Cubase Installer Broken HELP!

Well, it s another night that Steinberg has kept me up until FOUR AM trying to install its poorly made and evidently broken and poorly thought out software.

I did a complete reset of my pc and I am trying to install Cubase and as usual Steinberg has made a simple task unbelievably complicated, difficult, hard and for the time being, impossible.

I have attempted to install Cubase 8.5 Pro about TEN effing TIMES now. Each time I launch set up it tells me that Cubase 8.5 64bit Will be installed, but that it will make No Changes to HalionSonic SE, Groove Agent SE Acoustic Agent and Content.

HOWEVER

I ACTUALLY NEED IT TO ALSO REINSTALL ALL OF THAT poop AS WELL, AND THE effing SET UP WILL NOT LET ME DO IT!!! IT JUST WILL NOT LET ME DO IT! WTF???

NONE of that other stuff is really installed anymore, but for some fucked up reason (typical of Steinberg) the set up is finding it as installed on my machine and is not letting me reinstall it.

I have combed my hard drive for every possible effing folder with Steinberg crap in it. I have deleted ALL OF THEM! I have restarted my computer TWICE and STILL, when I launch installer it says…
Cubase 8.5 64 bit Will be Installed
HalionSonic SE No changes
Groove Agent SE Acoustic Agent No Changes
Content No Changes

HOW DO I TELL THIS BOSSY AND PRESUMPTUOUS INSTALLER THAT I WANT TO MAKE MOTHER effing CHANGES!!!

EVERY OTHER SOFTWARE I HAVE EVER INSTALLED WILL JUST REINSTALL ALL PARTS UNLESS YOU CHECK OFF THAT YOU DON’T WANT TO INSTALL THEM AGAIN.

But NOT Steinberg. If they didn’t do things in a non standard, convoluted and fucked up way, I guess it wouldn’t be Steinberg.

I really should know by now that if I am going to attempt to install ANYTHING made be Steinberg, that I need to take sedatives first, as it will be ALWAYS BE a convoluted, broken, fucked up and ANYTHING but smooth process! I PRAY for the day that Cubase is sold to a decent effing company who actually thinks about its users.

PLEASE, anyone, tell me what the workaround is for Steinbergs SHITTY, BROKEN installer.

Sorry for the drama, but Steinberg and its bullshit have brought me to the end of my rope, ONCE AGAIN!

…you just have to uninstall them using the Programs and Features function on Windows.

Nope. That doesn’t do it. I’ve installed and uninstalled Cubase now about ten times and it makes no difference. The Windows uninstaller only removes the Cubase application. If you have random, fragmented Steinberg files all over your machine, neither the Windows uninstaller or the Cubase uninstaller will remove them. When you FIRST install Cubase, it installs all kinds of vst’s and associated content as part of the Cubase install. However, uninstalling Cubase will ONLY uninstall the Cubase application only. All of that other Steinberg crap stays all over your computer.

I’m afraid that I will have to transfer all of my files to an external drive and do a deep system reset, ALL BECAUSE STEINBERG can’t seem to create a decent installer or uninstaller for that matter.

As soon as Studio One copies the ONLY two features that I like about Cubase, you will see my license for sale on Ebay. I hate this effing company so bad.

Scroll down on the Programs and Features window and you’ll find uninstallers for everything you’re trying to reinstall. All this trouble you’re having just to perform a simple reinstall sounds like 100% user error.

Yes. I’ve done what you are saying. On the surface, it appears that I have no Steinberg stuff installed. However, when I go to set up to install Steinberg, it REFUSES to install ALL of the additional content because it WRONGLY believes that I already have these things installed. It is finding broken, old, Steinberg fragments and messing up the install.

Are you ticking install for all users during install?

Yes, I’ve ticked it and it makes no difference.

It’s now 6 AM and I still can’t simply INSTALL Cubase.

Thanks Steinberg! You SUCK!

I think we need to go back to basics here. Without knowing exactly what you are doing we can only randomly suggest things.

