For better or for worse, I haven't upgraded my installation of Sonar Platinum in months, for fear that this issue would befall me as well. At present, I am able to successfully use Sonar Platinum on a PC that is not connected to the internet, without Sonar reverting to demo mode.
 
My concern is based in my experience with Rapture Pro. I am not sure of this timetable because I did not anticipate problems and therefore did not make notes, but it appears that my version of Rapture Pro worked fine for a brief period after purchase until an upgrade, after which it always reverts to demo mode hours after re-authorization. My problem may ironically coincide (and I'm not sure) with the upgrade that introduced offline authorization.
 
As a result, it is my suspicion that there is an endemic issue with Cakewalk products that use the current method for authorization. I'm sure that Cakewalk will get it worked out, but it has been a frustrating issue for me for almost half of a year.

I'm already running as an administrator. I tried disabling firewall/anti-virus, but no change.
 
However, your post made me start thinking about user accounts...
 
My daughter has her own account on this PC, and she has occasionally used Sonar in the past. So I logged onto her account, and when I launched from the desktop, Sonar came up normally (not demo mode)! So it would appear that there is something that's different between user accounts.
 
So next, I created a brand new account. When I launched Sonar from the desktop, I got the following error message:
  
"SONARPLT. The personalization process did not complete! You may have cancelled the copy or your disk may be full. The application may not launch successfully. Please redo the personalization if necessary."
 
After continuing from the error message, Sonar came up in demo mode. So whatever is wrong with my account is also wrong on a brand new account. Regarding the error message, I'm certainly not short of disk space (~600Gb free) and I didn't cancel anything, so it would seem that maybe something is wrong with the personalization (whatever that is).
 
I'm running Windows 10 Home.
 
Any ideas where to go next? I do appreciate the help from this forum (it's now 2 weeks and counting and I have yet to hear back from Cakewalk product support).
 
Thanks.
 
- Eric
 
 
 
 

Please Help, SPLAT running in demo mode. Rollback not working. Running as administrator. Will not launch from CC.
Disabled firewall/anti-virus. Offline authorization doesn't work. Paid for SPLAT. Into my second year of rolling updates. Which have now been canceled as my funds have dried up, BECAUSE I CAN'T WORK OR GET PAID. How do you go about getting a refund? I need to buy some software that works. Tech support seems to have given up on me.
This dodgy company is ruining my business.
 

what did tech support say ?
did you buy an upgrade or where you paying by the month ?
if you did not fully pay for the software, you wont own it.

Thank you so much for the response, Chuck.
I did pay for Platinum fully in the first year. 
The second year I took out the 'Rolling Updates' plan & my membership was valid thru until 1st October 2016.
 
This is the last message from tech support.
 
"I'm sorry to hear the rollback did not work as planned. Did you also go through the motions of logging out of Command Center, restarting your computer, logging back into Command Center, and launching SONAR from Command Center? The error code most certainly points to an authorization error that may have been triggered. I'd like to make sure you're going through all of the most basic functions that would reset a timing issue like that. Also, is your computers time/date set to a different time than the Windows automatically sync'd time?
 
Your current subscription looked like it was canceled, then there was an attempt to renew that was also declined. I've gone ahead and canceled that subscription for now, because honestly it's not needed at all and may be part of what's triggering the demo mode situation. As you already made 12 payments on the first sub it shouldn't be affecting your authorization, but it may have been looking at the newer subscription. If you now attempt to go through the log out/restart/log in/ launch steps again, that may end up giving a positive result". 
 
I have been using Cakewalk for over 15 years without a glitch (long term paying user).
 
 
 
 
 

Hi, Larry. Did you try uninstalling using these steps?
https://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Knowledge-Base/2007013372/Clean-Install-All-Cakewalk-Software
And then reinstall. Hope it helps.
All the best.

And just to confirm... did you roll back to the version that was current when you reached your last valid registration point?   I'm not sure how it works if you try to run a release that's post-final payment. 

I would roll back to the earliest version you have available on your Command center
(that's if you didn't delete any of these)

I am still in demo mode. I have uninstalled using the steps for a clean install.
I have tried rolling back every single version.
I have also tried to renew my rolling updates membership & cannot do that.
My emails to tech support / customer support get no response.
I am so desperate. Surely someone can help.
Please I beg...

I have also tried offline activations for each rollback.
Contacted user groups. Written on the Facebook page.
I have even tried to contact the CTO.
Yes, I have been getting nasty.
I am now heavily sedated.
This is the only way I can cope with sitting here all day week after week trying to get SPLAT to work.
Yes, I have paid for the software in full.
Yes, I have had to refund my client's money.
Yes, I have started shaming your company on social media.
I have nothing left to lose.
Can anyone else suggest methods for getting action from this "company"?