No license found for Telerik ui for winforms

[Ahmed]

I have upgraded my WinForms project to the latest version, as shown in the attached file.

When running the application inside the VS 2022, a dialog box shows with no license.

I tried the suggested resolution from:

https://docs.telerik.com/devtools/winforms/licensing/license-key#downloading-the-license-key

I also downloaded the latest license from my account.

Nothing resolved the problem.

Can you help, please?

Note: My subscription will expire by 20 Sep 2025

[Vitalii]

Hi!

Have I to install this nuget package for every project in my solution?
Thank you for answer!!!

[Ahmed]

Yes. I have a solution with two projects that I had to install in both. 

[Vitalii]

Thank you!

[Nadya | Tech Support Engineer]

Hello, Vitalii,

Yes, I confirm that you need to install Telerik.Licensing NuGet for every project where Telerik UI for WinForms controls are used.

If you have other questions, do not hesitate to contact me.

[Vitalii]

What about reporting? It seems that I added all needed packages and licenses. WinForms works ok, but reporting is not.

[Nadya | Tech Support Engineer]

Hello, Vitalii,

The set up of Telerik Reporting License Key is similar to that for WinForms components. The exact steps on how to activate Telerik Reporting are described here: Activating Telerik Reporting.

Note that the license key is one and contains all the necessary licensing information for all the Telerik products you have purchased. Can you please make sure that you downloaded your latest licensing key from your account and you did not modify it in any way. Also, can you confirm is your telerik-license.txt file added to %AppData%\Telerik\ directory?

Then, add the Telerik.Licensing package from the store as a project dependency. After you make sure that these steps are completed, you can clean, then rebuild your projects to ensure that Visual Studio keeps the new changes.

Please let me know if you need further assistance in activating Telerik Reporting?

[Vitalii]

I have valid lic on Telerik Reporting.
I have added this file to C:\Users\MyProfile\AppData\Roaming\Telerik and for every project too.
I have added nuget package for every project.
I have even reloaded my notebook twice :)
Result is the same.

Probably something wrong with catalog C:\Users\MyProfile\AppData\Roaming\Telerik? But this path takes me exactly there with File Explorer and %AppData%\Telerik\

[Vitalii]

Hi,

In the long run I have created TelerikLicensing.cs for every project where I use Telerik Reporting and put my licenses in it.
This helped and project works fine.

[Nadya | Tech Support Engineer]

Hello, Vitalii,

I am glad to hear that you managed to set up the TelerikLicensing.cs with the license key for every project where you use Telerik Reporting, and now the project works fine. 

If you have any other questions, do not hesitate to contact me.

[Nadya | Tech Support Engineer]

Hello, Ahmed,

With our latest 2025 Q2 release, UI components from the Telerik UI for .NET WinForms library require activation through a license key.

You said that you already downloaded the License Key successfully from your account. Now,  you also need to get the Telerik.Licensing NuGet package from the NuGet Package Manager. It will automatically add a reference to Telerik.Licensing.Runtime dll in your project, which is required to activate Telerik controls. 

The exact steps how to activate our controls are described here: Activating the Telerik UI for .NET WinForms Components.

Once you set up the license key and add a reference to Telerik.Licensing.Runtime, you are not supposed to receive licensing messages or warnings.

Please follow the suggested steps, and let me know if you have further issues.

Regards,
Nadya | Tech Support Engineer
Progress Telerik

[Ahmed]

Thank you ver much Nadya.
Issue resolved after installing Telerik.Licensing and referencing the Telerik.Licensing.Runtime.

 

 

[Marian]

Hello, I had the same problem and resolved it by installing Telerik Licensing NuGet, it's ok on my notebook now. But when I copied the release project binaries to production machine, dialog with missing license is back again. Should I copy also something else than this?

[Nadya | Tech Support Engineer]

Hello, Marian,

While you have an active license key and the project runs on your development machine, you should be able to run it on other machines as well. If you copy the whole project binaries output together with the exe file on the production machine, a licensing message is not expected to appear. Can you clarify which files you copied? From the picture, I can see only Telerik dlls.

