Waves License Centre = Kafkaesque Nightmare = FIXED

[Carl Kolchak]

I've had a bunch of Waves v9 plugins running successfully on my Windows Laptop since some time last year...

Yesterday, during Pro Tools boot-up plugin scan, a Waves window pops up announcing that it can't find valid licenses, and that I need to log in to Waves License Centre, reload the licenses and rescan.

So I go through the procedure, only to discover that WLC has somehow created a new hardware profile for my Laptop, with a new completely unique device ID.

The new device ID for my Laptop is visible under the "Connected Devices" tab, and is listed as an empty device, with no plugin licenses attributed to it.

The original device ID for my laptop is visible under the "Disconnected Devices" tab, and clearly shows the plugin licenses.

No matter what I do, there is no way to make the original device ID for my laptop active, or "Connected", and deactivate or "Disconnect" the new device ID - and consequently no way of selecting the licenses in order to move them back to the cloud, or associate them with the new device ID.

I can only assume this issue came to my attention because it was one of the extremely rare occasions that my laptop was connected to the internet - ironically for the purpose of authorising a couple of other plugins.

Can anybody shed some light as to why this may have occurred, and what the solution might be?

The only two possible reasons that spring to mind are :

a) My internet provider has rebranded the company, and sent out a new router - could a possible change of IP address cause WLC to assign a new unique ID to my laptop?

b) My Laptop has 2 user profiles, one for Pro Tools, and one for general house keeping that is the profile I use if I need to download software etc, but they are not separate boot-partitions, just profiles - I don't believe multiple profiles on the same computer would generate unique ID's in the same way that separate partitions would, so why is WLC assigning a new unique ID to my laptop?


I can't believe it would be "a)" because that would be lunacy, negating the ability to authorise from anywhere other than one location.

Likewise, I can't believe it would be "b)" because no matter which profile I use to log in to WLC, my original device ID is always listed under the "Disconnected Devices" tab.

I've tried re-installing etc, but no joy.


Any help greatly appreciated.


NOT BLOODY WELL SOLVED AFTER ALL AS IT TURNS OUT!



Problem due to originally synching computer using hard wire vs WiFi.

Solution : connect via hard wire. move licenses to cloud. disconnect hard wire. reconnect via WiFi. move licenses back to computer.


Problem Recurs : seems that unless the computer is permanently connected to the internet, Waves licenses will fail Pro Tools boot-up plugin scan.

[Top Jimmy]

Typical to all disk-based auth systems is that any hardware change at all will change the system ID such as adding memory or changing the internal boot drive.


Buttdialed by me & Tapatalk

[sunburst79]

Try using the WiFi if your using ethternet or vica-versa. A lot of times the Machine ID is linked to the MAC address of the adapter. This particularily true of Windows itself. If you had one adpater or the enanbled when first authorizing Waves and creating an Machine ID then enabling or disabling one may make a difference.

My Waves bundle is still on 7X. I am NOT looking forward to upgrading and losing iLok.

[Carl Kolchak]

Originally Posted by Top Jimmy

Typical to all disk-based auth systems is that any hardware change at all will change the system ID such as adding memory or changing the internal boot drive.


Buttdialed by me & Tapatalk

Yeah, that's what's so weird - I've changed absolutely nothing on the Laptop in question.

The only difference is the new router, and as I said, that's insanity if that actually makes a difference - the only people who could ever risk having their computer online at any time, would be studios that never move the computer. And even then, heaven help you if you need a new router.

[Carl Kolchak]

Originally Posted by sunburst79

Try using the WiFi if your using ethternet or vica-versa. A lot of times the Machine ID is linked to the MAC address of the adapter. This particularily true of Windows itself. If you had one adpater or the enanbled when first authorizing Waves and creating an Machine ID then enabling or disabling one may make a difference.

My Waves bundle is still on 7X. I am NOT looking forward to upgrading and losing iLok.

You, Sir, win the prize!

That never would have occurred to me, and I never would have remembered that when I originally synched the Laptop with WLC, it was hard wired.

This misery came about because the Laptop was connecting via WiFi.

I've logged in to WLC whilst hard wired, moved the licenses to the cloud, and then moved them back to the Laptop whilst connected via WiFi (I guess it's more likely that I'll be connected via WiFi generally speaking).

So, problem solved, although this does raise the issue that Waves plugins (at least during PT boot plugin scan - presumably not at any other time) are connecting to the internet without my explicit permission - I'm sure Waves will argue I gave them permission implicitly, by agreeing to their terms & conditions in order to be able to install the plugins (it's bound to be buried somewhere in the small print).

[YYR123]

Little Snitch !!!!

Allow only once - nice !

[sunburst79]

Originally Posted by Carl Kolchak

You, Sir, win the prize!

That never would have occurred to me, and I never would have remembered that when I originally synched the Laptop with WLC, it was hard wired.

This misery came about because the Laptop was connecting via WiFi.

I've logged in to WLC whilst hard wired, moved the licenses to the cloud, and then moved them back to the Laptop whilst connected via WiFi (I guess it's more likely that I'll be connected via WiFi generally speaking).

So, problem solved, although this does raise the issue that Waves plugins (at least during PT boot plugin scan - presumably not at any other time) are connecting to the internet without my explicit permission - I'm sure Waves will argue I gave them permission implicitly, by agreeing to their terms & conditions in order to be able to install the plugins (it's bound to be buried somewhere in the small print).

Cool I love happy endings.

Celemony used to to do the same thing back when they had challange and response auth.

I'm a self admitted wifi junkie. Always swapping adapters and tweaking the network.

I thought I read some place that Waves phones home every ninety days. I have't Wupped up and won't until they ship AAX and as such haven't read much about the WLC plan. I know they were offering a choice of WLC or iLok at one point. I'm hoping that still the case when I upgrade.

[nst7]

I don't think they offered a choice of WLC or Ilok.

What they did, and still do offer, is the choice of putting the license on a USB stick. For all practical purposes, this would work like an Ilok, and would avoid all the issues discussed here.

[Carl Kolchak]

Originally Posted by StewartFang

nice ...Waves is connected to your rig whenever they feel like it...nice racket

Originally Posted by YYR123

Little Snitch !!!!

Allow only once - nice !

Aren't they Sweethearts?!

I guess they realised it was more efficient than sending all those undercover agents, posing as prospective clients, round to studios to "enquire" what Waves products they had, and then accuse them of having illicit versions of their plugins...

They really like to treat their paying customers with respect.

[Craig F]

except it looks like any other USB drive to the OS and is accessible as such
we have had a licence go missing because of this hored system