# ILok : will I always have to babysit it ?



## Robo Rivard (Nov 17, 2019)

Ok, is there something that I'm missing with the iLok license system?... It started when I bought EchoBoy. I needed an iLok key to run it, so I downloaded the iLok Manager, and used the software version to run it. I had to launch the application and Sign In everytime in order to use it.

But I got fed up and bought a last generation iLok Key, and transfered both EchoBoy and my new EW Space II licenses on it... But it seems that the iLok Key is not any better, and I still have to Sign In with the License Manager all the time in order to use it. What's the catch?... Isn't it supposed to run on the fly by itself, like the Steinberg key?

My PACE License Services is set to "Automatic (Delayed Start)".


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## Manuel Stumpf (Nov 17, 2019)

Hm. I never log in for using iLok cloud based software licenses or hardware dongles. I only log in for activating or transferring licenses. I did not change any settings for this to work.
Should indeed behave like a Steinberg key: plug it in and when having the drivers installed it is ready to go.

Do you have a license of the same product on the dongle and in the software based thing activated? Not sure which of the two takes priority in that case. Maybe it still tries to access the sofware based one. But even this should not require login each time.
Maybe I have activated an option like "remember me and stay logged in". Can have a look tomorrow.


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## charlieclouser (Nov 17, 2019)

You should only need to launch the License Manager app and sign in to it when you need to manipulate licenses - like install a newly purchased license or move licenses from one location to another.

In normal everyday operation like just launching your DAW and instantiating plugins you shouldn't need to ever see the license manager or sign in to it. 

If it's asking you to sign in every time you launch your DAW or pull up a plugin, something sounds like its not set up correctly...

The "Automatic (Delayed Start)" thing is something I've never heard of. Where is that setting made, in License Manager software or somewhere in the computer OS?

Are you on Windows or Mac?


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## vitocorleone123 (Nov 17, 2019)

I read mine a book from time to time. Take it to the park (but I don't play catch). Sometimes a drive to put it to sleep if it's being fussy.

(I only use it on one PC and leave it plugged in a slot on the back)


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## charlieclouser (Nov 17, 2019)

For the last few days I've been building out a new Mojave boot drive from scratch, installing and authorizing every plugin under the sun (over a thousand so far) and iLok has not screwed me at all. I have eighteen (!!) iLoks going back to the original blue ones from when they first came out around the ProTools HD era in 2003 or so, and all of them still work and no licenses have ever been lost.

I've been moving licenses around between these iLoks, moving some back to my account to stash them (not the "iLok Cloud", just back to the "available" category where they're not present on any physical iLok, computer-specific authorization, or iLok Cloud), and just generally being a cowboy and shuffling the herd around at will all night long. ZERO ISSUES with the iLoks, their software, etc.

I do have the ZDT plan enabled on two iLoks just in case - the main ones that are on my Logic and ProTools machines - and these are both the latest Gen3 (metal) versions.

I did have one issue, but I think it was not iLok's fault - when installing iZotope plugins which were NOT the absolute latest version. I have licenses for Ozone v7 (the latest is v9), Neutron v1 (the latest is v3), etc. iZotope use one of those pesky "portal" apps to download, install, and authorize their stuff, and they also allow three (!!) different types of authorization - transfer license to iLok, online "phone home" authorization to the computer itself, and offline "challenge/response". I already had valid licenses on my iLok. Their portal app downloaded and installed the LATEST version of their plugins, for which I did not have valid licenses (since the v7 > v9 update is a paid upgrade, etc.). 

This created some chaos. After manually locating the correct installers for the older versions of their software, it still wouldn't see the iLok licenses and kept looping me through their "which authorization method would you like to use?" chain.

So I did a chat with iZotope support and the guy said it was an iLok issue. So I sent a detailed email to iLok support, basically saying, "iZotope thinks you guys messed up but I don't really believe them" and an email to iZotope support describing the situation but not accusing them of not knowing how to correctly implement iLok. Before iLok support had a chance to get back to me, iZotope support sent me a link (on their DropBox, not iLok's) for an installer for "InteLok Extensions" which they said I needed to install in order to use those existing older licenses. They said, "Install these Extensions, reboot the machine, move the iZotope licenses off the iLok back to your account (same as de-activating or stashing them), and then move them back to the desired iLok".

This seemed sketchy. If they had correctly and fully implemented iLok then it would all just work with the latest iLok software and drivers - support for paid upgrades to existing products, version-checking, etc. is all built-in to iLok, and works correctly with other expensive products like ProTools. But I followed their instructions and BOOM it all works now. Still waiting on an answer from iZotope / iLok on whether I need to have those Extensions installed if I want to use the older iZotope licenses, or whether they only needed to be present to facilitate the deactivate/reactivate procedure. 