Note, the license key is only verified at build time. Meaning, after a project has been compiled, the licensing key is consumed. The application that has already been built and is running in production will not be affected.

I hope this information makes it clearer. I can also share the related FAQ documentation, as it may provide further useful clarifications.

Please let me know if you need further assistance and I will help to you.

[Marian]

Hello, I did some research and found out the problem. Problem is in using forms with Telerik components from libraries in main program without Telerik. I have main program which doesn't use Telerik and it shows dialogs from other assemblies using Telerik components, and it shows license error in this case. I tried to install telerik licensing NuGet also to main program, but it doesn't help, it ended with warning that there is no Telerik reference in that program. The only solution I have found out is to manually add reference to Telerik.Licensing.Runtime to main program and add Telerik license C# snippet there. I have found out another solution now, I can add dummy reference to some other Telerik assembly to main program and it works, this is probably the best solution. Or is there any better? I have attached my test program for testing.

[Nadya | Tech Support Engineer]

Hello, Mariam,

Thank you for the demo project.

In every project were you use RadControls or reference them from your library projects, you should download the Telerik.Licensing NuGet package. As in your demo project, you should have the Telerik.Licensing NuGet in TelerikLicenseTestLib, TelerikLicenseTestSub, and also in the main project TelerikLicenseTest2. 
It is not necessary to download any other dummy references, only the Telerik.Licensing NuGet. I installed the NuGet directly in your main TelerikLicenseTest2 project, and it compiles with no errors on my side, and no watermark appears on the forms.

If you have further difficulties with the licensing, feel free to submit a separate ticket from your Telerik account, and we will continue our discussion there regarding your special case. Thank you for your understanding.

Please let me know if I can assist you further.

 

[Marian]

Hm, so I don't know why, but when I remove reference to Telerik.Common in main project, I see this in build window. But I see also TelerikCommon reference in your screenshot.

And when I click on one of those two buttons, I see license error:

But it's not a problem for me now, if I know how to solve it, it's not so problem to add reference to some Telerik also to main program. It's not a reason to submit support ticket. It's little bit annoying to add NuGet package to all programs using that library, I would expect it's enough to do it in that library, but ok.

Btw. maybe you should add information about this also to that FAQ on new licensing. Maybe it's not so standard case to use Telerik only in library and not in main program, but I spent some time on this to find it out.

[Marian]

Btw. what to do, if I make a library using Telerik components and give it to another developer, who doesn't even have Telerik license? Or if I sell my library to customers? Or Telerik licensing doesn't officially support this case?

[Nadya | Tech Support Engineer]

Hello, Marian,

I was able to reproduce the case that you described and have already raised it to our licensing team for further investigation. For now, you can continue using Telerik.Common dll in the main project, as you found out, so that you can continue your work in the project. However, this case should be further discussed to handle such cases with referencing projects as well. 

As to your last question " what to do, if I make a library using Telerik components and give it to another developer, who doesn't even have Telerik license? Or if I sell my library to customers? Or Telerik licensing doesn't officially support this case?"

We do officially support such cases. You described two different cases - using the same library from another developer, AND selling the library to customers. The license key that activates is user-specific.

Each developer who is currently working on the project must use a license key generated from their own Telerik account. In CI/CD pipelines, any of the team's valid license keys can be used, but each developer must use their own key during development. 

If you want to cell your application to customers, when you compile the application, and the license is valid at the time of compilation, it stays that way, forever. You can sell your library for years, the application will stay the same as it was at the moment it was compiled.

Please let me know if you have other questions.

[Marian]

Hello,
the second part is not my case, I don't want to sell libraries, I was just thinking about consequences of requiring Telerik license also in the main program, which just references libraries using Telerik and which itself doesn't use Telerik. Because in the current state, when license is required in main "exe" assembly, which only references libraries with Telerik, it requires Telerik license also on client side, whether it's another developer or a customer. And also I have to handle Telerik licensing in all my applications which only references that library.

