How to extract the Veeam license from the Windows registry

I tried to install Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager on a server that already runs Veeam Backup & Replication v13.1. The installer doesn’t pick up the license that’s already installed. Instead, it asks for a .lic file. If you don’t have the file at hand, you can pull it out of the registry.

The license is stored as a binary value (REG_BINARY) named License under HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Veeam\Veeam Backup and Replication. Because it’s binary, copying it out of regedit doesn’t work. You need to write the raw bytes to a file instead:

powershell

$key   = 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Veeam\Veeam Backup and Replication\license'
(Get-Item $key).GetValueNames()	# just for a quick check

$bytes = (Get-ItemProperty $key).Lic1
[IO.File]::WriteAllBytes("$env:TEMP\veeam.lic", $bytes)

# quick sanity check — should look like a readable license file
[Text.Encoding]::ASCII.GetString($bytes[0..300])

Voila! The license file is in %TEMP%\veeam.lic, so point the installer to it.

The proper way is still to download the license from my.veeam.com. This is the fallback when you don’t have portal access. The .lic file contains your company and contract details, so treat it accordingly.