Just a few more questions about upcoming the license transition. One is that after looking at my e-licenser control center, I see that there are in fact two licenses listed (when dongle is plugged in) under the left side “e-license” tab, one being the dongle (with the associated Cub Artist 7.5 license listed to the right), the other being a mysterious “soft e-license” with a different serial number associated with it (than the one associated with the dongle), NO licenses listed to the right, and the statement that it is “stored on the hard disk and bound to this computer” below. Is this second soft e-license connected to my license for Cub Artist somehow?? I ask because that would seem to mean that I might need to transfer it to the dongle before the end of the e-licenser service in order to ensure that the computer’s failure doesn’t mean loss of access to Cub? I’m assuming that the Cub Artist is tied only to the dongle, but wanted to check.
The second question is connected to this general concern with ensuring use of an e-licenser based product in the post e-licenser system world in which either the computer on which Cub is installed or the dongle could fail (and where the license is stored on the dongle). I see from looking at some forum posts here that while it is not possible to copy licenses from one dongle to another, say, as means of creating a backup dongle, Steinberg will offer you an “individual solution” if your dongle dies or breaks (even after server dies)? If the computer on which Cub is installed dies, however, is simply installing the product on a new computer (and using the working dongle as proof of license) enough to get it back up and running? I see in Steinberg’s page about the server’s demise that the “usb e-licenser is not affected by moving to another system or reinstalling operating system,” which seems to suggest the answer is yes. On the other hand, according to this document, you cannot “activate” or “reactivate” an e-licenser based product. Am I right to assume that as long as I activated the product when I initially bought it, even if a systems on which it is installed dies, it never needs to be reactivated and can (with working dongle), and even after e-license system demise, be installed ad infinitum on various other computers?
I believe this is a Yes, as long as you install the eLicenser software. It only connects to the servers when it’s activating/de-activating or doing a maintenance job. So download the installer NOW!
Is just a kind of “place holder”. I think we all have that.
So the “soft e-licenser” can be disregarded, in other words. I found some Steinberg help pages about this (all very helpful - should have searched for them beforehand) where, as you say, the implication is that it is a placeholder for those users whose licenses are stored in this way. The license for my copy of Cubase is on the dongle and the dongle alone, it appears.
One thing I now understand is that licenses and not versions of Cubase get activated and re-activated. With this in mind, I see in these help articles a bunch of statements to the effect that, IF your license for a version of Cubase is stored on a dongle and it has been activated, then when moving to another computer there is never a need to do any further activation or reactivation. All you need to do is reinstall the program (I got my copy at a Guitar Center ten years ago) or download it from Steinberg’s website, plug in the dongle, and voila, even after the e-licenser server is shut down. Is this correct? “If the usb e-licenser holding the corresponding license is connected, the licensed software can be used right after the installation,” says one page. So what do you mean when you say to “install the e-licenser software” and “download the installer NOW?”
Yes. I regularly re-install everything (!) and back when I wasn’t always online I just used to install the software and away I went, not even connected to the internet.
Ok awesome, but what did you mean when you said “download the installer now?” Are you referring to the e-licenser control center? Does a computer’s copy of Cubase have to be able to interface with this control center in order for the dongle’s license to be registered as active (and enable use of the product), and is this control center something one will not be able to download after the e-licenser server is shut down? These all seem like vital questions that need to be asked and explicitly answered if one wants to successfully resurrect an old version of the software in the future, and I guess I’m surprised I have still have questions after such a thorough review of the available info (either I am an idiot, it’s a complex topic, or some things were improperly or confusingly explained).
I’ve never tried running Cubase prior to v12 without the e-Licenser software installed, even when I was offline, so I’m taking a “belt and braces” view. What if it does, and you don’t have access to the installer? I really can’t imagine it will be available from Steinberg once the servers are turned off. So, I say keep a copy of the installer handy, just in case.
I just tried an experiment - I opened Cubase 9.5 and looked at the Task Manager. As you can see, the e-Licenser software is also running. So it seems to be necessary.