[Nadya | Tech Support Engineer]

Hello, Marian,

The licensing check is only at a build-time. Every time you compile the project, the version of UI for WinForms looks at the license key and checks to see if it's version is in the list of licenses. There's no runtime check to looks up your account to see what you have up there. 

If your attempt is to provide your project to another developer, then yes, he/she will need a license key to develop. Every developer must use a license key that is associated with their personal Telerik account.

I would recommend you to check our Purchasing and Licensing FAQs that covers different cases. 

However, if you still have some doubts or questions, feel free to submit a support ticket from your Telerik account and we will continue the discussion there. Thank you for your understanding.

Let me know if you have additional questions and I would be glad to help.

[Marian]

Hello, no, as I wrote, I was just thinking about consequences. Yes, I know it's only at build time. And no, I don't want to provide project to another developer. I was thinking about scenario, that I develop a library (dll) with some controls using Telerik. Some other developer want to use my library, but he doesn't use Telerik in his project, he doesn't even have Telerik installed, he just references my library dll and use some my control. So is it true, that according to Telerik licensing, he also needs to have official Telerik license, even if he doesn't use Telerik directly?

You wrote this in some previous post: "We do officially support such cases. You described two different cases - using the same library from another developer, AND selling the library to customers. The license key that activates is user-specific.". So how do you support such cases, each "client" have to have Telerik license? For me, it's only little bit annoying that I have to add Telerik Licensing NuGet package to all my programs using that library, and I don't understand, why is the licensing applied to main program and not to the specific assembly that uses Telerik controls.

And in some other previous post, you wrote this: "If you want to sell your application to customers, when you compile the application, and the license is valid at the time of compilation, it stays that way, forever. You can sell your library for years, the application will stay the same as it was at the moment it was compiled.". But from my tests, it's not so true, yes, license is "attached" as assembly attribute in the time of compilation (by NuGet package or manually by scripting license), but it seems that in the runtime, Telerik controls check if the license is valid in the startup exe assembly, not in the specific assembly where  that control is located.

[Nadya | Tech Support Engineer]

Hello, Marian,

Every developer who is using a Telerik component in any form must use a license key that is associated with their personal Telerik account.

We understand that installing the Telerik Licensing NuGet to all programs is a little annoying for you, but it is required to trigger the licensing validation. At this moment, the licensing is not relying on transitive dependencies. This is why Telerik.Licensing NuGet package is required as a reference to the main project as well, not only to libraries. Yes, Telerik controls check if the license is valid is performed in the startup exe assembly as well. I will pass your feedback to the licensing team, so that we can further discuss it and think of any possibilities to improve the licensing mechanism for our clients.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.

 

[Marian]

Hello, ok. In my opinion, licensing should be required only in case of using Telerik components directly, not indirectly as in this case. For example, imagine someone is using library from third party, and that library will start using Telerik components in some new version, should all clients buy a Telerik license now? They are not using Telerik components, they just use some library, they are not responsible for that library. Of course, it's your decision, this is just my opinion on this topic. And I know that if you would like to solve licensing in this way, it would be much more complicated, and it's questionable, if this would not cause some other problems in other use cases.

[Nadya | Tech Support Engineer]

Hello, Marian,

Sharing your opinion is appreciated. For now, obtaining a dev seat for work with Telerik UI for WinForms is required to allow you to develop code using our components. We have our reasons to validate the license, like we do at the moment. However, we are constantly working on improving the Telerik product detection and handling different client scenarios such as yours when using our components inside libraries. We will have your opinion in mind. Thank you!

