# ILok Problems - A lot of My Instruments Won't Load



## Reid Rosefelt (Dec 1, 2022)

Did anybody else have a problem with the newest Komplete Kontrol install? Is there a way to back up to the previous version? I'm on 2.8. I have to click through ten screens just to get KK Standalone to load.

The worst one was Ample Sound's Erhu. I really liked that. I have no idea why Komplete Kontrol had a problem with it as it isn't a Kontakt instrument. I had the serial, but it was denied because Ample Sound only allows a single installation. I just sent a note to @Jason Morin

The other stuff that didn't load was random things like Simple Monsters, LiftX, and a bunch of iZotope reverbs that I've never used. Some of these things I got through APD or Plugin Boutique so they were registered via emails. Usually I keep serials but this is going to be a lot of work.

Why did I upgrade Komplete Kontrol? It was working fine.

I needed to get into Cubase so it blacklisted all these libraries. No big deal except for the wonderful Erhu and Simple Monsters, which I just bought.

Today is a busy day and getting Simple Monsters to work is not even the millionth thing on my list. I have a feeling I'm going to lose a lot of things I paid for.


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## unclecheeks (Dec 1, 2022)

I can’t help as to your immediate question, as I don’t use KK, but what I usually do when installing plugin updates, is first make a copy of the current version plugin in a backup folder. That way it’s easy to roll things back if the update causes issue. 

In the case of KK, there’s probably a database file somewhere in Documents or Application support. Might be good to back that up before updating. 

Anyway, that probably isn’t helping you much at the moment, but for the future!

Does KK have some sort of database rebuild option? Again, maybe back up the existing one before doing this. And it sounds like this is more of an authorization reset issue anyway, maybe not the database…

Sorry I can’t be more helpful, just spitballing!

(Maybe you have a system backup that has the older version of KK plugin you can replace?)


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## Reid Rosefelt (Dec 2, 2022)

I'm just going to try to get some of the instruments back. I've lost all my Ample Sound Chinese instruments. Hopefully, they will help me get them back. 

One thing at a time.


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## Scottyb (Dec 2, 2022)

Sorry about that Reid. I waited to update to 2.8 just to make sure there weren’t too many problems and luckily when I just updated a few days ago it was smooth as silk. @EvilDragon might be able to offer a thought? Hopefully you get things back going soon!


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## Reid Rosefelt (Dec 3, 2022)

My feeling is that it probably wasn't the Komplete Kontrol upgrade. Maybe a Windows update or something else? The only thing I can think of is that I hooked up the new sideshowfx template for the Stream Deck Plus. I can't see how that would change anything.

The only issue now is to try to get the instruments back that I want back.


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## unclecheeks (Dec 3, 2022)

Is there a common thread between the instruments that won’t load? A certain type of authorization maybe?

Do these plugins load if you load them directly, without going through KK?


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## Reid Rosefelt (Dec 4, 2022)

unclecheeks said:


> Is there a common thread between the instruments that won’t load? A certain type of authorization maybe?
> 
> Do these plugins load if you load them directly, without going through KK?


Thank you. This gives me a new way to try to fix this.

They are all iLok. 

When I get time I will try loading other iLok instruments. Mine are all activated to my computer. Perhaps iLok has lost the connection to my computer and shut down ALL my iLok instruments. However, everything is still listed as activated within iLok. 

Another possibility is the variety of ways different companies activate iLok. This would explain why only some instruments are causing me problems. At least as far as I know.

FYI, I have the same problems with Cubase and Unify. The difference is that I can't open Cubase without five clicks through Ample Erhu pages, while all the other Chinese instruments go through fine. I just can't load them. When I try to load them, then I get all the pages asking me to activate the library. Ample says that that serial number is what activates iLok.


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## Reid Rosefelt (Dec 4, 2022)

Okay, the problem is definitely iLok. Thanks @unclecheeks

All my iLok instruments and effects are marked as activated in the app, but only ones from these companies work:

iZotope
Liquidsonics
PSound
Sonible
UVI
VSL

*All instruments and effects by these companies don't work:*

AcousticSamples
AIR
AmpleSound
Boom
East West
Eventide
Exponential Audio
Krotos
Sonivox
Soundtoys

I've submitted a support ticket. Wish me luck!


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## Reid Rosefelt (Dec 9, 2022)

Dealing with the iLok was: send an email, wait for a return, send another email, etc. Eventually the customer service guy decided that, for whatever reason, the companies no longer see my computer as being my computer. Apparently this can happen. This is not, from iLok's perspective, something they are responsible for fixing. Take it up with the developers. But you_ can _do that through their software. I sent out a notice to the developers. Now I will sit back and watch as some of them reactivate.

Hopefully this will be sorted out in the next week or two, and I'll get my libraries back. 

I think I am done with computer iLok. If this ever gets fixed, I'm going to buy a physical one so I don't have to go through this again.


