@glenn.rossi

What is the current version installed? See under Help, About.

I have 28.0.2.47.

Yes, John. That was my original post which I found out today that some moderator had hidden but later another moderator fortunately unhid it.

Thank you for responding. I have uploaded a screenshot of this repeat message I get almost every time I reopen MM2020.

Regarding the custom install paths - yes, I did that as I noted in my initial posting. I used paths to my D-Drive, where I have ample space. During program re-install, this screenshot shows my new attempted install/folder paths:

Some paths still defaulted to the C-Drive like the path to projects which I noticed upon opening the newly-installed program (as viewed under File-Settings-Program Settings-Folders).

Unfortunately, I still could not activate many activation codes since the program seemed to hang while trying to download them - I believe it was the 1st Classic Moviescore download that froze during download. There are mamy other instrument and soundpool and other links which I wanted to wait until the program was running properly before downloading since I had to choose only so many of the free downloads in each category.

Perhaps I need to attempt to download & install one or more of these required downloads before my program will work properly! Here is a screenshot of my balance of free downloads that you might look at for me. Thanks!

John, what is most strange to me is that, in spite of being able to download and install the first free content (the Vita 2 Premium Presets) and even receiving an automated email from MAGIX that I chose that content from my allowed content downloads balance, my MAGIX account STILL DOES NOT SHOW any MM2020 activations out of the 2 allowed!!!

This is why I am afraid to download anything else until I find out for sure that my new MM2020 Premium installation is working properly.

Thanks in advance for your continued assistance!

Kind regards,

Glenn Rossi

Retired American living in Germany

@glenn.rossi

Hi Glenn,

I just noticed that you initially posted under the German part, as the program must have detected that you are in Germany, that is why your post did not show up for you. If you add German to your languages, you'll see your post and the comments in German from John EB and Walter. I can see your posts under your profile, as can you.

I have exactly the same thing in my account - no activations shown even though I have it activated on 2 computers. I don't think that it is relevant anymore. Under Help, About, there is no longer an activation code shown as it is irrelevant. Only Magix could tell us how it all works. The important thing is that it, and any other versions of MM, shows as activated within the program. Everything that gets purchased by using the credits or payment is stored separately with the Store and this will show up within MM.

Under Downloads, is there anything left to be downloaded and installed?

I see that you have a lot of coupons to be used, in particular feature packages.

Check under the Store to see what features packages are installed. Click on the parameters gear to show purchased items. Anything without a price will have been purchased. These do not show in your account, only in the program.

Use your credits carefully.

Sometimes there are problems when downloading - server, internet connection, gremlins. Anything that doesn't get downloaded and installed, but purchased, should always show up under the Downloads button. You may have to do a Cleanup the Store under Program Settings, restart and log in.

I don't know why some stuff still went to your C drive. However, you need to change Project Files to another location. These definitely should not be under C:\ProgramData\MAGIX\Music Maker. Project files are the MMM files along with miscellaneous files that you create and they should always be somewhere secure, like under drive\My documents\Magix Project\MusicMaker\Projects or something like that. Otherwise your project files could be wiped out by an update to MMM.

Here is what the structure should look like:

Note where Projects is. I have subfolders by subject under that.

Since you have the latest version, for now, ignore the update button and click on Update Later.

John CB

Hi Glenn.

Thanks again for the PM, to which I have responded.

My apologies for reformatting your most recent post, in an attempt to make it a little more readable, hopefully!! 😇

I did write a response to the now infamous "hidden but absent" post but, at the risk of repeating myself I will also put here my thoughts on your problem. It is the general view of other users of MM, far more experienced than I, that the program can be installed wherever you want it to be (I have it on D:\) but all the additional content like Soundpools, Instruments etc is best left in its default locations. The fact that you have moved them is most likely the reason why your projects created in older versions cannot open properly because those projects will be searching for your content in those default locations; those project files will contain links to where the program thinks the content files are and, because it cannot find them it will tend to "throw a wobbly".

