# SOLVED! - Found a Consistent Bug in Dorico 4 and the eLicenser Software (you read that right)



## PaulieDC (Feb 23, 2022)

*(Go to Solution)*
I found a repeatable grump with Dorico 4 and eLicenser software when you still have the upgraded Dorico 3.5 leftover on the USB stick (says "3.5 not upgradeable" now that I'm on 4)... wonder if anyone else who has both 3.5 and 4.0 can repeat it. I'd like to contact Steinberg with more than just me getting borked. This is one Windows 10 Pro btw.

Here's what happens - Obviously Dorico 4.0 now has a login-based authentication, but my eLicenser remains plugged in for Cubase and WaveLab:

Open Dorico 4, do stuff, save and close.
Start the eLicenser software and you will get the error in the screenshot below. When you clear the error, the eLicenser window has NO items in it on either side. Unplugging the stick does nothing, *you have to reboot*.
You also get the error if you try to start Cubase after Dorico 4, simply because the eLicenser gets ignited when you start Cubase. This is how I first found the bug and thought it was Cubase arguing with Dorico 4.
SUMMARY: Something in Dorico 4 messes up the eLicenser instance running on your PC and Steinberg needs to fix it, just want to verify it's not just me. Since I upgraded from Dorico 3.5 maybe the leftover version on the stick is causing an exception to be thrown. That's bad since you can't launch Cubase or Wavelab and probably Nuendo after using Dorico.

Anyone with a Mac and both versions, if you could test it that'd be great.

THE ERROR:






Then you end up with this:


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## PaulieDC (Feb 23, 2022)

Ah! Just found another symptom! After rebooting, I opened eLicenser and verified that all of my licenses were back, and they were. I left it running, and tried to open Dorico 4 THREE TIMES, and it just does not respond. So I closed eLicenser, tried Dorico again, and it launched.

Heavens to Mergatroid, Steinberg has a doozy here. Can't wait to submit this one.


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## Jett Hitt (Feb 23, 2022)

I can verify that I have had a lot of trouble with eLicenser since upgrading to Dorico 4. I had a great deal of trouble getting it to set Dorico 3.5 to "Not upgradable." But after multiple tries, it finally updated and gave me the unrestricted copy of Dorico 4. (I forget what this was called.) Now, however, I sometimes get an eLicenser error for no disernable reason when I open (or close) Dorico 4, even though nothing using the eLicenser is open. I then won't be able to open the eLicenser without restarting the computer. This happened to me tonight after I had quit Dorico 4. The only thing open on my machine was Safari after I quit Dorico 4, and out of nowhere an eLicenser error popped up.


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## PaulieDC (Feb 24, 2022)

I just found a new version of eLicenser on the Steinberg site that they released 6 days ago and installed it clean, but to no avail, still get the error.

Well, sorry it's happening to you also but at least I'm not completely nuts. I'll write Steinberg and give them the step-by-step to recreate the error. At least it happens every time.... if it was intermittent then that would complicate it three times over.

Thanks for the feedback!


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## PaulieDC (Feb 24, 2022)

Jett Hitt said:


> I can verify that I have had a lot of trouble with eLicenser since upgrading to Dorico 4. I had a great deal of trouble getting it to set Dorico 3.5 to "Not upgradable." But after multiple tries, it finally updated and gave me the unrestricted copy of Dorico 4. (I forget what this was called.) Now, however, I sometimes get an eLicenser error for no disernable reason when I open (or close) Dorico 4, even though nothing using the eLicenser is open. I then won't be able to open the eLicenser without restarting the computer. This happened to me tonight after I had quit Dorico 4. The only thing open on my machine was Safari after I quit Dorico 4, and out of nowhere an eLicenser error popped up.


Again, thanks for your info. OK, reached out to Steinberg Tech Support via email and included ALL of the Windows Event Log entries, of which there were many for that one failure. We'll see what happens!


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## ChickenAndARoll (Feb 24, 2022)

I was also having this error and just haven't used Dorico for the last month, but today I updated both the E-Licenser Control Center and the Steinberg Activation Manager, and now I was able to authorize Dorico 4 in the Steinberg Activation Manager without a hitch. Previously it just said "Verification Pending" but wouldn't let me authorize it, and in the E-Licenser software it said Dorico 3.5 (non-upgradable)


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## youngpokie (Feb 24, 2022)

PaulieDC said:


> Ah! Just found another symptom!


I just tried the steps you mentioned in the first post. I only have an issue if I try the e-licenser maintenance while the dorico audio engine is still active in the Task Manager. It seems like it needs an additional second or two to close. After that, I have no issues.


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## ed buller (Feb 24, 2022)

I've had this. Make sure DORICO isn't showing anywhere in the Task Manager. Especially in "Background Processes" 

best

e


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## PaulieDC (Feb 24, 2022)

ed buller said:


> I've had this. Make sure DORICO isn't showing anywhere in the Task Manager. Especially in "Background Processes"
> 
> best
> 
> e


Hey, there's a great User Experience, lol... they definitely have a "feature" to readjust!


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## PaulieDC (Feb 24, 2022)

youngpokie said:


> I just tried the steps you mentioned in the first post. I only have an issue if I try the e-licenser maintenance while the dorico audio engine is still active in the Task Manager. It seems like it needs an additional second or two to close. After that, I have no issues.


Curious, after you open _and then close_ Dorico, then open the eLicenser (or start an app that uses it such as Cubase), do you get the eLicenser error?