  1. You say that every time it has done this since you did a complete reset of your PC. What do you mean exactly by complete reset?
    If you had reinstalled or reset Windows which is what it sounds like you mean then there would obviously be no trace of Steinberg on your system and first install should have worked fine?

  2. Are you using the full installer that is over 9Gb in size?

  3. How exactly do you know that these specific things have not installed? Because you can’t open Halion or Groove Agent from inside Cubase?

  4. When you are scanning for stuff to delete are you showing windows hidden folders. Stuff is installed into your user accounts and may be hidden by default.

  1. When I did a reset, I chose the option to keep my files, but delete all programs.

  2. I don’t know what you mean by “full installer” I’m using one labeled “Setup” and it’s 2824 KB. It’s what I used the last time to install everything so I don’t know why it suddenly wouldn’t work. Then there’s the installer labeled "Cubase85_64bit. I’ve also tried to install using this one and it gives me no options and only installs the base application.

  3. I know these things are not installed because I can’t open them inside of Cubase. I have no trouble getting just Cubase to install, so yes, I have checked it out.

  4. I didn’t even know about the existence of “hidden folders” so I have no idea how to access them.

I’m guessing you owned a version of Cubase before Cubase 8.5 and so the installer you are using is an upgrade only.

Log into your MySteinberg account, go to the downloads tab and download the installer file that should be 9.4Gb in size.

Nope. That’s not it. I checked the size of the entire HOURS LONG install folder that I downloaded and it is in 9.46 Gb in size. It’s just that not all of the content in the entire download is necessary for every one. That download contains like four different installers. One is for the 32bit version of Cubase, which I would never need to install, one is labeled Cubase85_64bit, one is labeled Start Up and one is labeled Steinberg Installation Updater. Then there is all kinds of additional content, but none of that content is the installers for things like Halion Sonic SE or Groove Agent. Then of course I can also install Cubase through one labeled Start Center, which is yet ANOTHER installer option in the giant Cubase installer download, but that option NEVER works, even on a fresh install of Windows 10, it lets me chose my language and then it says “Director Player Error/Script Error”. Along those lines the “Steinberg Installation Updater” also NEVER WORKS, even on a clean install of Windows 10. Attempting to launch it only pops up a window saying "This application failed to start because it could not find or load the Qt platform plugin “windows”. Huh?

That giant Cubase install download is a collective grab bag of things. Why can’t Steinberg just do like Sonar, Toontrack, XLN Audio, Propellerheads etc, where you install an application that talks to the vendors cloud. You log into your account and then the cloud scans your system, sees what is or isn’t installed and then gives you the ability to instantly download and install right there, no fuss, no muss? Why is Steinberg CONSTANTLY a day late and a dollar short when it comes to anything that would make life easier for the user. All these hundreds of different manual installers for Cubase, it’s absolute madness!

I found a mention of the error Director Player Error/Script Error with a Cubase installer that was from a corrupt installer and was fixed by re-downloading.

I would try this in the first instance and if still no luck I think you may need to consider that your PC reset may have caused problems and consider backing up what you need and formatting and installing W10 clean.

My early experience with W10 upgrade and a later reset was pretty awful …I wasted days and only got it running properly after formatting the drive and installing the o/s clean. Has been absolutely fine since then.

Ok then. Is “Resetting” my machine the same thing as doing a clean install of Windows? If not, how do I do a clean install of Windows, as Windows 10 came on my machine, I have no install disk or thumb drive with a Windows 10 installer on it.

Ahh…I assumed you’d updated from an earlier Windows. Not sure if there is much advantage in clean install over a reset for you if W10 is the only operating system that has ever been on this computer.

For reference though, you just use the Microsoft media creation tool (which you can find online) to download the installer to a USB drive and use this drive to boot the computer and format the internal drive and install Windows. you would lose everything that is on your hard drive so backup any data.
As long as the hardware is basically unchanged then the license is already tied to your computer. there’s plenty of full instructions online should you need to do this.

Thanks for the info man!

You’re welcome…post back when you finish re-downloading and let us know. Fingers crossed but who knows.