Chuck, thanks much for the offline authorization info.  I went ahead and did this on another laptop that I have at home as you suggested.  It worked just fine.  If I can, I would add the address and couple of steps as  you navigate back to at Cakewalk to put in the .crq file:
 
 
Using an online computer, navigate to    www.cakewalk.com/My-Account/Offline-Activation  and sign in with your       Cakewalk ID and password.      
Upload the saved Activation request.crq file.
The Cakewalk web server generates a Activation response.dat file.
Copy the Activation response.dat file to removable media that you can transfer back to your offline SONAR computer.
 
Cakewalk's response with the .dat file was literally 2 seconds.  It all went seemlessly!
 
Thanks for all your comments, tips, and suggestions over the years.  I really do appreciate it!
 
Bart

chuckebaby
Some of you may be concerned about the servers going down.
To be honest, I think Cakewalk will offer a fix before this happens, so no need for panic.
 
However one can see from the Membership FAQ where you stand as far as the servers going down.
 
https://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Knowledge-Base/2016000074/Membership-FAQ
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My membership expired, can I still use my software?

This depends on if you officially "own" it.

• If you paid "upfront" or through the "annual" payment option, then you are given 12 months of updates and automatically own your version of SONAR.
• If you paid "monthly" or through the "rent-to-own" payment option, then you must complete 12 consecutive payments to obtain ownership status.

How do I check if I "own" my version of SONAR?

Simply launch SONAR and then go to the Help > About menu. If you see the words "Status: owned", then you own it! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
As a simple test:
1- Go to device manager and disable your Wi-Fi, broadband, exc connection or simply unplug your internet.
2- Open Sonar and create a test project and save it.
3- If you are able to save your project then you will be able to use Sonar without the servers for as long as you live.
 

 
If this is what you see then you can not make an Offline authorization. However it is nice to have a back up off line authorization.
If you have another PC install sonar and go through the steps
https://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Knowledge-Base/2007013384/Offline-Activation
 
1- After installing SONAR, open the Help menu > Offline Activation > Export Activation Request to open the Save activation request dialog box
2- Select the folder to which you want to save the activation request, then click Save. This generates an activation request file with a .crq extension
3- Copy the .crq file to an online computer (using a USB drive, for example).
4- Open SONAR's Help menu > Offline Activation > Import Activation Response to open the Import activation response dialog box
5- Select the .dat file that you downloaded and click Open. A toast notification will let you know that SONAR is activated and ready to use.
 
This off line authorization will be good for the life of Sonar.

... but can we confirm whether this offline activation is tied to the PC in some way, as doing this on a second PC would then seem to not have a benefit. However, if the activation IS completely independent of the PC hardware and operating system, then this is absolutely a great way to protect ourselves.
 
Can someone tell us 100% if the offline activation is locked to a device or not (suspect the only way to test is to install on a couple of "virgin" machines, get offline activated on one and test on the other - that's me for the next few hours then....)

I too am very interested in whether the offline activation code generated by the above described method will work on a separate computer.
 
I have my main laptop that I use as my Sonar computer that has been activated Online and the Help -> About Sonar.. reports "Valid through infinity. Status: owned.". This would seem to mean that I cannot create an offline install file for this specific computer.
 
If I install Sonar on another computer purely for the purpose of creating the offline registration file, that is not the computer I will wish to use for Sonar in the future, as it's only an old i3 processor laptop, too underpowered for Sonar use. 
 
What I need is a way I can install Sonar on any computer of my choosing in the future and to be able to use the offline activation on that (new) computer, which I do not yet own.
 
So, the test that Andrew has kindly suggested he will try is a very important test.  If you do manage to complete that test, I'd be very interested in the outcome.
 
Thanks,
Steve
 
 
 

Ok so this gives some confidence that I'll be able to upgrade my PC or do a clean install from time to time and still be able to unlock Sonar once I install it.
 
But that brings up a different question. How do I install Sonar once Command Center no longer exists? I bought online and downloaded everything. I'll check but I don't believe I still have the original install file. And even if I do, that would be the original install file. There have been many updates and changes since then. How to do I get those back once I do a reinstall?

You should find that you have all the Command Center downloaded installer files with all the different versions of all the applications in the following folder:
 
C:\Cakewalk\Command Center\Downloads
 
Or somewhere similar if you changed the install paths.
 
Cheers,
Steve

If you've installed via the Command Center then all of your downloads will be in C:\ProgramData\Cakewalk\Command Center\Downloads UNLESS you've changed the default path OR cleared them out
 
If you've cleared them out, go to your My Products page on Cakwalk.com and download them again

Not good news.  I had generated the offline Sonar Plt activation response.dat for another computer I had.  Sonar PLT activated easily and went into full ownership mode.  My wife let me install Sonar PLT on a different computer of hers.  I used the same Activation response.dat file I used for my computer.  NO GO! On her computer, Sonar PLT refuses to activate and sweetly confirms that it is still in DEMO mode. 
 
Hence, on my computers anyway, a Activation Response.dat file WILL NOT activate Sonar PLT on a different computer.  Maybe I will delete Sonar on my first computer, and then see if the Activation Response.dat file will work again on that one. This looks to be very computer specific right now!  
 
 

Yes, not good news.... I've also confirmed this - and the challenge response mode for older versions/software such as Dimension Pro, Z3TA+ (version 1), Sonar X1/2/3, Rapture (not pro) - and I'm sure others as well - are all tied to the specific computer using some form of key based on the hardware (and potentially software, etc.).
 
As a second test, I generated the request key on a different machine (testing with Rapture Pro), and the requests (which you can open up in Notepad to see - they are simply an encrypted text string) are indeed different . 
 
One thing that I can't easily test (without regressing the BIOS and risking all that), but which I'm pretty sure about: I've not noticed any Cakewalk software being like some other programs which need a new key every time you have to update the machine's BIOS! I just hope that this is the case...
 
Anyway, I'm going to try to play with ways to create a set of keys for my Music PC - at least making this resilient to future issues - but I suspect it will need me to create a new Windows bootable disk, install on that and then create the keys (hoping that the key is not also tied to anything specific around the hard disk drive). But that's for another day when I have a bit more time!

Many thanks to bwbalint and AndrewLMacaulay for carrying out those tests, very much appreciated.
 
Shame the news is not what we hoped.
 
Thanks,
Steve

Thanks Chuck for explaining and testing the procedure.  And, thanks to those who have been testing the process.
 
My installation of SONAR Platinum is 'status: owned' (online activation).   Question:  When I install SONAR on a second 'offline' system, does this mean I need to use the downloaded install 'exe' files directly?  Or, can I still use Command Center to install and avoid 'online' activation?