How to fix NIHostIntegrationAgent service is not running? File is missing

Greg Busby

S61 keyboard and Maschine MK2 are not loading. NIHostIntegrationAgent service is not running and trying to start this manually gives Windows report that the NIHostIntegrationAgent file is missing. This happened after problems updating Komplete Kontrol through Native Access. I now have Komplete Kontrol 3.0.2 but neither the Keyboard nor the Maschine will connect. Is there a separate download for this file? Also, Native Access has predictable and consistent trouble updating Komplete Kontrol and I would like to fix this.

PoorFellow

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/107996#Comment_107996

When in doubt then always manually make a new Windows restore point and if you want to be really sure of being able to revert your actions then take a full image based system drive backup using a backup tool such as e.g. the free Paragon Backup & Recovery Community Edition ! I can give you no warranties with respect to fewer or more problems. To be absolutely safe then always use a recognized backup solution to make a full system drive backup to another drive and as a matter of principle also always have a tested as working Recovery boot media at hand !

The NIHardwareAgent and NIHostIntegrationAgent ought to be installed when you installs the newest version of Komplete Kontrol for your OS. Hence the advice to uninstall/remove the Komplete kontrol app and reinstall it.

You are only to remove Komplete Kontrol (I am not sure if it is necessary to remove the two Komplete Kontrol driver entries) and the NIHostIntegrationAgent. Leave all the rest of your products as is. Then reboot computer , and like Jeremy suggests then you might turn off the AV for the duration of the installation. Also make sure that you do not have any settings in windows turned on that prevents third party apps from installing correctly. Then run Native access as an Admin and then try to reinstall the Komplete Kontrol app.

If you have a full back up to revert to then it will allow you to relax more since you then can just reload your installation from the backup if need be ! And that will also allow you to try more methods and then reload system from the backup in between ! Also normally then regularly use a backup method when your system works and you have done so many alterations that you do not want to have to do it all over again !

If you keep having problems then you might have to ask Install support : http://bit.ly/NIsupport_install

PoorFellow

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/18676/how-to-fix-nihostintegrationagent-service-is-not-running-file-is-missing

The standard trouble-shooting for the "NIHardwareAgent or NIHostIntegrationAgent services are not running in the background" part assumes that the agents are present and just needs to be started so that is most likely not of great use..

I would suggest that you tries to uninstall the Komplete kontrol completely and also uses the reg tool to remove any reg entries , and then tries to re-install Komplete Kontrol by running the Native Access app as an admin. Else , apparently a number of people have had trouble with KK 3.x.x (I am not one of them as of yet) , and if you keep having problems then you might have to ask Install support : http://bit.ly/NIsupport_install

Greg Busby

Looking at the Uninstall RegTool, I see that NIHostIntegrationAgent is on the list for Removal, but where do I access a download for this file to Reinstall?

Included in the NI Uninstall RegTool list are 3 Komplete Kontrol products and 10+ Maschine products. Am I to Delete/Reinstall each of them to gain installation of the NIHostIntegrationAgent service or is that file associated with just one of them?

Also, I have a history of problems using Native Access. Every update ruins some aspect of my Native Instrument experience and I spend hours trying various remedies. Is there a complete and reliable solution to this persistent problem? I put in a support request, thanks for that suggestion.

Jeremy_NI

@Greg Busby Please try reinstalling Komplete Kontrol in Native Access. Do you have any antivirus active? Try to deactivate it. Are you using property cleaning programs? These are known to cause issues like the one you mention: Notes on Using Registry or Property List Cleaning Utilities

PoorFellow

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/107996#Comment_107996

When in doubt then always manually make a new Windows restore point and if you want to be really sure of being able to revert your actions then take a full image based system drive backup using a backup tool such as e.g. the free Paragon Backup & Recovery Community Edition ! I can give you no warranties with respect to fewer or more problems. To be absolutely safe then always use a recognized backup solution to make a full system drive backup to another drive and as a matter of principle also always have a tested as working Recovery boot media at hand !

The NIHardwareAgent and NIHostIntegrationAgent ought to be installed when you installs the newest version of Komplete Kontrol for your OS. Hence the advice to uninstall/remove the Komplete kontrol app and reinstall it.

