Can;t open or close Wave files in Wavelab 4.0 Win7

Can;t open or close Wave files in Wavelab 4.0 Win7

Help!!! This girl needs help bad.

I just upgraded my OS to Win 7 Ultimate few weeks back because XP OS is going away end of life Microsoft says. So A friend gave me a copy of Win7 Ultimate that he was not using anymore because he upgraded to Win 8. So I was able to install and upgrade my Dell XPS400 to Win 7 Ultimate.
The computer is quite capable to run Win 7. So I installed a fresh new 1TB hard drive and did all the installs and drivers install, everything. It is running good. I then reinstalled my Wavelab 4.0 and now I can not open or save wave files. The program just shuts down. I can, “open with program” to get a wave file into WL and them do all the edit and plugins and so on. But I can not save it. Program shuts down. When I am in WL and try to open wave folder it shuts down. This seems to be the only problem with WL 4.0

I use WL a lot just for my personal use and I need to get it working bad.
I had original purchased WL 3.0 and then purchased the 4.0 upgrade at the time. And it has worked flawless for many years. For my only personal use I did not need to spend hundreds on a new current version of WL, 4.0 works just fine as it is. And WL is official copies and not a cracked version, I paid lot of $ back then.

Background info
I have tried to run as administrator and run in compatibility XP mode, same things happen. I have installed Virtual XP in Win 7 and it seems to run but Virtual XP don’t have all the OS parts to it. It only runs in 16 color and I get error that display will not have millions of colors. I would like to run WL in regular Win 7.

Graphics card- ATI Radion 512MB X1900 duel monitor capable
Sound Card- Creative X-FI 7.1 WDM

I know how to navigate the Win7 and computer but, if you can help please be specific and step by step fix. In laymen terms please.

Please help me.

Stephanie

I came to the same result last week, also after upgrading and old XP computer to Windows 7. I wanted to put WL4 on it since it doesn’t require the eLicenser, which I want to keep in the studio.

Indeed, opening files by dragging them in the WL window works, but saving is impossible. But I seem to remember discussion here on this forum, where people got it working… If anyone remembers more than that, please chime in!

I recall this problem. Looking through my archive I found the following (I also have copies of the files concerned) which is clearly the same issue, though the versions are not the same - at least it may point to a solution for the OP:

Steinberg Wavelab 5.01b FIX for Windows VISTA

  • Warning! Will only work with version 5.01b

Just copy the comdlgxp.dll and the CommonVcPh.dll to
your Wavelab folder. Overwrite existing files.

Enjoy!


More info for those interested…

Like many others, I was frustrated when I found out that
Wavelab 5 did not run on Vista. Even more frustrated when
Steinberg said that they would not fix the problem for version 5.
Instead, one had to buy the new version 6. Yeah right!

Well good news! I happen to be good at reverse engineering and
I have a solution for you all. I was very curious on finding why
in hell Wavelab crashed when trying to “Open” or to “Save As…”
a file. Well, it looks like the problem comes from some changes in
the comdlg32.dll in Vista. Some wavelab variable gets overwritten
by the GetOpenFilename function inside comdlg32.dll. That causes
the application to crash. By debugging the disassembled code, I was
able to realize that Steinberg could have easily fixed the bug. They only
had to make a minor change in the source code. They wont fix it because
they want to make more money off you!

By The Black Numenorean

Thanks pwhodges, that looks promising indeed. I hope it will work with WL4 and Win7!

Arjan P

Did your WL4.0 fix work because mine did not on win 7. I see it said that it is a fix for WL5. I tried it as it said it may work but, it did not. I know this is the forum for WL8 but I posted my original post in older WL forum and no one helps. So I decided to re post it in WL8 forum to maybe get some help.

