I have reinstalled Windows and made a few adjustments on my computer. I have then reinstalled all the software, including Waves Central and all my plugins successfully. Launching the first plugin, I realize that my licenses aren’t there, so I go to Manage Licenses in Waves Central and my licenses appear to be on the SSD that was formerly my system drive, but it is marked as disconnected (while it really isn’t).
So I go to Waves support and read all about it, and they say I probably have made some changes to my computer and I should revert in order to get my licenses back. Seriously? They want me to revert to my previous Windows installation, remove my new system drive and revert to the old one? Who actually does that just to get their licenses?
Anyway I read that it could be related to network adapters and I did disable my on-board network adapter since I have installed a new one. So I went to my BIOS and reactivated it again, reinstalled the driver in Windows, but my licenses are still “disconnected” in Waves Central.
Waves Support say the support is only for their “update plan” users so that leaves me with no option. Can anyone help here?.. Please don’t tell me I have to scrap 2 days of hard work installing new hardware, reinstalling my system and tweaking Windows for audio.
I haven’t done Waves license stuff in a few years, and when I had to replace my system drive I didn’t install the old (32-bit) Waves stuff. Also, mine were on iLok so the only issues I had were the install procedures. So I don’t know if I can be of much help, but here goes.
So I’m not clear on what happened. Did you wipe your SSD and start over, so it’s the same physical system drive but a new install of Windows? What version of Windows? It might help to know some system specifics, though probably not, I’m just guessing as to your situation as there aren’t many system details of what is going on.
As I understand it, when you license software on a machine, it’s not so much the hard drive SN (though that may be part of it) but the particular install of Windows on that drive. If you re-image the drive with a new copy of Windows or even the same one as before, there is a different Windows system ID created that is unique and different than your previous one, which may be the problem. From my experience, you have to use a new “activation” and most software mfr’s give you several activations to use. With Waves that may not be the case though - as you have painfully found out they want to push the WUP (Waves Update Plan) to extract more money from you every year.
That’s a possible advantage of having licenses on an iLok is they stay there no matter what you do with your computer, and you can install the software on multiple computers and just move the iLok to use one install at a time.
As to reverting to the old drive, that’s where I’m confused. I don’t know if you used the SSD previously and now you are using a new system drive (SATA or another SSD?). It sounds like you still have the SSD in the machine but no longer as the system drive? Again, I don’t know if that extra info will help us, but it’s always clearer to give specifics on the hardware and Windows setup so we know what is happening.
I have installed a new, larger and quicker SSD. I have reinstalled Windows and all my software on this drive and am planning to use the old SSD to store sample libraries.
I tried recovering my system on my old drive and was able to reboot it. So I went to Waves Central hoping to be able to transfer my licenses to “My Cloud” or directly to my new drive, but the drive I booted from still appears disconnected in Waves Central.
Then I finally found out that they give a 1-year recovery opportunity which is actually accessible from Waves Central, so I did that and was able to recover my licenses.
So it is fine in the end, except I have a weird feeling that Waves is taking me hostage here.
That’s BS! They should make it easy and encourage you to keep using their product. If you’ve got an Account and have purchased software from them, what more should they need? I do remember reading to move your licenses to the Cloud before reconfiguring your system.
Good that the recovery option is there. Is it only for plugins you have bought in the last year, or can you recover all your licenses if you have bought anything in the last year?
Well I contacted support anyway and they replied even though I don’t have the update plan. So I don’t know why they communicate on the support being reserved fort WUP users.
Anyway I was able to recover all my licenses for plugins and packs I bought during the past few years. The recovery is only allowed once a year though.
I’m sure they have plenty of server space where they could store all of your license data. Asking a user to rollback an major system update seems unnecessary.
When it comes to Waves and their tech support, people seem to either love them or hate them, no in-between. I’ve had pretty pleasant experiences with them so far but I certainly understand that not everyone is in that same boat!
