KVR Audio

chai_all_day_long · Post by **chai_all_day_long** » Sun Dec 22, 2019 7:09 pm

Happy Saturday Everyone,

I had two questions I was wondering if any of you could provide some sage KVR wisdom on:

1) What is the best way to reformat your computer and reinstall VST plugins without burning up activations and are there any plugins (or DAW's I use FL and Live) that burn up activations with no deactivation method?

2) Is there a best practice for storing plugins for reformatting? Should I consider storing all of my plugins on a secondary SSD or external SSD to allow me to reformat my main operating system or has anyone run into issues with this (perhaps with libraries that are automatically stored on the program files drive)?

Thank you for any advice,

Chai

roman.i · Post by **roman.i** » Mon Dec 23, 2019 12:14 am

You didn't provide name of the OS you're using. I don't think you can generalize an installation of a software, vst in this case, as a folder with data that you can move around, unless it's meant to be portable(self containing). Also every company has it's own policy and way for activations.
Best way to approach this is to group you plugins by company, and then handle each of them manually.

The Noodlist · Post by **The Noodlist** » Mon Dec 23, 2019 12:50 am

If your on Windows, you could backup the VST locations/libraries and the AppData (Local and Roaming) folders, these sometimes contain registration details and presets, along with the My Documents folder. Keep the relevant ones. Deactivate what you can, upload to the cloud and make a system backup.
Most will have to reinstalled,

I just do a refresh with Win 10 and don't resize or adjust SSD over-provisioning, this might resulting in reactivation and lost activations (IKM).
Refresh is a nice feature.

ztrauq · Post by **ztrauq** » Mon Dec 23, 2019 8:39 am

important thing: if you have any iLok plugins with soft authentication, use the license manager to deactivate the licenses before reformat/reinstall, otherwise they are gone! CodeMeter may do the same, not really sure. (note this is for soft-iLok, dongle-based it's on the key so it shouldn't matter). eLicenser on the other hand does not require deactivation, but will require creating a new activation. Most other software manager systems I've used allow you to deactivate/activate licenses remotely even if the install no longer exists (or even better, use software with license keys/files and then you don't have to worry about activation!).

If you can back up the entire computer and then do a full data restore, you should be good to go. Thing is, a lot of more complicated plugins or things that have samples, settings etc. often store them in weird or idiosyncratic places, which means that just copying over the VST folder may not have everything you need. My personal solution is to back up all the installers and data files to a separate drive, and then if I have to reinstall use the installers (it also forces me to periodically go through and decide what I actually need to install again...).

Unless you're going to be actually loading the software or samples from the external drive, a regular HDD should be fine just for backing up and restoring data. SSDs are more expensive, but are worth it if you're actually loading data from them regularly.

DJ Warmonger · Post by **DJ Warmonger** » Mon Dec 23, 2019 8:49 am

I install all my plugins on dedicated partition separate from Windows partition. Do no store anything is User/Documents or Program Files, as they get wiped at any system reinstall. Many plugins allow to set dedicated preset / soundbank path, so once you do it, you don't have to bother anymore.

Also, if all plugins land in one folder, it's easy to create backup or move system.
Of course keys need to be reactivated, that's why I store all installers with keys on external HDD.

chai_all_day_long · Post by **chai_all_day_long** » Wed Dec 25, 2019 4:29 pm

Thank you everyone. This was helpful. I'm on Windows 10. I guess this is one of the few times ILok's method is actually useful (lol). I'll have to give the refresh a try, but for sure it looks like I'm going to need to look into the activation policies for each. Probably time to widdle down the number of plugins I have installed to reduce any headaches too (I think mostly so with NI Komplete). Have a great holiday season everyone and thanks again.

chai_all_day_long · Post by **chai_all_day_long** » Sat Jan 04, 2020 10:30 pm

So I ended up getting a new SSD and cloned my old SSD to it. Despite correcting the names and locations a few items broke. Figured I would mention these here in case anyone needs to do this in the future.

Plugins that needed reauthorization:

Ableton - Live Suite 10 - Created a new hardware code which forced me to burn another authorization
Applied Acoustic Systems - Chromaphone 2 and Strum Session 2
Izotope - Everything
Mixed In Key - Captain Plugins and Mixed In Key SE
Sonic Academy - Kick 2 (Ana 2 was fine)
Synapse Audio - Dune 3 and The Legend
Xfer - Serum (Cthulu and LFO tool were fine)

I have tons of other plugins and they were just fine. A few needed to have the resources relinked but that was easy enough.

Hope this is helpful.

e-crooner · Post by **e-crooner** » Sat Jan 04, 2020 10:46 pm

I wonder if it is even legal to limit the number of activations/authorizations. Either way, it sucks, another advantage of simply entering a key.

Best practices for reformatting and reactivating plugins and where to store them?