Windows 7 future Activation? -Will CbB stop activating in the future if I don't update any further than my current version?

[KRob]

Hello.  I have CbB installed  on two computers, one has Win 10 and is up to date and works perfectly.  Another is an older Win 7 64bit system that has CbB Version2020.01 (build28,64 bit) and continues to work perfectly for me.  I've had this music only computer for a long time and its still works well.  

I have a lot of older software that was originally installed  on the Win 7 system only, that I still want to use .

I'm not going to update this machine to Win 10 due to the older software.

Will the Win 7 version just stop working one day as it wont activate?  Notes  for release 2023.09 say Bandlab assistant will no longer be used to activate the product.

 I don't know if there will be an offline activation option for older systems?

I don't require future "support" for the Win 7 machine. Only that it continues to function as is.

I don't care about updates on the Win 7 machine but I'd like to continue to use it without any activation issues. 

Does anyone know if there will be an option made available or a way to keep older systems functioning if updates aren't required?

Hoping someone has some incite

Long time cakewalk supporter and user. Appreciate all the Cakewalk team has done for us all. Much appreciated.

[Promidi]

Try uninstalling and reinstalling Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime.

The latest version can be downloaded from here. (Under Evergreen Standalone Installer > X64)

https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/webview2/#download-section

Edited November 5, 2023 by Promidi

[Kevin Roberts]

Hi. Thanks. That is where  Downloaded it from I believe. I do have the last valid version 109 for win 7.

 

But I will uninstall and try again.  I think I did x64 but I've tried so many things I could have picked the x86?

I'll try it and advise.

Thanks again.

 

[Kevin Roberts]

So I uninstalled the x86 version of webview 2 I had installed and tried the x64 version from the link above. Now I get the error message below during install.

I tried is safe mode as well. Same result.

I tried to reinstall the x86 version and now I get the same error message.

I installed x86  yesterday or Friday evening. Not sure why it wont work now.

I tried the fixes mentioned on the web for the error code but nothing worked.

Any idea what this error is?

I thought the x64 installer may have used a more recent version than 109 with is the last win 7 compatible version?

I downloaded some of the older 109 version but they say unknown installer error and wont load.

Now I have neither installed....

 

What is the difference in the 2, Evergreen Boostrapper and Evergreen Standalone installer?

 

[Promidi]

Try installing as an administrator.

50 minutes ago, Kevin Roberts said:

What is the difference in the 2, Evergreen Boostrapper and Evergreen Standalone installer?

The Boostrapper is a stub, and the Standalone installer is, well a Standalone installer ie full installer.  The Standalone installer is the one you want.

[Kevin Roberts]

Ok. Thanks. I did install as admin but same error msg.

 I've tried everything everyone has suggested. Still the same error message and now I cant install the the webview2 so that makes it worse I guess.

I guess unless cakewalk implements some kind of offline option I'm out of the cakewalk game on win7.

Really a bummer day, but I am SO grateful to everyone who spent the time trying to help me (and hopefully anyone else who is experiencing these issues) Thank you all....

Your all very kind to try to help. If anyone has any other thoughts or suggestions I'm always open to trying.

Best wishes to all.

 

[Promidi]

I just had another thought.  Even though I said the stand alone is the one you want, I am reconsidering that for your situation. Maybe try the stub.

The webpage says that the stub is a tiny installer that “downloads the Evergreen Runtime matching device architecture and installs it locally”

Maybe because you are running Windows 7, the “matching device” might be different than for Windows 10 (which is what I have)

I also found this:  

https://news.thewindowsclub.com/microsoft-edge-and-webview2-runtime-will-no-longer-support-windows-7-8-1-107894/

You may be able to download version 109 of the webview2 runtime from here

https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=webview2 Runtime version 109

[Kevin Roberts]

Promidi

Thanks for the suffestion!  The stub did install the 109 update but its x86.   I still get the same error msg about no internet connection. The runtime doesn't seem to effect it either way.

What I'm not getting is the Bandlab log-in splash screen as shown in Marks screen grab.

I assume Its either on my end  (some odd setting) or the Cakewalk/bandlab servers side?

Should i try a complete uninstall of 202.09 and try the installer again?

Whats the best way to make it see it as a fresh install? I dont know if any registry clean up may be required?

 

 

[Promidi]

1 minute ago, Kevin Roberts said:

What I'm not getting is the Bandlab log-in splash screen as shown in Marks screen grab.

I assume Its either on my end  (some odd setting) or the Cakewalk/bandlab servers side?

