Sonar 7.0.1 - "Sonar will now personalize..." [SOLVED]

After installing the 7.0.1 patch, I keep getting the following message each time I start Sonar:

SONAR will now personalize your user settings by copying application data files. This make take a few moments. Click OK to continue.

My only option is to click OK.

Sonar then starts. If I exit and start Sonar again, I get the same message.

The first time I clicked OK, I noticed that Sonar created the following directories:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Cakewalk\SONAR 7 Studio Edition\Drum Maps
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Cakewalk\SONAR 7 Studio Edition\Pattern Brush Patterns
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Cakewalk\SONAR 7 Studio Edition\Plug-in Menu Layouts
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Cakewalk\SONAR 7 Studio Edition\Plug-in Menu Track Icons
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Cakewalk\SONAR 7 Studio Edition\Plug-in Menu Track Templates

C:\Documents and Settings\Travis\Application Data\Cakewalk\SONAR 7 Studio Edition\Drum Maps
C:\Documents and Settings\Travis\Application Data\Cakewalk\SONAR 7 Studio Edition\Pattern Brush Patterns
C:\Documents and Settings\Travis\Application Data\Cakewalk\SONAR 7 Studio Edition\Plug-in Menu Layouts
C:\Documents and Settings\Travis\Application Data\Cakewalk\SONAR 7 Studio Edition\Plug-in Menu Track Icons
C:\Documents and Settings\Travis\Application Data\Cakewalk\SONAR 7 Studio Edition\Plug-in Menu Track Templates

These are directories that I moved to another partition when I installed Sonar 7. Sonar 7.0.1 stubbornly recreates them, but doesn't put anything in them; the directories are all empty.

If I delete these directories and restart Sonar, it gives the same warning message, but does not re-create them.

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Is anyone having this problem?

Hey Trip! That's thanks to Vista compatibility specs and actually has been that way since 6.2 or so. It's all about making a file hive for multiple user account access.

You mean that particular file hierarchy?

Well, I don't mind those empty directories being [re]created, as long as I can delete them later.

What's bugging me is the "SONAR will now personalize..." warning message every time I start the program. Any idea how I can get Sonar to stop telling me that?

I don't really know. But, yep I meant the directory hierarchy. You can customize some directories in Sonar's Global options, but it's a Vista thing.

Try holding down Shift when you launch Sonar, that will force a re-init of the personalization process.

I get the same message. I don't know what's causing your's but I have an external hard drive that I use for Sonar. If I forget to turn on the external HD before I open Sonar it recreates all the files back to the default locations. Then I have to go back to Options/Global and change them all back. Someone on these forums told me how to stop this from happening but I cant find the thread. If I locate it I'll post it.

Mike

Try holding down Shift when you launch Sonar, that will force a re-init of the personalization process.

I tried shift-double-clicking the desktop, and shift-clicking the start menu icon, and holding down shift while Sonar loads, but didn't see any difference in behavior; that warning message still appears and no new directories are created.

have to go back to Options/Global and change them all back

My folder options are still intact (all pointing at d:\tools\cakewalk\...). I wonder what else we have in common?

Then I have to go back to Options/Global and change them all back. Someone on these forums told me how to stop this from happening but I cant find the thread

Probably me?

Hey Mike, good to see you here again

http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=1090581&mpage=1

post #8 HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cakewalk Music Software\SONAR Producer\6.0\UserPaths

HTH

(I still read the forum every now and then.. you will NOT see me posting 20-30 replies per day ...for now ;)

Interesting. I see all my custom folders there (well, in the Sonar 7 Studio area). The only one that is still set to C:\ is HelpFolder.

Honest_Al, when you start Sonar 7.0.1, are you getting the "Sonar will now personalize..." message?

Honest_Al, when you start Sonar 7.0.1, are you getting the "Sonar will now personalize..." message?

Sorry, this time I didn't upgrade so fast. I'm pretty happy with 6.2.1 and CW didn't add almost any of my requests..so..

I hope you'll get your answer here soon.

After installing the 7.0.1 patch, I keep getting the following message each time I start Sonar:
quote:

SONAR will now personalize your user settings by copying application data files. This make take a few moments. Click OK to continue.

Are you logged on as an administrator or a user with limited rights?

I only have one account on each PC (Travis). That account has admin privileges. I'm using XP, so there's no UAC.

I have two instances of XP on that computer, and installed Sonar (and the update) on each instance. Both instances show the "SONAR will now personalize..." message whenever I start Sonar. I can try on my other PC (which I use for troubleshooting Sonar issues like this) later today.

