Alexander Louwe Kooijmans

I found a similar thread and also found the answer there. And in that thread the problem was also someone making a change in the control surface settings and after that Cakewalk did not start anymore, even after re-installing.

I renamed ctrlsurface.dat to ctrlsurface.old in the Cakewalk User Data folder and now it starts again. 

I made a change in the control surface settings, and after that Cakewalk does not start anymore. I completely removed the software, including removing entries in the registry, restarted Windows, and then reinstalled several times using different versions. No luck. I only see the main window a few seconds and then it closes. 

Is there any log to see what happens? 

Like many other people, I ran into the same issue. The problem is really is that it is very counter intuitive. You would expect that jamming on the VST keyboard would give you a very direct way to record an additional track on top of your work. Anyway, it sounds like a hardware Midi controller will solve this problem in the best way. The Virtual Controller, by the way, does not give the same sound as the original VST. Not sure why, but probably more settings and mappings would need to be set. I am betting on my Midi Controller, arriving tomorrow. For now, I am using the step sequencer.