Hey everyone,

I'm facing a weird issue with the Presonus app. I downloaded the software from the sis website, but every time I install it on my main machine (macOS), I get a pop-up window saying "License state error - Your trial has expired". I've never enabled the trial period and my machine is not even a year old.

I've tried several solutions without success. I can confirm that this is not an issue with the software itself, as I can use it correctly on a VM and from an external volume.

I'veTried :

• Uninstalled the app using AppCleaner
• Deleted all user files and licenses (main user and shared users)
• Deleted all files related to Presonus or named similarly using FAF
• Re-installed the software, but still get the pop-up window

It seems that somewhere on my boot partition, a file was created as if I had used the trial period before. At this point, my only solution appears to be wiping my main volume and starting from scratch (which I don't want). If someone could help me resolve this trial pop-up issue, I would greatly appreciate it.

It's worth mentioning that this is not a license problem, as I can use the software correctly with the key generated. The main problem is that this pop-up appears every time I create a new project file.

 

This kind of thing happens on the win platform as well when the host machine is freely connected to the internet. If your host machine is connected did you have the SO app blocked at your local firewall? Curious, does your VM have internet access? If not and SO is working fine on the VM most likely then the app "phoning home" might be your problem.

 

No matter what your problem is, you do not need to wipe your system drive.

The first thing you need to do is make sure you are actually searching system wide using FAF. I do not ever use App Cleaner, I use Dr.Buho cleaner. It's paid but you can find it shared.

If something like this is going to write junk files to block you from reinstalling, unless you have SIP disabled; it is going to drop a .plist file somewhere it has access to.

Try this command in Terminal. Modify the "Presonus" portion to other search strings, as needed.

find /Library ~/Library -name "presonus*.plist"

Or look in the usual places such as (for user library):
~/Library/Preferences/
~/Library/Preferences/com.presonus.studioone.plist

Systemwide:

/Library/Preferences/
/Library/Application Support/PreSonus/Studio One/

Your firewall settings have absolutely nothing to do with removing whatever is causing your problem. Clean up completely first. Then worry about your firewall and reinstalling Studio one.

After you get back to cleaned up completely, open Terminal and issue the command: sudo nano /etc/hosts. Add these entries:

0.0.0.0 presonus.com
0.0.0.0 registration.presonus.com
0.0.0.0 api.presonus.com
0.0.0.0 updates.presonus.com
0.0.0.0 api.presonus.com.cdn.cloudflare.com

 

Last edited: Mar 19, 2025

Thank you for responding guys! to clarify, my machine is not directly connected to the internet; instead, I use Little Snitch to manage network connections for my applications. Specifically, I've blocked all incoming and outgoing traffic from the SO app. Additionally, I've disabled network connectivity on both my virtual machine and external volume to do the testing.

Regarding the Clone response, unfortunately, following your suggested steps did not resolve the problem, and the pop-up still appears. Although the command

didn't work for me, I was able to find the relevant files by searching for ".plist" files named "Presonus" or containing this word within their contents Systemwide using FAF.

I've also tried disabling SIP and authenticated-root, but the issue persists. As Clone mentioned there might be some system-wide file or configuration that's causing the problem, possibly installed by SO itself. What's interesting is that when I run my main user account from an external volume, the SO app does not display the pop-up, suggesting that the issue is indeed related to something on the system level rather than within my current user account.

I'd appreciate any suggestions on how to further troubleshoot this issue and identify the root cause of the problem.

 

I was not suggesting you disable SIP. What I was saying is that, if you did not have SIP disabled; there is no chance your installation of SO would be able to place any files in locations where you cannot access them or delete them. It would not have permissions to do so.

Nothing you have done has been done as systemwide Root. Systemwide searches just include the System library, and the User ~Library locations.

If you need to access the systemwide library, click Go menu, then hit the Option key and your system/library folder will become visible. (unless you have already forced the Finder to always show it).

This has nothing to do with your machine being online. Disconnect the external drive, shut down the VM. Close whatever application you are using for VM, like Parallels Desktop.

Boot the Mac cleanly into safe mode and delete everything related to Studio One installation. Reboot and reconnect your external drive.

 

Last edited: Mar 19, 2025

***Please make sure that the date on your computer is correct.

Contact PreSonus Support

If none of the above solutions work, it may be a specific issue that only the manufacturer can resolve. PreSonus Support may be able to provide you with a debugging file or script to resolve the issue. With these steps, you should be able to reconfigure the app without completely reinstalling your system!