But in general, iLok works great, and it sure beats entering a billion serial numbers and logging into a billion websites when building a new boot drive.

- edit - I think that my issues with the iZotope software authorizations resulted from me trying to use the iZotope Portal app and just trusting that it would look at my iZotope account, read the version numbers that I owned licenses for, and install the appropriate stuff. What seems to have happened is that the Portal installed some items that I had not purchased and updated license for, and there's such a mix-n-match in my account with various versions, bundles, upgrades, etc. going back a dozen years or so.... so I'm not totally surprised that some chaos ensued. But installing some older and out of date Extensions that iLok didn't include in their own updates still seems a little.... off. Oh well, everything works now. 217 authorizations on the main iLok, over 500 in total in my iLok account spread across eighteen iLoks, and all is well. For now!


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## Sarah Mancuso (Nov 17, 2019)

I occasionally have issues on my Mac with iLok deciding to sign me out for no apparent reason. The iLok Cloud issues are the worst, though — it's not satisfied with just authenticating once at the beginning of each session, it rechecks regularly and sometimes randomly just dies while a project is open, either for a minute or (rarely) for a few hours, and pops up a nag dialog and disables the plugins until it can make a connection to the auth server again.


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## Robo Rivard (Nov 17, 2019)

I'm on Windows 10.


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## charlieclouser (Nov 17, 2019)

Robo Rivard said:


> I'm on Windows 10.



And where is that setting "Automatic (Delayed Start)" located - in iLok License Manager software, or somewhere in the OS or System Settings?


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## Robo Rivard (Nov 17, 2019)

It's under the Window's Control Panel. I just did what they told me in the FAQ. I was getting the message "Software component unavailable".


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## Robo Rivard (Nov 17, 2019)

I also disabled the software version of the licenses, an only kept the ones on my iLok Key, but it changed nothing. I get an error if I want to start my iLok powered plug-ins in Ozone 8 and Cubase 10.5. They only work when I sign in with the license manager before.


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## JohnG (Nov 17, 2019)

something weird there -- I have a range of iLocks from old to new and none of them do that.

Sorry for your troubles -- I would see if you can open a ticket with them.


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## charlieclouser (Nov 17, 2019)

Robo Rivard said:


> They only work when I sign in with the license manager before.



Yeah, that's not how they're supposed to work. I'm on Mac so that "Automatic (Delayed Start)" thing isn't part of my world. Sorry to hear your troubles. 

I would open a ticket with iLok support. No, you can't phone them, but they WILL get back to you (although it's usually not a matter of minutes) and hopefully have an answer. Make your message to them as detailed as possible, ideally with screenshots that have a little red circle around the options in question, etc. - this will probably save some back and forth with them. Otherwise the first reply from them might just be repeating what you already know.

I'm sure this issue can be fixed. Good luck!


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## Robo Rivard (Nov 17, 2019)

Yes, I will open a ticket tomorrow morning. I never had problems with my Steinberg key, and the two licenses that sit on my iLok key don't look any different. I'll let you now. Thanks.


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## JamieLang (Nov 17, 2019)

It's certainly not how it's supposed to work. I run the license manager to buy or demo something new--so, nearly never. #brokeMusician  I updated it when I bought Spaces2. I've not thought about it since. So....a year or something--it's been sitting back there....did YOU set the service to delayed start? Mine is set to whatever THEY set it to when they installed it.


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## NoamL (Nov 17, 2019)

I'm just trying to imagine being a composer's assistant in a studio with 18 iLok keys.

The one thing you have to watch out for with those keys is if you have a two or three computer setup, everything works best if you have one computer that holds all the iLok-needing stuff. I already ran into that when I moved PLAY onto my VEP network machine and now I can't use Newfangled EQivocate on my DAW anymore because an iLok can't be in two places. Not worth buying a 2nd dongle though


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## chimuelo (Nov 17, 2019)

I got Zero Down Time and love not having to keep the iLok installed if I’m not using it, or using the EW Cloud.
Im a dummy and needed support once because EW had HS and Rare on the iLok and Cloud Subscription. Fixed it right away so the support being so fast and efficient is a most comforting experience.
Years of iLok and pleased with everything.


