Sylenth1 cannot be run on a virtual machine (fixed)

[garryknight]

Thanks for this, Francis. This worked for me, though I had to run the command "bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off" in an elevated command prompt to make it permanent.

I wanted to install the latest version of Ubuntu into VMWare but got an error saying that Hyper-V had to be turned off as it wasn't compatible with VMWare's own virtualisation system. So I turned it off, installed Ubuntu, then tried installing Sylenth1 v3. And it worked!


Note: If anyone wants to turn Hyper-V back on, you can run the command "bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype auto" in a command prompt as adminstrator.

[Scoox]

I just downloaded & tried the Sylenth1 demo and got this error message.

In my case I deliberately use virtualization to run all my software. I use this thing called Sandboxie which allows me to install my software in a self-contained environment (referred to as "sandbox") which contains everything inclucing program settings. I can have as many sandboxes as I like. I have a sandbox for my music production software, another one for web browsers, another one for IM programs, another one for checking out software before I decide whether or not I want to use it. Whenever I clean-install the OS, I don't need to re-install all my apps because they are in their respective sandboxes and the sandboxes are on my data drive. All I need to do is copy an INI file which tells Sandboxie where to find the sandboxes and boom! all my apps, daws and plugins are right there ready to be used with my settings in place. Minimal hassle. Furthermore, I can use my sandboxes on different systems without the need to install on each machine (although I can only use one instance at any one time). Should a program become infected or simply unwanted, I only need delete its containing sandbox, without affecting the other sandboxes, no need to uninstall anything or go "hunting" for leftovers in the system folders and registry. Sandboxie, unlike some VM software, has hardly any impact on performance, suitable for audio work.

Sandboxie is a form of compartmentalized virtualization, therefore Sylenth won't work for me. For me, the convenience of using Sandboxie is more important than a single "unruly" VST plugin that usually can be replaced by a number of competing equivalents. Furthermore, I encourage everyone here to check out Sandboxie as it's a real time-saver and protects your computer better than any antivirus at no performance hit.

By the way I don't work for SB I just frigging love this thing and I only mention it because in this case it's what's stopping me from using Sylenth

[winram]

Could you please explain then why this was done intentionally?

To prevent it from being cracked.

This lost you a sale, FYI. My PC requires Hyper-V on the host, and I'm running Sylenth on the host. Not a guest. So this is an immutable configuration that your software is making worse than a dongle requirement - I will not disable a feature of my PC which I need.

[rogerclark]

I wish I had known this before I bought it. Probably going to ask for a refund.

As a software developer, I use virtualization on my machine for many purposes. And almost every CPU now comes with these features enabled.

This probably isn't stopping anyone from cracking your plugin. Many cracks for it already exist. This only inconveniences your paying users.

[soulxxhunter]

[Elysium.NZ]

I don't have an opinion on the decision. Just wanted to point out that locating and modifying the code around the CPUID opcode in a program is very easy. This VM test won't prevent cracking. I've had legitimate reasons (part of my employment) to remove such VM checks in recent past and these targets were wrapped in CodeMeter.

We owned licenses but were not allowed to run in VM, unfortunately we had to while testing. As it turns out our discussions with the developers got them to change their licensing to allow VM execution.

I get it, the VM image can be shared or run up on 10 different machines at the same time, essentially defeating the license restrictions. It can also be snapshot and rolled back defeating trial restrictions also.

Anyway, I don't think it will stop crackers at all. Wish you the best though!

[Scoox]

Surely the number of people who would use Sylenth on a VM is LESS than the number of people who need to use virtualization but don't use Sylenth on a VM, simply because running stuff on a VM reduces performance.

[Hardock]

Hi,

i use renoise DAW and have activated "run all plugin in sandboxes (-> separate process)".
Could that be a reason for the trouble i have sometimes that sylenth1 is crashing?
Are there other VST plugins known to refuse to work in sandboxes?

Greetings
Hardock

[Lennard]

I wish I had known this before I bought it. Probably going to ask for a refund.

