I'm stuck, can't get Cake by BandLab to open

[Wayne Smith]

A short time ago I went through the setup/install processes -hopefully following the steps correctly. I had Cake open, everything seemed normal, made some initial changes and saved a few times as a project as I went. Since then on launch all it will do is a second or so of the opening banner.

Not sure where in the trouble shooting it happened (or began), the Cake desktop shortcut went away if that means anything.

Tonight I went through the install process and the 'How to Authorize steps but with no change. Wondering should I perhaps uninstall and start fresh?

 

[John Vere]

There's no authorization.

You create a Band lab account using your e mail and a password.

You download the bandlab assistant and log in.

Go to the Apps tab and install Cakewalk. 

From time to time you'll want to run the assistant and update Cakewalk. 

[Wayne Smith]

The step three on the 'How to Authorize page...

"Click Install. Follow the prompts to include any Add-Ons, then click OK to continue. When the install is complete, you will have a desktop icon for Cakewalk by BandLab, and the Install button will now read Open."

That would be the Cake section on the 'assistant, and yes it does read 'open. I  went through the  process again wondering if I had done something out of sequence to cause the problem.

[Robert Bone]

On 5/23/2020 at 11:19 PM, John Vere said:

There's no authorization.

You create a Band lab account using your e mail and a password.

You download the bandlab assistant and log in.

Go to the Apps tab and install Cakewalk. 

From time to time you'll want to run the assistant and update Cakewalk. 

Howdy, John - I copied/pasted in, below,  my comments from another post, regarding initial authorization, and besides those comments, there is a Bandlab/Cakewalk requirement once every 6 months, for it to be reauthorized - which if I recall correctly means launching Cakewalk from Bandlab Assistant.  Anyways, here are those comments I posted in another thread:

"I just yesterday installed CbB on a friend's laptop, and after doing the install from BA, I opened CbB from the desktop icon - first launch - and I got an error message telling me CbB was not authorized, so I did, in fact, need to do its 1st launch from the Open button in BA, for it to decide it was properly authorized.  I have installed CbB on 3 or or different computers, for both myself and a couple friends, and I guess that was the first time I hadn't done an initial launch of it from BA right after install, as I had not seen that message before." 

My comments in this post do not directly address the thread's subject - I just wanted to pass along what I experienced with regard to an initial authorization.  

Bob Bone

[Robert Bone]

WIth regard to Cakewalk not opening - I think that if Windows Update maintenance is not up to date, it might cause issues with Cakewalk opening.  There are some big updates that Microsoft flags as optional, and they do not automatically get applied.  Those require the user to actually go into Settings  > Update and Security, which gets you to Windows Update, and if there are any such optional updates to install, you have to explicitly click on the button to Install Updates.

If there were such updates needing to be installed, then after those updates ARE installed, even if it tells you that you are up to date, there may have been additional updates to the updates you just installed, so I suggest telling Windows Update one more time, to Check for Updates.  Repeat the process until after a set of updates finishes installing, you do an additional Check for Updates, and THEN it comes back to tell you that you are up to date.

Please give the above a review, and make sure you are up to date on Windows maintenance, and see if that makes any difference with Cakewalk being able to launch.

It is also possible that some antivirus software can interfere with the launch and even the operation, of Cakewalk - I have Avast Free antivirus software, and like most antivirus software, it comes with a settings page where exclusions/exceptions can be entered.  Those exclusions are paths that I can enter, to tell Avast not to scan any files/folders within that path, or sub-folders and their files.  I have several exclusions entered, so I have Avast skipping the scanning for the Cakewalk Project folder, my sample libraries, etc...  All of those files that came from installs, were scanned during their installation, so there is no risk in skipping them now.  You certainly do not want to have every single sample library file scanned by your antivirus software every time you play a note that triggers a sampled sound to play.  That just needlessly slows down streaming audio performance.

