Can’t install or activate WaveLab Pro 9 (purchased in 2017, never used until now)

WaveLab
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Hello everyone,
I have a serious problem with activating my WaveLab Pro 9.

I bought a boxed version in 2017, but I never installed it, used it or even unpacked it. It was lying on my shelf completely untouched until today (May 27, 2025), when I finally decided to install it.

I have the USB-eLicenser and the activation code (printed), but unfortunately I cannot install or activate the software. The eLicenser Control Center does not allow activation and the old system seems to be completely disabled

At the time of purchase, there was no information that the product has a limited activation period. I assumed that purchasing a license means that I can activate and use the software whenever I want, without time limits.

Is there a way to solve this?
Can I still activate this license, or is there a possibility of receiving an update or a replacement license under Steinberg licensing, since I never activated it?

Thanks in advance for any help and advice!
Frapop_official

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You should probably open a ticket with support. They’ll do what they can for you…

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Ok, but where do I do that? I’m new because I just created an account here yesterday

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The main support page is here, with different options based on your country of origin, etc:

Also, I’ve tagged @Matthias_Quellmann who I’ve seen assist others over on the Cubase side of things just in case there’s a different approach for your “special” circumstance here :slight_smile:

Matthias, sorry if I tagged you in when I shouldn’t have.

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Ha, that is a pitty … you will not be able to get the last version via the greace-period on your eLicenser. Was there a unused one inside the box? Than keep it but do not plug it in.

Steinberg has shut down the eLicenser-Server. (eLicenser-Dienst wird 2025 eingestellt | Steinberg) But do not worry … you will not get WaveLab 9 (or WaveLab 11) on an eLicenser but WaveLab 11 (12) with the new Steinberg Licensing System. But you will not be able to start WaveLab-Versions below 11 in case you would need it, because you will not get anything on any eLicenser since the ShutDown. If you have a brand new eLicenser, you may start and use WaveLab below 11 for at most 25 hours. Every minute the eLicenser is plugged in, the time counts down.

My question (How to preserve the Steinberg offered Grace Period of eLicenser licenses? (20th of May 2025 in mind)) was not answered by Steinberg and I had to find it out very very stress-fully for myself.

First of all you need a Steinberg account.

Then you have to install the Steinberg Download Assistant.

For the Login there you may get forwarded to a browser to login into your Steinberg-account. Better not use FireFox in private Mode for this because the opening and forwarding that is necessary here is perhaps blocked there.

After login into the Steinberg Download Assistant, you should get your License for the new licensing system by inputing your code there.

Maybe you get a License for WaveLab Pro 11 and a Voucher for the update to 12, or you go directly to WaveLab 12. (Please, let me know. Better make ScreenShots for every step in this process in case …)

A piece of advice. If you only need WaveLab 11 and you are provided with a voucher for the update from 11 to 12, use it when you need it. Steinberg offers the Grace-Period. You get the latest version available at the time of inputting the license-code. So in 2 years you may get even 13 if then available.

WaveLab 11 Download:

Look in your Steinberg Account, what you have got.

To activate the license for to be able to start the software on a computer, you also have to install the Steinberg Activation Manager. You now can activate up to three computers. But you can use the license only once at a time because it is one license. (At least that is the good conduct of behaving …)

The eLicenser Control Center is no longer needed. (only if you use Licenses that use a eLicenser.)

If you understand German, I suggest you watch:

Das Ende des Dongles! Der eLicenser Dienst wird abgeschaltet…

Even, if you do not understand anything, you see the pictures.

And:

HALion - Update auf 7.1 - “Installation, Lizenz Upgrade und Aktivierung”

Or / and:

Steinberg eLicenser Service EOL: What You NEED to Know (Updated)

Steinberg Stops eLicenser Support for Cubase: Do This Before It’s Too Late

How To Migrate Steinberg Licences To The Steinberg Activation Manager

WaveLab 12 you would get here:

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As long as software is running that is using the temporary license on the eLicenser.

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Thank you for clarification. Hope it is correct. Have not tested it but have eLicensers, that do not provide this entry (any more). Have not used this time up by myself.

By the way: I encountered four different update paths. And a Nuendo activation omitted giving me the expected latest eLicenser-license but only the Steinberg Licensing version. The Steinberg support was to slow and they shut the server down even if there was no solution to this. Was or is not very nice … and not OK, says my gut feeling. (For this I ripped open a sealed Nuendo box explicitly to get the latest version onto the eLicenser before the shut-down. So the new box was no more …)

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I sympathize, but I’m envious that you had a sealed copy of Nuendo to rip open!