This is from the Presonus website: We offer technical support via e-mail. You can submit a support request by signing into your my.presonus.com account and then clicking the “Support” tab.
Please make sure that your hardware or software is registered to your account prior to submitting a ticket.

 

Last edited: Mar 19, 2025

Yeah, my date is correct since it's automatically adjusted by macOS. And probably they know how to fix this since they created the problem in the first place hehe. My guess is they add some file somewhere in the System Library that triggers this pop-up which doesn't go by the name of Presonus or SO - I've deleted SO multiple times and every time I reinstall it, this pop-up shows up

 

Your trial has expired! ----------> This pop-up warning actually assumes that you had a trial version!

 

I appreciate your input, but I already know what you're saying. My original request was for help from someone who has experience fixing this specific issue, rather than just pointing out the obvious. Since I haven't enabled any trial, I'd love to get some concrete advice on how to resolve this problem. Thanks!

 

Ok so, is the installer for your SO 6 and 7 in .pkg files? You could take apart the .pkg installer files using Suspicious Package. Then you would be able to look at every file payloaded by the installer, where it put them in the macos directory tree, and then you could also read the pre and post install scripts of the installer. This would show you what directories you might have "dropped" files from SO in.

If it is not in pkg files, then you would have to go with the old standby which is Pacifist. If the files are .dmg files, obviously you first have to mount them as a disk image by double clicking the installer as normal. Then when it opens the installer window, you should be able to right click and then open it in Suspicious Package (free). I'm sure you know where to get Pacifist [k] 'd from TNT.

https://mothersruin.com/software/SuspiciousPackage/

If you want to test and rule out any internet or network connection related possibilities, unplug your ethernet cable or disable wifi and then try to repeat the problem with the machine offline.

If you still cannot figure it out, let me know which versions of SO actually caused this, and what Team's releases they are. I could dl and take a look; but I am a Logic user, so i'd rather not ;)

 

Last edited: Mar 20, 2025

Great idea, but unfortunately SO 6 and 7 are delivered as .app files, not .pkg files. I'm familiar with working with .pkg files using Suspicious Package, so I know what you're talking about. Maybe I should try looking inside the .app contents to see if there's a script or something that could be relevant.

On the other hand, as you mentioned in previous comments I don't think network connection is the key issue - blocking URLs in the host file seems to do the trick. By the way, this popup does occur when using SO 6 and 7, I'm currently using SO 6 released by the RET team on macOS Sequoia 15.3.1. It's worth mentioning again that I've tried installing the same app on an external volume and the release works as expected; it's only this specific setup ~ my main Mac device ~ where I'm seeing this popup appear (which is really weird).

 

Are you using Studio One 6.5.1 or 6.5.2 by chance? That version timebombed on everyone, not just Mac users. A few teams rushed out revisions because of it.

127.0.0.1 registration-presonus.com
127.0.0.1 api.presonus.com
127.0.0.1 update.presonus.com
127.0.0.1 api.presonus.com.cdn.cloudflare.com
127.0.0.1 registration.presonus.com
127.0.0.1 updates.presonus.com

These are the host entries people used.

If you are using one of those affected versions, we can likely rule out v7 as the source of your problem. But if your 6.5. installation caused this, 7 would probably be affected by it also. There are no notes about it, because at the time the only option for a fix people had was to clean up and install the revisions the Teams put out there with their 6.6 update releases.

Your external drive version working may also illustrate your problem. When you are attempting to keygen your install on your internal SSD, it is possible you could have 2 different machine ID codes.

The machine ID is the 16-letter code generated by Studio One during the offline setup process. There is no colon, it should look like this: ABCD-EFGH-IJKL-MNOP.

If you were to disconnect the external, reinstall using v6.6 which could overwrite some files, all of those hosts entries added, and re-keygen it successfully, it might stop nagging you with that error message.

 

Last edited: Mar 20, 2025

I would completely uninstall everything, delete all leftover files, restart the computer, go online, and reinstall it. In my opinion (remote diagnosis is always difficult), you installed it, but never registered or activated it, and therefore you've always been using a trial version, which then expired. Are you sure you have multiple licenses? Go online!

