eLicenser - make it better!

Nuendo
#1

Hi Guys,

Though I rarely have issues with the Elicenser, I do wish that SB or however is managing it would improve its support and the way it works.

Though none of these are dealbraking issues, there are things that could be done to make the whole experience a lot smoother.

-The elicenser website is rather non-descriptive and doesn’t appear to have any support, either as a forum or a link to a forum.
For example, I have a missing license that I’m trying to get back and when I started to investigate it was completely unclear who I should be contacting.
Is it Steinberg, who seemingly by proxy manages/manufactures the Elicenser? Or is it VSL, from whom I received the license?
I eventually found out but even a simple FAQ on the website could have saved me days from emailing around.

-The installer software is hopelessly unhelpful. It often complains that it can’t install because there are still ‘applications open that are using the elicenser software’.
This includes its own protection.exe, Synopsos of whatever it is called. How am I to know as a user, and why do I manually have to quit it via the task manager?
Since (like most other installers) it doesn’t give you the option to ‘close all running applications before installing’, I just have to go through the task manager and quit anything that hasn’t quitted itself in order to install.
Very amateurish…

-The Elicenser control panel has an option to go to the website to check for updates, but why doesn’t it include an option to automatically check for updates and download/install them? This could and really should be a preference. What is this, the 90’s?

-Why not include an option that keeps track of your multiple elicensers? For example, I have three…it would be great if when I start the control panel, it shows me a snapshot of the other keys and the computer that they are being used on, so I know which licenses are on which…it’s something that iLok recently introduced and it is more useful than I realized…

For something that is such a vital part of the DAW setup, this licenser software should really be updated imho :unamused:

Cheers,

Joe

#2

The elicenser soft only needs to be installed once, and then reads the dongles that byou plug into your system.
The "applications open " problem happens whenever you have an application open that uses a dongle which is communicating with the eLicenser.
Just quit Nuendo, Wavelab, Cuabse, VSL or whatever and you will be able to “work” within elicenser.

eLicenser does not hold licenses. It downloads/moves/maintains the licenses on the dongles that are plugged in.
So if you remove a dongle, or a license from a dongle, eLicenser will show nothing. So if a license is missing, then it is missing from the dongle.

In the “help” menu, there is a function “download latest Installer”.

HTH
Fredo

#3

Hi Fredo,
Thanks for your response.
I know how the elicenser works :stuck_out_tongue:
The problem I was trying to illustrate is that on certain occasions even when all applications such as VEP, Nuendo etc. are closed it still cannot install due to synsopos.exe still being active - once killed with the taskmanager the installer will run.
Perhaps one of these applications does not kill its background tasks properly?

I’m also aware elicenser does not hold licenses (although if we want to be technically correct it can, as it also supports ‘soft’ licenses that are installed on a users disk, not the key, but we’re splitting hairs here!).
What I was suggesting is that either the server or a local cache can also hold the info of your other keys, much like the recent iLok manager, so you are aware of which keys hold a particular license…but that is really a future request.

I also understand there is a feature to download latest installer - but that is still a far cry away from a self-updater that does it automagically on startup (hell, even the freeware VLC player can do this!).
And it doesn’t take away from the fact that an installer like this should be able to (with user agreement) quit running applications and install itself…but perhaps that’s just me :slight_smile:

#4

I agree…I’ve had issues in the past with the elicnser and the website was really not much help.

#5

I would love to see a way to store my prefs and key commands on the eLicenser. I have to work on many diffrerent computers abd it would be convenient to have these settings move together with my license.


Ollie

#6

Or very easily in dropbox, iCloud, skydive or other cloud/ftp service of my choice…

#7

Thought about that…but I’d have to have an account on all my client’s machines.

#8

Thanks for this info. I was having the same problem with eLicenser, but after killing synsopos.exe, the installation finished with no problem.