You are only to remove Komplete Kontrol (I am not sure if it is necessary to remove the two Komplete Kontrol driver entries) and the NIHostIntegrationAgent. Leave all the rest of your products as is. Then reboot computer , and like Jeremy suggests then you might turn off the AV for the duration of the installation. Also make sure that you do not have any settings in windows turned on that prevents third party apps from installing correctly. Then run Native access as an Admin and then try to reinstall the Komplete Kontrol app.

If you have a full back up to revert to then it will allow you to relax more since you then can just reload your installation from the backup if need be ! And that will also allow you to try more methods and then reload system from the backup in between ! Also normally then regularly use a backup method when your system works and you have done so many alterations that you do not want to have to do it all over again !

If you keep having problems then you might have to ask Install support : http://bit.ly/NIsupport_install

Greg Busby

Thank you PoorFellow. While your suggestions did work for me this time, I am anxious to ever use Native Access again for any updates as I encounter new problems with each instance. Every time I end up with NI hardware that does not connect, updates that get stuck installing, and Komplete Kontrol missing.

I now have a folder on my desktop with a number of files, updates, tools to use, and a typed-out procedural list of steps to remedy the problems caused by Native Access and its attempt to update Komplete Kontrol and a random few other instruments/plug-ins. This is not acceptable to me. As I consider upgrading my S61 Mk2 to the new S61 Mk3, I must also consider the amount of time and creativity that is wasted fixing these predictable problems every time there is an update.

Thanks again!

red_nick

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/108182#Comment_108182

It disappearing like this makes me very suspicious of what anti-virus @Greg Busby might have. Does your AV show you a list of files it blocks/removes/quarantines?

Greg Busby

No other anti-virus software other than Windows Defender using Win 10 Pro. Putting install files in the Windows Security Exclusions list did not work so I disable Win Defender real-time protection whenever updating NI Products.

However, this is not always successful nor is it any sort of solution I am willing to accept. This leaves NI users vulnerable even if for only the few minutes it takes for updating hardware or software.

PoorFellow

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/109174#Comment_109174

Thank you very much for reporting back.

I fully understand your frustration. I am using Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit myself and back when it were Native Access 1 I couldn't update the client to version 2, and I got so fed up with it that I completely lost interest. It were not before N.A. version 3 (though it were still called version 2) that I updated the client and even then there were problems with installing the dependencies (that I myself helped troubleshoot). But after that it got fixed then I have had little to no problems with Native Access and updating. I had the problem where one had to install manually on top to get it to update but that's it. So I can not recognize the type of problems that you describe. And since I can not then I would have to guess that that it must somehow be dependent on your setup or your specific mix of stuff. But I have also noticed at some point that some other people had problems because of some M.S. Visual C++ Redistributable packages I think that it was that they had to clean up. But I myself have I think 20 of those installed with no apparent problems. And me not being rich then my rather old rig (Intel i7 generation 6 based) is a multi purpose rig. Meaning that I have a lot on drives and a lot installed including more programming environments, a dozen or two picture, graphics and video making programs (these days mostly courtesy of Humble Bundle) , 4-5 big music making packages and at least 6 game clients with literally hundreds of computer games installed... I am not trying to brag , more trying to illustrate how different peoples experience can be.

But on the other hand then I have several times over the years re-installed Windows from scratch either because the backup were not fit or I upgraded the platform or I wanted to try to fix something. And the amount of times I have made full system backups and reloaded them I don't know even though I only too rarely make those anymore because I now mostly rely on file backups made by using SyncBackFree/PRO.

At this point in time with the drive prices that is then at moment I would suggest that people get a 4TB SSD/NVME (or suitable size) and use that exclusively for backup purposes. Then if your system drive is a fast NVME type and your CPU is powerful enough then a full system drive backup can be done rather fast as can any reload ! And then when stuff works and you are happy , then take a new backup. But always keep some old backups in case you find a problem that you didn't spot earlier that is present in your newest backup !

(And then of course, on a day to day basis, if necessary use e.g. SyncBackFree/PRO to take backup of personal files/settings that you don't want to loose)(The SyncBack programs offer rather advanced setup possibilities and a lot of people might find the SyncBack programs too advanced for comfort but one can use test runs to learn by testing by copying stuff that doesn't matter)