iLOK warning

[revvy]

Machine auth is fit for my purpose too.

[ctsakiris]

To be honest, I was always anti-dongle, was against any intrusive copy protection needing system drivers and would avoid any software protected with USB things as much as I could. On the other hand, I own Cubase (previous dongled version) and never had any problems with it, and also some software ilok licences of Audified plugins, never had any problems too. I think Audified moved away from ilok lately, though.

At the end of the day, I don't know what kind of protection is better, a dongle might continue to work even when a company will shut down all their online activation servers overnight, and you won't be able to use your paid for software - on the other hand a dongle can be fragile when moving your setup around, it'd surely be a no-go for mobile rigs/live setups...

[martinjuenke]

iLok is a tool of the dark forces which want to control your computer, your life and your thoughts.
Beware, the end is nearer than you think!

[affe42]

So, I decided to upgrade the media storage drives of my Windows 11 audio workstation. Bad idea. I was thinking that if you don't touch the system (SSD) drive (or other hardware) everything would be good. No changes to motherboard, cpu, memory, display adapter or storage controllers. Result: new "Location ID" from iLok and 53 activations gone from 8 different publishers.

It will be interesting to see the current ranking on how long it will take from the publishers to reset the activations (Eventide, NUGEN Audio, Pulsar Audio, Relab Development, Softube, SSL, Soundtoys and UVI). I'll report back about the progress. It's now Saturday, so most likely nothing will happen before Monday.

And no, I will NOT buy an iLok dongle.

Updates:

1) Gold medal goes to Softube! Activations reset done within one day (during weekend).
2) Silver for UVI. Two days.
3) NUGEN Audio takes the third place, two days also. But no bronze medal, because they only allow one activation.
4) Eventide & Soundtoys also two days, remembering the time zone difference as they're from USA.
5) SSL: three days.
6) Relab development: four days (customer support request emailed to them)
7) Pulsar Audio: five days (customer support request emailed to them)

[plexuss]

This is not an iLok problem, it's a OS problem. Any DRM that uses some semblance of a System ID based on the system config will have the same issue. On windoze. On macPOS it's easier because there is pretty no impact to a System ID unless the main board is changed or things like Ethernet etc that have hard coded addresses. But yes using iLok requires more care when changing system config. It might be a good idea to do some reaseach on what changes will impact iLok so you know when to deactivate licenses between config changes.

[affe42]

Nope, it's definitively iLok problem, as none of the other registration methods in use on that machine were triggered by the change of non-system drives. Some vendors (like Waves) even let you choose which drive to use for license activation. If plugin vendors would use Windows 11-supplied hash for license lock, then if that hash would change, Windows itself would require new activation as well.

Apart from iLok, plugin publishers mostly use their own methods to detect system changes and this time iLok messed it up.

[Teksonik]

It might be a good idea to do some reaseach on what changes will impact iLok so you know when to deactivate licenses between config changes.

It would be a better idea to do some research to find out what developers use the iLok malware and then avoid them like the plague.....

[plexuss]

It might be a good idea to do some reaseach on what changes will impact iLok so you know when to deactivate licenses between config changes.

It would be a better idea to do some research to find out what developers use the iLok malware and then avoid them like the plague.....

Right. Sorry. I forgot to put my tinfoil hat on.

[Aloysius]

Hi

I've been using plugins with ilOK 'security' for some time and seen several folks saying that they will never use iLOK products again, etc.

I have, until now, been OK and wondered what the fuss is all about.

A couple of hours ago all of my iLOK plugins stopped working (just when I really need some of them). Nothing has changed on my computer and it is a very clean install, well maintained, etc. iLOK has decided that I now have a different computer (with no iLOK licenses) and my 'old' computer with all the licenses is inaccessible. I have contacted support who (worryingly) say that this can sometimes happen (Windows updates, etc). I now have to go through a process of reporting the 'old' computer unusable and all of the original plugin providers have to approve (individually) that the licenses can be disabled and re-enabled on the 'new' computer.

There is no guarantee that the providers will do this and (as it is a weekend) I suspect that I will be waiting for at least a few days (maybe more for some).

This has really put me off using iLOK in the future....

Just thought I'd put my experience out there.

CHEERS

So you were not actually using the convenient iLok or cloud. Just local Authorization. It's worth investing in a hardware iLok. Very convenient if you experience computer problems.

[Teksonik]

It might be a good idea to do some reaseach on what changes will impact iLok so you know when to deactivate licenses between config changes.

It would be a better idea to do some research to find out what developers use the iLok malware and then avoid them like the plague.....

Right. Sorry. I forgot to put my tinfoil hat on.

You should try putting your thinking cap on instead.

It's worth investing in a hardware iLok.

It's more worth investing in companies that respect your studio system than those who expect you to pay more just to protect their IP.

Anyway this debate will rage on as long as iLok exists and there is little chance that anyone on either side will change their stance no matter what so.....party on.

[Cavey Arrgh]

In an emergency like this, could you use your remaining activations to activate your machine? For example, Softube allows 3 activations. So iLok thinks your current machine is a "new" machine, fine, activate it now. Obviously this wouldn't work for any vendor who only allows 1 activation.

In my opinion, any vendor forcing you to use iLok should allow minimum of 2 activations, and really more like 3+

[Aloysius]

You are not forced to purchase their products.

[hotmitts]

The most common failures are USB drives, so saying a dongle is the ultimate panacea doesn't cut it.

[hotmitts]

You are not forced to purchase their products.

Nor are they forced into using a shitty copy protection system which is more hassle than it's worth. They could change it.

And you are not forced into accepting it, you can ask for better.

[Aloysius]

I like iLok. I personally think it's very good. It's no fun entering hundreds of serial numbers if you have a computer problem.