 

This can also happen if there is a conflict of MAC addresses - “ethernet” and/or “wi-fi”, machine ID is based on these. There is also a possibility your VM uses another MAC address? Also, “user.license” is located in “Users/Shared/Library/Application Support/Presonus/Studio One 6 and License Store (for Extensions)” machine ID must be the same for the app AND extensions!. Now.. the most stable version is 6.6.1 no problems and of course if you work offline.. nothing bad happens lol

 

Yes Clone you're correct, we can rule out v7 as source of the problem because I actually tried switching from v6 to v7 after this pop-up started appearing, hoping it would resolve the problem. Unfortunately, it didn't.

I was running Studio One v6.5.2 and didn't know this and previous versions time-bombed. Maybe this is related to why the issue exists in the first place. I also tried v6.6.1, which some users claim works fine, but the pop-up keeps appearing in my main system regardless of the version I'm using.

I've made the necessary host file modifications since it's required for off-line authorization, but the trial pop-up persists despite these attempts.

As for running macOS from the external volume, I had previously tested this and the machine ID is exactly the same whether running from internal or external storage.(However this pop-up doesn't appears in this environment).

I've also tried completely deleting all Studio One-related files and plists on my computer, but the problem persists. It's frustrating because the software works fine apart from this annoying pop-up, which I thought would be easier to resolve.

 

Have you contacted PreSonus support?

 

check your pm's about another cleaner. If you can get SO open, did you go through all the menus to check for any weird settings? Check under Help-> License Activation or authorization. See if there is anything incorrect, or if you can reset your authorization in the copy running off your internal ssd install.

You could also use FAF to delete all your SO files, and then check to make sure it is not creating some file when you either open it, or when you close it. ai: Delete and Reinstall Studio One License Files

1. Close Studio One.
2. Go to Finder and navigate to:
   ~/Library/Application Support/PreSonus/Studio One 6/
3. Delete the “user.license” file.

Do you have any expansions or extra downloaded content installed? Maybe your error is not about Studio One, but something that it is trying to load. What if you boot it without plugins or extra content trying to be loaded when you run SO...

I've never actually seen a program tell you your license is expired, and then let you open it anyway.

I'm not typing all this:


ChatGPT said:
Yes! You can launch Studio One 6 without loading any plugins or additional content to help troubleshoot issues like the license state error or improve performance. Here’s how:

Method 1: Start in "Safe Mode" (Disable Third-Party Plugins)

1. Hold Shift while launching Studio One.
   • This will prompt you with options to disable third-party plugins.
2. Select “Do not load third-party plugins” and click OK.
3. Check if Studio One opens without the error.

Method 2: Open with an Empty Project

1. Open Studio One (if possible).
2. On the Start Page, select “New Song” instead of opening an existing project.
3. Choose “Empty Song” (no plugins, instruments, or tracks loaded).

Method 3: Disable Plugin Scanning (If You Can Access Preferences)

1. Go to Studio One > Preferences > Locations > VST Plug-ins.
2. Uncheck "Scan at Startup" to prevent Studio One from scanning plugins when launching.

Method 4: Rename the Plugins Folder (Manual Bypass)
If Studio One won’t open at all:

1. Go to Finder and navigate to:
   ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/ (for VST3)
   ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/ (for AU plugins)
2. Rename the folder (e.g., VST3_backup) to temporarily hide it.
3. Try launching Studio One again.

 

Check to make sure that license file and folder it is in; has permissions which allow SO to read it. I would batchmod or permissions reset everything related because it cannot hurt.

Since you are on Apple Silicon, you can either manually codesign and dequarantine everything again. or use Sentinel: https://itsalin.com/appInfo/?id=sentinel

I would probably even try disabling Little Snitch, now that you have everything blocked in hosts file also. I have had it affect other unrelated stuff before.

 

Well, this is the case, the issue is simply an annoying pop-up, as the software does register properly once you use the key.

I've already done this multiple times and even tried swapping the original directories with those from my external volume, which share the same
Machine ID, but unfortunately, it didn't solve the problem here.

To clarify, I don't have any expansions or additional content downloaded; I simply use the DAW as is. If you start up SO without plugins, the issue remains
unchanged, since it's not related to VST/VST3/AU.

I've also checked the file permissions and attributes/properties, ensuring they're correct. This isn't the culprit in this case.

By the way, I've tried disabling Little Snitch previously, but that didn't have any impact on the situation either. At this point, I'm convinced that the issue is
related to some sort of time-bomb problem from some previous SO 6 versions I've probably installed.

 

WTF with the ChatGPT guys? Maybe we shut down the forum for live users.. lol