Read this over at VI Control (kurtvanzo):
"If your Waves plugins are not covered by a WUP plan, Wave central won't download them to a new machine. Even the offline version. It allows you to move licenses (authorizations) but not the plugins themselves. Each plugin has to be installed by wave central while covered by a WUP."

Is this true? I thought you always could download and activate your Waves plugins on a new machine, even when your WUP is gone.

I've never WUP'd. I recently built a new machine apart from the disks (so - new m'board, cpu .. this seems to normally constitute a "new machine"). Prior to the build I moved my licenses from the old build back to the Waves cloud, then moved them over to the new machine once the disks were installed. I had no problem with Waves. (I had a small problem with Microsoft, but that was different and unique to my case). 
 
jdf

Some people allow their anti-WUP viewpoint to drive them to make statements that don't appear to have any basis in reality.  I don't believe his statements are correct.
 
Of course the proof is to actually test it.  So I removed the USB dongle that holds all my Waves licenses from my DAW workstation and plugged it into my development laptop.  This laptop has no DAW software and has never had any Waves software on it.  I downloaded the most recent version of Waves Central (1.3.3.4 it says).  I picked Install and logged into my account at Waves.  I selected The Dave Aude EMP Toolbox, my WUP for expired April 15, 2017.  Waves Central then downloaded and installed it.  Part of that Bundle includes Element 2.0, which can run stand-alone.  I started it, it seemed to run/work (though without an ASIO driver I couldn't actually make it make sounds).  But given it installed and starts I'd say the poster is incorrect.
 
Update: I installed ASIO4ALL and Loopbe1 and was able to get Element 2.0 to make sounds.  Despite no active WUP.

My understanding of the WUP setup is that it's only there to keep up with the updates to a plugin and if one decides not to keep it updated, it should work fine (minus the update).
 
Otherwise, there'd be a whole lot of irate Waves customers that have useless plugins with just licenses.  

I didn't have any problems reinstalling my expired Waves plugins when I rebuilt my PC

The WUP's never been a prerequisite for installing plugins.
 
There was a time, however, when you could not contact anyone at Waves about a problem without a paid-up WUP. That is not the case anymore.

Thanks guys, you all rock.

I was queasy about the number of ad hoc discounted Waves items I'd been accumulating, and about the WUP impact to catch me later. I spoke with Waves about it a couple times when I was calling for support about an item. Heard consistently each time the same assurance. The Waves plugins will work without a WUP active. Updates to the plugins wouldn't flow through unless you're active on that plugin with the WUP. The overall good news was that no matter how many Waves plugins you have, or how far out of WUP they are, if you WUP the whole bunch the most required per year is $300 to get everything active. That's less than I expect to be charged for a single update of some plugin companies for a single product (where they annually release a new version with an upgrade charge). So it doesn't seem that bad all in all for a WUP refresh if needed.

Fleer
Read this over at VI Control (kurtvanzo):
"If your Waves plugins are not covered by a WUP plan, Wave central won't download them to a new machine. Even the offline version. It allows you to move licenses (authorizations) but not the plugins themselves. Each plugin has to be installed by wave central while covered by a WUP."

The web is full of rubbish. This a good example for not believing everything that people post.

Indeed.
OP at VI Control corrected: "The good news is I was wrong and am able to download the plugins to the new computer. The only issue is the ONE install of each license. You can install all the licenses on a USB drive (thumb drive) and move it from computer to computer. Or buy another copy."