Activation required!??

[Jerry Pellegrino]

When I opened Cakewalk I got this message "Activation required-Cakewalk must be reactivated within 13 days. Update activation status before time runs out"  What is this?  And what am I suppose to do?  It doesn't tell me anything more!!  Is this for real?  I never had to reactivate before.  Thanks.

[scook]

 

[John Vere]

All the software I use has a" Help" dropdown in the menu bar ( Hint, Hint) This is universal place to find the Look For Updates etc. 

[User 905133]

On 8/18/2023 at 9:47 AM, Jerry Pellegrino said:

I never had to reactivate before.  Thanks.

Did you ever update CbB?  If so, the reactivation was transparent. The difference now is that we are awaiting the final CbB update pending the release of Cakewalk Next and Cakewalk Sonar.  I have decided to just use Menu Bar > Help > Refresh Activation periodically.  As I understand it others are opting to be less proactive and are waiting for the reminder (such as the one you got).

PS: Sometimes I forget to be proactive, so when someone raises the issue (such as you did), I reactivate. So, thanks for the reminder--I hadn't refreshed on my own in a while.

UPDATE:  Evidently CbB no longer has a built-in mechanism to refresh activation from the Menu Bar > Help Menu. See 

for more information about activating CbB.

Quote

In order to activate CbB, you must sign in to your BandLab account (Help > Sign In to BandLab).

 

Edited September 20, 2023 by User 905133
added update

[Bass Guitar]

And to add I got the toast the other day and I just clicked in the toast message to update, took 30 seconds. I don't understand the need for this question?  All the software I use has toast for updates, I just got one today in another software I use, they are sort of a no brainier. I read that Cakewalk only uses this re activation to keep track of how many people are using it. 

[Lord Tim]

It's kind of uncharted waters for some now that we haven't had an update in a while because that handled the reactivations automatically like was mentioned, so more people will be getting these notices.

There's some hold-up on the server side of things that's stopping the next update of CbB being released apparently, so in the meantime I'm wondering if there should be some kind of pinned post or something about this?

[User 905133]

On 8/18/2023 at 6:48 PM, Lord Tim said:

It's kind of uncharted waters for some now that we haven't had an update in a while because that handled the reactivations automatically like was mentioned, so more people will be getting these notices.

For several months I have had no problems using the built-in Menu Bar > Help > Refresh Activation method, but my music PC is online and I don't have to look up my bandlab user name and password. 

Maybe someone who routinely uses the Offline Activation method can do that and advise others? It looks easy enough and I could try it, but I wouldn't be able to compare with what usually happens because I haven't done it before.

PS: The online method is super easy: (1) Click the Refresh Activation button, (2) Close the toaster message that says "Cakewalk activation has been refreshed." It took less than 5 seconds!!!!!!  It takes less time that than writing up a message to complain, adding a PS to an existing post, or fixing a typo.  😜 

UPDATE:  Evidently CbB no longer has a built-in mechanism to refresh activation from the Menu Bar > Help Menu. See 

for more information about activating CbB.

Edited September 20, 2023 by User 905133
added UPDATE re change to CbB's built-in activation