Now I Understand Why People Hate iLok

[wagtunes]

First of all let me start out by saying that I am not an iLok hater. I've been using iLok products for almost 5 years now. And I have tons of them.

But I get it.

The last 2 days, I go to start up my DAW and load a project that has iLok based VSTs and I get this message that the engine or whatever isn't running.

I then go to my iLok license manager and it won't load. So I have to restart my PC. That doesn't fix it. Turns out you can't just restart. You have to completely shut down.

So now I know that when I start my PC in the morning, the first thing I have to do is open up the license manager to make sure it opens.

I shouldn't have to do this. I don't have this problem with any other software of this kind.

But, I do have this problem with other software that's similar such as Waves and Arturia where I'll sometimes open up a VST and it's in demo mode because the Arturia software stopped running. Same with Waves Central or any other VSTS where it's all controlled from a central location.

It's annoying as hell.

So yeah, I get it. I get why some people hate iLok, Waves, Arturia or any other software that's similar where if one central location goes down, everything goes down.

Does this mean I'm going to stop buying iLok products or stop using what I have? No, of course not. But I understand the frustration. And if somebody says that they'd never get an iLok, Waves or Arturia product because of these problems, I'd understand that too.

[Synthman2000]

I don't hate it because some of the best sounding plug ins that make me smile use it. As long as it works (even if you have to re-install the updates etc.) I have no problems with it because I rely on the sound of said software.

In fact I have no objection to ANY copy protection to stop **** heads pushing up the price by using cracks. If you care primarily about sound, copy protection is secondary.

Any of this can suck a bit, those that use the hardware, NIC or HDD etc.

Moan at piracy and theft of someones rightly protected work.

[mcbpete]

So now I know that when I start my PC in the morning, the first thing I have to do is open up the license manager to make sure it opens.

I shouldn't have to do this.

No you definitely shouldn't - Something definitely going wrong there. Have you got the pace device driver disabled on startup or something? The only time you should need to run the license manager is to ... well manage your licences

[Examigan]

I must be lucky as I never have issues with ILok protected plugins or Arturia products.

[mike_the_ranger]

So multiple cp schemes like iLok, Waves or Arturia won't work well suddenly - maybe its just your systems fault?

[tatanka]

Wag: you may try the following, it helps me (win 7 64 bit) even if it is still more then Annoying. Nearly evrytime after a windows update the pace driver is disabled, I dont know why, did not find any solution to stop this, but it is relatively easy to solve:

- look for your "services" in the system settings
- there should be something like "pace driver"
- this one should be running, if not just click on "start service", then it should be running

Hope that helps.

As I said, in general I think this is an imposition, but I have learned to live with it.....

[whyterabbyt]

I then go to my iLok license manager and it won't load. So I have to restart my PC. That doesn't fix it. Turns out you can't just restart. You have to completely shut down.

That, in particular, is very odd. There is no difference, as far as anything software is concerned (OS or otherwise) between a restart and a cold start. In both cases the CPU is reinitiated from scratch, as it were.

On occasions where Ive seen one versus the other make a difference, Ive always been able to isolate it to something hardware related, almost certainly to do with power to devices. Seen it in the past for hard drives locking up or misbehaving until power was cut completely at the PSU, for example. And USB sockets in particular can sometimes still be delivering power while the system is off.

So Im wondering if this is actually hardware related. You dont specify if you're actually using a physical iLok or HD based authentication?

[wagtunes]

So multiple cp schemes like iLok, Waves or Arturia won't work well suddenly - maybe its just your systems fault?

First of all, Waves and Arturia haven't had any glitches in a long time. But it does happen. Nothing runs perfectly all the time. Not in the world of computers. Anyone who claims that is lying.

iLok hadn't given me any problems in, oh, has to be a year. Two days straight now, I have to restart. Doesn't mean anything's wrong. Could just be an isolated incident. Maybe it has something to do with the latest Windows update.

