Starting to hate iLOK

[mabian]

Ok, I got some AIR Music Tech plugins crazy cheap in the last black friday madness.

I was afraid of first time using iLOK (not using the dongle) but everything seemed to go smooth.
I used software mode for the licenses.

Until.... I heavily upgraded my system, changing Motherboard, RAM, CPU and video card.

And.... big mistake... forgot to deactivate ILOK licenses for the plugins before the upgrade.

Now I have everything in place, I didn't even have to reinstall Windows because it reconfigured all new devices flawlessly.

But... the ILOK licenses activated on the "old" system are still taken and it seems there's no way to free them, the ILOK manager says it needs to be run on the old system; which is no longer available...
I could deactivate and reactivate Melodyne with no problems instead - it seems to use a system similar to iLOK, but it allows deactivating systems which are no longer active.

It looks as if there is an additional license allowed, so this is not a showstopper, but:

1) I have a license which seems lost forever
2) What if my PC breaks and I have to change a component that cause the system to be recognized as different by iLOK manager?

I feel a bit screwed.
Any hints (no, I'm not keen on getting a hardware dongle)?

Thanks,
Mario

[mabian]

Just found that on ILOK support website:

"I bought a new computer and some of my licenses are still on the old computer that I no longer have access to! How do I get them to my new computer?

Because the licenses are tied to the old computer, there is no way to deactivate the licenses without access to the computer. Since we do not have the authority to distribute additional licenses, you will need to contact the software publisher for help with this.

Understand that the software publishers are the only ones capable of licensing their products. PACE merely builds the infrastructure for the software publishers to distribute their products in the way that is consistent with their licensing terms."

Ok, I feel like I'm officially screwed. Come on guys, it's almost 2018... why should the assignee of a license be unable to freely manage it?

- Mario

[Chapelle]

---

[mabian]

Have you contacted AIR Music Tech about it? sbangs_air said here that they should be able to reset licenses in case of new hardware.

Cool, I just PM'ed sbangs_air.

Thanks!

- Mario

[mabian]

Ok, it seems AIR managed lightning fast to take care of this issue and reset my lost licenses.

Will check later if it's all good or not.

However, I still think that the iLOK manager should have the ability to deactivate licenses even if the assigned system is no longer available...

- Mario

[pekbro]

But that was your own fault, for not deactivating. iLok isn’t the only system like that, most any copy protection that uses your hardware config would do the same. E.g. waves, code meter etc.

Got to be more on the ball than that nowadays. One reason the dongle is a better solution imo.

Just sayin...

-cheers

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

But that was your own fault, for not deactivating. iLok isn’t the only system like that, most any copy protection that uses your hardware config would do the same. E.g. waves, code meter etc.

Got to be more on the ball than that nowadays. One reason the dongle is a better solution imo.

Just sayin...

-cheers

What happens if your computer dies?

[bmrzycki]

Blaming the paying customer for not jumping through enough hoops. Sounds like a perfectly reasonable business model...

[VariKusBrainZ]

This was why I bought a physical iLok, got to the point where Id invested so much money I had to protect my investments.

Soft iLok is too risky.

[Russell Grand]

But that was your own fault, for not deactivating. iLok isn’t the only system like that, most any copy protection that uses your hardware config would do the same. E.g. waves, code meter etc.

Got to be more on the ball than that nowadays. One reason the dongle is a better solution imo.

Just sayin...

-cheers

What happens if your computer dies?

^This.
I've had that happen a couple years ago and I lost all of my licenses. That was not my fault.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

But that was your own fault, for not deactivating. iLok isn’t the only system like that, most any copy protection that uses your hardware config would do the same. E.g. waves, code meter etc.

Got to be more on the ball than that nowadays. One reason the dongle is a better solution imo.

Just sayin...

-cheers

What happens if your computer dies?

^This.
I've had that happen a couple years ago and I lost all of my licenses. That was not my fault.

Then what happened?

[elassi]

I know why I made the transition from the old computer to a new one with patience - it took several weeks. Was pretty sure I'd forget something like the OP mentioned (read: deactivate all kind of stuff before resetting the whole system). In fact I had to re-install one software to just deactivate it. Puuh, been lucky here.

OTH the hint of VarKusBrainZ is a golden one. Will transfer my licenses to the physical iLok to prevent from such events, also this kind of accidents el-bo mentioned.

edit: English (I'll <> I'd)

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Will transfer my licenses to the physical iLok to prevent from such events, also this kind of accidents el-bo mentioned.

Whereas it looks like I might be selling my iLok stuff

[ghettosynth]

But that was your own fault, for not deactivating. iLok isn’t the only system like that, most any copy protection that uses your hardware config would do the same. E.g. waves, code meter etc.

Got to be more on the ball than that nowadays. One reason the dongle is a better solution imo.

Just sayin...

-cheers

What happens if your computer dies?

^This.
I've had that happen a couple years ago and I lost all of my licenses. That was not my fault.

It's not less your responsibility than is not losing your wallet. It may feel unfair, and good vendors will help you, but, the solution is insurance, not localizing blame.

With Waves you can store the authorization on a USB stick which is much less likely to just out and out fail. For extra security maybe use a memory card in a card reader. Or, if you're super paranoid a high reliability external SSD.

With iLok/eLicenser the license is essentially lost and it is up to the vendor to generate a new one. Can you even get the ZDT feature without a physical iLok?

[Russell Grand]

But that was your own fault, for not deactivating. iLok isn’t the only system like that, most any copy protection that uses your hardware config would do the same. E.g. waves, code meter etc.

Got to be more on the ball than that nowadays. One reason the dongle is a better solution imo.

Just sayin...

-cheers

What happens if your computer dies?

^This.
I've had that happen a couple years ago and I lost all of my licenses. That was not my fault.

Then what happened?

Well, like mabian mentioned, I was unable to reset my licenses through iLok despite the sob story I gave them. I was able to get some licenses restored (Eventide, Soundtoys, AIR), but I lost the rest (UVI, Sonivox).