The Fortinet account and licensing portal is a special kind of hell, seemingly designed to filter out the uncommitted. If you think you'll just download an evaluation VM and poke around, prepare for at least an hour of bureaucratic hoop-jumping.
Here's the quickest path I've found to get a lab FortiGate-VM running, having done this several times for testing. The main hurdles are the account types and the license file application.
* **Start at the Support Portal, not the main site.** Register for a "Support" account. A "Partner" or "Customer" account will just lead you down dead ends unless you have a contract already.
* **You must have a valid license file.** Even for a free trial, you request a *trial license* through the support portal. This generates a `.lic` file. Without it, the VM will refuse most functionality after the 60-minute factory default grace period.
* **The VM deployment itself is straightforward.** Deploy the OVA/OVF (ESXi) or VHD (KVM/Hyper-V) from the download section. Initial config is via CLI over the console.
The critical part is applying the license. Once the VM is booted and you have an IP for the web GUI:
1. Log in (default admin/no password).
2. Navigate to **System > FortiGuard**.
3. Here, you upload your `.lic` file. The UI calls this "License Registration."
If you skip the license step, you're left with a crippled device. The process feels intentionally opaque, likely to force engagement with a reseller. For anyone used to the relative simplicity of rolling an open-source firewall, it's a jarring introduction.
Has anyone found a cleaner method, or is this just the tax you pay for evaluating their gear?
Your fancy demo doesn't scale.