Hello all, I need to install SX/SE 3 to open old projects. In use: 12pro, dongle with SX3 license is in machine. Installation says: You need an additional free space on volume c of 1518701968 kb . Please delete unused …etc; free space is: 2,58 TB! Then the installation continues, in thr installation window I can reed: file not installed, and a couple of files go through, finally, with font file “stein___.ttf”, installation crashes, even when executed as admin. what to do??
The problem is that the SX3 installer is so old that it will no longer work properly on modern Windows.
If you could install SX3 on an older version of Windows, you could just copy the “Cubase SX3” folder across. I have done this on Windows 10 and it works well enough to open and re-save old projects.
Hi Mr Soundman,
on an old harddrive I found old installations of Cubase; SX3 I could not open, it crashed while activating asio. But SX2 I could open and convert my files…
Thank you for the hint!
Just a heads up… in case this helps the next person that tries this.
I successfully used the installer in ‘Windows XP compatability mode’ under windows 11 and it installed fine. Download the SX3 installer, unzip it into another folder, then right click the setup.exe file and choose properties. In the compatability page of the properties window, choose ‘run this program in compatability mode for:’… I chose Windows XP (service pack 2).
The setup program tried to install the old elicenser but failed, saying an elicenser was already installed. The next stage of setup installed Cubase SX3, which is great.
As far as I can see the program itself does not seem to run in compatability mode, but runs well. I can now import some old songs… not completely lossless… but at least I can re-assemble the bits and peices and get it close.
Same here. i guess my old .all projects are gone for good…
Maybe pcbox is worth a try: https://pcbox-emu.xyz/. Not sure if it can work with the dongle…
What does “same here” mean?
Cubase se3.01 and sx3.1.0 working fine here on Win11 Pro 25H2. I just started both up.
After initial install (no particular settings deviation other than pointing install to programfiles86 dir), I have compatibility of each set to WinXpSp3.
Current (final) dongle driver installed. Driver inserted. Sound on either se or sx routed to a motu ultralite mk5.
Either program then starts up fine and operates fine. Install files are from Steinberg ftp.
Have you installed it fresh or did you install it years ago on an ealier Win11 Pro build? Maybe the installation problem came up later.
Same here means i have the same problem on Win 11. Had it on 23H2, 24H2 and 25H2. The installation of all three versions of Cubase SX/SE3 that are available crashes at the Stein___.ttf file, not matter what i do. Setting the installer to Compatibility mode didnt do anything either.
Could try installing on an older machine, and then just copying over the program folder and other files.
It does not crash, it can’t write the font to the destination, because ‘C:\Windows\Fonts’ requires Admin access.
Is your user in the Admin group of Windows? You should get a dialog box when you start the installation, that asks for Admin permissions (the UAC dialog from Windows).
Installed both April of this year (2025) specifically to do things like arr etc files conversions to cpr.
I just now walked the installer flash drive and dongle over to one of my other win11 pro machines and installed se3 & sx3 there…then newest/final dongle driver…then startup of se/sx This time with no audio interface. No install issues.
Set startup icons in sb pgmfiles86 to winXpsp3 compatibility. At startup, each pgm tested on onboard sound card and then started up fine. Created test project using default. All fine.
I will mention UAC is completely…..and I mean COMPLETELY disabled on all my machines. I haven’t had to do a run-as-administrator setting on anything for years….ever. (just in case uac is indeed a culprit for some).
What happens when you test install on one of your other machines? Preferably a machine with a clean win11 install.
My dozen or so pcs get a clean (on completely empty, unformatted nvme zapped c drives) about every two years. Just as an fyi regarding the successful se/sx installs I mentioned above.
I just ran into the same font install freeze but am happy to report that booting my WIn 11 PC into Safe Mode did the trick. Settings>System>Recovery>Advanced Start Up>Restart now. Then from the blue Choose an Option screen select Start Up Settings > 4) Safe Mode.
This allowed me to install SX3 without errors. Once you’ve done this, best to reboot straight away and get your PC back into Normal Mode.
Unfortunately, I’ve run into elicenser issues after that, so have yet to get SX3 to run. But hopefully this will get you beyond the Stein___.ttf file stall.
Damo
FWIW, I’ve been through this whole process before, a couple of years back. Having to install old, barely compatible software to convert .ALL projects. Given the SX3 code base does this automatically, you’d think it wouldn’t be too much engineering for Steinberg to have created a simple conversion tool for this. Just from a historical/archival POV if nothing else, being able to convert old digital projects to a format that can be opened by todays tech I feel would be a worthwhile effort. But then again, perhaps I’m in a minority of one to think that! 
Damo
The dongle driver burned into the install is old. What I do every time is, once sx etc is installed on Win11, I start it up (dongle inserted), see the dongle error, exit the program, install the new dongle driver (the final ver), and then all starts up fine.
Key being install the most-recent elicenser driver last.
That being said…installing the old versions on Win11 CAN sometimes be an exercise in potential gremlinLand ….so I never know if my methods work for others….sort of like every time I do a clean install of Windows 98se 
It may well “not” be simple.
Just a thought, but if they could strip out the elicenser runtime termination and post a “free” version of SX3, that would work.
It might even encourage me to come back to Cubase if I could get all my old projects working again.
Hi
Can You help, is there anyone who can convert “all” files, around 65 files. ?
i could not manage that installation, my IT skills are so bad.
Thanks for info.