses this bloated trash.
    • @Sayan...I have defended you at various points as I hope you know. This headline however is utter trash...shame on you sir!
    • An actual cosmic "Eye of Sauron" had been looking straight at us all along by Sayan Sen Image by Kovin P. Vasquez via Pexels | Not representative An international team of researchers has solved a long-standing mystery surrounding a distant blazar known as PKS 1424+240, helping explain why it produces some of the brightest high-energy gamma rays and cosmic neutrinos ever observed despite appearing to have a relatively slow-moving jet. The findings were published on June 6 in Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters. The study addresses a broader challenge in astrophysics: understanding how extreme cosmic objects accelerate particles to very high energies and produce very high-energy (VHE) photons and neutrinos. PKS 1424+240 is located billions of light-years from Earth. It has attracted attention for years because it is both a powerful source of VHE gamma rays and the brightest known neutrino-emitting blazar in the sky, according to observations by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. It is also associated with one of the strongest peaks in IceCube's nine-year neutrino sky map A blazar is a type of active galactic nucleus powered by a supermassive black hole that pulls in surrounding matter and launches jets of plasma moving close to the speed of light. What makes blazars unique is their orientation. One of their jets points almost directly toward Earth, making them appear exceptionally bright across the electromagnetic spectrum and allowing scientists to study some of the most extreme physical processes in the Universe. The scientists exclaimed it's like the 'Eye of Sauron' in deep space. Usually, the brightest gamma-ray-emitting blazars are expected to have jets that appear to move very quickly. However, radio observations of PKS 1424+240 suggested that its jet was moving much more slowly, creating a contradiction that became part of a long-running problem known as the "Doppler factor crisis." To investigate, researchers analyzed 15 years of observations from the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), a network of 10 radio antennas spread across the continental United States, Hawaii and St. Croix. Using a technique called Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), astronomers combine signals from widely separated radio telescopes to create a virtual Earth-sized telescope capable of revealing extremely fine details. The team combined 42 polarization-sensitive radio images collected between 2009 and 2025, creating a much deeper and more detailed view of the jet than had previously been possible. The observations were carried out as part of MOJAVE (Monitoring Of Jets in Active galactic nuclei with VLBA Experiments), a long-running program that studies the brightness, polarization and magnetic field structures of jets produced by active galaxies. The project aims to better understand how activity near supermassive black holes is linked to high-energy radiation and neutrino emission. “When we reconstructed the image, it looked absolutely stunning,” said Yuri Kovalev, lead author of the study and Principal Investigator of the European Research Council-funded MuSES project at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy. “We have never seen anything quite like it — a near-perfect toroidal magnetic field with a jet, pointing straight at us.” The image revealed an unusual geometry. The researchers found that Earth lies almost directly in line with the jet, with a viewing angle of less than 0.6 degrees. In simple terms, astronomers are looking almost straight down the jet. This turned out to be the key to the mystery. Because the jet is aimed almost directly at Earth, a relativistic effect called Doppler boosting dramatically increases its apparent brightness. The study found that this effect boosts the emission by a factor of about 30 while also making the jet appear slower than it actually is. “This alignment causes a boost in brightness by a factor of 30 or more,” said Jack Livingston, a co-author at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy. “At the same time, the jet appears to move slowly due to projection effects — a classic optical illusion.” The nearly head-on view also gave scientists a rare look at the jet's magnetic field. Using polarized radio signals, they detected a clear toroidal, or doughnut-shaped, magnetic field component. The observations suggest the jet carries an electric current and that its magnetic field helps launch, shape and stabilize the flow of plasma. Researchers believe this magnetic structure may also play a key role in accelerating particles to energies high enough to produce both gamma rays and neutrinos. “Solving this puzzle confirms that active galactic nuclei with supermassive black holes are not only powerful accelerators of electrons, but also of protons — the origin of the observed high-energy neutrinos,” Kovalev said. The research was conducted under the MuSES (Multi-messenger Studies of Energetic Sources) project, which investigates how active galactic nuclei accelerate particles and generate different cosmic signals, including light and neutrinos. Scientists say understanding how protons are accelerated and linked to neutrino production remains one of the major unanswered questions in astrophysics. The findings help explain why some blazars can appear to have slow jets while still producing extremely bright high-energy emissions. More broadly, the study strengthens the link between relativistic jets, magnetic fields, gamma rays and high-energy neutrinos. Researchers say the results provide new clues about how some of the Universe's most powerful natural particle accelerators work and offer important insights for multimessenger astronomy, which combines different types of cosmic signals to study extreme events in space. Source: European Research Council, EDP Sciences This article was generated with some help from AI and reviewed by an editor. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, this material is used for the purpose of news reporting. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.
  • Recent Achievements

    • One Month Later
      lamborghiniv10 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      lamborghiniv10 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Reacting Well
      X-No-file earned a badge
      Reacting Well
    • One Month Later
      pestcontrol46 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      pestcontrol46 earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      510
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      273
    3. 3
      Skyfrog
      75
    4. 4
      +Edouard
      72
    5. 5
      FloatingFatMan
      69
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!