Regards,
Nadya

[Marian]

Hello,

I have one more problem now and I think it's related to this, so I will post it here. I have now issue in the second project, scenario is the same, non-Telerik application references library with controls using Telerik. I have copied that library from previous project. And now, I have added the project to solution, added Telerik Licensing NuGet to application, and I have this warning now:

1>  Consider app.config remapping of assembly "Telerik.Licensing.Runtime, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=98bb5b04e55c09ef" from Version "1.6.5.0" [C:\Program Files (x86)\Progress\Telerik UI for WinForms 2025 Q2\Bin462\Telerik.Licensing.Runtime.dll] to Version "1.6.16.0" [P:\xxxxx\packages\Telerik.Licensing.1.6.16\lib\net462\Telerik.Licensing.Runtime.dll] to solve conflict and get rid of warning.
1>C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\MSBuild\Current\Bin\amd64\Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(2433,5): warning MSB3276: Found conflicts between different versions of the same dependent assembly. Please set the "AutoGenerateBindingRedirects" property to true in the project file. For more information, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=294190.

I haven't found any 1.6.5.0 reference in project, I have also search this text in all files and haven't found any. The only idea I have is if the referenced installed Telerik assemblies doesn't use it somehow. But I have the same situation in previous project and it doesn't report this warning.

[Marian]

Sorry, I have found out the solution, there is this configuration in app.config in the previous project. But I haven't added it manually, so I don't when it was automatically added there and why it's present in the new project.

<configuration>
  <runtime>
    <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="Telerik.Licensing.Runtime" publicKeyToken="98bb5b04e55c09ef" culture="neutral" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-1.6.16.0" newVersion="1.6.16.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
    </assemblyBinding>
  </runtime>
</configuration>

[Nadya | Tech Support Engineer]

Hello, Marian,

I am glad that you managed to figure out where the old 1.6.5 version was kept. Indeed, when the VS detects an old version, it shows the message that you see, indicating a conflict between different versions.

Defining the bindingRedirect in the way that you show is the way to go and force the latest Telerik.Licensing.Runtime 1.6.16.0 version to be used in the project. So, keep using the bindingRedirect and the latest licensing version.

If you have any other questions, do not hesitate to contact me.

[Marian]

Yes, but my question was, is it added sometimes automatically? I don't know when it was added to previous project. Or was it some option in project or Visual Studio?

[Nadya | Tech Support Engineer]

Hello,

Telerik UI for WinForms 2025 Q2 (2025.2.520) version of our controls comes packed with Telerik.Licensing.Runtime 1.6.5. I assume that this licensing version was referenced from your installation folder. 

However, it is valid to use Telerik UI for WinForms 2025 Q2 with the latest Telerik.Licensing nuget package as you did using the binding redirects.

Regards,
Nadya

[Nadya | Tech Support Engineer]

Hello,

I would like to follow up on this thread, as there is a new version of Telerik.Licensing 1.6.8 NuGet package. This version contains important fixes in the licensing that improve the detection of transitive usage on Telerik components in complex setups and class library projects.

When possible to you, feel free to upgrade your projects to use the Telerik.Licensing 1.6.8 NuGet package and benefit from new improvements. With this version, you no longer need to add additional Telerik DLLs (TelerikCommon.dll) to your project references.

Regards,
Nadya | Tech Support Engineer
Progress Telerik

[Joel]

I found this post when i upgrade to the latest telerik version 2025.2.707.
By the way, it is a WPF component and i am running in VS2017.

- UserDirectory: C:\Users\joel\AppData\Roaming\Telerik\telerik-license.txt (LicenseFound)

The license was found but i still see the "No license found for Telerik UI for WPF." message box pop up.
Is it got to do with VS2017? 

[Joel]

I'm sharing the debugging log for context (trimmed for brevity):

1>  Resolve Telerik Products.
1>    Language=C#
1>    Platform=x64
1>    TargetFrameworkVersion=v4.8
1>    VisualStudioVersion=15.0
1>    NuGetPackageRoot=C:\Users\joel\.nuget\packages\
1> 
1>    PackageReferences
1>    - Telerik.Licensing 1.6.16
1>    - Telerik.Windows.Controls.Chart.for.Wpf.Xaml 2025.2.707
1>    - Telerik.Windows.Controls.Data.for.Wpf.Xaml 2025.2.707