Point is, with something like Zebra 2, which is just a single dll, these things NEVER happen. That's my point. When you have a license manager or central system that has to be running just so you can use a VST, if it doesn't run, for whatever reason, that VST doesn't work. There is no getting around this. And it's something I don't have to deal with when it comes to a company like U-he.

That's my point. That's my only point. That I understand people's hatred of this system. Not whether or not there is anything wrong with my computer.

[wagtunes]

I then go to my iLok license manager and it won't load. So I have to restart my PC. That doesn't fix it. Turns out you can't just restart. You have to completely shut down.

That, in particular, is very odd. There is no difference, as far as anything software is concerned (OS or otherwise) between a restart and a cold start. In both cases the CPU is reinitiated from scratch, as it were.

On occasions where Ive seen one versus the other make a difference, Ive always been able to isolate it to something hardware related, almost certainly to do with power to devices. Seen it in the past for hard drives locking up or misbehaving until power was cut completely at the PSU, for example. And USB sockets in particular can sometimes still be delivering power while the system is off.

So Im wondering if this is actually hardware related. You dont specify if you're actually using a physical iLok or HD based authentication?

I do use a physical iLok. Could that have something to do with it?

[wagtunes]

Wag: you may try the following, it helps me (win 7 64 bit) even if it is still more then Annoying. Nearly evrytime after a windows update the pace driver is disabled, I dont know why, did not find any solution to stop this, but it is relatively easy to solve:

- look for your "services" in the system settings
- there should be something like "pace driver"
- this one should be running, if not just click on "start service", then it should be running

Hope that helps.

As I said, in general I think this is an imposition, but I have learned to live with it.....

I never thought of this. So all I have to do is go into Task Manager and restart the service and I should be okay? It's a lot less annoying than having to restart your PC after you've got a whole bunch of things open and running.

I'll try that next time it happens.

[whyterabbyt]

I do use a physical iLok. Could that have something to do with it?

Its possible. As a test, instead of a 'cold start', where you power the whole system off completely, you could try unplugging the iLok when your system shuts down as part of its restart, then plug it back when the OS has started loading (or later, maybe even after you log in).

Also, if its on a hub, independent of the above test, try it in a motherboard USB slot, and vice versa, see if any change there makes a difference.

[wagtunes]

I do use a physical iLok. Could that have something to do with it?

Its possible. As a test, instead of a 'cold start', where you power the whole system off completely, you could try unplugging the iLok when your system shuts down as part of its restart, then plug it back when the OS has started loading (or later, maybe even after you log in).

Also, if its on a hub, independent of the above test, try it in a motherboard USB slot, and vice versa, see if any change there makes a difference.

Thanks, I will definitely try that next time it happens.

[whyterabbyt]

Also, since Windows updates have been mentioned, make sure you update to the latest version of the iLok software too, just to be sure. That's not related to the cold start weirdness, though.

[wagtunes]

Also, since Windows updates have been mentioned, make sure you update to the latest version of the iLok software too, just to be sure. That's not related to the cold start weirdness, though.

I've been putting that off because, up until now, things have been relatively stable. But if this continues I just may have to bite the bullet. My past experience with updating software makes me a little worried about doing this. I mean we all know how sometimes new versions are buggy and things really go south from there until the bugs are taken out. Right now, when iLok loads, it works fine. I don't want to do anything that makes it so that it doesn't work at all. Then I'm really screwed. And that's happened before where software's been released that's had major problems with it. Granted, they eventually get fixed. But until they do, you're basically unable to use it. As iLok based apps basically make up a major part of what I do, that would be inconvenient to say the least.

If it happens again tomorrow (that would make 3 days straight) I will update my iLok and keep my fingers crossed.

[Gamma-UT]

Unplug the iLok definitely, wait 10-20 secs for capacitors to drain then reattach. Cryptothingies like this tend to have antitamper electronics to look for power brownouts and spikes (which are useful in hacking attacks) - so they need a cold start to get them running again.

Edit: looking again at the OP, this is probably the wrong diagnosis. I thought it was the dongle not being recognised not the engine failing. Something is stopping these background services from running or they are crashing by the looks of it.