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Why is Kontakt still so buggy?

ProfessorChaos

I have installed Windows on PCs for over twenty years. Every single time, one thing is true: it's a fresh start. Everything works, as long as the hardware is fine. If that machine had weird problems before as a result of years of Windows updates and other software updates, they don't exist anymore, at least for a while.

But in Kontakt's case, it seems to be the opposite. After having wiped my machine's C drive and installed Windows 11 from scratch, the first time I open Kontakt after having installed part of the instruments I own, I see this:

The only instruments that show thumbnails are the ones that I had to link to rather than download with Native Access. If I scroll to the top I can also see Albion One, although going down I also see these three, which were indeed downloaded with NA:

Why is it that years go by and Kontakt is still a mess?

And yes, I know there's probably to fix this, but in a Windows installation that is four days old, this kind of thing simply shouldn't happen. Hell, a fresh install is supposed to improve things, in this case, it's quite the opposite, because in the Windows install that was a year and four months old, all the thumbnails were present.

And before you ask, yes, I gave it plenty of time to build or rebuild the database. Last night I left Kontakt open, and this morning it was the same.

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Jeremy_NI

@ProfessorChaos THis probably not a bug but something went wrong at some point.

If you wiped out the whole drive and OS on your computer, how have you installed the libraries from scratch or did you re-install or relocate all the libraries with Native Access? Were they on an external hard drive? Have you followed these steps? https://support.native-instruments.com/hc/en-us/articles/115005720489-Using-the-Repair-Relocate-Function-in-Native-Access

If you follow the steps "Locating Multiple Products" you should easily relocate all your Kontakt libraries and they will show normally in Kontakt, nothing like what you are showing here.

We would recommend to chen in Native Access that every library is actually located to where it should, locate them if needed, then reset Kontakt's database:

Reinitialize the Kontakt Database

Click the Windows start button at the bottom left of your screen.
Type "%localappdata%" and click the option that appears.
Navigate to the Native Instruments folder.
Then, depending on the Kontakt version you are using, delete the following folder:
Kontakt 5: "Kontakt 5"
Kontakt 6: "Kontakt"
Kontakt 7: "Kontakt 7"
Kontakt 8: "Kontakt 8"
Start Kontakt in standalone mode (not in your DAW).

ProfessorChaos

If you wiped out the whole drive and OS on your computer, how have you installed the libraries from scratch or did you re-install or relocate all the libraries with Native Access?

I wanted to do everything as clean as possible. I deleted all the libraries from the previous installation. Once I had the new Windows install and drivers, etc, I installed Native Access, changed the content folder to another internal NVMe drive, and installed what I wanted.

So this is as clean as you can get, there's no reason why it shouldn't work fine from the start. Still seems like a bug to me.

Vocalpoint

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/261373#Comment_261373

In my experience - there is a LOT than has to be done to a "new" Windows install right after it is laid down to the harddrive.

One of the biggest "misses" that everyone makes is ensuring that the Visual C++ redistributables are up to date - which I guarantee - are not - after any clean Windows install. These libraries are critical to NI products and especially Native Access.

Another factor that everyone overlooks is Defender and it's real time detection logic - if you not specfically told Defender to leave every single NI product alone - manually - when the OS is up - there is a high likelihood of interference (and excessive scanning) happening during any install via NA - which in turn can cause payloads (like all these missing graphics) to show up like this.

Judging by your screencap - this is not a Kontakt issue (per se). This is an issue with the initial payloads and installs via NA access.

The reason it looks weird in Kontakt - is most likely downstream of the real problem. Could be permissions issues here too - as you did not specifiy which version of Win 11 your are using. If it's Home edition - that one is notrious for all sorts of nonsense out of the box.

Another obscure element to check is Smart Control. This was added to Windows 11 a few cycles back and if turned on (which it will be in a defualt install) can literally mess up practically any software install - all in the name of "aggressive" security.

This thing needs to be disabled almost as a first move - if you do not want install hassles down the road.

Jeremy_NI

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/261373#Comment_261373

There were no other reports of such a bug. We would recommend to get in touch with our support so they can check what could be wrong here: https://support.native-instruments.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

bob

format the images folder without backup it was a bad idea

C:\Users\Public\Documents\NI Resources\image

ProfessorChaos

In my experience - there is a LOT than has to be done to a "new" Windows install right after it is laid down to the harddrive.
One of the biggest "misses" that everyone makes is ensuring that the Visual C++ redistributables are up to date - which I guarantee - are not - after any clean Windows install. These libraries are critical to NI products and especially Native Access.
Another factor that everyone overlooks is Defender and it's real time detection logic - if you not specfically told Defender to leave every single NI product alone - manually - when the OS is up - there is a high likelihood of interference (and excessive scanning) happening during any install via NA - which in turn can cause payloads (like all these missing graphics) to show up like this.
Judging by your screencap - this is not a Kontakt issue (per se). This is an issue with the initial payloads and installs via NA access.
The reason it looks weird in Kontakt - is most likely downstream of the real problem. Could be permissions issues here too - as you did not specifiy which version of Win 11 your are using. If it's Home edition - that one is notrious for all sorts of nonsense out of the box.
Another obscure element to check is Smart Control. This was added to Windows 11 a few cycles back and if turned on (which it will be in a defualt install) can literally mess up practically any software install - all in the name of "aggressive" security.
This thing needs to be disabled almost as a first move - if you do not want install hassles down the road.

Good advice, but people shouldn't have to know or worry about looking for Visual C++ redistributables and all the other stuff that you mention. If you install Windows from scratch, things should just work. Proof of that is that I simply googled this, and it gave me a couple of steps, of which I only did the first one, because the second one was to delete some file that didn't exist. But the first one was:

Navigate to C: > Users > Public > Documents and delete NI Resources

And that was all it took.

