How can I see the expiry date of my existing CbB activation?

[Jonathan Hoey]

I am currently using Cakewalk by Bandlab 29.9.0.125 for 64-bit Windows, which I believe is the latest available version. 

 

Upon opening it today I received the popup notifying me that it will not be possible to reactivate the software after 1 August 2025. 

 

How can I see when/if my current activation is due to expire? 

 

I am aware that it is possible to install the free tier of Sonar and that this should be able to open my existing projects. I probably don't use very much that wouldn't be included in the free Sonar, although I'd appreciate an exhaustive list of what will be omitted rather than just the one-sentence "including..." that I've found in the FAQ so far. 

 

However I'm in the middle of making an album, and until it's done, I don't want to change anything about my workflow, much less have to learn to use an entirely new DAW (even one described as "the next evolution of" the existing one). 

I did find this forum thread in which someone quotes the following text: 

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How long does activation last?

Under normal conditions, if you are signed in to BandLab and your system is online, no further user intervention is required and Cakewalk will stay permanently activated. If your system is offline, however, the activation lease will last for up to 6 months, after which you will need to reactivate Cakewalk. When this happens, you will get a message informing you that Cakewalk needs to be activated.
Activation can also be needed under rare cases if you make major changes to your system like installing a new OS, changing the motherboard, etc. Re-activation will normally occur automatically and seamlessly when you launch Cakewalk if it's needed. However, if you don't have an active internet connection, you will need to enable it or follow the offline activation steps.

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The post is from 2022, however, and the quoted text from some unspecified time before that. Clearly at least some, if not all, of this will now have been superseded. 

 

When the record is finished and mastered, then I'll consider what to do next, DAW-wise. In the mean time, I'd like to either be able to see an 'activated indefinitely' status, or at least know how long I have before the clock runs out. 

[John Vere]

Sonar even the free version is a much updated version of Cakewalk. You are taking no risk at all by installing it along side of CbB. 
 

You will find out that your projects will open and should be identical to what you have in Cakewalk. It is not different other than the Graphics and a few new tools. 
Just make sure and set the plug ins paths and possibly your Workspace the same. 
 

I would recommend this over waking up tomorrow morning and Cakewalk can no longer save or export your project. 
 

You might have a month left which to answer your questions is found in the Help menu under About. 
 

We have had 2 years of warning that this would happen. I guess if you don’t visit the forums you might have not been aware. Bandlabs web site is not very helpful or easy to navigate. 
 

This video explains how to get started. 

 

Edited Wednesday at 08:58 PM by John Vere

[Bristol_Jonesey]

While Sonar Free offers the majority of the core features available in Cakewalk by BandLab, some premium capabilities are reserved for BandLab Membership, including plugin oversampling, Elastique Pro time-stretching, multiple Arranger tracks and limited dithering algorithms

[John Vere]

And also as I just said in another thread. It shows support for the software. 

[Jan]

Yeah, I'd also like to know how to check how long my activation is valid. I already installed Sonar Free, but it has a bug, so I have to stick to CbB for the time being. I wish I knew how much time I have left.

[Jan]

On 7/2/2025 at 10:54 PM, John Vere said:

Sonar even the free version is a much updated version of Cakewalk. You are taking no risk at all by installing it along side of CbB. 
 

You will find out that your projects will open and should be identical to what you have in Cakewalk. It is not different other than the Graphics and a few new tools. 

Well, I did just that and turns out that my projects are not identical (some odd tempo sync bug with VSTs that's not present in my old copy of CbB (2019.09)), so I can't use Sonar Free until this is fixed and thus I'd really love to know how much time I have left on my copy of CbB...

[John Vere]

Seems we are told any time after August 1

But the licensing date is in the Help menu under about. 
 

Update/- I just checked and this seems like it just changed recently. My copy of Cakewalk I installed a few days ago on my laptop to investigate this fiasco just say activation by Cakewalk or something like that. No date. 

Edited 11 hours ago by John Vere

[Jan]

1 hour ago, John Vere said:

Seems we are told any time after August 1

But the licensing date is in the Help menu under about. 

Yes, and that "any time" depends on when you last reactivated which is what I'm trying to find out. If your last activation refresh was mid-February, then it will work until mid-August. If the refresh was yesterday it will be good until January 4th, 2026.

I don't have a date there sadly, perhaps it was introduced later. I'm on an ancient 2019.09 version.

[Bristol_Jonesey]

6 hours ago, Jan said:

Yeah, I'd also like to know how to check how long my activation is valid. I already installed Sonar Free, but it has a bug, so I have to stick to CbB for the time being. I wish I knew how much time I have left.

What bug? Have you reported it?

[Mr No Name]

I've made the move to another daw.

it's not you, it's me.

I'm keeping the CD collection.

[Jan]

10 hours ago, Bristol_Jonesey said:

What bug? Have you reported it?

Until this is fixed I can't use Sonar