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## charlieclouser (Nov 17, 2019)

NoamL said:


> I'm just trying to imagine being a composer's assistant in a studio with 18 iLok keys.
> 
> The one thing you have to watch out for with those keys is if you have a two or three computer setup, everything works best if you have one computer that holds all the iLok-needing stuff. I already ran into that when I moved PLAY onto my VEP network machine and now I can't use Newfangled EQivocate on my DAW anymore because an iLok can't be in two places. Not worth buying a 2nd dongle though



Well, I've accumulated those iLoks over the last 20 years, not bought all at once! So there's two of the original blue ones that have the ancient licenses for my two old ProTools HD rigs and all their plugins, four of the old blue ones that held Waves SSL and Mercury bundles for both of those rigs, back when Waves still used iLoks with their own half-implementation that meant the Waves auths had to be on their own iLok and not shared with other stuff, two blue ones that held my original VST and AudioUnit auths from back then, and another blue one that is the "Demo Dumpster" where I could transfer trials, betas, expired NFRs, etc.

- edit - Glad I kept all of those old blue ones around, and never deleted old licenses, because I just got Sonnox Oxford EQ Native for AU/VST/AAX, and it only cost me $15 because I had an ancient Oxford EQ TDM license that came in some bundle for my ProTools rigs about 15 years ago. - end edit -

Then there's four of the Gen2 ones that I used until very recently with no issues, three of which are empty and ready to be used for whatever, and one that has bits and pieces of faff on them like old licenses that did not need be surrendered when I upgraded, but are no longer of any use, etc.

And finally five of the latest Gen3 all-metal ones, one has my main ProTools auths on it (with ZDT), one has my secondary ProTools auths on it, one has hundreds of AudioUnits and VST plugs on it for my main Logic rig (with ZDT), one has all my East-West stuff on it so I can move it to a slave if I ever get a slave, and one is empty, ready and waiting. I mainly got the Gen3 ones because they are sturdy and small, and back in the day I did manage to bend/break one of the first blue ones. I did not have ZDT on it because ZDT did not exist back then. So I opened a ticket with iLok, spent I think $100 for their license recovery service, sent them the bent iLok, and got a brand new replacement back within a week. No licenses lost.

So it's not as chaotic as it could be. Only the Gen3 ones are in daily use. But they all still work! And having multiple iLoks on a single machine, with a mix of all three generations, does work just fine. I only separated the East-West Play stuff to its own iLok because I thought I might want that stuff on a slave machine.


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## Breaker (Nov 18, 2019)

Robo Rivard said:


> My PACE License Services is set to "Automatic (Delayed Start)".



I have the PACE License Services set to just "Automatic" on both of my Win 10 computers (slave has only machine licenses, master has a physical dongle) and they have been working just fine for the last 3-4 years.

But if you get an error message with that setting then I guess "Automatic (delayed start)" is the only way to go, but please note that this means a 120 second delay before the service is started after a system boot.
Starting the iLok License Manager will also start the License Services if it's not running at that point.


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## JamieLang (Nov 18, 2019)

I happen to read this sitting at mine...the default is "Automatic"--and thus what mine is set to.


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## Robo Rivard (Nov 19, 2019)

Okay, I got a message from iLok support, and the problem is fixed.

I always had the perception that the PACE License Support was a component of the Windows 10 system, and that the iLok Manager was a third party application. But the PACE License Support IS the iLok License Manager software!... So I was just re-installing the manager on top of itself without fixing anything... All I had to do was remove/uninstall the PACE License app from my computer and do a fresh install of the last iLok manager version.

I tried the plug-ins in Ozone 8 and Cubase 10.5 a couple of times after a few reboots, and they now load flawlessly, just like my Steinberg key. I didn't have to sign in or do anything. The PACE license manager is now set to "automatic". So all I really needed was a clean install.

The message from iLok support:

"Hello,

Please perform a fresh install of the latest version of the iLok License Manager. The latest version of the iLok License Manager is available for download from the iLok License Manager tab on iLok.com.

To perform a fresh install, you will need to uninstall the current iLok License Manager from your computer.

The first step is to download a fresh copy of the installer from iLok.com, making sure you delete any old copies of this installer that may also be in your Downloads folder. 

On a PC, please use Add/Remove Programs in your control panel to uninstall "PACE License Support...". 
On a Mac, please use the "Uninstall License Support” script included in the License Support/iLok License Manager installer to uninstall.

*** IMPORTANT ***
Make sure to uninstall all anti-virus and security file-monitoring software (i.e. AVG, Avast, McAfee, Norton, etc.) before continuing with installation. These product are known to interfere with the installation and operation of our components.

After uninstalling the current version of iLok License Manager reboot the system and then run the newly downloaded iLok License Manager installer.

If still experiencing the issue after performing a fresh install following the steps above, reply to this email along with a screenshot of any error message(s) received. If you do now know how to take a screenshot, please visit the following website: http://www.take-a-screenshot.org

Best Regards,
Katie
iLok.com Technical Support
<www.ilok.com> "


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## Robo Rivard (Nov 19, 2019)

This is the message I was getting within Cubase and Ozone before I did a fresh install.


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