Plug-in manager, other tools "not found"

[Wayne Shirley]

Hi everyone,

I'm loving this new version of Sonar but after trying to get a little education about it, I tried to access the Plug-in manager and an error message appears - Tool not found: 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Cakewalk\Shared Utilities\PluginManager.exe'.  My first instinct was to conclude that somehow the files or file structure has been corrupted and to uninstall/reinstall.  But, before I did that, I thought it wise to inquire here.  Surely some knowledgeable soul here has the answer.

[scook]

That is an unusual path for Cakewalk by BandLab to use as it is a 64bit program.

The default path for CbB Shared Utilities is  "C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Shared Utilities"

Even if there was a 32bit version of SONAR or other 32bit Cakewalk DAW installed, CbB typically does not install or look for shared files in the "Program Files (x86)" folder.

One could directly edit 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Cakewalk Music Software\Cakewalk Plugin Manager

but there are several registry keys created for items in the "Shared" folders and given this one is messed up makes the rest pf the install suspect.

 

A simple uninstall/re-install does not fix registry problems.

A clean install does. 

The instructions for a clean install are here

These instructions remove CbB and all old Cakewalk softeware. 

If third party plug-ins are installed in the default CbB VST folder "C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Vstplugins" they will be deleted too. This may be avoided by temporarily moving the folder out of the Cakewalk folder before performing step 8 of the clean install instructions.

[Wayne Shirley]

Wow! Thank you for your quick reply.  I (for some reason, not a good one) have most of my plugins in a couple of folders in the Program Files(x86) folder.  Does (x86) equate to 32 bit?  Do all 32 bit programs reside in the (x86) folder and all 64 bits in the regular Program Files folder?  Assuming that is the case, could I not try moving my plugins to a more appropriate location and re-scanning?  Any chance that could fix the problem instead of a clean install?

[scook]

By convention, on 64bit Windows

64bit software goes in "C:\Program Files"

and

32bit software goes in "C:\Program Files (x86)"

 

There is nothing requiring a user or developer to follow the convention though. 

 

Since we are having such a basic discussion, I would not recommend simply moving software around.

While it will work for some things, software installers typically do more than copy files into folders. This often includes writing registry entries based on the install location. 

[Wayne Shirley]

I want to give you an update.  A few days ago, I proceeded with the uninstall/re-install.  It didn't work.  I followed the directions but I couldn't access all of my plugins, only a few. I couldn't even access the SI-Electric Piano from Cakewalk.  I made many attempts to have it scan & recognize the .dll's in the right folder, but no luck. It wouldn't scan or re-scan no matter which scan method I chose.  Very disappointing.  However, I persisted.  Today I decided to try the un/re process again.  This time I made sure that I paid very close attention to the directions from cakewalk regarding the un/re process.  In addition, I looked in other places in the registry (not suggested by cakewalk) for any trace of anything that said cakewalk and then deleted it.  After re-installing for the 2nd time in 3-4 days, I was amazed to find out that it was successful!!!   Everything works as it should except for a few stray plugins that I will weed out.  Plugin manager works.! Scan VST folders works! I am whole again.  Thank you very much!

[scook]

Thanks for the update.

Glad you got it going.

If you need help with specific plug-ins, post the error messages given by the scanner or the appropriate sections of the scan log.