My Windows version is Pro BTW.

ProfessorChaos

format the images folder without backup it was a bad idea

I'm not sure what you mean there, but if I had to guess, you're saying that formatting the system drive without a backup of the images folder was a bad idea. If that's the case, I will say that I shouldn't have to backup that folder, I should just backup custom presets that I saved in Kontakt instruments.

But something that is supposed to be built by Native Access on installation, I shouldn't have to backup that.

Vocalpoint

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/261416#Comment_261416

"Good advice, but people shouldn't have to know or worry about looking for Visual C++ redistributables and all the other stuff that you mention.

Yes - you would think this - but it is simply not the case.

Oddly - a clean Windows 11 ISO (from April 2026) ships with no current Visual C++ Redistributable libraries. (Or .NET runtimes) They all need to be added.

"If you install Windows from scratch, things should just work."

And it does - if you are the most basic of user doing nothing but surfing the Internet or using MS Office.

Microsoft does not build the Windows 11 ISO for anyone using a DAW. They build it for Joe Average. And his mom. And his Grandma.

I won't get into what I do after a bare metal Windows install - but it's about 45 more minutes of preparation to get it ready for a DAW computer.

Glad to see you got things sorted.

JesterMgee

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/261422#Comment_261422

Typically tho, if an application needs C++ or .NET frameworks and they are not present or outdated, this will be detected on install/launch of the app and the user prompted to install and if not, an application will usually fail at launch stating what isn't present so if he has the software running and everything looks to be working, but thumbs for some folders are missing but not all, this is unlikely to be a dependency library problem and more a database/resource issue which is what it appears to have been. Personally I don't think I have ever had to manually downloaded and installed C++ or .NET for anything I have needed to run, if it was ever required as a dependency, whatever software I installed has always either downloaded and installed or opened a page to download the installer.

Vocalpoint

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/261425#Comment_261425

Totally agreed.

But the need for VC++ libraries extend well beyond what NI might require. These are used for everything. And yes - they “should” download as needed but sometimes…

Simply saying that any assumption that a new Windows install is “ready” for anything is not exactly accurate.

ProfessorChaos

Microsoft does not build the Windows 11 ISO for anyone using a DAW. They build it for Joe Average. And his mom. And his Grandma.
I won't get into what I do after a bare metal Windows install - but it's about 45 more minutes of preparation to get it ready for a DAW computer.

Well, if Kontakt or any other NI software you install depends on Visual C++ or .net or whatever libraries that are not present, it should either download and install automatically, or at least give you a huge warning that you need to download and install them yourself.

Like @JesterMgee says, usually installers either come with or download all the redistributables they need. In some cases, I have seen a prompt to download them.

NI shouldn't assume that everyone who uses their products is a computer nerd that knows everything about the extra things that need to be downloaded. It should come with everything it needs to work right after installation, or prompt the user to install extra software libraries needed to run properly.

Regardless, I doubt those libraries are the problem, because if I was missing any redistributables that Kontakt needs, then deleting the NI Resources folder in C: > Users > Public > Documents wouldn't have achieved anything.

Jeremy_NI

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/261436#Comment_261436

Again, what you are experiencing has not been reported before, our products usually work on a brand new Windows installation without these symptoms. We would really recommend to get in touch with our support to find out what happened and how to fix it, and if it's a broader issue or a bug to file it and forward it to the devs.

JesterMgee

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/261448#Comment_261448

It's an issue that has happened before, he solved it deleting the resource folder which seems to allow it to be rebuilt. My guess would be a corrupt file that halts the building of the image/database files

I simply googled this, and it gave me a couple of steps, of which I only did the first one, because the second one was to delete some file that didn't exist. But the first one was:
Navigate to C: > Users > Public > Documents and delete NI Resources
And that was all it took.

ProfessorChaos

Well, if Kontakt or any other NI software you install depends on Visual C++ or .net or whatever libraries that are not present, it should either download and install automatically, or at least give you a huge warning that you need to download and install them yourself.

Here's a good example. The great CD ripping software Exact Audio Copy, has a need for a certain .Net Framework, and the installer makes sure you get it, or at least that you know you need it for that app to work correctly:

I won't get into what I do after a bare metal Windows install - but it's about 45 more minutes of preparation to get it ready for a DAW computer.

Well, don't you think it would be useful to all of us if you told us what that entails? Maybe some of us already do some of the steps you do, others do less, but it doesn't matter. There's always a chance that what you're doing is useful to the rest of us, if you don't mind telling us about it.

Vocalpoint

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/261861#Comment_261861

Understood - and to be fair - there are apps out there that do a great job of checking the environment and making sure the software has what it needs to operate correctly.

Conversely - there are also apps that are not good at doing these checkpoints and one of them was/is Native Access. If I had a nickel for all the times I have assisted others by suggesting they update their Visual C++ libraries….

And - regarding this:

"Well, don't you think it would be useful to all of us if you told us what that entails? Maybe some of us already do some of the steps you do, others do less, but it doesn't matter. There's always a chance that what you're doing is useful to the rest of us, if you don't mind telling us about it."

Never really gave much thought to sharing it and not really keen on answering lots of questions on it OR have someone misunderstand it and then bake their machine in the process either.

However - point taken - it may be useful to some and be wayyyyy over the heads of others. There is a high degree of technical skill required to get the most out of it - is all.

That said - I am getting ready for my first Windows 11 DAW build in July so I will give some thought to sharing some info (PM only) as I get near the build date if there is interest.

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