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Thank you … did not wont cunjure up bad feelings. :wink:

Have found your post:

Nice …

I had bought some eLicensers just before they told us, that these will no longer be needed. “A fine thing” …

That was also a “nice” feeling. But I used most of them to sererapte licenses befor the shutdown. Some are empty now and therefore …

But it was a bit of shock, that the eLicenser was shut down alreadey in the morning, not at midnight to Wednesday as I hoped.

Had asked Steinberg too when the shutdown exactly will take place … no clear answer.

The new Steinberg Licensing System seems to be a more flexible thing. Not a bad thing.

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You would only have got the eLicenser licence if you had activated when an eLicenser version was current (Nuendo 11 or earlier) and then updated that licence to Nuendo 12 or later.

Steinberg software has always activated as the latest version at the time of activation.

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Within one licensing-system … yes.

But here was / is a rupture and the shutdown of the eLicenser-service. Therefore …

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And … as I asked the support … for the usage / devaluation / … of the Grace-Period the activation time was used in the eLicensing system. For the new system … it is the usage / (How to call it?) in the Steinberg Download Assistant, not the first activation any more! Or am I wrong?

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Grace periods under Steinberg Licensing run from when you first redeem the Download Activation Code. If you redeem a DAC but do not activate the licence on any computers, you have fixed your grace period entitlement (if any) for that licence.

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The move to Steinberg Licensing did not change anything with regard to getting the latest version of a product at the time of activation.

If you activated a new Nuendo licence after the Nuendo 12 release, you would have got a Steinberg Licensing licence for the version of Nuendo that was current when you redeemed your activation code and no licence for eLicenser versions of Nuendo, even if the code was purchased when an eLicenser version was current and the code came out of a boxed product that contained a USB eLicenser.

The only thing that the move to Steinberg Licensing changed was your right to run old versions. You cannot use an eLicenser only version of a product unless you have a suitable eLicenser licence.

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And that is it, what it is all about. I expected and expect the last entry of the eLicenser-License on my eLicenser, that was connected to the computer. And if one then want to use a Steinberg product with the now purely software based licensing system, then one can input the provided license code in the voucher-section for the Steinberg Licensing System at the point in time, one wishes and gets the the latest version thanks to the Grace-Period.

And as I “tested” it stress-fully out with my licenses, it is - i think and concluded for myself - what was programmed from Steinberg. But unfortunately was not explained and “made easy” for the Steinberg clients in the support-pages. There even was no clarification to my forum-inquiry from Streinberg what I had hoped for. I think, that could have been explained to the customers (better / clearly) .

And I still miss my nuendo eLicenser-license.

I could provide screenshots but preparing them for the public would take hours …

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Steinberg’s policy was consistent throughout the more than three-year-long Steinberg Licensing transition period. Existing eLicenser licences were updated to the last eLicenser version when you activated a version update from an eLicenser product. However, Steinberg did not issue eLicenser licenses to those activating a brand new licence after a product had transitioned to Steinberg Licensing; you only got a Steinberg Licensing licence for the latest version of the product you were activating.

Changing the licensing system was always going to be a disruptive change. Those who still require backwards compatibility with an eLicenser version of a product will likely already have access to a suitable license. The need for eLicenser backwards compatibility will decrease over time. Cubase, Nuendo, SpectraLayers, and Dorico are all already three versions beyond the final eLicenser version. The only core Steinberg application that is not three versions beyond the final eLicenser release is WaveLab, which has a slower release cadence than the other core applications. For the small number of people who need to use an eLicenser version and do not already have a suitable licence, second-hand licences can still be bought and sold, provided they are already activated on a USB eLicenser. All eLicenser-protected versions are no longer supported.

This forum is user-to-user; it is not an official Steinberg support channel. Moreover, this debate is now academic; the eLicenser transition programme has concluded, and no further eLicenser transactions are possible as the server has been shut down. Steinberg has a solution for those who still want to update from an eLicenser version of a product to a Steinberg Licensing version.

@Frapop should be able to activate their boxed product on the current Steinberg Licensing version. If the Steinberg Download Assistant does not accept the activation code, they should open a ticket for help.

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