HELP! 
I'm sure this has already been addressed and I fear I am screwed. But maybe someone has a solution. I was running Win XP Pro and Sonar 8 in 32 bit. I started running into RAM limitations. So I rebuilt my Machine. Now it's  i5 3.30 GHz, 16 GB Ram, Win 7 SP1. Not a super machine but better than what I see a lot of guys working with. Just for the record, right after I did this I got heavily involved in a corporate band that sucked up my life and I really didn't touch the machine for a year. When I regained my sanity and decided to start writing and recording again. I installed Reaper on the advice of a friend just to play around with it. I like it but I still really like Sonar too. I installed my Cakewalk VST's. Dimension Pro and Z3ta and I installed a bunch of other soft synths I have like OPX PRO etc. Not all are 64 bit. All that stuff works great in Reaper. Reaper has some bridging thing that lets the 32 bit plugins work in the 64 bit OS and DAW. It works awesome, I've not had any problems. Of course the time came when I wanted to start working on the hundreds of pieces and parts I had previously recorded in Sonar 8. Reaper doesn't import Cakewalk files AFAIK. So I just Re installed Sonar 8.0 in 64 bit and did the 8.3.5 update. Because I sat out of the pool for so long I completely missed the notification on the 8.5 upgrade and now all I'm being offered is X1. OK so what. I'll just use what I got. So I open up one of my old projects and wouldn't ya know Sonar can't find the VST or various plugins. They are their but it appears that cakewalk can't find the 32 bit version I used when I recorded it. Well of course it can't it's not there. OH Crap I used Z3ta Virus and Museum on a bunch of stuff so that might be a problem. EZ Drummer....no way it can't find it either....because its now 64 bit too I guess. So What? Sonar's not not backward compatible? Not even with it's Native Synths? Anything I did in Dimension LE or Rapture LE works fine but nothing else. this can't be right. There is no way all my old work is useless right?  So I open up Reaper and create a track for all of my CAKEWALK plugins....they all work regardless of bit rate. So you mean to tell me that a $60 program can build a bridge and make everything work but Sonar can't?  Makes me think maybe I need to not spend anymore money on Sonar upgrades. Certainly not $170 on X1 if there is no guarantee that I can open and play my old files.
So whats the Fix? There has to be a solution for this. I can't be the only one. Can someone please point me in the right direction?
Thanks

The 64 bit version of SONAR stores the 32-bit versions of VSTs in a different folder marked (x86). They should automatically involve the JBridge adapter program when inserted. AFAIK there are some VSTs, though, that don't like 64 bits.

Following on from Kalles advice, you have to make sure the 32bit (X86) path is being referenced inside Sonar's plugin manager, otherwise whatever's in there won't be picked up.

Also check any "Steinberg" plugin folders to see if there are any plugs in there you want to use

I'm not dead sure about 8.3 because I missed that version and went right from 7 to 8.5. 
Later when I switched to W7 64 bit I installed the 64 bit version and most everything automatically worked without issue. I think there was just one 3rd party reverb that didn't. 
SO for me it was seemless. 

Might be a 8.3 bug? 

Thank you all. This seems to have solved the problem. I knew it had to work and it had to be something super simple. Its still missing some effects plugins like Reverb XL etc. But I think I can figure that out. The other one that is missing is DYAD DXI. If memory serves me right this was included on the SHS4XL install disk. I think Cakewalk stopped including it in later versions of sonar. Does anyone know if there is an easier way of getting it other than installing HS4?
Thanks

Just an update for anybody following or having similar problems.  I looks like effects like Reverb XL were things that came with SHS4 (or 6) XL. Not a big deal. I think I can just Kill that instance of the effect and reload the one that came with Studio 8. Probably better anyway. As for the missing synths like DYAD DXi and Triangle II, they were probably on those HS4XL install discs as well. But..... Triangle is downloadable from cakewalk for free and it looks like DYAD is going to require me to dig out the old  HS4XL install discs.....or is it? It appears for whatever odd reason I saved the DYAD DXi soundset on another drive. Its my understanding I can use them with SFZ+ and while the interface might not be as nice it should actually be more powerful. So me thinks we gots this solved. Thanks for the help.

