Will a clean install of Windows 11, mean that all my instrument libraries will need re-install?

Kevin LL · 2024-09-16T15:48:29+00:00

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All my instrument libraries are on a D: drive, but I suspect they will all need to be re-installed after a clean install of Windows 11 on the C: drive, which will wipe everything off the C: drive. Does this sound right? If there is a way to avoid the many hours of re-installing all my instrument libraries, that would be cool… But I fear that's impossilbe. Any comments?

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BIF

Well, I'm using a computer that has been running since the Windows XP days. It has been upgraded to Vista, then to 8.1, and on to 10 and now it's running Windows 11. It has been through multiple motherboard/cpu/memory upgrades, and I can't even count how many hard drives have had this OS through all those years.

I may be doing a Windows 11 "reset" finally in the next few years, so here's what I will do:

Back up everything.
Set aside 2 or 3 weeks (yes, WEEKS) to install things and work through issues.
Know that once you start fresh with Windows, you will lose anything that was in the old Windows Registry. That means that any software you had will need to be reinstalled.
But what about libraries? I don't know, but you need to be prepared to just reinstall everything. Everything.
Unfortunately, I don't know how to tell Native Access to install something without re-downloading it. So saving your D: partition and reusing it, though it might work, might also be more trouble than it's worth.

Somebody else here might be a lot smarter than me and maybe have a procedure for doing what you want. But really, I have to ask myself whether or not it's worth the battle for a computer that I am only going to reset once every 20-30 years. At this rate, I might die of old age long before I'll need to rebuild even this machine!

LostInFoundation

If we are talking about NI libraries (the biggest things to download) you should be able to move them to another disk and once you reinstall the applications (e.g. Komplete Kontrol, Maschine,… which cannot be located) and specially Native Access, you should be able to use it (NA) to locate them in the disk where they are. No need to re-download them or re-install them.

https://support.native-instruments.com/hc/en-us/articles/115005719829-Moving-a-Native-Instruments-Product-to-Another-Location-on-Your-Computer

Kevin LL

Much appreciated!

All comments

BIF

I may be doing a Windows 11 "reset" finally in the next few years, so here's what I will do:

Back up everything.
Set aside 2 or 3 weeks (yes, WEEKS) to install things and work through issues.
Know that once you start fresh with Windows, you will lose anything that was in the old Windows Registry. That means that any software you had will need to be reinstalled.
But what about libraries? I don't know, but you need to be prepared to just reinstall everything. Everything.
Unfortunately, I don't know how to tell Native Access to install something without re-downloading it. So saving your D: partition and reusing it, though it might work, might also be more trouble than it's worth.

LostInFoundation

https://support.native-instruments.com/hc/en-us/articles/115005719829-Moving-a-Native-Instruments-Product-to-Another-Location-on-Your-Computer

Kevin LL

LostInFoundation's answer gives me some hope and at least a way to try to save myself time. I have the libraries all on a seperate drive (not just a partition). I do seem to remember in NA that you can try to find the files if they may already be on the computer (I think I went through this when I was reorganizing the locations of some of the library files once) - to perhaps the re-install of each library will be much easier without having to reload the bulk of the data. Thanks for helping me out my friends!

LostInFoundation

You’re welcome

Vocalpoint

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/178117#Comment_178117

Correct. I have rebuilt my DAW several times in the last 10 years or so.

As long as the big bulky libraries are on your D drive and that is a separate standalone drive - simply disconnect it while you are installing Win 11.

After the OS is solid (but well before installing ANY software) - shutdown the PC. Reconnect the cabling for the D drive and ensure that the reconnected drive is seen by the BIOS.

Once all drives are recognized by the system - boot into Windows and cruise over to Disk Manager and make sure everything is cool in there with D.

Then install your usual suspects like Native Access - where you will be able to open that little menu on each NA library and use the Locate command.

Might take a while but I can confirm it all works.

Kevin LL

Much appreciated!

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