Anyways, here are the exceptions I have entered for my system, in Avast:

C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\*
C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\*
C:\Program Files\VST64\*
C:\Users\rober\AppData\Roaming\Cakewalk\*
E:\*
G:\*

Please note that in the above list, the E: drive is a sample drive (I have several other such drives as exceptions, just no need to list them as that only applies to my system, which has 4 separate hard drives with nothing on them but sample libraries.

And, the G: drive is the drive where I have all my Cakewalk Content folder, and the Cakewalk Projects folder, so I just have that whole drive as an exception in Avast.

Sorry for the extra discussion about the antivirus stuff - the main point I wanted to get across with that, is that sometimes antivirus software can interfere with the operation of programs such as Cakewalk.

And, the main point altogether, for my post, is to suggest that you check to make sure your Windows Update maintenance is all current.  That should actually be extended, to make sure that your drivers for your computer are also up to date on driver maintenance, including your audio interface. 

Bob Bone

[Wayne Smith]

Thank you very much Robert.  I now have some steps to try instead of the 'delete / uninstall I was headed for :>)

[lapasoa]

John Vere's post is the right answer to your troubles.

[Robert Bone]

4 minutes ago, lapasoa said:

John Vere's post is the right answer to your troubles.

Well, yes, generally those steps are correct (except that initial launch does an internal authorization), however, per Wayne's earlier comments in the thread, he did install Bandlab Assistant, and did the installs, and it does not open, nonetheless, so something else is going on.

[John Vere]

I have installed CbB on a lot of different computers and I've yet to have any issues if I just do as I said above. It might be different on different systems with different administrator privileges etc  stuff happening, but I'm always working with W10 Home fully updated. I make sure windows and all my drivers are 100% before I move forward with my software.  

[Wayne Smith]

Update here. I did the Win10 updates followed by what I hope was the proper 'exceptions as well, reboots along the way.

I chose 'Performance Exclusions' in our ESET NOD32 antivirus here as it looked like the best of the two choices. As it didn't work (help) I logged the question to their help desk. They indicated a reply Monday. That would be nice. :>)

Almost forgot, Robert does "C:\Users\rober\AppData\Roaming\Cakewalk\*" indicate your BandLab Assistant files? The Assistant doesn't seem to fault here but I included it's file folders as well.

Thanks again

Edited June 1, 2020 by Wayne Smith

[Robert Bone]

3 hours ago, Wayne Smith said:

Update here. I did the Win10 updates followed by what I hope was the proper 'exceptions as well, reboots along the way.

I chose 'Performance Exclusions' in our ESET NOD32 antivirus here as it looked like the best of the two choices. As it didn't work (help) I logged the question to their help desk. They indicated a reply Monday. That would be nice. :>)

Almost forgot, Robert does "C:\Users\rober\AppData\Roaming\Cakewalk\*" indicate your BandLab Assistant files? The Assistant doesn't seem to fault here but I included it's file folders as well.

Thanks again

The Cakewalk folder in the Roaming folder above, contains some files for Cakewalk\Core, so I went ahead and added it to the Avast Exceptions, though it is not a bottleneck if I had not done that.  But, I figured why not, and added it.   If you open File Explorer, and enter the following (just copy and paste it into File Explorer:

%appdata%\Cakewalk

You can look at the files and folders within - the Cakewalk Core folder has some misc files, and the drum maps.  Again, skipping that entry in your exceptions/exclusions paths of your antivirus won't really slow things down any.  I just had a 'why not?' moment when I added it to my Avast exceptions.  Really, your sample libraries, Cakewalk Content, and Cakewalk Projects, and the paths to your VST2 plugins and the C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3 are your biggest bang for the buck, for having the antivirus software skip scanning files accessed/written/manipulated.

And, it is not anything to do with the Bandlab Assistant that I have those paths skipped by Avast.  Those paths are there because they are accessed by Cakewalk, so Cakewalk performs better by not having extra overhead from the antivirus program.

Bob Bone