Should i try a complete uninstall of 202.09 and try the installer again?

Whats the best way to make it see it as a fresh install? I dont know if any registry clean up may be required?

 

A full uninstall and reinstall of Cakewalk, complete with registry clean, is a bit nuclear and a bit last resort (I would not be trying that just yet).

If you do want to go down that path, here are the instructions

https://help.cakewalk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360034066393-Clean-Install-Cakewalk-by-BandLab

Uninstalling Cakewalk from programs and features should not lose settings.

Did you try installing the X64 version 109 from that link I posted?  (The one you want is the 2nd one down on the list - Build 109.0.1518.140)

https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=webview2 Runtime version 109

Just to confirm, have you set a default browser in Windows 7?

https://www.groovypost.com/howto/change-default-browser-windows-7/

[Kevin Roberts]

HI.

 

1. Mozilla is set as the default browser on win 7 machine. (I tried edge and chrome, same results) Mozilla is updated to latest revision.

2. I tried to install the x64 version from the link you provided. I get an "unknown installer error"  when running Any x64 version, including the one you  referenced.  I tried all of the x64 109 versions. All get the unknown istaller error. Looks like others have reported this. I did run as administrator and cleared my cache etc.

3. The bootstraper worked where the Evergreen wouldn't but it automatically installed the x86 version only as far as I can tell?

4. When I let the evergreen try to install the x64 I get the 0xc000139 error shown.

 

Why is the complete uninstall/reinstall a last resort? Would it be better to leave the registry alone then if it dosent interfere with the reinstall? 

Since the x64 gets an install error from the cakewalk installer, I dont know that it would make much difference in reinstalling anyway?

 

[Promidi]

47 minutes ago, Kevin Roberts said:

2. I tried to install the x64 version from the link you provided. I get an "unknown installer error"  when running Any x64 version, including the one you  referenced.  I tried all of the x64 109 versions. All get the unknown istaller error. Looks like others have reported this. I did run as administrator and cleared my cache etc.

To me, this is looking like a Windows 7 issue specific to your PC.

I believe because the 64 bit version of the WebView2 Runtime won’t install on your Windows 7 PC, you won’t be able to activate CbB 2023.9.

Maybe there is a policy on your PC that is preventing Edge (and hence Webview2 Edge Runtime) updates.

I know you won’t want to hear this, but maybe a reinstall on Windows 7 is needed.

59 minutes ago, Kevin Roberts said:

Why is the complete uninstall/reinstall a last resort?

I said this because a complete uninstall/reinstall would mean losing all your Cakewalk settings and they will revert to default.  More so, I am not even confident that even this will solve your issue, as Cakewalk’s installer will still try to install the 64 bit WebView2 Runtime (which will fail).

Do you have a trusted person with technical expertise who can have a look at this for you?

[Kevin Roberts]

Thanks.  I concur. Seems like a something on my end I guess. Never had an issue with an other update in the past. Those would have been running under Webview 2   x86 though?

 

I uninstalled it, even though its not set as  the default, do I need to have Edge installed and Webview 2?

 

I have something else I can use that still functions after all these years on Win 7 in order to use the plugins but its not cross compatible with the Cakewalk on my Win 10 system I dont think?

I still have a working copy of Cubase 7 I used before switching to Cakewalk all those years ago. 

I think  I'd just have to process wave files in Cubase  using the effects then import the rendered wave file into Cakewalk  on the Win 10 side.

Pretty much a pain but it may work?

 

So  my win 10 system it is running  2023.09.

Will 2023.09  continue to function in its free state or will it deactivate some day?

 

Again, appreciate all the support.

 

[Promidi]

34 minutes ago, Kevin Roberts said:

Thanks.  I concur. Seems like a something on my end I guess. Never had an issue with an other update in the past. Those would have been running under Webview 2   x86 though?

I uninstalled it, even though its not set as  the default, do I need to have Edge installed and Webview 2?

Not sure about Edge, but you definitely need Webview2 for CbB's activation.

I suspect that because CbB2023.09 changed the activation server, they also changed the Webview2 requirement to the 64bit version. 

I believe that once you get a successful 64bit Webview2 runtime installation, CbB should activate.

I believe that’s that’s your show stopper.

[msmcleod]

1 minute ago, Promidi said:

Not sure about Edge, but you definitely need Webview2 for CbB's activation.

I suspect that because CbB2023.09 changed the activation server, they also changed the Webview2 requirement to the 64bit version. 

I believe that once you get a successful 64bit Webview2 runtime installation, CbB should activate.

I believe that’s that’s your show stopper.

