The USB Dongle Backup and Recovery 2012 Pro (also known as DongleBackup2012) is a specialized utility developed by Soft-Key Solutions and ETech Software Ltd to create digital backups and emulations of hardware-based license keys. Core Functionality & Recovery
These dongles contained 4KB to 64KB of encrypted EEPROM. Unlike modern cloud licenses, the actual license data lived only inside the dongle. Without a proper backup and recovery, that data is gone forever.
Disable Driver Signature Enforcement: For older 2012-era emulators on modern 64-bit Windows, you may need to disable Driver Signature Enforcement in Windows startup settings to allow the virtual dongle driver to load.
: The software can create a virtual USB port that mimics the original physical dongle, allowing the protected software to run without the physical key being plugged in. Hardware Recovery
And that key had just failed during a firmware update.