I installed Sonar8 and Guitar Rig 3 from the Sonar8 discs. But when I went to activate GR3, the serial number for GR3 LE that came with Sonar8 didn't work. I can run the GR3 demo inside Sonar8 but it isn't the LE version. Is this why I can't activate it? Do I need to install GR3 LE? Maybe I missed something during my installation of Sonar8. Thank you for any help you can give me.

You need to install the NI Service Center to activate the software. This is checked by default during the GR3 install. Run the Sonar 8 install and select custom install and only select GR3. During the GR3 install, leave everything check that is checked. This will let you install the Service Center and let you activate your serial number to get the activation key.

Geno, this is the latest SC

http://www.native-instruments.com/index.php?id=servicecenter

I found it easier to setup / register first before trying to activate it, when I did komplete and kore..

Use the latest Service Center version; that will save you lots of headaches. Then, run GR as a standalone. Reboot, start Sonar and do a full reset/rescan.

Your NI forum moderator,
ew

Thanks for your help. I'm downloading the latest version of SC now....

Ok - It works! Thanks again. I'm not sure I'll get the full version due to the cost, but LE has a lot of excellent usable sounds. Also, it loads programs really fast - unlike Pod Farm which takes a few seconds to load each program.

Reinstalling Sonar 8.5 and NI Guitar Rig 3 LE which came with it after a system recovery before upgrade to Windows 10. Cannot activate Guitar Rig. When I click "activate" the "service center" opens and says "Service Center was unable to establish an internet connection." It goes downhill from there since I have a working internet connection. Is there a way to activate this program? Very important to me should I ever want to upgrade to a more recent version of Guitar Rig 5. Thank you.

I'd start a new thread if I were you.
 
This one is approaching 7 years old

well it's already in your account at ni, so you'll still qualify for upgrades when you log into the website... but to your question, i'd try getting the latest service centre from NI here http://www.native-instruments.com/en/support/downloads/drivers-other-files/ and run it outside of gr, it should detect gr is installed and give you the option to activate it (i just installed gr4 on win10 like this, although i already had the latest sc from installing reaktor)
hth, good luck!

Thank you both for your kind replies. When I followed pwalpwal's advice I found out that NI is giving the full version of Guitar Rig 5 away for free, so I was able to download it and I am in the process of installing and activating.
 
Thanks pwalpwal.