Regarding the comment that you are allowed to install Vegas on up to 2 computers. I just want to say that there are problems with this. I installed it on two computers but when I open the software on the second computer it says I have too many computers with the software installed and asks me which one I should deactivate. However, when I look at the list it lists the same computer twice on the list! I finally gave up and downloaded the cracked version for the second computer. Worked so easily and painlessly after that.

Regarding the comment that you are allowed to install Vegas on up to 2 computers. I just want to say that there are problems with this. I installed it on two computers but when I open the software on the second computer it says I have too many computers with the software installed and asks me which one I should deactivate. However, when I look at the list it lists the same computer twice on the list! I finally gave up and downloaded the cracked version for the second computer. Worked so easily and painlessly after that.

I suspect there's a bug here and an update has created a duplicate registration entry instead of replacing the existing one. If you go to your Magix account you should be able to remove one of the duplicates.

Well, I did as you suggested but stubbornly the same computer would come back each time. I agree that it looks like a bug.

Thanks for the reply, Gary. I appreciate the clarification regarding questions 1 and 4. The notion that the other questions are legal is a stretch, especially for questions 2 and 3.. What information Vegas collects and send home is surely technical - it either sends certain information or it doesn't. I can see that answering question 5 involves speculation. I'll concede that the question about the Eula is a question about legality but that requirement breaks the original promise made on this forum when Magix took over. It also means that bottom line users can't expect the software to work offline. Users experiencing issues such as myself have limited resource. Ultimately technical support can point to the eula as a cop out. I'm afraid the whole situation is perverted, in the same way that your truncated quote twisted the meaning of what I actually wrote. Here's your quote:

...Vegas 14 opened but crashed without warning when I pressed save...Other companies...seem to do OK without hamstringing their software in this way...

For ease of reference, here is what I wrote on the 14th in full:

I agree that is important that Magix get revenue so they can continue to support and develop Vegas. I don' think tying Vegas to the internet is the answer. I've lost hours of work because my computer isn't permanently connected. Vegas 14 opened but crashed without warning when I pressed save. If Vegas does require internet connection that has to be spelled out clearly at the point of sale. As it was I bought Vegas 14 on the basis of promises made when Magix took over from Sony so there is an issue of lost trust. I very much doubt that phoning home to validate a licence will limit piracy. Other companies (eg Reaper) seem to do OK without hamstringing their software in this way. A software product that won't work off-line isn't a real product in my book and companies that tout such software don't deserve support.

I think the meaning is clear that the hamstring refers to phoning home. Your truncated quote twists the meaning by cutting out whole sentences! I guess if you were skimming at speed it is possible to jump to conclusions so I appreciate your apology up to a point. But I don't appreciate Magix running away from this issue. The conditions for using Vegas and the way Vegas actually acts have changed negatively since Magix took over from Sony. Under present circumstances I won't be upgrading.

@Kit-As-Was Just a quick question. To shorten the test, would it be ok to disconnect the PC from the internet, disable all it's LAN adapters, reboot into BIOS, change the system time, let's say add one year, save and reboot. With no internet connection, the system should now assume that it's one year later and according to you, VP14 should crash or display some kind of issue that would render it inoperable.

I have tested the above and unfortunately, VP14 still works and even renders to all the codecs that would need registration.

So, unless my test isn't valid, I would say GR is right.

Hi, OldSmoke, I think your test would be more valid if you took the computer back in time. I've done that (by restoring old images) and I have had the error messages followed by Vegas disappearing. In this state Vegas will allow the user to work on a project but not save it. I acknowledge that this is some kind of bug and not intentional but it is clear to me that it is happening because Vegas wants to phone home and it can't. But note there are actually three separate issues:

1. Vegas 14 was sold on the basis that it wouldn't phone home and only required a connection at time of installation.
2. Vegas 14 phoning home is causing some users issues.
3. Magix won't say what information Vegas 14 and 15 are sending when they phone home, why this is a requirement in the current eula when it is allowed to "fail quietly" and how if it is allowed to "fail quietly" this protects against piracy.

Hi, OldSmoke, I think your test would be more valid if you took the computer back in time.

So here are my tests. VP14 build 270 was installed on 9/25/17 on my machine.

1.) Disconnect PC from the internet, change year to 2016

Result: project opened fine but cant render to MPEG2 and some other codecs. I forgot to test if the project can be saved. The error message is something like " There is no license for this software"

2.) Same as 1.) but after changing the year, reboot into BIOS, check system date is 2016, boot, connect to internet, open VP14 and let it "phone home". (note that I disabled in Win10 the set date/time automatically feature). Disconnect from the internet. Note that system is still in 2016.

Result: VP14 is working fine, no issue with rendering.

3.) After 2.), reset time to today, still leave it disconnected from the internet

Result: VP14 is working fine, no issue rendering

My conclusion: If the system date and time is set prior to the last "phone home" and it is not connected to the internet, VP14 will not render; sorry I forgot to test if save project works. But, if you set the system date back, even prior to the initial installation and let it "phone home", all is well even when disconnected.

I also noticed that VP14 works fine without internet even when the date is set back to the initial install date, 9/25/17 on my system but not beyond it.

My question now is: "under which circumstances would a systems date be prior to the initial install date and beyond that, prior to the last "phone home?"

