Steinberg Licensing Question - MacOS 10.13 High Sierra

Cubase
1

I have a copy of Cubase 11 Pro on an admittedly old Mac laptop which cant update past OS 10.13 ( High Sierra ). CB is licensed via a USB elicenser .
All it does is play audio tracks for shows ( 8-10 tracks usually ) it’s great.

Now I have to consider the end of the USB Dongle, I’ve discovered that I have to update CB 11 Pro to 12 Pro for SB Licensing support. OK

BUT … the SB Activation Manger doesn’t run on the Mac OS 10.13 machine!

So I guess I could connect it to my newer desktop, upgrade CB 11 to CB 12 and at the same time switch to SB Licensing.

Thats the end of the dongle. But if the SB Activation Manger cant run on the old laptop, does that mean I wont be able to activate/run the new CB 12 on it? Or am I wrong about that?

If I leave the CB 11 license on the dongle past the deadline, then sure I can keep using CB 11 , but it’s my understanding I wont ever be able to update it again. So I’m kind of throwing away a license!

Seems sad I might have to update the software AND get a different Laptop to make the switch!

Thoughts anyone?

2

You can only buy the current version.

Cubase 12 will not install on High Sierra, anyway.

The only way to avoid that would be to buy and activate the update to the current version before the elicenser server closure in 2025. You don’t have to activate it though. When you have a newer computer available you can activate. Thanks to the Grace Period policy you will get the version that is current at the time you activate the purchased license
.

3

That is not correct. You must activate the Update before the shutdown of the eLicenser service. Otherwise it is not possible anymore to mark the license on the dongle as upgraded and that happens during Activation from eLicenser to Steinberg Licensing

4

Right! Sorry. I edited my post.

Thank you @JuergenP