I’m sorry but I am VERY VERY angry and mad at Steinberg and there support for not putting out a fix for us WL4 users. Oh and WL5 too. From what I can figure is that, it is not a big deal to make a fix, it is a simple fix but, Steinberg will not make the simple fix do to MONEY. They want you to buy a new full version for $500. I use WL4 for many years for personal use and I don’t need the latest and greatest version 8. I only now use about 50% of what WL4 offers. I don’t work in a high tech studio or something. And then all the money we pay to Steinberg for the program and then they just kick you to the curb. This Girl needs help to get this working. I just get so tiered of all these software and OS companies making software not compatible down the line. Then your older still good software don’t work anymore and they just want you to spend money on something you may not need. It all comes down to MONEY. I just had to update my XP to Win 7 oh because Microsoft said no more to XP. Now for the last month I have had nothing but issues trying to get many of my software programs working like Wavelab. Steinberg you want me to buy new copy WL8 well give me the MONEY and I will, or why don’t you just make a fix or better yet, why don’t you put up a free download of say WL6 for us older WL users to update to new version. Microsoft at least give you a free download of Virtual XP OS to run in your Win 7 OS software.
Am I just venting here on this forum, YES. Many of the experts on this forum don’t want to help ether. Especially the Steinberg support staff. They say they only support the latest version. Well WL4 is the latest version to me. Hey Steinberg support staff. Stop taking are money that me pay for the program and not give us any help or updates or fixes to are issues. You already took are MONEY now help us. Pissed off user. Anyone have a copy of WL that will work you want to give to this girl to help her out, maybe WL6 or something.

Thanks from a frustrated WaveLab user

Nope, unfortunately it doesn’t work - actually with those .dlls the program won’t even start up anymore… Oh well, it was worth a try. If I really want to do some audio work on this PC I’ll have to install 8.03 and get the eLicenser here, or just use Audacity. I guess I’ll just go to the studio…

That’s ridiculous. You really expect a software company to give you a patch for an 11-year old software title that doesn’t work anymore because the 13-year old OS loses support? I would think 99 euros for WL Elements 8 is not so much after so many years…

And besides - you didn’t have to install Windows 7. For Wavelab 4 on XP an internet connection is not needed, so by unplugging the network cable you could have used it until eternity.

Software support costs money; in the case of WaveLab, that comes out of sales because there is not a separate support payment. So there is no funding for support of versions no longer sold - it’s that simple.

Some companies do it differently. But the bottom line is that to have got more extended support you would have had to pay more, and the way to do that in this case is to buy the current version (which although not discounted for v4 owners will still cost less than all the upgrades from v4 to v8 would have done).

As for Microsoft and the end of support for XP - it has been the longest-supported operating system in computing history. This makes it feel even sadder I agree, but there really is no case for them to continue nor for us to complain. XP still works; there are plenty of ways still to mitigate the risk of continuing to use it - but to be safe, you do need to have some understanding of the nature of those risks and the effectiveness of different ways of dealing with them.

Paul

Wow. You clearly have no idea what the world of software entails or even how to read system requirements. Install Windows XP and WL4 will rock as usual. But do not complain about a version of software that was current 10 years ago to work in a modern OS.

VP

Stephgirl, I know your pain/frustration. We were forced to upgrade to win-7 due to mother board failure, etc.

I discovered that our WL5 experienced the same issues, when I try to use any of the file/open options, the program disappearing. I tried the same dll fix (since I have 5.01b, it does not work. You can drag and drop adls or montages to an open WL5, but you cannot save.

Since we are a professional studio that uses Wavelab every day, we will most likely upgrade (we are evaluating now).

But for you, you did mention an option without saying if you use it. Download the Virtual-xp and run WL4 with Virtual-xp.

I for one would like to know if it works.

alternatively, see if the elements version does what you need.

Later,
Brain

I’m wavelab 3 user and one workaround exists : just exit and you’ll be asked to save the modified file.
It works also for MP3.

For a WAV to MP3 conversion you have to open a dummy MP3 then copy/paste inside and exit as stated above.

To open files, drag & drop onto Wavelab desktop icon. Then to save do the above.