NI, please rethink Native Access authorization.

Jez Burns

I'm in the middle of a composition project with a tight deadline. Around half the time when I open a session, my NI instruments are unable to load due to the notorious and apparently unsolved bug in Native Access causing it to hang on 'Loading Products' (and presumably failing to authorise the libraries in Kontakt 7). Almost always if I put my computer to sleep, authorisation is lost and I have to restart my computer, then repeatedly open / uninstall / reinstall new / former versions of Native Access and NTK Daemon until for no apparent reason it just starts working again.

Hunting through threads in the forums, there is no clear reason why this is happening or how to solve it. I just found one thread where a member of NI staff confirmed it is down to a problem their end, but this was in February 2024 and it's now June.

Why in the name of all things sane does Native Access need 24/7 access to the internet and NI servers to function at all? Steinberg recently dropped their dongle in favour of online authorisation of their software, but it only requires a connection once a month to authorise, and leaves you in peace between these times. Considering scores of customers like me are on the verge of vowing never to buy another NI product again as a result of this endless hassle (and sometimes actual financial losses when projects are corrupted and deadlines can't be met), would it not be more sensible to rethink the whole authorisation model and introduce something similar to Steinberg?

Vocalpoint

@Jez Burns

"Around half the time when I open a session, my NI instruments are unable to load due to the notorious and apparently unsolved bug in Native Access causing it to hang on 'Loading Products' (and presumably failing to authorise the libraries in Kontakt 7)."

Native Access plays no role whatsoever (that I am aware of) in the loading of any NI instrument - saved within an actual DAW session.

NA does not run in the background nor does it update, alter or change anything unless specifically opened by the user - and then the user must manually initiate the download and install of a specific update by clicking Update.

Would love to see these errors that you see - exactly as you see them when opening a session.

VP

olafmol

my Native access (v2) also has issues since today. As an IT professional I can almost guarantee you that NI has some issues on their server side services. Could be they are upgrading their authentication or authorization mechanisms, but it’s not going very smooth. Could also explain the influx of M+ complaints not being able to authorize and install/upgrade their device.

Kubrak

@Jez Burns

There is no need for internet connection after authorising plugins once by NA. If things work as they should. It works like that for me on Win10 and Win7.

chk071

Indeed.

One of those posts where you wonder what the OP actually does wrong to cause this.

Vocalpoint

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/161121#Comment_161121

Correct.

AND I have been experimenting with a new PowerShell script that completely disables everything to do with the NTKDaemon service and still cannot find a single NI thing here that does not work correctly.

VP

Kubrak

My understanding is that NTKDaemon is there because of NI HW. But maybe I am wrong… Anyway NTKDaemon is not part of NA, I guess. Is not it part of Komplete Kontrol SW?

Vocalpoint

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/161235#Comment_161235

NTKDaemon is responsible for activating, downloading, installing, and managing our products. 

It is part of the Native Access install and I do not believe has anything to do with HW.

VP