How to force a LiteSpeed web server licence update – LiteSpeed Enterprise

If your LiteSpeed Web Server (LSWS) is failing to start due to a license error (e.g. after upgrading your server or changing your license), you can force it to refresh the license using a simple command.

Common Error Message

# /usr/local/lsws/bin/lswsctrl restart

[FATAL] license problem, back to Apache!
[ERROR] This license cannot be used on server with more than 8GB memory.
[ERROR] Failed to start litespeed!

This usually means your current licence doesn’t match the server’s specs (e.g. too much RAM for a free or lower-tier licence).

Force a Licence Refresh

Connect to your server via SSH as root and run this command:

/usr/local/lsws/bin/lshttpd -r

This command forces LiteSpeed to re-download the license from their servers.

Example output:

# /usr/local/lsws/bin/lshttpd -r

2025-06-12 14:43:41.730667 [NOTICE] [T0] Memory size is: 32853052KB.
2025-06-12 14:43:42.111581 [NOTICE] [T0] [OK] Updated license key has been created at /usr/local/lsws/conf/license.key.

Restart LiteSpeed

/usr/local/lsws/bin/lswsctrl restart

If the licence is valid for your server’s specs, LiteSpeed will now start successfully.