Kontakt 7 won't open as stand alone, and libraries all opening in weird demo mode

Garlick · 2025-01-13T19:00:44+00:00

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I had a project in Ableton 12 that had 3 instances of Kontakt for different sections of my track. The track gave me an error notification and force closed Ableton. Since then, I've run into the following problems.

initially the drive that holds my kontakt libraries, disappeared, and didn't become active again until I rebooted. I've tested the drive, it's healthy, there's no issue with file structure that I can find.
Kontakt now won't open in stand alone mode. It only becomes a background task, and won't come to be a full task.

in Ableton, when I load Kontakt, it is functioning, but when I try to load any instrument or library, it either shows up as loading, or gives me a weird screen that doesn't let me play any instrument.

This is a factory library:

This is a 3rd party library

I've tried several things, including uninstalling, and re-installing Kontakt a few times. Uninstalling and re-installing specific libraries. Installing libraries on to different drives to see if they load, no luck. Trying to route audio to both Windows & ASIO drivers. Un-installing all but the latest C++ Visual updates.

I don't have anything else I can try, so any potential help would be greatly appreciated.

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Garlick

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/207705#Comment_207705

Just fixed it today. It took a complete re-installation of all instances of Kontakt, as well as all the Kontrol products that were installed on my device.

I uninstalled all of them, re-booted the system, then re-installed through Native Access, which updated when I launched to the latest version.

I'm not sure what specific step worked, but it's now working in my DAW. I haven't run the stand alone app yet, but I'm assuming it works now, as the DAW system works properly.

Again, complete uninstallation and re-installation finally did the trick.

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PoorFellow

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/41308/kontakt-7-wont-open-as-stand-alone-and-libraries-all-opening-in-weird-demo-mode

Be sure to be using latest version of Native Access for your OS ,

When Using latest version of Native Access then also try the following Trouble shooter here : My Products Are Showing As DEMO in Native Access , especially '2. Your activation fails because of corrupted or missing activation tokens' and '3. You have corrupted XML files' (delete both NA XML and Kontakt product XML)then restart computer and log in again to see if that helps (I do not expect this to solve the problem but the step ought to be taken.)

Then when above is done then reinitialize the KONTAKT Database ,

hopefully that will help at least for the standalone problem else if not then please try the Kontakt Crashes support page solutions.

If none of this helps then you need to contact N.I. Kontakt Support and have them help.

In case that you need guidance contacting support : How to contact NI Support and How to get in touch with our Customer Care

Garlick

Unfortunately no go. I had tried the XML database at one point, but even re-initializing the database still hasn't resolved the issue, looks like support it is.

Thanks for the try.

PoorFellow

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/203887#Comment_203887

Sorry to not be of better help.

By the way , it's also a good idea to check the basics :

Use the System File Checker tool to repair missing or corrupted system files

Allow an app to access controlled folders

block third-party app installations in Windows 11/10 (for how to unblock)

You could also check the Windows Event Viewer, there ought to be a log for the Kontakt app crash ,

see here for how to use Event Viewer. To access Event Viewer select the keyboard shortcut Win+R, type eventvwr.msc and press the ENTER key.

Garlick

It was a DAW crash, not Kontakt. I'm not sure it had anything to do with Kontakt, it just seems to have messed up my Kontakt program for some reason.

No issues on file system checker, and no issue on corrupt system files.

The app has the correct access to folders, I can see it accessing what it needs, it just never moves beyond becoming a background application. And VST wise, it can access the libraries, it's just not correctly putting them on screen.

Again, appreciate the help, I've opened a ticket with support to see what they can come up with.

Jeremy_NI

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/203908#Comment_203908

Any solution found that you could share?

Garlick

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/207705#Comment_207705

Just fixed it today. It took a complete re-installation of all instances of Kontakt, as well as all the Kontrol products that were installed on my device.

I uninstalled all of them, re-booted the system, then re-installed through Native Access, which updated when I launched to the latest version.

I'm not sure what specific step worked, but it's now working in my DAW. I haven't run the stand alone app yet, but I'm assuming it works now, as the DAW system works properly.

Again, complete uninstallation and re-installation finally did the trick.

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