USB Flash Drive Formats

Mar 26, 2023

Waves V9 and up require activation on a computer or USB flash drive.
For both OS X and Windows compatibility, your USB flash drive must be exFAT-formatted.

The majority of USB flash drives you buy will be exFAT-formatted by default.

If you receive permissions error messages in Waves Central, or your activated USB flash drive is not working when moving between OS X and Windows, you should verify that your USB flash drive is exFAT-formatted.

Note that legacy Avid D-Show, Profile, SC48, & Mix Rack running VENUE V3–V3.1.1 require FAT-32 formatted USB flash drives.

Windows

Important:
Before you reformat your USB flash drive, make sure you back up your files elsewhere.

Go to My Computer, right-click on your USB flash drive and choose Format.
The second drop-down File System will display the current format.
If it's not exFAT, select exFAT from the drop-down menu, and then click Start.
Once done, launch Waves Central.
Log into Waves Central using your Waves account information.
If you had licenses on that USB flash drive before you reformatted it, they will be reactivated automatically.

OS X 10.9.5-10.10.5

Important:
Before you reformat your USB flash drive, make sure you back up your files elsewhere.

Go to Applications > Utilities, and launch the Disk Utility app.
On the left, select your USB flash drive and then choose the Partition tab from the top.
Under “Partition Layout” Select 1 Partition.
Under “Partition Information”, select MS-DOS (FAT) as the format.
Click on Options, select Master Boot Record and click OK.
Click Apply to format the drive.
Once done, launch Waves Central.
Log into Waves Central using your Waves account information.

If you had licenses on that USB flash drive before you reformatted it, they will be reactivated automatically.

OS X 10.11 and Up

Important:
Before you reformat your USB flash drive, make sure you back up your files elsewhere.

Go to Applications > Utilities, and launch the Disk Utility app.
On the left, select your USB flash drive and choose the Erase tab from the top.
Set Format to MS-DOS (ExFAT)
Set Scheme to Master Boot Record.
Click on Erase to format the drive.
Once done, launch Waves Central and log into your account.

If you had licenses on that USB flash drive before you reformatted it, they will be reactivated automatically.