Steinberg Download Assistant and Steinberg Installation Updater

Cubase
1

Steinberg Download Assistant v1.20.2 is generating errors on a complete new clean install of Catalina.

At first install it reported it failed due to not successfully installing one or more of 3 apps.
1: elcc
2: Steinberg Library Updater
3: Steinberg Installation Updater.

Followed the prompts to run these manually. Apps 1 and 2 were no discernable problem.
1: eLcc had been installed separately and before DLA using the latest version from the eLcc web pages.
2: Library was present just needed priming with my VSTSound library.

3: Steinberg Installation Updater however was not present so DLA failed to install it and the Manual install app also did not install it.

However its not clear that the manual app which is called Steinberg_Install_Assistant is installing the same app which Download Assistant tries to which is called Steinberg Installation Installer (v1.15.1.419)

The Install Assistant app did install from the manual file called Steinberg Install Assistant v1.0.0.14 but its in a different location to that which the Steinberg Installation Updater would have been.

There are also some log files on my mac created by Download Assistant in Users/Username/Library/Application Support/Steinberg Installation Updater/Logs
which indicate a certificate error. The first had a blank where a name of certificate would be. The second log contained the following.

2021-01-17 16:19:54.428 RESTClient ERROR :: SSL Error found. :: The issuer certificate of a locally looked up certificate could not be found - Host: ‘mb.steinberg.net/rest’
2021-01-17 16:19:54.428 RESTClient ERROR :: SSL Error found. :: The root CA certificate is not trusted for this purpose - Host: ‘mb.steinberg.net/rest’
2021-01-17 16:19:54.429 SslCertServerChecker ERROR :: SSL Error discoverd. :: SSL Error: Unknown error
2021-01-17 16:19:54.429 NetworkInitService ERROR :: Certificate check failed
2021-01-17 16:19:54.429 AppInitProgressPage ERROR :: Certificate check is not ok.

These clearly have something to do with the problems some may be experiencing with Download Assistant. Whilst Im a Mac user, certificates validation processes also occur on windows machines as well so this could manifest itself in other ways dependant on platform.

Just wondered if any other users find the App Steinberg Installation Updater missing on their systems as well. My OS is Catalina 10.15.7.

Observations appreciated.
Cheers
David

Further Update.
I just moved a copy of the Steinberg Installation Updater app to my machine and tried running it. I see it comes up with Installation updater app which is the old method of updating and the fallback against Download Assistant failing to work. However the certificate error documented above which causes this fallback software installation method to fail.

I also noted adding the app did not clear the DLA error message problem.

Many Random Freezes in Cubase 11
3

Does Steinberg realize that, at least for a number of Dorico users, Steinberg Download Assistant has never worked? This means that every time there is an update, we end up wasting time contacting tech support and getting their help in manual workarounds to deal with this problem - they tell us that some other users have the same problem, but, in all the time since I’ve got Dorico, this never gets fixed. Indeed, the latest “From 11:00 AM UTC on December 19, 2025, Steinberg Download Assistant installations up to version 1.39.2 can no longer connect to our servers. This is due to an unfortunately unavoidable security-related certificate update.Please start the Steinberg Download Assistant before this time to perform the automatic update to the latest version (1.39.3)” message led to the same problem: I downloaded version 1.39.3, and, after installing it, when I try to run it, I end up having the infinitely spinning beachball and have to do a “force quit” every time. Incidentally, I am using a MacBook Pro M2 Max from 2023 running OS 13.2.1. PLEASE create a download assistant that works, rather than, for years, releasing non-working versions that put the burden on your users and your tech support to do workarounds! Thanks.

4

I’m not a Mac User, but as far as I know the SDA still requires Rosetta to run. Do you have that installed?

5

Seems like the same / related issue to mine: SDA 1.39.3 macOS doesn't install other software that it's supposed to - #5 by antic604

:frowning:

6

No, it doesn’t. At least it didn’t since I’ve been using Mac, i.e. September 2024

7

Thanks for your replies JuergenP and antic604. Juergen - the tech support people never told me that I would need Rosetta, but I’m also not receiving the message that displays on a mac if one ever encounters an application that requires Rosetta, so I don’t believe that is the issue. Antic604, I did not see your post previously, but it does seem like it may be the same or a related issue to yours. The tech support people have known of this problem for years, I believe, but Steinberg never fixes it.

8

This is incorrect. The SDA has always required Rosetta, and has always run as an “Intel”process on Apple Silicon:

Activity_Monitor
Activity_Monitor730×122 17.9 KB

You can verify this in Activity Monitor. Steinberg has confirmed this a few different times in the forums. If your Steinberg Download Assistant is showing as an “Apple” process, then you’re got some voodoo going on.

1 Like
9

Oh, if it’s so transparent to user then I stand corrected. I would’ve thought it was made native years ago. I never bothered to check for it specifically, as there wasn’t any pop-up or something, which I expected.

Sorry, it wasn’t my intention to confuse anyone :slight_smile:

10

Nor mine to infer that was your intent :slight_smile: It is indeed seamless, and for all intents and purposes, a non-issue. I wouldn’t run Cubendo itself under Rosetta because I have no need for it and keep my system as optimized as possible; but even if you did, on modern hardware you probably wouldn’t notice it.

The SDA running in Rosetta mode has zero real-world considerations in my opinion, and AFAIK the Aria2 dependancies are what currently restrict native builds - but that’s just my own inference, and I could be totally wrong about that.

In either case, the other use didn’t actually confirm they had Rosetta installed - they just indicated they didn’t think they needed it in the absence of some message to the contrary. Confirmation would help.