Interesting! So by “installer,” though, you mean the “eLicenser Control Center,” right? That doesn’t install anything, it just records the presence and activation status of a user’s licenses? I would like to know for certain whether this Control Center or anything else (other than a working dongle with an activated license and a copy of a pre-12 version of Cubase) is necessary to start a pre-12 version after May 2025 on a new computer. Without this knowledge, even someone with a working dongle can’t be guaranteed continued use of a pre-12 version after May 2025 if their computer fails. Anyone else have any ideas?
What exactly happens on May 2025, Steinberg has not mentioned any date yet.
Regarding Licensing, it is plain simple.
You have Cubase 11 or earlier, you need the eLicenser Control Center
You have Cubase 12 or later you need the Activation Manager
That is the whole game. Steinberg just needs to make sure to provide the latest eLicenser Software for users that need to run earlier Versions and there is nothing terribly complicated in it.
Yea I would imagine Steinberg will continue to allow users to download the e-licenser control center after May 2025, even though it will be connected to what will at that point be a defunct licensing system? It’s just a small utility without which, we are supposing, working dongles for older products can’t be used to access those older products on fresh post-May 2025 computers. I’m assuming the suggestion here is to actually store the utility on an external drive or something (?), because if a computer with it and a working version of Cubase dies then of course you’ve also lost the control center.
The text you’ve screenshot states the requirement that a user have a usb-elicenser with an activated license for a pre-12 product in order to use that pre-12 product after May 2025, but it does not state (nor is this stated anywhere else in the document you pulled it form) that a user must also have the elicenser Control Center (as an independent, downloadable utility). Nothing in the “eLicenser Service Closes Down In May 2025” page implies that in order to start up a pre-12 version with a working dongle on a NEW computer after May 2025 a user must have also previously downloaded and stored to an external drive this Control Center or any other utility (that they then load onto this new computer).
The eLicenser Control Center installs the USB-eLicenser driver, the software able to read the eLicenser and the eLicenser database needed to check against the available license types. So the eLicenser Control Center has to be installed to run any eLicenser protected software (in case of Cubase v11 and previous).
On a new computer, one would need to install the eLicenser Control Center (which is also installed along with Cubase).
We still offer the eLCC version for XP and OSX 10.3 for download and other software discontinued for over 10 years, I’m pretty confident one will be able to download it after the server shutdown. Not advocating against backups here, I have backups which are 20 years old now and date back to 10 years before I even worked here - always a good idea.
Awesome, awesome. Thanks for this clarification. So you’re saying that after the server shutdown it’s possible that installing a pre-11 version of Cubase won’t automatically install the eLCC, and this necessitates the backup. Is there anything else like the eLCC that, besides the working dongle with active license (and the product itself, of course), will be necessary to begin using a pre-11 version on a new computer (as far as you know)? Again - I’m sorry to be so particular, but to the luddite music producers among us, these do seem like important details. **
No, sorry, misunderstandig any Cubase 11 and previous installer will also install the eLCC (note that the eLCC installation is triggered by the main installer, but runs separately, so you can actually skip it with the [cancel] button).
I was only stating that, despite I do belive we will offer the download for years to come, it is never a bad idea to have a backup.
When installing Cubase 11 on a new computer, it will install any components you decide to install plus the eLCC - that’s all you need to run the software: a Cubase installation, the eLCC coming with it or a later version, and the dongle with the license connected.
Awesome, Fabio - thank you! So the loss or destruction of the dongle is the only route to lost access to a pre-11 version. If I choose not to upgrade now and accidentally crush my Cubase-Artist-7.5-license-equipped-dongle in June 2025, I will either bite the bullet and buy Pro 14 (luckily all my music remain openable therein) or contact Steinberg in a possibly vain hope for an “individual solution.”
I’d say loss, destruction or failure for completeness
No longer my job, so I haven’t the faintest idea what the “individual solutions” will be and cannot promise anything, but having worked at support until end of 2019, I do believe it’s not that vain a hope.
any Cubase 11 and previous installer will also install the eLCC (note that the eLCC installation is triggered by the main installer, but runs separately, so you can actually skip it with the [cancel] button).