Kontakt 8 and file management

Fulgar

Hello everyone,
I just installed Kontakt 8 with Native Access. I wanted to place the content elements on an external hard drive and put my VSTs in a chosen folder. I went to the File Management menu and set the content location to the path of my external hard drive (D:\Native Instrument\NI Content).

Similarly, for my VSTs, I set the following paths for the VST location (32-bit) and VST location (64-bit):
C:\Program Files\VstPlugins\VST NI\VSTPlugins 32 bit
C:\Program Files\VstPlugins\VST NI\VSTPlugins 64 bit

However, when I launched the installation of Kontakt 8, Native Access didn’t respect the selected paths. It placed the content in the directory:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Native Instruments\Kontakt 8\Content (specifically Low Vibe and Piano Uno),
and Kontakt 8.vst3 in the directory:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3

Does anyone know why this happened?
Is there a way to roll back and reinstall so that the Low Vibe and Piano Uno files are placed in the correct directory specified in the File Management settings of Native Access?

Thank you for your help!

PoorFellow

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/40016/kontakt-8-and-file-management

It placed the content in the directory: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Native Instruments\Kontakt 8\Content (specifically Low Vibe and Piano Uno),

These are both Leap related which might explain it. I have no idea though if this is by design or an error. You would have to ask/report to N.I. Native Access and Installation Support or N.I. Kontakt Support and ask them.

and Kontakt 8.vst3 in the directory: C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3

That is the correct folder for VST3 and since it is a system folder then for 64 bit VST3 you should never use another folder for VST3 on 64 Bit Windows than C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3 and for 32-bit VST3 plug-ins on 64-bit Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\VST3

Reference : Steinberg on VST plug-in locations on Windows

DunedinDragon

The following link summarizes the behaviors and recommendations on setting the File Management values in Native Access:

As you can see they don't recommend moving the VST locations so I leave them alone. It's the content locations I'm concerned about since that's where the samples and everything is that takes up so much space and needs fast access. So I leave the Content Location at it's default, then after a new library has been installed I decide, typically based on its size, what external SSD to move it to and create a new folder for it there. Then I just copy/move the library directory from its default location into that directory location and do a relocate of the library inside Native Access, then I go back and delete it from the default location. This allows me to better allocate the storage across all my various SSD drives to keep things balanced which is just good systems management and works quite well and I've never had any problems with it.

As a general rule I only keep the smallest of the libraries on my system drive as that drive will be busier than most drives because it's doing all the systems and program stuff on the computer. I rely on my other SSDs for larger libraries because they're not competing with anything. My goal is to keep all drives under 60% capacity and fairly equal in percentages. My system drive is the lowest because that leaves me extra room should I need to allocate more system paging space.

https://support.native-instruments.com/hc/en-us/articles/211577305-How-to-Change-the-Install-Locations-in-Native-Access?utm_campaign=how-to-change-install-locations&utm_medium=in-product&utm_source=native-access-2

PoorFellow

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/40016/kontakt-8-and-file-management

It placed the content in the directory: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Native Instruments\Kontakt 8\Content (specifically Low Vibe and Piano Uno),

These are both Leap related which might explain it. I have no idea though if this is by design or an error. You would have to ask/report to N.I. Native Access and Installation Support or N.I. Kontakt Support and ask them.

and Kontakt 8.vst3 in the directory: C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3

That is the correct folder for VST3 and since it is a system folder then for 64 bit VST3 you should never use another folder for VST3 on 64 Bit Windows than C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3 and for 32-bit VST3 plug-ins on 64-bit Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\VST3

Reference : Steinberg on VST plug-in locations on Windows

Fulgar

Thank you.
The problem is that my c:\ hardrive won't be big enough for all the data from Komplete.

PoorFellow

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/197890#Comment_197890

The problem is that my c:\ hardrive won't be big enough for all the data from Komplete.

You can set Download and Content destination to other than C: (How to Change the Install Locations in Native Access)

Also then one can change things by using 'Symbolic Links" in Windows. I have no idea how well it works but you could try to look into that also , Ref. : Changing-VST3-Folder-Guide

And a more general guide on the topic : The Complete Guide to Creating Symbolic Links (aka Symlinks) on Windows