Activation of Cubase 8 deleted my Cubase 5 licence! HELP!

I have just activated my Cubase 8 and the upgrade caused that Cubase 5 and 6 on my computer in the studio cannot be loaded. eLicencer says I have no valid licence! I can’t express how BIG that problem is for me now. We are working in the studio on our client’s album and all the mixes done so far cannot be accesed! I bought new Cubase 8 to run it on a new computer in near future but we still work on my older offline computer with Windows XP and Cubase 5. My income depends on it. Now I’m terrified. I need to get back my Cubase 5 licence on that XP computer now! Please help me!!!

I tried to find an older version of eLicencer but it cannot be dowloaded: http://www.elicenser.net/de/download_archiv.html - I get this screen:
“Hostname not configured
The hostname you requested is not currently configured.”

It sounds like you bought an upgrade license which converted your existing Cubase 6 license to Cubase 8. The bottom line is XP has not been supported for a long time. The link you have is correct for the newest version of the eLicenser that will still work on XP, however I don’t know if that will work with Cubase 8, so you’ll just have to try it.

That error message is to do with your internet connection, not Cubase. Try the link from another computer or use a different internet connection.

You have to update the license database on your XP computer. Connect it to the internet and run the eLicenser software. The issue here is that the eLicenser software in that computer has an outdated database, so it doesn’t see your Cubase 8 license, which does work with Cubase 5.

Thank you. Problem solved. The link to archival eLicencer started working again. I downloaded the older, XP compatible version. I had to take my studio computer home to connect it to the internet. Database was updated and my licence is now ok.
It was the first time I had to connect my daw to internet. I don’t have the internet in the studio and I know at least a few other studios located in places with no direct internet connection. We have lots of plugins that we update regularly but all I have to do in worst case is to take my dongle or ilok home. It should be the same with elicencer as it is the dongle afterall… Anyway I’m glad it’s ok now. It was a lot of stress for me but I still think Cubase is the best daw out there. Especially the old Cubase 5 :wink:

Good to know you got this sorted!

It is however worrying to think that there is a component of this protection system (the “licence database”) that can only be updated by connecting to the internet. I’m just about to build a mobile rig with a stripped-down XP which doesn’t even have the networking components installed (NLite customised) so this information is very useful and has potentially saved me a lot of time.

To clarify, you only need to connect to the internet if you have a heavily outdated OS. If you download the latest version of the software from elicenser.net, it always comes with an updated license database, so you can update the database by putting the latest installer in an USB flash drive and connecting it to your offline DAW.

OK excellent, that got me a little bit worried there for a moment!

Yes, but the latest version of eLicenser will not run on XP.

Now I’m worried again … :laughing:

All of your descriptions are correct:

  • The latest eLicenser License Database needs to be installed in order for the system to recognize the latest and greatest licenses.
  • The latest eLicenser Control installer always includes the latest eLicenser License Database.
  • The latest eLicenser Control installer cannot be installed on very old operating systems (XP, Vista).
  • To install the latest eLicenser License Database on an outdated system with a discontinued eLicenser Control, just make eLCC download the latest version of the eLicenser License Database, by using “Support” → “Update eLicenser License Database…”, or “Actions” → “Maintenance…”

Additionally, if your outdated system with the discontinued eLicenser Control is completely offline, there is another way to install the latest eLicenser License Database, without connecting your offline computer to the Internet:
It is possible to manually copy the eLicenser License Database files from one computer to another.

  • Install the latest eLicenser License Database on a networked computer.
  • Manually copy the eLD files to the offline computer. The files are located here:
  • Windows: *%ProgramData%\eLicenser\eLD*
  • OS X: /Library/Application Support/eLicenser/eLD/

Excellent! Thank you for this gem of informaion! :smiley:

I can confirm this works! I recently upgraded to Cubase 9.5 on my Mac but I still have Cubase 4 on my old PC because I have a few TB of samples there. My PC could no longer see my Cubase license when I upgraded to 9.5, but it was all working again as soon as I had run the eLicenser Control Centre.

Thanks so much!!