Hi - I downloaded and installed my Sonar Professional on a new desktop. Upon opening each time, I get this error message: 
"Database error: Database connection failed. Assigned plugin categories and names will be unavailable."   Not sure what this is really referring to , and when I do the Click here button it leads to the Knowledge Base, but a search does not really yield anything on this.... I don't think its critical - the program seems to work okay and this message just fades away: but it would be nice to know what it refers to - Thanks
 

Google search is a GREAT way to look for solutions to errors or situations many of us encounter, and it does a way better job than relying on the forum software to search.
 
Here is what I used for search terms: 
 
site:forum.cakewalk.com Database connection error
 
In the above, by adding a Google search filter of site:forum.cakewalk.com, followed by the error message you received 'Database connection error', that 'site' filter tells Google to only search for results from pages from 'forum.cakewalk.com' which is how all of the pages of the various Cakewalk user forums begin.
 
SOOOOO - searching only the forums, my Google search came up with something like 38 results, which is actually quite a managable set to review for solutions to your problem.
 
Some of the results include 'Solved' in their subject line, and you might want to start with those.
 
I hope the above helps you find not only THIS answer for you, but also helps you to be able to search for other forum content efficiently.
 
Bob Bone
 

Appreciate it. Did not dawn on me to use Google in the forum search. That will be great for future searches......thanks

Are you using a steam version of sonar ?
And what version are you using ?

To be honest I don't know if my Sonar is  "steam" version. So I will need to educate myself on that and then see what it means for this issue.  

If you use the Command Center or install products directly from a Cakewalk account, you do not have a Steam version. Steam is a reseller that has its own installer and account management.

Thanks. Then I am not Steam.

"Database error: Database connection failed" This indicates that a database component that Sonar uses to store plugin information is not running or is not connecting properly.
 
Have you rebooted your computer? If yes, and you still have the problem, I would suggest that something may have gone wrong with the install. To fix that you should uninstall Sonar and reinstall from the command center.

Thanks. That was on my mind to try next ....can't hurt...I will follow up if fixed

If reboot does not fix it and before reinstalling, the database is reinitialized when repersonalizing SONAR or by renaming/removing the existing database. Open Windows Explorer and paste %appdata%\Cakewalk\Library in the path entry. Rename or remove Library.db in this folder and start SONAR. This will copy the seed database from C:\ProgramData\Cakewalk\Library. Repersonalizing or copying the database will lose any custom category assignments.