If this has been asked and answered before, please point me in the right direction to avoid duplication. I have Googled and searched this forum, but did not find an answer.
I have N3 with a USB-eLicencer. It’s the little transparent blue unit. It is the unit that still had the Steinberg wording on it.
I have just registered the USB-eLicenser and it shows up under “My Products” under my profile on Steinberg and the other licenses of my old VST’s like Hypersonic and Virtual Guitarist show up under “My Products” as well as on the eLicencer Control Center. No issues there. I have also registered my Soft-elicencer which is still without any registrations.
My questions are:
a) Have I done all that is necessary as mentioned above for Steinberg to be aware of which version I currently have? Did I miss any steps or neglect to complete a vital step which will ensure a smooth process?
b) What will I need to do once I buy the update from N3-N12? Will Steinberg automatically know that I have N3 and simply activate my version of N12? Or is there some form of trickery involved by transferring licences etc. to get it to work? If so, what will that trickery consist of?
c) Will N3’s licence remain on my dongle and will I keep my N3 license so that I can keep on accessing old projects on the old computer that has N3?
I would be grateful for any responses that will assist me to make this update as smooth as possible. I know how frustrating licensing issues can be once something goes wrong.
Not much time, just a quick answer on the last point.
You will have the licenses up to Nuendo 11 on the dongle. This allows backward compatibility to older versions after the upgrade to Steinberg Licensing.
And normally version 12 can open old projects as well.
With the new online activation, Steinberg looks at your dongle to see if it has a legitimate product (N3). The license for N3 is then deactivated on the dongle and activated online on N12. The license on the dongle is then useless. So that you cannot use both products at the same time.
However, I don’t know how well N12 can handle projects from N3. If this is necessary, I would first test the N12 trial with the N3 license. In case you need to save something.
You said no other updates are possible and I understand that, but what I actually meant to ask was - will we be able to update to 13 and then 14 etc. whenever they become available? In other words, is our updated Version 12 a full and proper standalone version from Steinberg’s point of view? Regardless of our previous versions on the dongle.
For me, the dongle could no longer be used on another PC for all versions of Nuendo - after I had registered online N12. N11 could no longer be started on a second or third PC with the dongle.
Maybe that’s only possible on the same PC.
Thanks for all the replies and feedback. It was of great help.
So the only question now remains…
After the update - will I still be able to use N3 on the WinXP computer (computer A) with the dongle, while using N12 on the Win10 computer (computer B) with the new e-Licencer/online activation which won’t require the dongle?
@jeandrehartman would need a sufficiently recent eLicenser Control Center database on the Windows XP machine to recognise that the “Nuendo 11 (upgraded to Nuendo 12 with Steinberg Licensing” licence is a qualifying licence for the installed Nuendo 3. Bearing in mind how long it is since Windows XP has been supported, such a database might not exist.
I went ahead and bought the update. It is unfortunately indeed the case that the WinXP Computer’s database is outdated for the e-Licencer Control Center on WinXP. It was last updated on 14 July 2014 and doesn’t recognise the licence of Nuendo 12.
WinXP does not recognise the N12 License and won’t open N3 anymore, although it shows up on the Win10 control center. The licence has been successfully updated but is now unrecognisable for WinXP.
Unless there is some way to manually copy the database from the current version of eLicenser of 22 June 2023 to the WIN XP Computer I don’t know how it will ever work
You are 100% correct. It was last updated on 14 July 2014. WinXP can see there is an undefined “full licence” (where N3 always was) but it only refers to it as an “unrecognisable license”.
Unless there is another trick, I won’t be able to open N3 on the WinXP Computer with my dongle as it is now.
That was my thought too.
I assume you bought a new computer with Windows 10/11. Because on a PC where Windows XP was, you cannot install Windows 10/11 for N12.
Therefore I would have recommended not to do anything with the N3 license and to install the demo version N12 on the new Windows 11 first. In any case, Nuendo cannot be started on two computers with just one license.
What happens if you choose “Support → Update eLicenser Licence Database” in eLicenser Control Center on the Windows XP machine? It might work, but it might be that the Windows XP version of eLicenser Control Center is just too old.
There is a further step you can try, though it is unlikely to work - update eLicenser Control Center to 6.7.1.8151, which is the last Windows XP version on the eLicenser Control Center download page. I suspect this will not work, as the page says “license database updates are not possible anymore with these eLicenser Control Center versions”.
You might be able to persuade Steinberg Support to give you a Not For Resale Nuendo 3 licence (or whatever version is the last supported version on the Windows XP eLicenser database), though they may well refuse.
Now, due to various technical reasons (certificates, operating system updates), this is not the case anymore. Old eLicenser Control Center versions you can find on the eLicenser page for your legacy operating system are cut off and cannot update the license database automatically anymore.
However, it is still possible to update the license database files (.sld) manually. THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT PRART - READ ON!
)