After a week of head scratching, cussing, asking myself why the h*** I bought these things (they had a great sale and I've been looking for a dbx 160 type compressor plug), emailing Waves tech support and generally wasting time, I finally have my Waves plugs working. 
 
Don't know how many here are familiar with Waves plugins, but they now install on a computer unlike anything I've ever experienced before. Waves plugs are DL'd, installed and activated through Waves Central(which you have to download to your computer). They don't bother to ask you where you'd like them installed, WC just proceeds. You're on your own, 'cause they don't bother to tell you where they installed your plugs!
 
Finding the plugs and pointing Sonar to scan that folder wasn't so much trouble, but what they ALSO DON'T TELL YOU, is the folder with your licenses, is in a completely different folder in a completely different part of your HD! And unless you point Sonar to scan that folder as well, they won't function and may even crash Sonar (had this happen several times). I have NO idea why Waves couldn't point this out on their DL and install webpage, but they don't. Surely I'm not the only one who had to figure this out on my own? ....... am I??
 
I could get my Waves plugs (one is the dbx 160) to work just fine, (love it, btw) if I kept my DAW connected to the internet. I don't like doing that unless I need to DL or update something. This, even though I had transferred the licenses to my system from the cloud. I then tried transferring my licenses to a jump drive. It worked with the jump drive plugged into a USB port, but I don't have any extra USB ports, so I didn't really want to leave it that way. And who wants to have to remember to disconnect something and insert a jump drive every time you want to use a Waves plug? I ended up transferring the licenses to an external HD that I use for backups and is always connected to my DAW. Seems to FINALLY work as it should.
 
Now, why you might ask, would the Waves licenses not work from my system? Turns out, when Waves installs licenses on your system HD, it looks for a network adapter to ID the computer. But of course, they don't tell you this! lol I have a custom built DAW computer that I never intended to connect to the internet, so it has no network adapter. I use a TPLink wireless USB network adapter to connect to the internet and pull it out when I no longer need internet access, thus leaving my system with no ID, according to Waves. I was told by tech support that something like 98% of computers have a built in network adapter. Guess that makes me some kind of an odd ball or something. Go figure. 
 
Sorry for the rant, but I do hope this might shed some light and help others who, like me bought Waves plugs thinking they worked like plugs from most other plugin makers. They don't. At least not in my experience.
 
Now that I have them working properly, I love 'em! 

Can you state the paths you pointed to? Thx..

I tried to warn you, Joel. And for those 98% that do have a MAC address to key on, they'll be in for a rude awakening when they try to disable said NIC to improve their system's efficiency for audio. Or they replace it with a better card, or to fix a broken one. All their Waves plugins will assume they are thieves and refuse to work. No help file or online resource will tell you what the problem is, and you have maybe a 50/50 chance they'll respond to an email if you haven't bought into their WUP protection racket.
 
The upside: if you're willing to play their game and jump through their hoops, in the end they are great plugins. 

bitflipper
I tried to warn you, Joel. And for those 98% that do have a MAC address to key on, they'll be in for a rude awakening when they try to disable said NIC to improve their system's efficiency for audio. Or they replace it with a better card, or to fix a broken one. All their Waves plugins will assume they are thieves and refuse to work. No help file or online resource will tell you what the problem is, and you have maybe a 50/50 chance they'll respond to an email if you haven't bought into their WUP protection racket.
 
The upside: if you're willing to play their game and jump through their hoops, in the end they are great plugins. 

I have mine disabled and use a wireless USB connection. Waves authorizes just fine on it.
 
Regards,
Dan

My Waves plugs turned into something like a Pizza and Beer.  It was something I payed for then later dumped...  I won't buy another one or I won't install a free one. Too many other Great plugs without the hassle or maintenance fees.
 
If it works for you, Great!

I just think of Waves as "disposable" plugins, fully understanding the risk of failure and non-support as DAW's and operating systems change.  However, I have only bought a handful of Waves plugins only when on sale.  I don't buy into the bundles, and I certainly don't buy into the WUP.  Total waste of money.  Sure if you're a professional, and need the support and certainty that your investment of thousands of dollars continues to make you thousands of dollars, then by all means do the WUP and worry about Waves.

I've never had a problem with Waves, but I've certainly heard horror stories like the one the OP mentions.  Good luck to you.

And on the other side of the coin you have me. I love the Waves plugs and have no issues with the installation. I'd buy my plugs from Cakewalk if they'd make something new and usable. The one time I had an issue, Waves support was excellent. I suppose one day I could regret not getting WUP but I paid the minimum for each one and the WUP is more than the purchase price. 
 
I wish Cakewalk would produce more plugs for Pro Channel so I could support them.

I tried the free Tru Verb and will uninstall as soon as I get around to it. I'm not the brightest bulb but I couldn't make heads nor tails of the interface, took a long time to figure out how to install it, and not sure it sounds better than the  alternatives.

I've used Waves plugs for a long Time. Always liked them very much. One time I had an issue and their support was awesome.
About a week ago, Waves Central said it needed updated so, I did it. Wow! As soon as I did that, first, none of my Waves plugs would work. After much messing around, I got all of them to work EXCEPT my Renaissance Compressor. Al the others work, including all the rest of the Renaissance Bundle, just not the Ren Comp!
I've sent 2 emails to Waves support and have had no response other than the automated ones telling me they received my emails.