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## cedricm (Dec 9, 2022)

Reid Rosefelt said:


> Dealing with the iLok was: send an email, wait for a return, send another email, etc. Eventually the customer service guy decided that, for whatever reason, the companies no longer see my computer as being my computer. Apparently this can happen. This is not, from iLok's perspective, something they are responsible for fixing. Take it up with the developers. But you_ can _do that through their software. I sent out a notice to the developers. Now I will sit back and watch as some of them reactivate.
> 
> Hopefully this will be sorted out in the next week or two, and I'll get my libraries back.
> 
> I think I am done with computer iLok. If this ever gets fixed, I'm going to buy a physical one so I don't have to go through this again.


The added advantage of a physical iLok, and the reason I use one is to use my plugins and instruments on both my laptop and my desktop. At least if/when/until all devs enable iLok Cloud.

I also subscribed to iLok's ZDT protection. It's $30 a year but given my investment in iLoked products I don't think I can skip it.


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## kgdrum (Dec 9, 2022)

cedricm said:


> The added advantage of a physical iLok, and the reason I use one is to use my plugins and instruments on both my laptop and my desktop. At least if/when/until all devs enable iLok Cloud.
> 
> I also subscribed to iLok's ZDT protection. It's $30 a year but given my investment in iLoked products I don't think I can skip it.


This 
I wouldn’t even consider using a machine based ILOK auth scheme.
i have used iLok dongles with ZDT for YEARS……….. NO PROBLEMS.


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## unclecheeks (Dec 9, 2022)

Rationale behind physical iLok makes sense, but isnt that trading one problem for another, in a sense? If you lose your dongle somewhere - which I think is probably _more _likely than what happened here (at least the way i do things!) - aren't you in the same situation?


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## kgdrum (Dec 9, 2022)

I’m not the most organized guy but in 20 + years I’ve never lost or misplaced a dongle but I never travel with it as it’s always plugged into the hub.


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## Justin L. Franks (Dec 9, 2022)

unclecheeks said:


> Rationale behind physical iLok makes sense, but isnt that trading one problem for another, in a sense? If you lose your dongle somewhere - which I think is probably _more _likely than what happened here (at least the way i do things!) - aren't you in the same situation?


That's what ZDT with TLC is for.


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## unclecheeks (Dec 9, 2022)

The only reason


Justin L. Franks said:


> That's what ZDT with TLC is for.


Strange that it’s only offered as an option on physical dongles. The way I understand it is, once you enable the option, the dongle has to “call home” every 90 days, otherwise it gets deactivated (and your licenses released). I wonder why they don’t offer this same functionality with machine activation, seems like same thing could work there.


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## José Herring (Dec 9, 2022)

Reid Rosefelt said:


> Dealing with the iLok was: send an email, wait for a return, send another email, etc. Eventually the customer service guy decided that, for whatever reason, the companies no longer see my computer as being my computer. Apparently this can happen. This is not, from iLok's perspective, something they are responsible for fixing. Take it up with the developers. But you_ can _do that through their software. I sent out a notice to the developers. Now I will sit back and watch as some of them reactivate.
> 
> Hopefully this will be sorted out in the next week or two, and I'll get my libraries back.
> 
> I think I am done with computer iLok. If this ever gets fixed, I'm going to buy a physical one so I don't have to go through this again.


The dongle thing is set and forget. 
I've been getting messages from Ilok that they are doing maintenance on their cloud. i don't know if that's also tied to machine authorization, but I've always felt the most comfortable with a dongle that I can see.


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## cedricm (Dec 9, 2022)

unclecheeks said:


> Rationale behind physical iLok makes sense, but isnt that trading one problem for another, in a sense? If you lose your dongle somewhere - which I think is probably _more _likely than what happened here (at least the way i do things!) - aren't you in the same situation?


I've had an iLok key for more than 10 years. I never had any issue.
It's really my preferred anti-piracy measure because many devs are using it.
I was none too happy at the time when I had to purchase a V3 key to replace my v1 key, but spread over the years of use, the cost was marginal.

I really don't like to have to have another key just for Waves.
And I despise systems like Best Service that are problematic as soon as you change something in your computer or upgrade the BIOS.
I've had many issues also with some devs when the system drive crashes for good and you can't deactivate their plugins so you can't activate them again.

If a dev must absolutely have its own system, then it must be done right. Like XLN Audio, which lets you manage the two authorizations as you see fit. Never had an issue in years.


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## Paj (Dec 10, 2022)

@reid: I'm not having issues with any of the developer plugins on your list that I have but Reaper did a startup scan for ~160 plugins after the Komplete Kontrol update. Is your DAW automatically scanning for new plugins? Offhand, I can't think of another plugin that is more in need of do/don't scan option than Komplete Kontrol. It's (place your own obscenities here) obnoxious.

