Steinberg & Windows Update

[MFXxx]

I must be very fortunate. Ive never had any issues with Windows upates impacting ilok, elicenser or other dongles, drivers and so forth.
However I am quite organised about my rig. When I get a new rig or os hard drive, I complete a fresh install (which takes around a week in all with tweaks). Do a backup during the install, Marcium reflect image. Then update, back up data and note what Ive done as I go along then reinstall every 3 -6 months from the last fresh install.

Also Ive found Privazer and Revo uninstall to be very useful in removing redundant files etc.
Its also worth performing a regular housekeeping check onyour USBs in device manager - shows hidden and manually delete, if you move youre USB sticks around from time to time you may have redundant links to your devices which may through off drivers.

[PAK]

So it never occurs to you that the belief is just that there *are* thieves in this world (a fact easily enough noticed) rather than specifically "their customers" are the problem. Don't do too much.

No. Never. Thanks for your valuable insight.

Now maybe my brain is doing too much for your liking, but perhaps you interpreted things which nobody said. (A bad internet forum habit). You see, perhaps there's a difference between "doing nothing" and doing -different- things to incentivize buying. You know, things which don't involve running driver level code when you do something disgraceful like open a menu? It's a subtle difference, I know.

The only reason such a system works well on Cubase is because of all the places they can bury checks. On virtual instruments it usually works as a preset encryption system because it doesn't have those places and it's too bloody slow to use for anything else. These methods harm speed and stability, and there are easier ways to tell your customers (and potential customers) that you hate them.

This thread is a direct example of the downsides of such methods and is not to argue that companies should do absolutely nothing to protect their property. (I'm pointing this out a second time, as you appear impaired in this regard).

At least it breaks things btw. It could be worse and randomly break things. Because then we're in a situation where you could get random crashes where the causes may not be immediately apparent. There's a reason companies have (and will continue) to ditch such methods.

[chk071]

eLicenser needs online for the initial activation as well. Just saying.

You can move your usb elicenser to another computer though.

Arcvidean

Right, but, buy another Steinberg product, and you need to activate it again. Unless... you want to carry the USB dongle home again, activate and move the license to the dongle, and carry the dongle over to your studio again. Or... you could just do it the easy way, and have your DAW online, and you're even able to activate other plugins as well, update your software, your OS, your other software, and all that.

[David W]

Any idea what happens in this scenario if your music computer is offline? Would you still have the elicenser usb option available?

I can't answer for Steinberg as I don't work for them. The indication is that they are going to offer any new licensing system (which will perhaps be some sort of periodic automatic online verification) as an alternative to USB eLicenser. In other words, you get the option to choose a USB dongle or the new setup.

I hope the new licensing system gets rid of the frustration where you can move soft eLicenser eligible licenses from a soft eLicenser to a USB eLicenser, but you cannot go the other way (once on a USB eLicenser always on a USB eLicenser, though you can move licences between USB eLicensers). I have all my Steinberg licences except Cubase Pro (which has to be on a USB eLicenser) on a soft eLicenser on my main machine so that I can use them without a dongle, but this means I cannot use any of these licences on any other machine.


All we can take as certain at this stage is that Steinberg are working on a more flexible licensing system. Until the new system is launched, everything stays the same as at present.

[David W]

You know... in my opinion, Microsoft should abandon the half yearly upgrade, or even yearly upgrade policy, and, at best, should do upgrades every 2 years, if even. They just anger people with that, and, especially people who are not very computer affine, and can't help themselves, when there are issues. The kind of "bleeding edge" policy they're running won't be good for them in the long run.

The problem with abandoning six monthly feature upgrades is that the change between each upgrade becomes bigger.

What Microsoft have done with the release of Windows 10 1903 is, I believe, the best of both worlds. They are going to carry on with six monthly feature upgrades, but from 1903 onwards these upgrades will be an optional download and install unless your current version of Windows 10 is coming to the end of its 18 month support life. A further change is that Windows 10 Home usere are going to get the "pause updates" functionality previously limited to Professional and higher editions of Windows 10.

[Teksonik]

I just saw a report that the May Win 10 1903 Update can break the System Restore function.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/hel ... ll-updates

I cringe every update Tuesday and especially major updates like the May 1903. I've been lucky so far but just having to worry about every update tells us all we need to know about Winblows. Thankfully as mentioned above this update will allow us to fight off future updates.

