“Unable to acquire LMS API”: what it means and how to fix it

On your own computer or in a preview: expected

Opening the launch file of an LMS publish (in Storyline, index_lms.html) from your computer, or from a plain web server, runs the course with no LMS around it. The course looks for the LMS, finds nothing, and shows the message. That says nothing about how it will behave in your LMS.

To see whether the course really tracks, play it somewhere that acts as an LMS. Alder's test player does that in your browser, and SCORM Cloud does it online. See how to test a SCORM package without an LMS.

In your LMS, for every learner: fix the package

When everyone sees it, the package is almost always one of three things: a web publish uploaded instead of an LMS publish, a manifest that names a different SCORM version from the course's own code, or a window setting that doesn't suit your LMS. All three are fixed where you publish.

1. Publish for an LMS, not the web

   In Storyline, publish with Publish → LMS / LRS, not Web. In Rise, use Publish → LMS. In Captivate, open Quiz → Quiz Preferences → Reporting and tick “Enable reporting for this project” (in the new Captivate, Preferences → Quizzing → Reporting, then turn on “Enable Reporting”). Upload the zip the tool makes, unchanged.

2. Pick the SCORM version in the tool, not in the manifest

   Choose the version your LMS expects where you publish: in Storyline, the “Report to an LMS” drop-down on the LMS tab of Publish → LMS / LRS → Reporting and Tracking (and “Edition:” for SCORM 2004); in Rise, the “LMS” drop-down; in Captivate, “Standard” in the reporting preferences. Don't change the version in imsmanifest.xml (the file that tells the LMS how to launch the course) by hand: the course's code has to match it.

3. Match the Storyline window setting to your LMS

   In Storyline, open Home → Player → Other. Under Browser Settings, “Launch player in new window (creates launch page)” should be off if your LMS already opens courses in their own window, and on for SAP SuccessFactors. If you don't know which your LMS does, ask your LMS admin.

Check the new zip before you upload it (free)

Re-uploading to the LMS just to see if a fix worked is slow. Check the zip in Alder first: it is read in your browser, and nothing is uploaded.

1. Drop the zip into Alder

   Open Alder and drop the zip. Alder looks for a web publish (STRUCT-002), a Storyline package that launches story.html (TOOL-008), and a manifest whose SCORM version doesn't match the course's code (MANIFEST-012). Each one is a problem card with the fix. Or go straight to the checks for a course that isn't reporting.

2. Launch it in the test player

   Click “Launch the course”. Alder plays the part of the LMS and offers the connection the manifest asks for, as an LMS would. Open the technical log: one of the first rows should say “The course started its session with the LMS.”

   

3. Press “I’m done”

   If the course never connected, Alder says so under “What we found” (RUNTIME-001), with what to check next.

   

It connects in Alder but not in your LMS

Then the package is probably fine, and the cause is how the LMS opens it. Two things to check with your LMS admin:

• The window setting. Articulate's troubleshooting article says that if the LMS already opens courses in a separate window, “Launch player in new window” must be off. SAP SuccessFactors is the reported opposite: SAP documents that content opened inline can fail to communicate, and course authors on E-Learning Heroes report that Storyline courses there need the setting on. In Alder, choose SAP SuccessFactors under “Uploading to”: its free note (LMS-001) flags a Storyline course published without the setting.
• A different web address for courses. Browsers don't let a page read a window that belongs to another address, so the course's search for the LMS stops there. If your LMS, or a separate content server, serves courses from a different address than the LMS page, ask your LMS admin how its course windows are set up.

In your LMS, only for some learners

If most learners are fine, the package connects, so republishing won't help. Look at how the learners who see the message open the course:

• They opened it outside the LMS. A course linked straight from an intranet page, or run from a copy on someone's computer, has no LMS around it, and shows this message. Ask learners to start the course from its page in the LMS every time.
• Something on their side blocks the course's web address. When other learners don't get the error, Rustici (the company behind SCORM Cloud) points to a security setting on the learner's computer or network. Their IT team can allow the address the courses are served from.
• Phones, tablets and LMS apps. Course authors report the message when launching on mobile phones, and in an LMS app inside Microsoft Teams. Neither has a confirmed cause, so if it only happens on a phone or in an app, try the same learner on a desktop browser to narrow it down.

If you're a learner: press Cancel (OK only opens a debug window), close the course and start it again from your LMS. If the message comes back, send your LMS admin a screenshot and say which device and browser you used.

What the message means

An LMS that plays a SCORM course puts a connection object on its own page. SCORM calls it the API (application programming interface): the set of calls a course uses to talk to the LMS. A SCORM 1.2 course looks for an object named API; a SCORM 2004 course looks for API_1484_11.

When the course starts, its SCORM code searches the windows around it: each parent window in turn, then the window that opened it. If the search finds nothing, many courses show this message and keep playing. The learner can click through to the end, but no completion, score or bookmark ever reaches the LMS. On SCORM Cloud, a launch that never connects leaves the completion “unknown” and the time at zero.

That is why the fixes above work: a version mismatch makes the course search for the wrong name, and a window that can't reach the LMS page cuts the search short.

Still not working?

• The course shows a blank page instead of a message: see blank screen or endless loading.
• The LMS refused the upload: see “imsmanifest.xml not found”.
• It works in SCORM Cloud but not in your LMS: see works in SCORM Cloud, not in the LMS.
• You have a log from SCORM Cloud and want to know what it says: see how to read a SCORM Cloud debug log.
• Your LMS admin needs evidence: in the test player, “Download log for your LMS admin” saves every call the course made.