How can I remove NTKDaemon? It appears to have a serious memory leak...

Tonegroove · 2022-05-22T18:18:48+00:00

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Good afternoon! First off, I have the Komplete collection but don't own any NI hardware.

I was doing some cleanup of startup applications to keep my system optimized and discovered the NTKDaemon.exe process was using up 21 GB of virtual memory and 1.9 GB in the working set! As I type this I'm actually watching it creep up. I use Cubase, but it's not running.

I'd like to just remove it altogether, as I learned that it does some things with sounds.com, which I have no interest in. This isn't a lightweight process either, as it seems to take advantage of Kubernetes to do things locally:

That's like a shotgun (lazy) approach to solve some cross-platform concerns.... but I digress...

Does anyone know how to make this go away? I'm about to uninstall Komplete Kontrol, as I really don't use it, but I suspect this might still exist. I feel like filing a bug with NI, but I don't care enough and would rather just get rid of all these extra processes. DPC's, handles, and context switching all affect overall system performance.

Cheers!

-Sean

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Accepted answers

Sunborn

Go to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Native Instruments\NTK\ it should have an uninstaller there...

Alternatively, you can go to registry, to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run and delete the entry, to prevent it from starting with the system...

Even better, if you have a cleaning (or tweaking) software (such as CCleaner etc.) you can do both from there (either completely uninstalling, either remove the startup entry)

Tonegroove

Excellent. I also just stumbled across the uninstall option in Add/Remove Programs! 🤦

Thank you!

All comments

Sunborn

Go to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Native Instruments\NTK\ it should have an uninstaller there...

Even better, if you have a cleaning (or tweaking) software (such as CCleaner etc.) you can do both from there (either completely uninstalling, either remove the startup entry)

Tonegroove

Excellent. I also just stumbled across the uninstall option in Add/Remove Programs! 🤦

Thank you!

Monochrome

Not sure if this is still true, but uninstalling NTKDaemon may result in you having to enter your password in Native Access every time you open it. It might also get installed again when you update Native Access next time.

Tonegroove

I can confirm, this is true. Mild annoyance, but I use Bitwarden and it's an acceptable price to pay to not have unnecessary processes running.

BretAB

Hi NI Community,

I just had an unusual experience. Out of nowhere I get an authentic Windows 8.1 popup that my pc is running low on memory due to NIHardwareAccessibilityHelper.exe :

With 32GB of ram in this workstation, I've never seen that error, ever.

So I check a little more, and I see NI has taken (haha) komplete control!

That's like 26GB of NI used ram there! That was a scary thing to see at the end of the day.

Until NI sorts this out, I'll now move these two guys from Startup and reboot.

As always, your comments/critiques/corrections are welcome.

Regards . . .

Kubrak

Strange, that just few people do have those problems.

My computer runs several weeks on and no such huge memory leaks...

BretAB

Hi Kubrak,

Thanks for the reply. Until today, I actually never even noticed those processes were startups and running.

I just finished the reboot. NIHardwareAccessibilityHelper.exe and NTKDaemon.exe are no longer present in taskmgr. Mark Russinovich's AutoRuns is your friend some days. I'm much happier now:

Btw, I'm not actively running any of the NI softwares on this PC. I just had it installed to authenticate and download some software purchases I made (as I recall). It's been many months since last NI interaction on this PC. My day job keeps getting in the way, for better or for worse.

Regards . . .

Milkman

That is 210MB, not 21GB, btw.

Milkman

Ohnoes my applications have consumed 1,267 GB of my RAM! How?? I only have 32GB?????

😁

Milkman

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/20695#Comment_20695

Now that you have removed NI's licensing process from your system and startup, lol, have you by chance tried running any NI software? If not, I recommend giving it a shot.

Im honestly not entirely sure what this thread is about. Is the OP and 1 other claiming that the NI licensing process is too heavy and/or misbehaving, or that you should try to remove it??

Kubrak

I have K13U CE and all (four) NI running services take around 80 MB. They run for weeks as I do not switch off my computer. No huge memory usage at all...

Maybe, that Bret and Tonegroove have HW/SW problem, or they have hitted the mistake in NI services that occures very randomly....

Milkman

The only time I reboot my win10 machines, and before them win7(you couldnt pay me to use win8), is when Im forced to after an OS update. They run for weeks without reboots, and I will often leave my entire stack running over night. For over 3 years straight now, and not one memory leak. The only problem I ever have is with cubase 10, 11, 12 and their extremely delicate, egregiously under-developed way of handling exceptions in plugins.

Murat Kayi

You leave your audio workstation running for weeks? Why?

Kubrak

I leave it on, because it is instantly available. I sit and play, no delay. My PC takes 5 W or so, if not working...

BretAB

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/20705#Comment_20705

Fyi, "K" means kilo, so add 3 zeros.

The OP's screen shot showed 21,007,368K. Add the three zeros and you get 21,007,368,000. That would be ~21GB.

Hth

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