Automatic Licensing does not work - SignatureVerified column error

Overview

If you notice that the automatic license retrieval for your on-premises M-Files Server does not work, look at the Windows Event log.

You may see errors similar to the following ones, mentioning a wrong/invalid/unknown column "SignatureVerified":

OnPremGreenlights.cpp, 194, Invalid column name 'SignatureVerified'. (ERROR: 207, SQLSTATE: 42S22) (0x80040E14)

Or

OnPremGreenlights.cpp, 194, Dynamic SQL Error

SQL error code = -206

Column unknown

SIGNATUREVERIFIED

At line 1, column 185 (ERROR: 335544578, SQLSTATE: 42S22) (0x80040E14)

Details

This means that one or more vaults on the server have one or more of these issues:

• The vault database is too old and has not been upgraded in some time (at least as old as November 2024, possibly older).
• The vault database is broken.

The automatic licensing needs to loop over all the vaults on the server to automate their application licenses, if it can. Therefore, all vaults must be upgraded to version December 2024 or newer, preferably the latest. This includes offline vaults.  As of the May 2025 release (25.5.14829.4) offline vaults are not checked for licenses and this issue should not occur.

At the time of writing, the error messages do not log which vault has this issue, so you need to go through all the vaults on the server.

Solution

There are a few ways to fix this issue, listed below.

An improvement to skip checking offline vaults for license updates with ID ADI-312 will be available in the release notes. You should still double check the vaults upgrade status and generally keep the system healthy, though.

After performing these fixes, click the Refresh button in the License Management dialog in M-Files Admin and monitor the Windows Event Log and whether the license status updates. If it does, the issue is solved, if not - keep trying the next solutions. If you cannot resolve the issue, contact M-Files support and provide the unfiltered Windows Event Log.

Upgrade vaults

Open M-Files Admin and for each vault on the server do:

1. Right click
2. Operations
3. Upgrade

Detach vaults

If you do not need some vaults (e.g., very old test/dev vaults), you can detach them. 

Note that this makes it harder to use them again if you need them, but can let you avoid issues caused by them.

Find backups

If there is reason to suspect the vault database is broken, find viable backups.

Basic ways to check are running dbcc checkdb against the vault database for MSSQL-based vaults, and running a backup for Firebird-based vaults.

If you suspect databases are broken, contact M-Files support immediately.

Example error stacks

Example 1

M-Files Online

Invalid column name 'SignatureVerified'. (ERROR: 207, SQLSTATE: 42S22)

 

OnPremGreenlights.cpp, 194, Invalid column name 'SignatureVerified'. (ERROR: 207, SQLSTATE: 42S22) (0x80040E14)

RPCClientScriptHelper.cpp, 198, Invalid column name 'SignatureVerified'. (ERROR: 207, SQLSTATE: 42S22) (0x80040E14)

MCommand.h, 440, Invalid column name 'SignatureVerified'. (ERROR: 207, SQLSTATE: 42S22) (0x80040E14)

MCommand.h, 843, Invalid column name 'SignatureVerified'. (ERROR: 207, SQLSTATE: 42S22) (0x80040E14)

MCommand.h, 801, Invalid column name 'SignatureVerified'. (ERROR: 207, SQLSTATE: 42S22) (0x80040E14)

MCommand.h, 439, Invalid column name 'SignatureVerified'. (ERROR: 207, SQLSTATE: 42S22) (0x80040E14)

(M-Files 25.3.14681.8 2025-04-15T00:11:46.679Z)

Example 2

M-Files Online

 

Dynamic SQL Error
SQL error code = -206
Column unknown
SIGNATUREVERIFIED
At line 1, column 185 (ERROR: 335544578, SQLSTATE: 42S22)
Failed to prepare the SQL statement.

 

OnPremGreenlights.cpp, 194, Dynamic SQL Error
SQL error code = -206
Column unknown
SIGNATUREVERIFIED
At line 1, column 185 (ERROR: 335544578, SQLSTATE: 42S22) (0x80040E14)
RPCClientScriptHelper.cpp, 198, Dynamic SQL Error
SQL error code = -206
Column unknown
SIGNATUREVERIFIED
At line 1, column 185 (ERROR: 335544578, SQLSTATE: 42S22) (0x80040E14)
MCommand.h, 440, Dynamic SQL Error
SQL error code = -206
Column unknown
SIGNATUREVERIFIED
At line 1, column 185 (ERROR: 335544578, SQLSTATE: 42S22) (0x80040E14)
MCommand.h, 843, Dynamic SQL Error
SQL error code = -206
Column unknown
SIGNATUREVERIFIED
At line 1, column 185 (ERROR: 335544578, SQLSTATE: 42S22) (0x80040E14)
MCommand.h, 801, Dynamic SQL Error
SQL error code = -206
Column unknown
SIGNATUREVERIFIED
At line 1, column 185 (ERROR: 335544578, SQLSTATE: 42S22) (0x80040E14)
MCommand.h, 439, Dynamic SQL Error
SQL error code = -206
Column unknown
SIGNATUREVERIFIED
At line 1, column 185 (ERROR: 335544578, SQLSTATE: 42S22) (0x80040E14)
MCommand.h, 439, Failed to prepare the SQL statement. (0x89790002)
(M-Files 25.3.14681.8 2025-04-13T06:58:46.107Z)