1>    ReferencePaths
1>    - Telerik.Licensing.Runtime.dll 1.6.16 at C:\Users\joel\.nuget\packages\telerik.licensing\1.6.16\lib\net462\Telerik.Licensing.Runtime.dll
1>    - Telerik.Windows.Controls.Chart.dll 2025.2.707 at C:\Users\joel\.nuget\packages\telerik.windows.controls.chart.for.wpf.xaml\2025.2.707\lib\net462\Telerik.Windows.Controls.Chart.dll
1>        Call-Home Telerik Products (2 for )
1>        - "Telerik UI for WPF" (RCWPF) 2025.2.707
1>        - "DPL" (DPL) 2025.2.701
1>  
1>  
1>    Looking for Telerik product metadata in referenced assemblies1>        Failed to get product metadata for C:\Users\joel\.nuget\packages\telerik.licensing\1.6.16\lib\net462\Telerik.Licensing.Runtime.dll: The type initializer for 'PerTypeValues`1' threw an exception.
1>        Failed to get product metadata for C:\Users\joel\.nuget\packages\telerik.windows.controls.chart.for.wpf.xaml\2025.2.707\lib\net462\Telerik.Windows.Controls.Chart.dll: The type initializer for 'PerTypeValues`1' threw an exception.
1>        Failed to get product metadata for C:\Users\joel\.nuget\packages\telerik.windows.controls.data.for.wpf.xaml\2025.2.707\lib\net462\Telerik.Windows.Controls.Data.dll: The type initializer for 'PerTypeValues`1' threw an exception.
1>        Found a total of 0 referenced Telerik products for 
1>  
1>    Provision Licensing
1>          Looking up license file...
1>          - EnvironmentVariablePath: TELERIK_LICENSE_PATH (NotAvailable)
1>          - EnvironmentVariable: TELERIK_LICENSE (NotAvailable)
1>          - EnvironmentVariable: KENDO_UI_LICENSE (NotAvailable)
1>          - UserDirectory: C:\Users\joel\AppData\Roaming\Telerik\telerik-license.txt (LicenseFound)
1>          - UserDirectory: C:\Users\joel\AppData\Roaming\Telerik\kendo-ui-license.txt (Skip)
1>          LicenseKey
1>          - IssuedAt: 8/6/2025 8:14:47 AM
1>          - Licenses
1>            9) Perpetual RCWF, expiration 10/1/2026 4:20:53 AM, type: 'perpetual'
1>            10) Perpetual RCWPF, expiration 10/1/2026 4:20:53 AM, type: 'perpetual'
1>    License Resolution
1>          Messages
1>            - No Telerik Products.
1>    Sending Telemetry...
1>    Metrics done 00:00:00.0691270
1>C:\Users\joel\.nuget\packages\telerik.licensing\1.6.16\build\Telerik.Licensing.targets(29,3): Telerik and Kendo UI Licensing warning TKL001: No Telerik or Kendo UI product references detected in project.
1>C:\Users\joel\.nuget\packages\telerik.licensing\1.6.16\build\Telerik.Licensing.targets(29,3): Telerik and Kendo UI Licensing warning TKL001: Consult the product documentation or contact support at https://prgress.co/3Pzpwvf
1>  Resolve Telerik Products. Done (00:00:00.5554280) for 

[Nadya | Tech Support Engineer]

Hello, Joel,

The debugging log that you shared, shows that you have a perpetual license for Wpf which is fine. The error TKL001 indicates that "No Telerik or Kendo UI product references detected in project" which is strange to me. It appears that no Telerik controls are detected in your project.

We recommend using some of the latest versions of Visual Studio 2022. Is it possible to download VS 2022 and test your projects with it?

I would like to note that this is the UI for WinForms Forum. If you still have further difficulties applying a license for Wpf controls, please submit a ticket from your Telerik account and mark "Telerik UI for Wpf" as product, or as your question in UI for WPF Forum. This way, you will receive technical guidance from support engineers for the relevant product. 

Regards,
Nadya

[Joel]

Hi Nadya,

  Indeed it works when compiling with VS2022.
  Will find other ways to make it works in VS2017.

   Thanks for the response.

Regards,
Joel