I'm doing a scratch installation on a new machine.  Is there a way to do the installation without Sonar hijacking the default VST plugin installation folder? Basically I don't want the Sonar/vstplugin folder to end up in every installation dialog box in the future.  I want it to remain my current vstplugin folder that I created.

Let me clarify a little.  I know you can set the vst path in the command center.  I want to segregate Sonar VST from my other VST because most of them only run in Sonar.  However, whatever I put in the commander becomes the system default for every other plugin I try to install. 
 
I don't want Sonar setting my system default plugin path. 

Are you referring to "VSTPluginsPath" in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\VST ?
IIRC, that gets overwritten by many manufacturers. You may have to manually maintain the value.

I use 5 DAWs, and only Sonar seems to be hell bent for leather to set it back to its path every time I run the Command Center.