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## ennbr (Feb 25, 2022)

I'm on a Mac and followed your steps eLicenser comes up just as expected after exiting Dorico 4. I've not seen any issues with starting Cubase 11 either


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## youngpokie (Feb 25, 2022)

PaulieDC said:


> Curious, after you open _and then close_ Dorico, then open the eLicenser (or start an app that uses it such as Cubase), do you get the eLicenser error?


If I open eLC immediately after closing Dorico 4, I have no errors. The error happens only when I try to do maintenance immediately after closing Dorico. Then I get the warning that maintenance is not possible while other components are open (quoting from memory here, but I think that's the gist of it). 

If I give one additional second for the Dorico audio engine to finish up in Task Manager, I can click on maintenance again and it works without problems.


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## PaulieDC (Feb 25, 2022)

youngpokie said:


> If I open eLC immediately after closing Dorico 4, I have no errors. The error happens only when I try to do maintenance immediately after closing Dorico. Then I get the warning that maintenance is not possible while other components are open (quoting from memory here, but I think that's the gist of it).
> 
> If I give one additional second for the Dorico audio engine to finish up in Task Manager, I can click on maintenance again and it works without problems.


Great info, thanks!


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## PaulieDC (Feb 25, 2022)

Jett Hitt said:


> I can verify that I have had a lot of trouble with eLicenser since upgrading to Dorico 4. I had a great deal of trouble getting it to set Dorico 3.5 to "Not upgradable." But after multiple tries, it finally updated and gave me the unrestricted copy of Dorico 4. (I forget what this was called.) Now, however, I sometimes get an eLicenser error for no disernable reason when I open (or close) Dorico 4, even though nothing using the eLicenser is open. I then won't be able to open the eLicenser without restarting the computer. This happened to me tonight after I had quit Dorico 4. The only thing open on my machine was Safari after I quit Dorico 4, and out of nowhere an eLicenser error popped up.


So I got a response already from tech support with a link to a utility to reformat my eLicenser to see if that would work. It completed but it didn't work... but they also asked that I generate send an NFO file from the MSINFO32 utility in Windows, which I did. So I'm quite impressed that they are being proactive with this! 

Funny, a new weird thing happened after I ran their utility: I did the same routine - I ran Dorico, then quit as I've been doing all along. I saw Dorico immediately shut down in Task Manager. I started eLicenser, got the same error, then cleared the MessageBox and quit eLicenser. This time, after elicenser quit, _Dorico relaunched itself! _And it didn't ask for me to confirm being that I have Run As Admin set in the properties for the app. That means a process launched it (like Bridge launching Photoshop and not needing me to click "OK"). This is good, it wasn't complex enough, we needed to kick it up a notch.


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## ChickenAndARoll (Feb 25, 2022)

PaulieDC said:


> Dorico relaunched itself!


Dorico has become a sentient program, it's trying to tell us not to write another 8 bar loop in D minor


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## PaulieDC (Feb 28, 2022)

I was doing testing for Steinberg support, and I finally figured out how to fix this, actually stumbled onto it. I had first found a weird anomaly before the fix:

If I open and close Dorico 4, _then wait two minutes_, the eLicenser and thus Cubase open just fine, no errors! I repeated this several times. @youngpokie only got the error when running maintenance, but I got it immediately, yet waiting 2 mins let it all work.
HOWEVER, with Cubase now running, Dorico 4 _would not launch again until I closed Cubase_. Weird, but I have good news below about this issue.


*What I Did to Fix It*

I wanted to open Dorico 4 as Admin, so I searched for it to find the folder, and that’s when I discovered that Dorico 3.5 was still installed on my PC.
I uninstalled Dorico 3.5, then rebooted to start clean.
I wasn’t sure if the uninstall would affect Dorico 4, so I tried a Repair from Apps & Features that failed because it couldn’t find the .msi in my App Data Temp folder. No biggie.
I downloaded the latest Steinberg Download Assistant, then downloaded the Dorico 4 installer again and told it to reinstall.
Once done I ran Dorico 4 *as Admin* (I usually do that on everything but hadn’t until now), *everything worked!*

Something got missed in the code that cause a Dorico 3.5 instance to interfere. That's fine with me, I couldn't rip v3.5 off my machine fast enough once I found it. Not only does Dorico 4 work great, the new login is so nice, NO turning back. BTW, this explains why I didn't have this issue on my laptop I realize... I never had Dorico 3.5 on there because I didn't want to fuss with the USB nonsense. So v4 went in clean and there's no issue there. Anyway, glad we have a fix.


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## youngpokie (Feb 28, 2022)

PaulieDC said:


> Dorico 4 _would not launch again until I closed Cubase_


Congrats! Are you able now to run Dorico 4 and Cubase at the same time (or Dorico 3.5 and Cubase)?


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## PaulieDC (Feb 28, 2022)

Yes, Dorico 4 and Cubase 11 Pro run together, and I can open and close the apps all day long. No more weird eLicenser errors! NO on Dorico 3.5, because uninstalling it is what fixed the conflict. Fine with me, don't need 3.5. Finally!


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## PaulieDC (Feb 28, 2022)

ennbr said:


> I'm on a Mac and followed your steps eLicenser comes up just as expected after exiting Dorico 4. I've not seen any issues with starting Cubase 11 either


Once I saw the Event Logs I realized it was a Windows-only thing, because the eLicenser runs another licensing EXE as an object in the code and that's what was failing. Yay Apple, don't have those issues generally.


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