How to deal with lost and defective USB-eLicensers
License dongles (referred to as USB-eLicensers) of various kinds were used to protect Steinberg software applications for many years. On May 20, 2025, this era came to an end and the eLicenser service was discontinued after a long transition period. The new Steinberg Licensing took its place.
With the license servers shut down, the known Steinberg Zero Downtime offer was discontinued and thus, it is not possible to replace any licenses contained on USB-eLicenser anymore.
What are my options now?
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If the eLicenser and its licenses are registered in your MySteinberg account, you can upgrade the licenses even though the eLicenser is not accessible anymore. Please have a look at the available Steinberg Licensing based offerings here (click on "Buy now" and choose "Updates & upgrades" for details). Along with the many improvements we make to our products over time, the main benefit of an update is the compatibility with modern operating systems.
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Some USB-eLicensers that the eLicenser Control Center reports as broken, or that the system can no longer recognize correctly, might still work after all.
You can find an article on troubleshooting tips here.
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If you have licenses qualified for an upgrade, but you don't know the number of the respective eLicenser to register it yourself, the support team may have options to retrieve it. Please submit all the information at your disposal, including proof of purchase and previously used activation codes or Download Access Codes.
- If there is no update available because it is an older and discontinued product, please reach out to customer support for suggestions.