ORIGINAL: Honest_Al

Then I have to go back to Options/Global and change them all back. Someone on these forums told me how to stop this from happening but I cant find the thread

Probably me?

Hey Mike, good to see you here again

http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=1090581&mpage=1

post #8 HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cakewalk Music Software\SONAR Producer\6.0\UserPaths

HTH

(I still read the forum every now and then.. you will NOT see me posting 20-30 replies per day ...for now ;)

OT! Back in the old days the forum's pages weren't flying so fast. That's a fact. Yup. Really. Indeed. For sure.. (convinced by now? )

Thanks Al. Yep,there it is . I did do this when you told me about it and it works great. All tho I'm in the habit of turning on my HD whenever I fire up my PC now. I didn't know if info would help the OP but it looks like he has a different issue all together.

Mike

Hey AL!

Great to see you back.

I hope all is well.

You were sorely missed.

I installed Sonar 7.0.1 today on another PC. This time, I never saw the "SONAR will now personalize...", either the first time I started Sonar or subsequent times.

My directory structures on both PCs are similar: I use a separate partition for projects, drum maps, etc. (basically, everything in the Options > Global > Folders list). Because I'm not seeing the message on one of the PCs, I no longer suspect that moving files to another partition is the culprit.

So, I need to look at the differences between the two PCs. Maybe this, plus feedback from other people, will help us isolate the cause of the message.

Bad PC: (gets the "SONAR will now personalize..." message)
- laptop
- audio card: SigmaTel C-Major Audio (onboard, sampling rate: 48000)
- midi interface: Edirol PCR-a30 (keyboard controller)

Good PC: (does not get the message)
- desktop
- audio card: M-Audio Delta-44 (sampling rate: 44100)
- midi interface: WaveCenter PCI

Does anyone have any ideas yet why the laptop is getting that message while the desktop isn't?

Would it help if I posted the differences in my options as well?

On my laptop, I switched the audio source to the Edirol, which runs at 44100. I still get the same message each time I start Sonar, which means the 48000 has nothing to do with it.

The warning happens before the splash screen. I wonder what's going on at that point.

If I view Process Explorer while starting Sonar, I see that right after I see the message and click "OK", Sonar spawns a child process: VstScan.exe. So whatever is triggering the message is occurring before the VST scan.

Does anyone have a list of the order of actions Sonar takes when it starts?

Too bad Sonar isn't open source. We could help them debug it.

chefmike8888, do you still get the "...personalize..." message when you start Sonar? If not, do you know which change made it go away?

I only got this message when I didn't turn on my external HD before opening Sonar. But thanks to Al this doesn't happen anymore.
I think you're having a different problem all together. I do hope you get it sorted out soon though. And when you do, please post back here with the fix.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

Mike

Mike - Which files are on your hard drive (which Sonar needs)?

The only files on my external HD are audio files, templates and libraries, ie: all the files that are shown in Options/Global/files. Everything else is on the main HD.

Mike

I just double-checked my option/global/folders and they are all there.

I then renamed my tools directory, forcing the files *not* to be there (which is similar to having your external hard drive turned off). I still get the "personalize" message, and the options/global/folders reset to the defaults (on c:). I restored my tools directory and set all the options/global/folders back the way I want them.

None of this has had any effect on the "personalize" message.

Hmm, this is a real stumper.

Okay, I noticed some other differences...

My laptop has the following directories installed on a separate partition, but they are installed in Program Files/Cakewalk on my desktop:

- Shared Dxi
- Shared MIDI Plugins
- Shared Plugins
- Shared Surfaces
- Shared Utilities

I'm wondering if my choice of installing them on that other partition is confusing Sonar (even though it let me do it when I installed Sonar 7).

I created empty versions of the five Shared... directories in c:\program files\cakewalk. No change; I still get the message.

Soft synths work fine, so it's not like the directories are inaccessible to Sonar.

Have you tried contacting support? To me it sounds like some permission settings are preventing SONAR from completing the personalization process. This copies certain files from the all users area to the per user documents area.
For example the Menuxml folder is expected to be found in the <user>\Application Data\Cakewalk\SONAR 6 Producer Edition folder. If either the expected per user application data folder OR the per user application documents folder (<user>\My Documents\Cakewalk\SONAR) is not found it is treated as a trigger to redo the personalization.

I'm not sure what you meant by "directories that I moved to another partition". You can't just move the my documents area without telling Windows about the new My documents location, so maybe thats part of your problem. SONAR uses the Windows reported folder settings during the personalization process so files are expected to be in these locations. If you have your windows priveleges set up such that your user account denies access to these folders this will cause problems.

