In your case I can see whay the licenses.licx is required. Even although you have wrapped the original control in a dummyshell it is probable that the dummyshell actualy creates an instance of the control anyway, which causes the licensing to kick in. The licensing is in the constructor. The theory I have in my case is something to do with the path of the lic file being in a web. The License provider seems not to deal with this situation. Originally I wrote new license providers assuming that the implementation would be a walk in the park. Just to get it right I decided to do a quick test using the basic license provider and it didn't work!!. I am probable wasting time trying to get the basic license provider working and should just launch straight into implementing my custom provider. Hope my comments helped in your case. Thansk for your efforts anyway.