Hey all,
I want to share with you my nightmare experience attempting to install Pro Tools 11 on my new Windows 10 machine, and share the solution I found, so that anyone in the same boat as I was in can be saved hours of headache and hair-ripping.
I couldn't install Pro Tools 11 on my brand new Windows 10 PC due to Pro Tools forcing me to install an outdated and unsupported PACE License Support. Every time I would run the PT11 installer, when it asked for a reboot after the install completed, my computer would not boot back up. It would repeatedly crash on the 'dots spinning in a circle' startup screen, turn into 'attempting repairs,' and then bring me to the boot recovery menu. From there I would have to select 'startup repair' which would seem to act as a sort of system restore - when it successfully boots up again my computer would not have Pro Tools or the iLok License Manager/PACE installed anymore but everything else would be intact.
At this point I was very scared that Pro Tools 11 wouldn't work on my PC, but my previous Windows 10 laptop ran it just fine so I was very confused. I tried installing Pro Tools 10 as well and got the same crashing. After some experimenting I found the culprit: I began the installation of Pro Tools 11 only to where it installs PACE License Support, and didn't actually install Pro Tools. It asked me for a reboot and then the same crash sequence happened.
This told me that PACE License Support was the cause of the crashing. But I remember I had previously installed the latest version of the iLok License Manager, which is the same thing as/includes the latest PACE License Support, without any issues. So I downloaded it again separately, restarted my computer, no issues.
After lots of digging, and checking the 'legacy installers' section of iLok's download website, I figured out the problem was that Pro Tools 11 installation was attempting to force the install of the legacy 'interlok driver' software (which is the legacy component of PACE License Support) for some reason, even though I already had the latest iLok license manager installed and functioning properly. I found out that 'InterLok Driver Setup Win64' was the culprit of the issue because I tried installing it on its own through the legacy download section of iLok's website, and encountered the same crashing error as when I would run the Pro Tools 11 install regularly.
The Pro Tools 11 install would tell me 'Avid requires the following software to be installed before proceeding' and lists 'PACE License support' even though I have already had the latest version (v5.2.1) downloaded and functioning correctly. When I would inevitably have to restore my PC once the crash loop occurred after installing Avid's version, I tried a system restore point instead of a startup repair. I noticed that, when Windows listed the programs I would lose when restoring, two instances of PACE License support appeared on the list of installed programs. One would be the current v5.2.1 (which always installed without any issues), and one would be the legacy 2.4.3! (Which is the version found in the PT11 install directory.)
So after ripping my hair out for hours a few nights ago, I finally reached a solution! When PT11 prompted the install of PACE License Support (as it always did, even though I had the newest version already installed), I clicked install, as I was always forced to do in order to continue. But, when Windows 10's action center popped up, asking if I trust the developer and wanted to install the software, I hit DON'T INSTALL. The PT11 install software did not error out and continued on as normal, allowing me to install PT11! I've tested Pro Tools and everything runs as it should.
I had tried everything else on iLok's support website, including doing a Windows 'repair' install, but this loophole turned out to be the only solution. PT11 installer should have recognized that I already had a later version of PACE License Support installed, and not tried to force me to install the broken legacy version as well. I had even contacted iLok customer support, but received short and disappointing replies - they didn't seem sympathetic to my situation.
This was their first message back:
TPKD.sys is only installed if you are using our legacy*Interlok*drivers. The*Interlok*drivers are not supported on*Windows*10. If you are using software that requires the*Interlok*drivers, you'll either need to use an older operating system to use that older software or you can contact the publisher of the software to see if they are willing to rewrap their software using a supported driver.
After I responded to them, explaining the solution I found on my own, they simply replied with,
Avid is already aware of this. The legacy version isn't installed with later version of Pro Tools.*
Well that's great, but what about everyone on Windows 10 with Pro Tools 11 or older? I urged them to make a note of this on their website to help people in my scenario but they didn't respond.
I want to make everyone aware of this issue so they can continue to use Pro Tools 11 and earlier on Windows 10 systems! I understand that Windows 10 isn't officially supported on Pro Tools 11 or earlier according to Avid's website, but I had been using my same PT11 software on my previous Windows 10 laptop for years without any issue. Perhaps this was due to a recent update to Windows 10 that caused those legacy PACE drivers to make Windows 10 completely freak out?
Case in point, I'm not sure why Pro Tools 11 and older's installs require PACE's legacy driver to install even though PACE's newest drivers are already installed on the system, and I'm glad I found a loophole. I hope this helps out even just a couple of people out there with older versions of Pro Tools on a Windows 10 machine - I can't be the only one!!
Thanks for reading and let me know if you have any thoughts.
Best,
Kevin