In any case contact support and they can try and help you work through this.

Noel - I submitted this as a bug on 2007-10-17. Reference number is CWBRN-442.

There are two sets of directories/files which I moved/installed to another partition:

1) "sample content"
-- e.g., drum maps, templates, track icons
-- the folders are listed in Options/Global/Folders
-- I moved these files manually (for organizational reasons)

2) the "Shared..." directories
-- e.g., Shared Dxi, Shared Plugins
-- I specified the location for these when I installed Sonar 7

see http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=1169377&mpage=1&key=�

I did #1 this both on the laptop and the desktop, and #2 on the laptop only (for space reasons). The laptop is the one that is giving me the "personalize" message. This implies that my decision to install the shared directories on a separate partition is what's causing the problem. However, those Shared directories were only in c:\program files\cakewalk, not the user-specific directories, correct? Wasn't only sample content in the user directories?

I am looking at http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/kb/kb20070117.asp and wondering which files are not where Sonar expects them to be. Is is the sample content? The shared directories? Something else?

Okay, good news; I stumbled across a solution:

Make sure the following directory exists, even if it is empty:

C:\Documents and Settings\{YOUR-NAME}\My Documents\Cakewalk\SONAR 7 Studio Edition\

If that directory does not exist, I get the "personalize" message when I start up.
If that directory exists, I don't get the message.

Sonar doesn't seem to care whether the directory has anything in it or not. It just wants the directory to exist.

My suggestion for the Cakewalk dev team is to either:

a) have Sonar create the directory if it does not exist (to prevent subsequent warnings)

or, better yet:

b) stop warning us about the directory being missing if its absence won't affect program operation

I'm glad you finally got it figured out. Now back to recording with ya!

Mike

OK we'll look into it thanks.

Noel,

You should publish a listing of all the file locations for the program and the plugins. This way we at least know what we're up against when we try to move things around.

I had the same problem as Tripecac, and realised that S7 is using the \docs and settings\john\application\S7\etc rather than the \docs and settings\all users\application\S7\etc - even though it installed all these files in both locations! There is also a link between \prog files\cakewalk\sonar7 and the \john\applications\etc and another link between \john\applications\S7 (sample content) and my documents\cakewalk\sonar 7 etc!!!

Why are these files scattered all over the place now? Either use "all users" or (in my case) "john" (better yet, let us install for "all users" or "current logged in user") but not both. Common files still go under "program files\ etc etc", so why is there now a link back to user\applications\cakewalk\etc? And why is there also a link to "my documents"?

There are multiple copies of everything now, and this means we will:
- edit something and it will have no effect, because it's not the right copy of the file.
or
- try to clean up some duplicate (or triplicate) versions of files, and accidently delete the "good" or "current" one.

I have abbreviated the path names, but hopefully you can figure out what I mean.

Then there is the content files for the plugins. Why do they install under the "vst plugins" directory? That is not where we want content files. Why can't we choose where to put these content files?

This is really getting messy, and there are hundreds of MB (or even a few GB) of contents files on our program drives - when they belong on a seperate drive with all the rest of our samples and sample content.

I have moved the perfect space files, because you can change where perfect space looks, and I moved the REX files, but left a link in it's place so the Rexx player thinks the files are in the old location, but I don't have the energy to do the same for dropzone, dimension pro and rapture (which I didn't even bother installing)

If Cakewalk won't do it - maybe we can come up with some sort of definitive list of where everything gets installed and how to move it where we want - but you definitely have to tell us the algorithm used for "username vs all users" file locations, and why there is a need to link to "my documents".

rgds,

I did find this document http://www.cakewalk.com/support/kb/kb20070117.asp which explains the locations that SONAR installs to. This is helpful, but we could use a little more info.

For example, at first I had all my "paths" in global settings pointing to the "all users" area. I figured the files under the "john" area were redindant, so I deleted them. When I loaded SONAR again, it lost all it's MIDI port settings, and friendly names - so this info was somewhere under the "john" area! So then I copied everything under the "john" area (and changed all the pathes in global settings) and deleted the stuff under "all users" (like I had SONAR 6 set up) - this was better, and it only created an empty folder under "all users".

I hate having redundant stuff all over - for the simple reason that when I update a template, or AUD.INI or CAKEWALK.INI, I want to know which one is the corect one.

I still haven't worked out why there is a need for the folder under "my documents"...

John - Did you see this topic: http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=1169377
I posted my response there (since that topic seems a better fit for discussing file location).

Thanks Tripecac - I posted over there....