Using an ArcGIS Desktop license to run an ArcGIS Engine application

One of the advantages of the ArcGIS Engine licensing model is that custom ArcGIS Engine applications can be deployed to users with ArcGIS Desktop installed and the ArcGIS Engine application can leverage the existing ArcGIS Desktop license to run the ArcGIS Engine application. This allows for more flexibility in the licensing of your application. The following table lists the ArcGIS Engine product or extension license, and its equivalent ArcGIS Desktop license level:

ArcGIS Engine	ArcGIS Desktop	License comparison
ArcGIS Engine for Windows	Basic	ArcGIS Engine for Windows is functionally equivalent to ArcGIS for Desktop Basic at the ArcObjects level. ArcGIS Engine for Windows does not include any of the ArcGIS Desktop applications, such as ArcMap, but it does include the same core geographic information system (GIS) ArcObjects.
ArcGIS Engine for Windows with the Geodatabase Update extension	Standard	ArcGIS Engine for Windows with the Geodatabase Update extension is functionally equivalent to ArcGIS Desktop Standard at the ArcObjects level. The Geodatabase Update extension does not include any of the advanced editing user interface (UI)available in ArcMap, but it does provide complete access to the geodatabase application programming interface (API) for creating, editing, and managing geodatabases.
ArcGIS Engine for Windows with the ArcGIS 3D Analyst extension	ArcGIS Desktop (Basic, Standard, or Advanced) with the ArcGIS 3D Analyst extension	ArcGIS Engine for Windows with the ArcGIS 3D Analyst extension is functionally equivalent to ArcGIS Desktop (Basic, Standard, or Advanced) with the ArcGIS 3D Analyst extension at the ArcObjects level.
ArcGIS Engine for Windows with the ArcGIS Spatial Analyst extension	ArcGIS Desktop (Basic, Standard, or Advanced) with the ArcGIS Spatial Analyst extension	ArcGIS Engine for Windows with the Spatial Analyst extension is functionally equivalent to ArcGIS Desktop with the Spatial Analyst extension at the ArcObjects level. The Spatial extension for ArcGIS Engine does not include ArcGIS Desktop toolbars or commands, but it does provide the ArcObjects components necessary for raster cell analysis.
ArcGIS Engine for Windows with the ArcGIS Network Analyst extension	ArcGIS Desktop (Basic, Standard, or Advanced) with the ArcGIS Network Analyst extension	ArcGIS Engine for Windows with the Network extension is functionally equivalent to ArcGIS Desktop with the Network Analyst extension at the ArcObjects level. The ArcGIS Engine Network extension includes commands and ArcObjects components necessary for creating custom applications that solve on any network.
ArcGIS Engine for Windows with the ArcGIS Data Interoperability extension	ArcGIS Desktop (Basic, Standard, or Advanced) with the ArcGIS Data Interoperability extension	ArcGIS Engine for Windows with the ArcGIS Data Interoperability extension is functionally equivalent to ArcGIS Desktop with the ArcGIS Data Interoperability extension at the ArcObjects level. The ArcGIS Engine Data Interoperability extension does not include ArcGIS Desktop toolbars or commands, but it does provide the ArcObjects components necessary for creating custom applications that read, transform, and export published data formats.
ArcGIS Engine for Windows with the Maplex for ArcGIS extension	ArcGIS Desktop (Basic, Standard, or Advanced) with the Maplex for ArcGIS extension	ArcGIS Engine for Windows with the Maplex extension is functionally equivalent to ArcGIS Desktop with the Maplex extension at the ArcObjects level. The ArcGIS Engine Maplex extension does not include ArcGIS Desktop toolbars or commands, but it does provide the ArcObjects components necessary for creating custom applications that provide high-quality cartographic text placement and labeling.
ArcGIS Engine for Windows with the ArcGIS Schematics extension	ArcGIS Desktop (Basic, Standard, or Advanced) with the ArcGIS Schematics extension	ArcGIS Engine for Windows with the Schematics extension is functionally equivalent to ArcGIS Desktop with the ArcGIS Schematics extension at the ArcObjects level. The ArcGIS Engine Schematics extension includes commands and ArcObjects components necessary for creating custom applications that view network datasets as schematic representations.
ArcGIS Engine for Windows with the ArcGIS Tracking Analyst extension	ArcGIS Desktop (Basic, Standard, or Advanced) with the ArcGIS Tracking Analyst extension	ArcGIS Engine for Windows with the Tracking Analyst extension is functionally equivalent to ArcGIS Desktop with the Tracking Analyst extension at the ArcObjects level. The ArcGIS Engine Tracking extension does not include ArcGIS Desktop toolbars or commands, but it does provide the ArcObjects components necessary for creating custom applications that play and analyze time series data.

There is no ArcGIS Engine for Windows equivalent to ArcGIS Desktop Advanced. Functionality that is only available with an Advanced license is not available in ArcGIS Engine.

ArcGIS Engine for Windows can be configured to use an ArcGIS Desktop license that is available on your local network. To make this work, the machine that has ArcGIS Engine for Windows installed needs to have a system-level environment variable present (ARCGIS_LICENSE_FILE). The value of this variable is the path to a valid ArcGIS Desktop license file or the host name of the License Manager host machine.

The following steps guide you through the process of setting this system variable for Windows:

At this point, any ArcGIS Engine application deployed to this system will have access to all licensing levels on the licensing server, such as ArcGIS Desktop Basic, Standard, and Advanced.