You have provided a screenshot of the Folder options within MM. There is nothing to prevent you changing those to your own choice, including the "Projects". Simply click on the folder icon next to the current listing, navigate to your choice of folder, click OK and the entry on that line will change. Much as the other folders listed there are, mostly, not the defaults.

However, whether the use of non-default locations for that additional content could lead to the update and activation problems you are seeing I honestly don't know

HTH

Jeff

@glenn.rossi

Hi Glenn

. . . . my MAGIX account STILL DOES NOT SHOW any MM2020 activations out of the 2 allowed . . . .

Did you have a 2016 or earlier version of Music Maker installed?

If so check if the program is using the previous installations serial number under Help, Activated content - see image below, and activation slot(s) for the previous version in your account.

HTH

John EB

John & Jeff,

Thank you again for your valuable tips.

If, in fact, MAGIX comes back to me with an official response (they are very busy here and it takes them a while to respond) that I must leave the soundpools and other large content files under a C-Drive path, then, due to my limited C-Drive space (my relatively new Lenovo Desktop came with only a 128GB SSD for my Windows 10 O/S which is already quite full), I may have to try another major work-around, i.e., installing a larger SSD for my C-Drive. I was planning to do this eventually and have already bought a 1TB SSD and Macrium Reflect cloning software. I was going to use this new SSD on a new laptop which also needs a larger O/S drive/partition! However, I may go ahead and try to upgrade my Desktop with this new SSD drive.

My Desktop Hard Drive is 2TB which is my current D-Drive, and I still have almost 1TB free space on it. That is why I wanted to relocate all MAGIX MM & VPX large files to it that I possibly could. MAGIX Germany Support did write me that this is still possible if I have properly eliminated all traces of the original MAGIX installations, including registry keys, which I did. Then they said that my VPX projects and other content files will also default to the new D-Drive path.

I hope it is okay to share here the following extract of what MAGIX had advised me much earlier (no names are mentioned), and I hope that this can help many others having serious C-Drive space problems as I have. Here are the quoted paragraphs:

For the past few generations (starting in Music Maker 2013), MAGIX music programs have been using a centralised, shared location for the storage of various content components (mainly the software instruments and soundpools that come with the software or are now installed via the in-app store in Music Maker). This would be the default path for that location, containing the various sub folders for soundpools, synths etc.:

C:\Users\Public\Documents\MAGIX\Common\

This default location can be modified via the custom installation option when installing a MAGIX program making use of that location, like Music Maker. However, here's the catch: This being a centralised, global location, it can only be changed when installing the first piece of MAGIX software that is using it on your system. After that, it's set in stone. When you run subsequent MAGIX software installations, you can still access the customised installation screen in the installer, and maybe change other relevant program folders, but you won't be able to change the location for this particular shared folder.

If you really need to relocate this to a different location/drive, you'd need to uninstall all relevant MAGIX programs, and uninstall *all* of the content managed in that location via the "MAGIX Content and Soundpools" option in Windows' list of installation applications, until eventually that entry completely appears from the list. Now, if you perform a fresh Music Maker or Samplitude Music Studio installation again, you should find that you can, once again, customise the location of this global "Common" folder in the advanced installation options. Future instrument and soundpool installations through the in-app store (current Music Makers) or program installers & content downloaders (old Music Makers, Samplitude/Music Studio, ACID) will then be using the location of your choice. (MAGIX video editing and slideshow programs are now also starting to adopt this concept.)

I have decided to go ahead and ignore the MM2020 upgrade requests and what my online account shows as "activated" and proceed to try to download & install other MM2020 content packages to see what happens. At least one thing so far looks good. My few packages that did download did end up populating the new D-Drive folders I had created upon MM2020 re-install. My older MM2019 projects were not so important nor complex that I can simply delete them and recreate new projects under MM2020 with the new D-Drive paths! I will let the forum know how successful this is. More important to me are my myriad video projects created over many years, but I have had success moving those project contents to other computers, and I have always backed up all my movie exports.

So, we shall see what happens! :-)

Thanks again, best regards, und Grüße aus Deutschland,

Glenn