So, it ran all night and is still scanning. I cannot change my preferences because when I choose Options from the Plugins Manager I get the message "A VST Scan is already running. Please wait for it to complete before starting another scan."
 
So, it's endless. :( I tried killing the process but it restarts too fast to disable in the Options.
 
UPDATE: I went into Preferences and disabled background VST scanning and restarted Sonar. No more background scanning, but the only plugins available are the ones that ship with Sonar so it didn't preserve my plugin menus. Will build a new set of menus now...

If the scan is not terminating whats happening is some plugin is blocking the scanner from proceeding by waiting for input. 
The only way to resolve this is to isolate which plugin is causing the scanner to hang. There is a known problem with some Steinberg VST3 plugins that cause a hidden authorization dialog to be displayed. Perhaps you have a similar issue.
 
Follow these steps:
Start with your VST Scan path pointing to only the Cakewalk plugins. Make sure that you move any other 3'rd party plugins out of the Cakewalk VstPlugins folder temporarily if necessary.
Now load SONAR with background scanning enabled and let the auto scan finish.
If that worked move on and add another vendor's plugins to the folder or your scan path and let SONAR rescan it.
 
Keep adding in your plugins until you find which plugin is causing the scan to lockup.
This subtractive approach will allow you to troubleshoot the issue.

Thanks Noel. With 600+ plug ins - most installed in one of two folders (32bit/64bit) I'm not sure that approach is practical.
 
It did seem to scan them all, just didn't complete and build a menu so I'm doing that manually. I'll keep an eye on them as I build it - maybe I'll spot the obvious plugin that failed...

Hi, I can't find a solution for this problem. None of the alternatives worked. I was unable to quit the vst background scan. It tells me to wait for it to finish. I do not have many plugins. Apart from free plugs, the only other software I use is Reason.
Note: the toast scan message stopped when scanning 'melodyne.dll' and never went through it.
I thought it was an installation error and in attempt to solve it I uninstalled Sonar, deleted every possible file and folder that I had on the system (by the way - xnl didn't let me uninstall it, so I had to delete everything manually), cleaned both hard drive and register, uninstalled all vsts I had on the system and installed Sonar once again.
I still have the issue.
Blue tubes plugins do not appear on the plugin manager window, as well as all the other 3rd parties (including melodyne, that only appears as rewire).
I use windows 8...  

Sorry, I forgot to mention, Sonar X2 worked perfectly.
 

+1 to Noels last post. It is easier to see this issue with dual monitors.  With X2 I  would drag the scan box to my other monitor and when a VST authorization or action box would pop up its easy to see it, and act accordingly, with only one monitor you have Sonar open covering your real estate.

Guys if you aren't prepared to follow the troubleshooting instructions we give you then how do you expect your problem to be resolved?
 
>>It did seem to scan them all, just didn't complete and build a menu so I'm doing that manually. 
James, please read this post http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/2901794
Are you sure that you are looking at the "default - All Plugins" layout and not a custom layout? If its a custom layout of course you wont see all plugins. If the scan completed you should have got a toast notification like this:

 
Once that notification is displayed go to the plugin browser and make sure the default - All plugins layout is displayed. You do this by clicking on the dropdown arrow next to the Plugins tab in the browser. Default  - All Plugins is under the Manage layouts item. Make sure that this is checked and you should see ALL plugins listed on your system that have been scanned.
 
Important: Do NOT launch the scanner manually for this test. If the scan is running you should get periodic notifications while it is scanning followed by a single summary toast notification as above. After that finishes look at your plugin list as above.
 
 

Hi Noel,
 
I will double-check when I get home, but I believe I only had one item in my dropdown for layouts, and it was something along the lines of "X3 ...." and that's all that was in it.
 
Again, I'll verify tonight.
 
Also, I did get the completion notificaiton once, but then it started cyling BACK into a new scan. Seemed to be a pattern.

That's impossible - the default all plugins item is a fixed item :)
If its going back to start a new scan without any user intervention on your part, then *something* is modifying the folders in the scan path.
 
Were you installing other plugins in the background?
Do you have some antivirus software or something that periodically scans all your folders and changes their content?
Do you have a virus?  :)
 
This is definitely not normal since nobody came across this issue in over 6 months of testing here.

Anti-virus disabled (though current with no viruses), no other installs running.
 
I'll verify for you on the menu tonight, and send a screenshot if it's doing the impossible. :)
 
PS: Any chance the act of verifying a plugin would cause that plugin to make a change to a file, like a config file? That could create a circular situation...