I've been using Linux more and more but I just can't make the switch to audio production on Linux.

[chk071]

The problem with abandoning six monthly feature upgrades is that the change between each upgrade becomes bigger.

It doesn't have to be like that. They don't have to pack those updates full of features. There never were significant feature updates for Windows Vista, 7 or 8 (maybe with the exception of Windows 8.1). Microsoft don't have to cater to the "new and shiny" audience, especially when it comes at the price of instability.

[ew]

I've yet to have to reinstall drivers for any hardware I have after a Windows update, be it dongles, external gear or what have you.



ew

[ew]

My guess as far as the eLicenser dongle is concerned is that the USB root hub doesn't wake up properly after the update. There's an easy fix for that, though- go into device manager and shut off power management for the hubs.

ew

[Arcvidean]

Any idea what happens in this scenario if your music computer is offline? Would you still have the elicenser usb option available?

I can't answer for Steinberg as I don't work for them. The indication is that they are going to offer any new licensing system (which will perhaps be some sort of periodic automatic online verification) as an alternative to USB eLicenser. In other words, you get the option to choose a USB dongle or the new setup.

I hope the new licensing system gets rid of the frustration where you can move soft eLicenser eligible licenses from a soft eLicenser to a USB eLicenser, but you cannot go the other way (once on a USB eLicenser always on a USB eLicenser, though you can move licences between USB eLicensers). I have all my Steinberg licences except Cubase Pro (which has to be on a USB eLicenser) on a soft eLicenser on my main machine so that I can use them without a dongle, but this means I cannot use any of these licences on any other machine.


All we can take as certain at this stage is that Steinberg are working on a more flexible licensing system. Until the new system is launched, everything stays the same as at present.

Thanks for that information, I'm relieved that there would be an option.. It's amazing what people tell you you should do with no knowledge of your circumstances.

Arcvidean.

[BONES]

What's wrong with you people? I am on the Insider Preview programme so I get updates every few weeks and mostly the installation is painless. There are a couple of caveats, though - there is a known issue with this particular update where it will change the drive letter for any microSD card you have plugged in. That means you either remove the card or change the drive letter back after the update (which I've had to do half-a-dozen times this year). Hardly the end of the world. I also had to reinstall the drivers for my Yamaha AG06 a couple of times but not lately. I think I've had two new builds since I installed Cubase a few weeks ago with no problems encountered.

Could the process be better? Maybe.

Is it even worth mentioning? No, not really. Seriously, on a scale where zero is a perfect upgrade experience and 10 is a total disaster requiring a HDD wipe and full re-installation, these issues barely rate a 1, maybe a solid 1 if you have to run maintenance on your eLicenser. If everything in my life went as smoothly as Windows updates, I'd have a significantly better life than I do now.

[v1o]

Yes the Windows May Update just came out. But People you shouldn’t be upgrading Windows at all until given the all clear by both your DAW manufacturer and all your plugin manufacturers. There is zero benefit to being an early adopter of these OS updates. The last update in October broke a lot of things.

[crimsonwarlock]

https://greatis.com/stopupdates10/

I don't have anything Steinberg in my setup, but I had a windows update (October update indeed) completely break my setup and I had to rebuild my installation from scratch. So now I use this

[felis]

Yes the Windows May Update just came out. But People you shouldn’t be upgrading Windows at all until given the all clear by both your DAW manufacturer and all your plugin manufacturers. There is zero benefit to being an early adopter of these OS updates. The last update in October broke a lot of things.

Ha ha - you go to shut down your computer and are given the options - update and shut down,
or update and restart.

I suppose you could waste some precious drive space with another program to try and stop it,
but it'll get through eventually.

And yes - update snags aren't the end of the world. But as stated, the first time it seems like all your licenses have disappeared, it can throw you for quite a loop until you figure out what's wrong.

[BONES]

Yes the Windows May Update just came out. But People you shouldn’t be upgrading Windows at all until given the all clear by both your DAW manufacturer and all your plugin manufacturers. There is zero benefit to being an early adopter of these OS updates. The last update in October broke a lot of things.

Again, it didn't break anything of mine. It was a perfect 10 upgrade for me. Upgrading is a no-brainer for me and it should be for you, too, as Synapse are never going to ensure Orion is compatible, so you'll be waiting for an endorsement that will never come.