Thanks for posting a follow up, it is the good neighbor thing to do. 

I think that plugs ins are these little dll files that you can just drag and drop into the VST folder, 
AT least the ones I've downloaded from KVR are like that.
 So ya, just try the new reverbs that come with 8, I use the Lexicon for everything but I'm sure there might be better. 

OK so next update......It's always easier in theory isn't it! So SFZ+ was...... Eh......not a great solution. It had latency and memory issues. Try to load a 72mb file it says not enough memory. WTF? I got 16GB ram how could this thing not have enough memory? So dig in the forums. Seems this is a buggy thing Cakewalk has no intention of fixing since it been discontinued. OK I get it. So I tweaked the latency setting and got it to play smooth but only loading the smallest samples. So that ain't really gonna work let alone trying to find the same sounds used in Dyad. OK, so into the garage and pull down the box of old software. Surprise! SHS4XL was right on top. Cool! Now I have the install disks so I'll just load up all that old stuff and be done with it. Pop in the install disk. It allows me to install only the components I want. Meaning If I don't check the program files it won't install SHS4XL and I can check the DXi Synths box and the effects box and it even lets me pick exactly which ones and if I want to install all the sound content for each one. Awesome! So I install just the items I want. Reboot the machine and open Sonar 8.3.1. I go to tools, Plugins Manager, set the path for all the stuff and run the scan. Suddenly I'm getting "Program can't start" errors because of Missing CWDXPX1.DLL. WTF? How can installing a DXI synth jack registry information? Anyway Nothing works right and Sonar still can't find DYAD even though it appears in the list of soft synths. So "F" this. I'll uninstall everything and re install starting with SHS4. But first lets check reaper and see if it works. Sure enough, same issues. So I install SHS4. All is cool everything works. It sees and plays DYAD etc. However I'm still getting some CWDXPX1.dll errors when trying to load the newer VSTi's. So I'm thinking the upgrade to 8 will take care of that. I install SS8. Reboot and do the 8.3.1 update. Upon launch I get a ton of errors. This time CWDXPX1.dll and PNCRT.dll. It says to "re install the software". Here is where I prove Einstein was right in that Insanity is doing something over and over expecting different results. So I prove his theory about 5 times. By this point Sonar is totally "F'd" runs but all kinds of problems especially with soft synths, latency etc. Hmmmmmm what about Reaper? Yep, exact same errors with Reaper. BUT I notice there is an update for Reaper (Because Cocos throws out updates like every 15 minutes) so I do the update. Reboot, Launch Reaper. Low and behold Reaper works perfect. Not a single error, runs the synths and everything. So I'm thinking, OK that install fixed those .dll registry issues and Sonar should run now. Wrong. Reaper can find the files but Sonar still says they are missing.......OK "F" this. I do a system restore to a few days earlier and here I sit right back at the beginning.
I agree with Cactus Music. This should be as simple as dragging the dyad.dll file into the DXi folder. Problem is that file doesn't exist on the install CD's. It's stuffed into some Cab file that the installer has to unfold. FORNICATE! This should be easy.

Naturally no, it won't be easy. The software people move on to new versions,, the company wants you to buy the new version and abandon all ties with the old ones.

 There's no profit in people staying with the same software for 10 years. 

Best solution has always been to keep your old versions of the software loaded and use that to finish what you started. 

If you all of a sudden you decide you would like to revisit old projects, then load them up in the new software and hope for the best. There should be a modern replacement for any given plug in. Sure it's a PITA to spend time trying them all out but remember, your a tiny minority of users who would be wanting to use the old plug ins still. The software people really don't pander to that. 

Example , Wave Lab 5 and older do not work on windows 7, I really need it but cannot afford the upgrade to fix the problem.  I just export the files, put in my shared folder, fire up another computer that's XP 32 bit and move my butt to a new chair to master the song. 
This might be a solution for you too, Just  load Sonar 8 -32 bit version and have at her.  Re mane the desktop icon "sonar 32" 

Yes Cactus, I was thinking the same thing. Time to build a nice Little Win XP Pro Legacy computer. Good news is that I kept my old Hardware. Should be easy enough. But you're right. What a PITA. OK so one more thing to add to the To Do List. Sigh......