[RESOLVED] The Neverending VST Scan

Can anyone duplicate this "bug"? -
 
Even after several minutes (10 or more), if I try to select Options or Scan VST Plug-ins in the Cakewalk Plug-in Manager, an error message pops up stating that a VST Scan is already running.  Makes adding/changing plugs a total PAIN!  
 
This "background process" is also unaffected by trying to end the process in Task Manager.   FRUSTRATING!!!
 
What's up, Cake?
JG

After all the cajoling on another thread, I picked up X3 Producer and I'm having the same problem. It says it finished and gives a count (something close to 600) but then starts back up again. I let it run overnight - I'll go home at lunch and see if it finshed or ground my hard drive to a nub. :)

Hrmm, I'm going to field this post to some of the other guys on the team and see if I can come to something conclusive. 
 

MIDIMINDS
BTW - This problem started AFTER I installed the XLN Addictive Drums.  Connection, maybe?
 

I would be more than willingly to bet that there is no connection to XLN Audio other than it being a plugin within SONAR X3 Producer. It may be related to the number of plugins that are present.  
 
Is it safe to say that everyone in this post has 400+plugins? Don't be shy to tell me your number. :)
 
 

There is absolutely no need to go into plugin manager and manually launch the scan if you have automatic background scan on. That workflow is no longer needed in X3. As long as you have the VST scan paths set up to point to the right scan folders, SONAR will automatically detect when new plugins are added and scan them in the background. In fact if you launch it from plugin manager while an automatic scan is already running from X3 that might explain the multiple launches. 
 
Also its a pretty rare case that you need rescan existing plugins enabled. Why are you leaving that on permanently?
Doing that will make the scan run really slow since it does *every* plugin each time the scan is launched. If you have > 500 plugins of course that will take time since its loading every one of them.
 
Now regarding the automatic background scan, the only time that runs is once on startup and then subsequently *only* if something changes externally to the vst scan path folders. Is it possible that something you have is adding or updating files within those folders? If so that will retrigger the background scan. From the symptoms described it looks like that's whats happening.
 
In general the default values in the VST settings should handle 99% of the use cases so you should only change them if you need to. If you don't wish the automatic background scanning set the scan option to "Scan On Startup". Then SONAR will only trigger the scan once when SONAR is launched (it will still be done in the background)

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...

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...

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

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.
 
 

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.

Hi Noel,
 
Rescan existing plugins was ON when I first started up X3. Yes, I do have non-standard paths for the plugins - primary a folder for 32 bit plugins and a folder for 64 bit plugins.
 
Also, if I understood you correctly then my X3 has done the impossible. You can see below I have only two items in the plugin layout dropdown. The X3 Producer Effects was the only one there after a scan, and the James Effects item is what I started building.
 
I'm going to try and run it again manually.
 
EDIT: I should note this wasn't a problem in X1 or X2, and the only thing that's changed was the install of X3 Producer. I hope this helps.
 

Gotcha - now I'm on the same page and I see them in the browser. thanks.
 
Manually running the VST scanner works great and doesn't loop. It runs once and everything is visible. I had Rescan Failed and Rescan Existing both on - scanned once and found everything.
 
Sorry I couldn't be more help with the infinite background scanner.

smallstonefan
Gotcha - now I'm on the same page and I see them in the browser. thanks.
 
Manually running the VST scanner works great and doesn't loop. It runs once and everything is visible. I had Rescan Failed and Rescan Existing both on - scanned once and found everything.
 
Sorry I couldn't be more help with the infinite background scanner.

Can you now turn OFF Rescan Failed and Rescan Existing as well as turn ON Automatic background scanning? After this you shouldn't get a rescan loop anymore. Please confirm this ...

OK, I tried that. With those options set, I do NOT get the looping behavior! Please note though that those options WERE set when I first started up X3. Perhaps they were set this way in my previous config for X1 and were migrated over to X3? If so, you might want to change your migration code to turn these off if you are turning on background scanning by default.