License transfer from USB to soft elicenser?

Cubase
1

Hello folks

I have Cubase 8 and my license is on the eLicense USB dongle.
I notice in the eLicenser Control Center that there is also a Soft-eLicenser.
Is there any way I can transfer my license from the USB elicenser to the soft elicenser?
I only ever use this one machine so I don’t need the portability that a dongle license provides.

(The reason I’m trying this is because I’m having problems the my Steinberg UR22 interface and want to have a minimal number of USB devices connected.)

2

Elements can use the soft elicenser but 8Pro must have a dongle.

3

Hi,

No, this is not possible. You can transfer Soft-eLicensers to the USB-eLicensers (to the USB dongle), but not vice versa.

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4

Thanks folks!

5

Are here some news? Does Steinberg solved this frustrating problem already? One friend of mine moved from the other country and forgot there his USB stick. Is there any chance to transfer his USB license to the hard drive? He purchased a new hardware and he is not going to use his Cubase more than on one computer…

6

Steinberg is moving away from eLicenser. All currently sold software products use Steinberg Licensing, which does not use dongles and allows each licence to be activated on three devices simultaneously.

7

Thank you for your answer. Good to know, any way what about old customers? Does it mean in order to get a soft license you need to purchase it once more again?

8

Correct. If you want to go dongle free, upgrade to the latest version (Cubase 13). This will ‘touch’ any keys on your USB dongle or soft eLicenser, and upgrade them in a way that it can never be ‘upgraded’ again. It will also put a key on the newer Stienberg Licensing system (which CAN be upgraded in the future).

Without a dongle, you can run Version 12 and 13. If you plug your dongle in, you can roll back to the older versions if needed.

I.E. Buy a key for Cubase 13 pro. You could keep Cubase 8 installed, you could even install Cubase 11.5 and have the last version that used the old eLicenser, but those will only run with the dongle plugged in, and your Sonic/Groove Agent setups would be fixed to a more modern state (should still be compatible with old projects provided you’re using the 64bit version of Cubase).

You’d be able to run Cubase 12 and 13 without a dongle plugged in. Yes, you can have both versions installed at the same time. Cubase 13 is still pretty new, and has had many things ‘reworked’ as compared to 12. Quite a few of us are keeping 12 around for stability and familiarity while gradually moving to 13 as more free service fixes (for various third party graphics drivers, the OS, and for Cubase itself) are released.

The new Steinberg Licensing System works best if you have an internet connection on the PC. It’s possible to download a key to put on a system that doesn’t have internet access (seems like you might have to manually update it every so often), but it’s much easier if it can go online.

If you happen to run full versions of Groove Agent, HALion, or Sonic, you’ll want to upgrade those to their latest versions too in order to go dongle free.

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