Thanks for the tests, OldSmoke. The No license error message is what I get and it turns up when rendering or saving. I think what you will find is that after a couple of weeks and no longer than a month the error messages return unless you allow Vegas to phone home again. This has been my practical experience. Not sure if I follow your question correctly, but I've not taken my system back prior to when I first registered Vegas and tried to install it.

I did a real-time test with Vegas pro 14 B270 that ended today. As already stated here, my PC is always disconnected from the internet unless Vegas request connection.

Today on the 04.Nov.2107 it happened again with my Vp14 B270. I had the same situation as on the 03.Oct.2017 when I edited (shorting some events)  an existing project which worked fine. But when I tried to save it, I got the same message shown and attached here

and the project was empty and all my recent work was gone. My MAGIX account states for Vp14 : ‘ latest activation 03.Oct.2017’ - this silent activation happened when I started Vp14 on the 03.Oct.2017 with the PC connected to the Internet, to overcome the problem of Vp14 being unusable.

So it is one month after which Vp14 starts to become unusable when it has no chance to connect to the internet. The really bad thing in this ‘no license’ situation  is, that Vp14 can be started, allows you to do your work, that is all lost when you try to save it and thereby becomes unusable. At least Vp14 should come up with his message on start.

This situation must come up, else the activated Vegas on the PC could never get the information, that it had been deactivated in the users MAGIX account to be used on an other PC. The only solution to this connection request, I see, is to allow this deactivation only from the running program.

I hope the team will provide a fix to this situation even though Vp14 development is terminated.

Thanks
Peter

After I now started Vp14 with the PC connected to the Internet it took longer then usual, but I now can save projects again.

After I now started Vp14 with the PC connected to the Internet it took longer then usual, but I now can save projects again.

Yes, I have noticed such a delay too.

I will test the project save issue over the weekend. It may we’ll be that I actually have to wait one month to make a more reliable test. My test 2.) was an attempt to make the system think it’s 2016, phone home in 2016 and then disconnect it and set the system forward one year without connection to the internet. In that test, Vegas worked fine. I can redo that test and check my account with another PC to see what the last activation date is.

For those experiencing the "There is no license to use this software" error message, please create a support ticket so we can assist you in troubleshooting the issue. https://support2.magix.com/customer/vegas

Please include the app name, version number, build, and serial number when creating the ticket.

Thanks, I'll do.

I've written up my experience with support and added it to the license crash thread. The issue remains and support stopped replying over 10 days ago. They wanted me to use the hidden super admin account to install Vegas without fully explaining how that was supposed to help me when I'm using a standard Windows account. If anyone gets this solved I'd like to hear how. Thanks. I feel stonewalled because I don't think Magix are being up front about what Vegas is doing when it phones home and why.

You know what's gong on now don't you?

Vegas needs to periodically connect to the licencing servers or it crashes as others have proven but you've said you firewalled vegas from the internet. So the fix is not to firewall vegas from the internet.

They wanted me to use the hidden super admin account to install Vegas without fully explaining how that was supposed to help me when I'm using a standard Windows account.

This can definitely not be the solution to the problem. If Vp14 needs to connect monthly to the internet – and we do know this now for sure – it must ask for the connection on start and may not come up with the lost license message when the user tries to save the work done to the project and clear this in Vegas.

This is not to be seen as a crash, but makes Vp14 unusable after a moth with no internet connection.

There should be at least an update to come up with this lost license  message upon start of Vp14 – before the user starts working.

We are not asking people to use their hidden admin account as an end all final step blanket solution to resolve issues. We do occasionally ask them to troubleshoot on that profile if there is a possible rights management issue.

There should be at least an update to come up with this lost license  message upon start of Vp14 – before the user starts working.

No, Vegas 14 was sold on the basis that it does not require an internet connection once it has been activated so it shouldn't be making further connections at all. A true fix would remove the attempt to phone home.

We are not asking people to use their hidden admin account as an end all final step blanket solution to resolve issues. We do occasionally ask them to troubleshoot on that profile if there is a possible rights management issue.

But why the hidden admin account and how can it help when a regular admin account can't? I've registered Vegas with both an admin account and a regular account temporarily raised to admin and the problem persists. In reality the issue is that Vegas thinks it is licensed (otherwise it wouldn't start) but wants to validate that license and can't because the computer is offline and then it hangs. The issue is surely with phoning home not with "rights management".

He thinks you really have a fault, and not a political agenda about removing anti piracy measures. You deliberately cause the known fault via firewall and then keep complaining. For now with this current version of vegas14 (& vegas15?) nothing is going to change & I can't imagine they'll change their anti piracy measures except to the extent that the software closes 'gracefully' rather than crashing & at minimum keeps the temp project files.

Your complaints of it's wrong to demand reauthorsation of licence every 30 days & getting them to admit what they're doing isn't unreasonable but you're just confusing the tech support staff now and wasting their time

He thinks you really have a fault, and not a political agenda about removing anti piracy measures. You deliberately cause the known fault via firewall and then keep complaining.

Political Agenda? I'm not asking for anti piracy measures to be removed. I'm asking that Vegas 14 should work on the basis on which it was sold. Here's a quote from the same guy at tech support from January 10th of this year:

Vegas Pro 14 requires activation once per install.  Online validation is not
required.  

I'm not a heavy user of Vegas and it took me a while to realize that the trouble I've been having is because Vegas 14 is trying to phone home. Since Vegas 15 has the same problem it looks like I'm at the point of asking for a refund and moving back to Vegas 13.