Paj
8^|


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## Reid Rosefelt (Dec 10, 2022)

I’m not able to get to my computer for a few days, but I’ve already received two emails from developers—Soundtoys and SoftTube. So it seems like the request I made in the iLok software went out to all the companies I’m having issues with. Hopefully I will continue to hear from more companies as the days go by. And then when I can get to my computer, I’ll see if the problem is solved. 

I’m very happy that I was able to start this process. Once everything is okay again, I’ll buy an iLok and transfer everything to it.


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## muddyblue (Dec 11, 2022)

Reid Rosefelt said:


> Dealing with the iLok was: send an email, wait for a return, send another email, etc. Eventually the customer service guy decided that, for whatever reason, the companies no longer see my computer as being my computer. Apparently this can happen. This is not, from iLok's perspective, something they are responsible for fixing. Take it up with the developers. But you_ can _do that through their software. I sent out a notice to the developers. Now I will sit back and watch as some of them reactivate.
> 
> Hopefully this will be sorted out in the next week or two, and I'll get my libraries back.
> 
> I think I am done with computer iLok. If this ever gets fixed, I'm going to buy a physical one so I don't have to go through this again.


Tomorrow there will be a ilok cloud update, maybe it will help to solve the other problems....


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## Paj (Dec 11, 2022)

FWIW, every iLok License Manager Software user might want to take note of this (it used to be more of an issue in the past but you never know):
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
iLokReset (Win10)---This is a major time and sanity saver (thanks to SeaGTgruff)

This will save you about 20-30 minutes of needless aggravation; you won't have to uninstall the iLok software, reboot, download the latest iLok software, (re)install the latest iLok software, reboot, run the iLok software, and login to your iLok account to update your licenses. Just do the following:

->Control Panel->System and Security->Administrative Tools->Services

Either:
(a) Double-click on PACE License Services and then click on the [Start] button in the popup window

. . . or . . .

(b) Select/Highlight PACE License Services and click on the underlined "Start" link that appears in the upper-left corner of the services list

That's it. This procedure even has a longer-lasting effect than the unistall/re-install that the iLok error message suggests. Only heaven knows why PACE doesn't post this info on its website. The reset might become necessary after Windows updates or some software installations.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Paj
8^)

P.S.: You can make a desktop shortcut to get to the Services page even quicker, and get up-and-running in about 10 secondswhen the need arises: 
->Control Panel->System and Security->Administrative Tools->right-click on "Services" and select "Send to Desktop" from the dropdown menu. The icon will look like two, pale-blue, meshed gears.


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## Reid Rosefelt (Dec 14, 2022)

Almost all my iLok virtual instruments have been reactivated. It was fast and easy.

The main exceptions are the Exponential Audio reverbs I bought from iZotope. They stopped supporting them 12 months from the date of purchase. From their POV, anybody can still use them as long as they keep them on your computer. What happened to me is the iLok equivalent of getting a new computer. Whoops! 

So they are the only company not doing iLok resets and I'm out of luck. I'm just going to delete them from my system so they don't trip up the loading of Komplete Kontrol and Cubase. 

Honestly, Neutron (which I used to love) stopped working on my computer long ago, and really screwed up the mix on one of my favorite pieces. I know (from this forum) that I'm not the only one that has happened to. 

The truth is I don't give two shits about those EA reverbs. I have 50 more reverbs than I need. Still,
at this point, I can't see any reason why I should use any iZotope products on my tracks from now on.

As a company, they should know it's a black mark on their brand to walk away from a product soon after they sell it. Whatever money they save by not providing customer service is not worth it.


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## Justin L. Franks (Dec 14, 2022)

Reid Rosefelt said:


> Almost all my iLok virtual instruments have been reactivated. It was fast and easy.
> 
> The main exceptions are the Exponential Audio reverbs I bought from iZotope. They stopped supporting them 12 months from the date of purchase. From their POV, anybody can still use them as long as they keep them on your computer. What happened to me is the iLok equivalent of getting a new computer. Whoops!
> 
> ...


Screw them. I had actually considered picking up Neoverb or Symphony as a potential replacement for my beloved R4. But this is absolutely ridiculous. I thought they were supporting it for another 12 months. But it's 12 months _from when you purchased it?_ So, if you purchased more than a year ago, your copy became completely useless instantly if you need a new iLok? As in, if this had happened to you the day they announced those products going EOL, you still would be SOL?

Software going EOL is a fact of life. But it needs to be announced well in advance. Can you even download these products anymore if you are moving to a new system with the same iLok key? Probably not.

This is completely unacceptable. I had also eventually planned on getting Ozone & Neutron Advanced too through one of their sale bundles. They can forget about that too, I'll be looking elsewhere.


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## Reid Rosefelt (Dec 14, 2022)

Justin L. Franks said:


> Can you even download these products anymore if you are moving to a new system with the same iLok key? Probably not.


I don't need to download them. I have the installation files. But they won't work in iLok unless somebody at iZotope pushes a button and resets iLok.

If these reverbs weren't iLok, then there never would have been a problem.

This is another reason for having a hardware iLok. I'm going to order one today.


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