Traktor Products (Kontrol S2) Not Recognized Traktor, NIHostIntegrationAgent won't start, Error 2

Jake123

I have solved this issue and I couldn't find the solution on the forms or from the support team so I will try my best to summarize the solution. NIHostIntegrationAgent wouldn't start and was giving me this error. "Windows could not start the NIHostIntegrationAgent service on Local Computer. Error 2: The system cannot find the file specified." My Traktor Kontrol S2 wasn't showing in Traktor, if you try and start the NIHostIntegrationAgent and get error code two after uninstalling this guide is for you.

https://support.native-instruments.com/hc/en-us/articles/4410096148113-My-Native-Instruments-Hardware-Device-is-Not-Recognized#Windows2

After stepping through this guide the problem was not fixed so I wrote support asking this.

"I'm trying to get my Traktor Kontrol S2 first generation to be used in Traktor, but it's not recognized by Traktor. I've uninstalled and reinstalled everything NI related. The Traktor S2 is recognized by the NI Device Updater program and the Traktor S2 Control Panel. Drivers appear to be update. I believe the issue stemmed from having NI products on other hard drives and ruined the install/run path for NIHostIntegrationAgent. The NIHostIntegrationAgent service won't run even when trying to start the service manually. When I run NIHostIntegrationAgent manually I get this error "Windows could not start the NIHostIntegrationAgent service on Local Computer. Error 2: The system cannot find the file specified." So, I'm looking for replacement file that I can copy into this path or other solutions to getting my NIHostIntegrationAgent to run."

Support directed me to the link below, to backup my files and uninstall Traktor. I did this in the first guide, and didn't get the solution needed.

How Can I Completely Uninstall TRAKTOR on my Windows Computer?

This is how I fixed the issue.

1. Open the Registry editor and delete the NIHostIntegrationAgent file. 
2. Move any recordings or anything else you want to keep to another file. Then delete every Native Instruments file from the computer by searching "Native Instruments" move these files to recycling then remove permanently. (This was to remove the paths of the old NIHostIntegrationAgent, if you have previous recordings or other files you'd like to keep please back them up to another location.) 
3. Use the control panels add/remove programs and Uninstall all of the Native Instruments programs.
4. Open the CMD prompt as an administrator and put in this CMD "sfc /scannow" (This will scan and repair some of the services. It may take a few minutes. ) 
5. Reboot the system and the NIHostIntegrationAgent service should be gone from the computer. 
6. Re-Install Native Access and Traktor
7. Run Traktor and your Traktor device should be recognized by the set-up Wizard. 

I'm pretty sure this was from having multiple hard drives on my computer and moving files from one to the other without the path getting updated. Goodluck! Hope it helps.

*Edit, swapped 2 and 3 to save before uninstalling and added a short summary.

Ryan_NI

Thanks for sharing your solution, @Jake123 - it's much appreciated.