I'm pretty sure this is not the case.

WebView2 isn't used for testing the internet connection, nor is it used for activation.   It's also not used for authentication - hence why it launches a browser. The only time WebView2 is used is when a web-page is shown inside the application - if it's not there, it'll fall back to IE... the content may not display properly, but at least in CbB it shouldn't cause any major issues.

Cakewalk uses sockets to connect to bandlab.com behind the scenes for both testing the connection and activation.

If Cakewalk can't connect to bandlab.com or establish a session to the BandLab authentication API, you'll get the "Unable to connect. Check internet connection" message.  At this point, it'll not even launch a browser for you to login.

The issue is almost certainly one or more of these issues:
1. Something is blocking Cakewalk from connecting to the internet
2. Something is blocking access to bandlab.com
3. Particularly slow access to bandlab.com is causing it to time-out and fail the connection
4. Security updates are missing from Windows 7 (e.g. at the SSL/TLS/Certificate authentication level), which is preventing a BandLab API session from being initiated.

It may be the case that having Edge installed will solve issue 4, but I'm pretty sure there were other security updates that were pushed out just before Windows 7's EOL, that updated some of these.

[Promidi]

1 hour ago, msmcleod said:

I'm pretty sure this is not the case.

WebView2 isn't used for testing the internet connection, nor is it used for activation. 

 

I have asked this definitive question of Cakewalk support.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Are you able to tell me what Cakewalk by Bandlab functions would not work as a result of not having a working Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime installation.

Especially, would that break Cakewalk by Bandlab activation?”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Promidi]

.....and the answer I got was this.

“It is not entirely necessary to have Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime installed for activation purposes as, if you have other programs that require the Runtime, then it is best to have it installed.”

So looks like I was wrong about webview2 being needed for activation.

 

[HIBI]

@msmcleod 
Has Cakewalk changed its use of Webview2 runtime?

In the following thread, @Jesse Jost explains "For clarification, the WebView2 component is necessary for sign-in because it supports the modern web. (~omission~) Due to account authorization and product activation, not having this runtime is not an option."

Edited November 7, 2023 by HIBI

[msmcleod]

1 hour ago, HIBI said:

@msmcleod 
Has Cakewalk changed its use of Webview2 runtime?

In the following thread, @Jesse Jost explains "For clarification, the WebView2 component is necessary for sign-in because it supports the modern web. (~omission~) Due to account authorization and product activation, not having this runtime is not an option."

We changed sign-in to launch the browser, as too many people were having issues with the WebView2 component at the time.  

I can't recall exactly when this was, but I think it was some time mid 2022.

[HIBI]

@Kevin Roberts
Due to a change in Cakewalk specifications, the current version no longer uses Webview2 for activation. I apologize if my comment caused any confusion.

[KRob]

Hello. Thank you for all the attempts to try to fix this issue.

 

I have received a few reples from cakewalk recently.  They suggest trying the below as a last ditch effort to get it to authorize.

My question is: They mention downloading the 2023.09 installer and installing the program.  I already have 2023.09 installed on Win 7 but with all the assistance here, I've opened, started and stopped the program a number of times.

Will these instructions below still work if I've already opened 2023.09 or do I have to uninstall it and start fresh with the instructions?

If anyone has any thought or experience with this, please let me know.

I want to give it a try but since I already opened it days ago, don't know if it will impact the rest of the directions?

Email from Cakewalk support:

 (Cakewalk)

Nov 7, 2023, 15:11 GMT+8

Hi Kevin,
 
Thanks for getting back. The reason why Cakewalk wouldn't activate via Help > Sign in with BandLab is that the computer is on Windows 7. This might be a shot in the dark, but you can try:
 

Download the v2023.09 installer - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LzXkiEZnugrGqnrtISvrDXBF9ovG1V2r/view?usp=sharing

Download the CbB_Login_Settings.zip that I have attached to this email.

Install Cakewalk v2023.09. Don't open the program when done installing.

Extract the files from CbB_Login_Settings.zip. You'll find 2 files. To activate the login-based password authentication, double-click the file titled CbB Login Password.reg when CbB is not running.

Open Cakewalk, head to Help > Sign in with BandLab. It should open a dialog like this.
 

Login with your BandLab username/email and password.

To switch back to web browser-based authentication in the future, double-click on the CbB Login SSO.reg file.

[John Vere]

Sure looks good to me. That’s first class support I’d say. 
No harm in re installing it will either work or tell you it’s already installed. People are always uninstalling and I don’t think it’s ever been necessary.