Steinberg Activation Manager Nonsense

Can I just uninstall it? It locks up Wavelab for a bit on “Checking License”. I’ve never had an issue before and I don’t use SAM for anything. Running Cubase 11, Wavelab 11, and Halion 6 off the eLic.

Bill

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Did you try to reboot your computer?

The “Activation Manager” is a mess. I don’t think Steinberg ever “beta tested” it. A GREAT idea but as is the usual for Steinberg lately not well implemented.

Does Steinberg understand that most of us use WL on a daily basis for making money and if we cannot start the program for some reason then we are LOSING money???

Two times in the last week it has caused WL not to start or to take a very long time to start. It seems that this “solution” was a long time coming BUT was never BETA tested with a lot of different machines or configurations.

FWIW

I am on Windows 10 all updates.

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I have not even signed up to any cloud copy protection yet (if I understand this correctly) - yet when I try to start WL 11.1 while my computer is offline I get an error message saying WL needs to connect to some online copy protection server.

I get this about 10 times, then WL will randomly start without a problem.

For a pro user this is rather inconvenient.

My computer needs to be offline sometimes due to sensitive unreleased customer projects I am working on.

I literally have a gazillion plugins (all licensed of course) and none of them behaves in such a paranoid way, trying to connect to the internet every time I launch the program.
Furthermore, as I said - I was under the impression I never agreed to use an online auth system.

It seems like this finally is the end of the line for me with Steinberg products. I hardly ever used Nuendo recently because I switched to PT for most of my work a couple of years ago, but I have still loved WaveLab for many tasks.

Being online 24/7 with my studio computer is out of the question for me at the moment.

I really hope Steinberg and PG find another - less buggy and paranoid - way, because basically I like WL, but in the state that the copy protection is in at the moment I will revert to the last eLicenser version (if possible) and stay on that without updating again until my OS does not support WL anymore.

Very unhappy customer here.

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Once a computer has been authorized, you don’t need an internet connection any more.

There is even a way to activate a given computer “offline”, as described there:

I don’t think that’s how it’s supposed to work. Please make sure that the Steinberg Activation Manager is updated to 1.4.0.

In any case, signing-in once (even if you don’t have any licenses using the new system) or using the offline activation process like PG suggested should completely prevent this from happening.

It was beta tested of course, and it has been used by thousands of Dorico/Cubase/Nuendo users for over half a year. But it’s very difficult to account for every single possible system configuration, including any OS tweaks you may have applied.

If the problem persists after updating to SAM 1.4.0, consider opening a support ticket or a new topic including some details about your system. Maybe someone can help you get to the bottom of the issue.

I just checked, my version is 14.0.843
So today I logged in whilst I was online and started WL without any problems.
Let’s hope it stays that way when I am offline again.

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It was beta tested of course, and it has been used by thousands of Dorico/Cubase/Nuendo users for over half a year. But it’s very difficult to account for every single possible system configuration, including any OS tweaks you may have applied.

If the problem persists after updating to SAM 1.4.0, consider opening a support ticket or a new topic including some details about your system. Maybe someone can help you get to the bottom of the issue.

Seems after reading the forum I am NOT the only one who is/was having problems with the Activation Manager… I don’t know who you are and if you are speaking for Steinberg or this just your opinion.

Thanks for your reply…

I don’t know if you follow the forums but lately Steinberg has been having some ongoing problems with releasing things and then having to quickly put out a “fix” so it may not be “very difficult to account for every single possible system configuration, including any OS tweaks you may have applied” and maybe instead a problem with Steinberg…FWIW

I’m not speaking for Steinberg, nor am I suggesting that this is only affecting you.

I’m around here almost every day. I don’t think this specific issue you described is very common, that’s why I suggested posting more info about your system if it keeps happening. It might be helpful for the developers.

Until there’s a definitive fix, if Wavelab freezes on startup again, try killing the Steinberg License Engine process using the task manager.

Thanks for your reply…

My “system” is pretty vanilla and clean. I don’t use any “tweaks” or have I modded my computer’s OS.
It does seem that lately everything that Steinberg puts out as an update or new product comes with a lot of “problems”. I had a devil of a time trying to get the latest version of SpectraLayers 9 authorized. Maybe Steinberg needs to freshen up their BETA testers and get some people who are really into testing their products. I am a BETA tester for a couple of high end software packages and I can tell you that it takes some hard work and dedication to find all the bugs in the software. If you do it half heartedly or don’t really use it then you will not flush out all the bugs or problems…FWIW
Be safe!

Thomas, I doubt it‘s the beta testers fault.

You are probably right…

Unfortunately when I tried to open WL 11.1 today (offline) the eLicenser was again not recognized and I got an error message complaining about me being offline.

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I just downgraded to 11.0.3 and will stay on that version as long as my OS supports it.
Way too much hassle for me.

I hear you as for some years my main machine was offline for exactly the same reason as yours … honestly, the one thing users should not have to talk about on a forum is licensing.

@Paul_Rat_Blakey FYI just to mention that once you have activated a license on your computer you don’t have to be online to use the software, as mentioned by PG (see above). You can carry on using the software regardless of the internet connection.

@Oliver_Lucas You mean the new SAM licensing right? not the old eLicenser. Which version of SAM do you have installed? Make sure you are using the latest version (v1.4.0.843). This will probably overcome the issues you were having.

WL 11.1 doesn’t use the eLicenser anymore, which is clearly documented here

and there is also a documented way of staying offline with the new licensing system.

Did you activate that?

That is true and very helpful.

The licensing isssues can get quite subtle and some users may be under the impression that you have to be online all the time in order to use the software on a dialy basis. This is not the case… so I thought it worth emphasising the following:

When using a computer which is destined to be offline most of the time and where connecting to the internet for a short time is not a security issue, you can connect it to the internet once just to install SAM and activate the new Steinberg licensing for Wavelab 11.1. Once complete, you can then disconnect that same computer from the internet. Once the license is active on your computer you no longer have to be connected to the internet in order to use it. You can carry on using Wavelab on that computer offline with no issues.

JürgenP,

the first link clearly states:

„You can continue to use your eLicenser-based license as before. In this case, there is nothing else for you to consider.„

It is exactly that, I was trying to do.
Which part of „there is nothing else to consider?“ do I misunderstand?

So to be clear.
With 11.1 I had the EuCon problem, for which I was on the phone to Steinberg about. We troubleshooted, uninstalled, re-installed, deleted and preferences folders, then the forum found the answer and I installed 11.1 again.
The documentation clearly states that it is still eLicenser compatible.

As it turns out it is not.

So i reverted to the previous version again.

This has easily cost me 2 hours time. As others in this thread have pointed out, Steinberg have a serious quality control issue. It is the reason I left Nuendo and now that is has somehow infected WL it is the reason I leave here as well.

I haven’t seen the hint that WL 11.1 can be used with both licensing systems, which is of course a bit weird, as it asks for trouble. Did you try the new licensing system at all, or did you try to stay on the dongle?

I’m not a WL user, just Cubase and Dorico and I had not a single issue with the new licensing system. It works like a charm and I hope to get rid of this dongle plug asap.