We have no problem at all refunding your payment up to 30 days after purchase.

This probably isn't stopping anyone from cracking your plugin. Many cracks for it already exist. This only inconveniences your paying users.

You're wrong there. There are cracks for the old version, BECAUSE it didn't have this protection. The new version however has not and will not be cracked. So the way we see it, this is a convenience for 99% of our paying users (who have no problems not running Sylenth1 on a virtual machine), as they get to use the new and improved version (and future versions), where pirates can only get their hands on old buggy cracks.

[Lennard]

i use renoise DAW and have activated "run all plugin in sandboxes (-> separate process)".
Could that be a reason for the trouble i have sometimes that sylenth1 is crashing?
Are there other VST plugins known to refuse to work in sandboxes?

A sandbox is not the same as a virtual machine. Sylenth1 may not work correctly when sandboxed (depending on the type of sandbox) as it needs to access several files and folders (skins, soundbanks, presets, ..) for example on your drive in order to work correctly.

[Scoox]

i use renoise DAW and have activated "run all plugin in sandboxes (-> separate process)".
Could that be a reason for the trouble i have sometimes that sylenth1 is crashing?
Are there other VST plugins known to refuse to work in sandboxes?

A sandbox is not the same as a virtual machine. Sylenth1 may not work correctly when sandboxed (depending on the type of sandbox) as it needs to access several files and folders (skins, soundbanks, presets, ..) for example on your drive in order to work correctly.

I tried the demo in Sandboxie (a sandboxing application) and Sylenth1 shows the "Sylenth1 cannot be run on a virtual machine".

Also, saying "it won't be cracked" is a red rag to a bull really: there's nothing a cracker enjoys more than a challenge. Any piece of software can be cracked--it's just a question of difficulty. If there was a simple way to prevent software from being cracked everybody would be using it, and copy protection companies would be out of business.

In this case we are not interested in cracking stuff, we just want your software to work on our systems so that we can give you our money and live happily ever after. Perhaps you could explore other ways to protect your work, even if we are just a 1%.

[Lennard]

I tried the demo in Sandboxie (a sandboxing application) and Sylenth1 shows the "Sylenth1 cannot be run on a virtual machine".

A sandbox CAN be a virtual machine. If it is, then Sylenth1 will not work, since it doesn't work in a virtual machine (doh).

Also, saying "it won't be cracked" is a red rag to a bull really: there's nothing a cracker enjoys more than a challenge. Any piece of software can be cracked--it's just a question of difficulty. If there was a simple way to prevent software from being cracked everybody would be using it, and copy protection companies would be out of business.

Sure it CAN be cracked, there's no doubt there. The problem is that it'll take lots and lots of work to crack it, and when someone does, he'll only have cracked 1 single format of Sylenth1, while each version of Sylenth1 comes in many different plugin formats (AU, VST, Mac, Windows, 32bit, 64bit, ..). Every version is entirely different, so he'd have start from scratch on each of these versions. Also, there are many checks on the internal integrity, so even if one manages to crack 1 version, it'll be buggy and crash a lot. And when a new update is released he'd have to start all over again.

In this case we are not interested in cracking stuff, we just want your software to work on our systems so that we can give you our money and live happily ever after. Perhaps you could explore other ways to protect your work, even if we are just a 1%.

The only other way would be a hardware dongle, which is a big problem for a LOT of users, not just 1%..

So yes, I'm sorry for anyone having problems with the fact that Sylenth1 won't run on a virtual machine, but I do hope you understand our reasons.

[Harry_HH]

Absolutely.
Just concentrate in launcing the long awaited Sylenth 1 uppgrade on Windows.

[winram]

Sylenth1 cannot be run on Windows 10 machines where HyperV is enabled at all. It isn't limited to just virtual machine guest OSs.

This is kind of bad given that it's part of the OS. That's fundamentally what I have a problem with.

[Scoox]

I just got myself Dune 2, it's pretty good too