Problems attempting to activate Dorico on a Mac

Dorico
1

I finally decided to buy Dorico after literally years of dithering based on my concerns about the licensing. Those concerns are feeling rather validated right now :confused: Any help getting through this is appreciated.

macOS High Sierra, version 10.13.6. I downloaded and installed Dorico Pro 2 a few days ago, and ran it in trial mode fine. Today I bought the product and received an activation code, at which point the fun began.

Started eLicenser Control Center (eLC Version 6.11.3.1240).

Got an Online Synchronization & Maintenance dialog telling me to Perform Maintenance Tasks.

Clicked on it and got a dialog telling me that “there are still other applications running which prevented this process from succeeding”.

Closed eLicenser Control Center.

Per suggestions I found on the web, started Activity Monitor and force-killed Synsopos.

Started eLicenser Control Center again, which immediately created a Synsopos process again.

Force-killed Synsopos again.

Clicked on Perform Maintenance Tasks and got a new window: “eLicenser Control - Error. Application ‘LCC2’ as caused the following error: Application not registered.”

Was returned to the Online Synchronization & Maintenance dialog, which told me “An error occurred while accessing the eLicenser(s)”, also telling me to try Recover from the main menu.

At least at this point I got to the main eLicenser Control Center window, which under My Licenses lists a single “Soft-eLicenser” for “Dorico Pro 2.2 Trial”.

Actions / Recover tells me “The recovery process didn’t find any issues which could be solved.”

Clicked on “Enter Activation Code”. Got the same “Application not registered” error dialog. Then proceeded to an Enter Activation Code dialog.

Pasted in my activation code. Got the same “Application not registered” error dialog. Clicking OK brought me back to the Enter Activation Code dialog which told me that an error had occurred. I could either Cancel or Continue but the Continue button was greyed out, so I clicked cancel.

I’m a bit out of ideas. Apologies if this has already been hashed over endlessly here - I did search the forums for help first. Let me know if I can provide any further details. Thanks in advance for any help.

2

Really sorry to hear that you’ve had a bad experience with the licensing, particularly given that it’s the thing that was holding you back from giving Dorico a try. But please don’t worry: thousands of Dorico users are happily using the software despite the eLicenser, and we’ll get you there, too.

It’s correct and expected that Synsopos will run as soon as you run eLicenser Control Center. Don’t force quit it: you won’t be able to activate your activation code if you kill it. The application it was probably complaining about was Dorico itself, I imagine.

My recommendation for the shortest route through would be to simply restart your Mac by choosing Restart from the Apple menu. In the message box that appears, make sure Reopen windows when logging back in is switched off, so that your computer doesn’t immediately start running all of your current applications again. Once the computer has restarted, run eLCC first thing and enter your activation code. It should activate with no problem. Then you can run Dorico and all should be well.

Once you’ve successfully activated the software, I strongly recommend you go to MySteinberg and register your Soft-eLicenser and your activation code, so that if you ever have any activation problems in the future, you can use the online “reactivation” workflow without needing to contact our (excellent but overworked!) support staff to get back up and running.

3

Indeed it was as simple as the fact that I entered the eLicenser Control Center through Dorico instead of independently. Thank you for your help, and I hope that this is the last issue I have with it! I’m off to register it online now as suggested.