IainThompson

Just for the avoidance of doubt, I have only ever taken updates from the official site, so if the exe was "not legit" then the non-legitimate file came from Bandlab. If the file became corrupted on my system, which I guess could have happened in the update process earlier this week, then this is a bit different from concluding that the file was not legitimate in the first place.

Thanks Mark. I knew there was a simple solution somewhere, and I checked all the preference settings but because I didn't have the advanced button selected at the bottom I didn't see it. All sorted now!

I'm pretty sure this is a basic question, but here goes. Is it possible to have more than one project open in the free version of Sonar and switch between them using the Window drop down? I used to do this all the time in the old Cakewalk program but now in Sonar when I open up a second project it seems to close down then first one and so on the Window drop down I only ever see one file open.

Just providing an update, in case it helps someone else in the future. I asked for help from Bandlab and they suggested the following: 1. Sign out and back in – Fully sign out of Sonar (and Cakewalk Product Center if you have it installed), then sign back in with the same BandLab account that owns your Sonar license. This can often reset the activation. 2. Reinstall via Product Center – If signing out/in doesn’t help, uninstalling Sonar and reinstalling it through Cakewalk Product Center can clear up any activation hiccups. Step 1 didn't make any difference for me, but the reinstall (step 2) sorted things out.

I was using Sonar (free version) yesterday with no problems. Today I get the message that I am not activated and the error message says "Sonar experienced a problem with activation. Please contact support. (20, 800b0100)". Does anyone know what this means and know how I can sort it out? If I use Sonar at the moment the save option is deactivated.

Once again, thanks for the advice (TracingArcs and Wookie). My order for a Scan 3SX is now placed with a spec very similar to Tracing Arc's!

Thanks for the feedback and the recommendation for Scan computers. I had come across their website but didn't make the connection back to your spec at the top of this post. It looks like I will end up with something similar, although even a few months later some of the components seem to have changed (so now it is the Ryzen 7 9700X 8C/16T CPU instead of the Ryzen 7 7700. I have no idea how much difference this makes in the real world! Thanks, once again.

I'm in the same boat of trying to source a new PC for Sonar, and it is 10 years since I have had to do it. I don't need 200 tracks open at once! On the ready built options (from computer specialist UK) I come across this spec for £679. I know there is some lack of detail on make or RAM, motherboard, cooling, etc. The sales blurb is theirs, not mine. An almost impossible question, I know, but how would this perform compared with TracingArcs spec above? Office Business PC – Intel Core i7-14700 | 64GB DDR5 RAM | 1TB M.2 SSD | Windows 11 ⚡ Intel Core i7-14700 – 20-core processor with superb multitasking ⚡ 64GB DDR5 RAM – For demanding office & creative workloads ⚡ 1TB M.2 SSD – Ultra-fast boot and load times ⚡ Windows 11 – Fully installed and activated ⚡ Ideal for: Business, data analysis, programming, design, and multitasking ⚡ UK-built, plug & play, upgradeable and efficient 💼 Professional Power for Demanding Workflows This office powerhouse PC is built to meet the needs of professionals and business users who demand top-tier performance. Featuring the latest Intel Core i7-14700 (20 cores, 28 threads) and an incredible 64GB of ultra-fast DDR5 RAM, it’s perfect for multitasking across dozens of browser tabs, Excel sheets, programming tools, databases, virtual meetings, and even light creative software. With a 1TB NVMe SSD, startup and file access are near-instant, giving your business efficiency and speed where it counts. Whether you're in finance, development, creative services, or high-demand remote work, this PC is ready to power through it all. CPU: Intel Core i7-14700 – 20 Cores (8 Performance + 12 Efficient), 28 Threads RAM: 64GB DDR5 (2x32GB) – Blazing-fast multitasking Storage: 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD – Fast OS + file access OS: Windows 11 Home or Pro (customizable) Connectivity: USB 3.2, HDMI, DisplayPort, LAN Build: Clean, quiet, professional case – low power and high airflow

Many thanks for this helpful reply. Although I used the latest version of the installer from the Bandlab site, the libcef.dll file was missing from the folder that you referred to. (The installer did give an error referring to this file). I copied the file over from another PC that has Cakewalk on it and now everything starts up OK. Once again, thanks for your help.

Evening All. I needed to do a clean re-install of Windows 10, and hence I had to re-install Cakewalk by Bandlab ( as in the free one). I got a few error messages on the re-install of which the most persistent one is that I get an error message on starting Cakewalk saying that "the code execution cannot proceed because libcef.dll cannot be found". I've raised the issue with Bandlab, but as yet have not had a reply. Any ideas from the great and the good of the Cakewalk community? I've been a long term user of Cakewalk ( and had the original lifetime subscription for Sonar), so have used the software on this machine without any issues previously.

I had a similar problem a few days ago (see thread "Cakewalk not opening - Solved"). For me it came down to a corruption in a control surface file, caused by trying to install a new controller. The crashes are probably creating dump files ( .dmp) and these can be sent to Cakewalk technical support ( see details in the other thread ). My experience was that they were pretty quick to try and help, so this might be a better route to go before major re-installation of Windows etc.

And that, my friend, wins the prize! Your suggestion worked, so I have updated the thread title accordingly. Many thanks.

Thanks Will and scook. I saw the article from Noel, hence I found the dmp files. I have sent them off, following the link in Noel's article. I've been searching my mind trying to think what might have changed. I did try to install the drivers for a Korg NanoKontrol 2, so may be this caused a problem. The only reason I discounted this was because my Windows restore point was set before I downloaded the Korg drivers, and on return to this set point the problem didn't resolve. Hopefully the Cakewalk tech team will be able to help.

Some further investigation shows that the crashes are creating so call mini dump files (cakewalk.exe.XXXX.dmp where X = numbers ). Can these be interrogated to investigate this problem further? They are 10Mb files though, so I can't attach them here.

I do have a second monitor, and had already checked for it being in that one (but it isn't). When I have task manager open I can see cakewalk appear in the Apps list and then instantly disappear as the program appears to shutdown.