Technical Tip: FortiGate manual license upload fails due to incorrect EOL characters in an air-gapped environment

Description

This article describes an issue where a FortiGate manual license upload fails in an air-gapped environment when the FortiGate does not have Internet connectivity and FortiManager ('FMG') is not configured as a Fortinet Distribution Server ('FDS').

The issue occurs when the license file downloaded from the Fortinet Support Portal contains Windows-based CRLF (\r\ n) line endings instead of Unix-based LF (\ n) line endings.

When the license file contains CRLF line endings, the FortiGate may reject the file as an invalid manual license.

Scope

• FortiGate is deployed in an air-gapped environment.

• FortiGate without direct Internet connectivity.

• FortiManager is not configured as a Fortinet Distribution Server ('FDS').

• Manual license upload is performed using the license file downloaded from the Fortinet Support Portal.

Solution

Symptoms:

When uploading a FortiGate license to an air-gapped environment, the message Manual license upload failed appears in the GUI.
Attempting to upload the license via CLI displays the error FortiGate Manual License is invalid.

Uploading License using GUI:

Manual license upload failed:

When attempting to upload the license file through the CLI, the following error is displayed:

FortiGate # execute restore manual-license tftp license/FG120G000001Off-NetworkLicenseFile.lic 192.168.1.1
Please wait...

Connect to tftp server 192.168.1.1 ...

Get manual contract from tftp server OK.

FortiGate Manual License is invalid

Workaround:
Convert the license file's line endings from Windows-based CRLF (\r\ n) to Unix-based LF (\ n) before uploading the file to the FortiGate.

Using Notepad++:

1. Open the license file downloaded from the Fortinet Support Portal in Notepad++.

2. Select Edit.

3. Select EOL Conversion.

4. Select Unix (LF).

5. Save the license file.

6. Upload the modified license file to the FortiGate.

Using Visual Studio Code:

1. Open the license file in Visual Studio Code.

2. Change the End of Line sequence from CRLF to LF.

3. Save the license file.

4. Upload the modified license file to the FortiGate.

Resolution:

The FortiOS fix is included in FortiOS v7.4.13 and v8.0.1. The fix schedule for FortiOS v7.6 is still underway.

Fortinet Development has implemented the necessary backend changes to ensure that manually generated license files use Unix-based LF (\ n) line endings.

Users should download the required license file again from the Fortinet Support Portal and use the newly generated file for the manual license upload.

There is no requirement to unregister and re-register the FortiGate in the Fortinet Support Portal.

Note: This issue has been resolved on the FortiCare backend. No FortiOS fix is required, and users do not need to wait for a FortiOS release.