The alert “X unknown users are consuming against this license” on a user-based license means that inventory device records without a calculated or assigned user are consuming license entitlements. This alert suggests potential savings on license entitlements, not an error in the consumption calculations.

Why this happens

User-based licenses consume entitlements equal to the number of unique users who either have access to the software or use it. A single user can have multiple inventory devices with the licensed software installed and still consume only one entitlement. Flexera One IT Asset Management and FlexNet Manager Suite handle this by tracking and merging installations based on user records.

However, if an installation has no Assigned User and no Calculated User, it cannot be merged. These installations appear as Unknown Users on the Consumption tab.

Unknown Users do not merge with other user records. Each record consumes one entitlement. Because these installations cannot merge, they represent potential entitlement savings if they belong to users who already consume this license.

How to resolve Unknown Users consuming your licenses

You can reduce consumption and reclaim entitlements by assigning a valid user to each inventory device listed as an Unknown User.

1. Identify an inventory device listed as Unknown User on the license’s Consumption tab.
2. Open the Inventory Device record.
3. Go to the Ownership tab.
4. Use the search bar to locate an existing user record and select it to populate the Assigned User field.
5. Save the device.
6. Allow the next license reconciliation to complete.