Activating Battery 3 or older NI software

Pinwizkid

My hard drive crashed and I'm reinstalling all my music software. It seems like I can't activate a few of my older NI plugins anymore despite them being fully compatible with my computer and Windows 10 (my system is identical minus my hard drive). For some odd reason Kontakt 4 activated automatically through (now defunct) Service Center when I clicked offline activation, but Battery 3 didn't work. I tried Native Access and entered my serial - it recognized it as a Battery 3 serial but doesn't appear in the library.

It's definitely not a compatibility problem because I ran this plugin fine on this exact system before the crash. Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

Vocalpoint

Thought I read somewhere on here recently that Battery 3 is still possible to activate via Native Access (v3.13.x).

You need to switch on the Preferences→Legacy Products toggle with NA.

VP

Pinwizkid

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/177200#Comment_177200

Thanks for the reply. I just tried this and had the same result - Battery 3 and my other older products like Kontakt 4 just don't appear in the library even with that checkbox on.

However good news - using Native Access 1.14 solved my issue and I was able to activate the software. For anyone else that runs into this, older products can still be activated on Windows 10 using this version of NA even though the download page lists it as compatible with Windows 7/8:

https://support.native-instruments.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000407909-Native-Access-Legacy-Installers-for-Older-Operating-Systems

Vocalpoint

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/177614#Comment_177614

Glad you got it going. Just know that Native Access v1 is slated for permanent retirement on Feb 29, 2025. Be sure to backup/image that system so you can preserve these activations.

VP

Pinwizkid

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/177635#Comment_177635

Whew, in just in time I suppose! I actually made a clone of an old hard drive that had everything installed to try and save these activations, but that only seems to work if you install the cloned drive on the exact hardware syste, that you cloned from. Battery 3 specifically had an error that said "Your hardware has changed, please re-activate."

Honestly, overall I'm probably going to have to stop using these products going forward which really is a shame because I paid good money for them and made a lot of projects with them. It also would be a huge pain to migrate/replace patches with either a newer version or a different plugin entirely.

Anyway, I really hope NI continues to support legacy product activation and address this in the current version of NA as I can't imagine it's much of a lift on their end to cross-check a serial number.

Vocalpoint

@Pinwizkid

"Anyway, I really hope NI continues to support legacy product activation and address this in the current version of NA as I can't imagine it's much of a lift on their end to cross-check a serial number."

Would be nice to see some sort of tool be available for this purpose but I think there is a real disconnect between user and company on what "support" might look like with something like this.

It is one thing if a tool like this is flawless and allows anyone to simply install some old NI product from yesteryear and activate it straight away.

It is quite another when the tool "looks" flawless and a user installs some old NI product from yesteryear but suddenly has major issues activating it easily.

If enough users get on a tool like this and it fails to work (even a tiny portion of the time) - that could open the door to a exponential support nightmare where maybe hundreds (or thousands) of users start flooding these forums or the NI support desk assuming NI will "help" them overcome their issues.

There is a reason all these products are retired. No vendor wants to dive into a potential support mess like this. Unless maybe - a potential tool is supplied "as is" and the user is clear that the use of it "at your own risk".

I also think this process is infinitely more complex than simply crosschecking a serial. NI has released scads of product in the last 30 years - all using different authorization tech and methods. Even contemplating such a tool would be a huge project.

VP

Pinwizkid

I guess my frustration is… the old activation tools worked fine. It's just the server that is no longer available. I'm sure there were internal reasons for getting rid of the old service center activation server (probably money-related like everything else), but it did work flawlessly for me for 15 years across different computers and operating systems. Could the cost of operating that server really have been that substantial? Anyway, I'm just venting at this point. I'm glad I was still able to activate everything at this time.

LostInFoundation

I don’t think it’s about the cost of the server…more about them needing you to buy the new things

Vocalpoint

@Pinwizkid

"Could the cost of operating that server really have been that substantial?"

You guys are kinda making it sound like this was a single Commodore 64 running in the back corner of a lunch room.

Think scale. Think of hardware in a data center (or centers) serving a worldwide audience. As simple as it sounds - this tech is labor intensive AND expensive to service and maintain.

What happens when this old tech (using circa 2009 protocols) can no longer connect to the rest of the world because the rest of the world has moved way up in security protocols or any of the other things we read about "cyberwise" everyday.

These systems do not exist in a vacuum. They rely on a specific set of technologies to be in place (365x24x7) all the way down the line to our computers. NI cannot control what happens in a data center down the road. If these data pipelines get upgraded - everyone using them must conform. 99.99% of this is out of vendor control unless you are going to lay your own cable worldwide.

Now - it's easy to say "the old activation tools worked fine" - sure they did. At that time - with specific infrastructure in place. But technical requirements have changed radically since 2010. Given that Service Center and NA v1 have been mothballed - it is very easy to see that whatever the base requirements are here in 2024 - Native Access v3.13.x (and higher) is where they will live.

I still do not think this whole thing is about killing off old product in favor of buying new. I think the resistance/challenge lies in that the old auth tools are gone (for very valid reasons) and not coming back.

Then - try to justify (to upper management) budget for the time, talent and resource it would take to:

1. Find the source code for say - B4 Organ II (if it even still exists)
2. Find a developer (in house) to take that all apart, work on re-coding the authorization mechanisms to work with Native Access v3
3. Have this same developer also ensure this old dog will run on a supported OS like Windows 10/11 or any Mac OS 11+ (since that is a requirement for NA v3)
4. Test all that it to ensure it works.
5. Release it only to find out there is an issue with some folks and not with others - based on real world configs
6. Start a new maintenance cycle and so on.

Only to find out that just 18 people worldwide want to activate their old copy of B4 Organ II.

Then somehow convince upper management to allow a repeat of this pattern for all the other products that have been retired since 2002.

This is not money well spent. No company would ever attempt this - unless it was so easy you could bang it off in a week or two and offer a tool/method/process that was bulletproof and had no strings attached (like no support for the tool whatsoever)

But this crowd is not like that - IF such a tool existed (and no it will never be Service Center again) and if a user with some old software had a issue getting it going - they would be right back here asking why it doesn't work.

You can see why this is a dead end.

VP

cubdukat

I'm in the same situation here. I was forced to reset my WIn11 install, but I selected the option to keep my apps. Some of my old NI apps continued to work without issues, but when I went to reinstall Battery 3, there was no option for it, and I no longer have the installer disc (I still have the library disc).

I came across this article and uninstalled the latest Native Access and reinstalled 1.14.x, but Battery still does not show up. Am I missing something? I just want to get Battery 3 installed and recognized by my system so that I can upgrade it to Battery 4 without having to buy the whole program all over again.

Vocalpoint

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/184220#Comment_184220

Suggest you send a support request. Have read a few threads in the past about a number of folks being able to activate Battery 3 on the latest Native Access

VP