Hi Fellow community, I just want to ask you if anyone of you knows a method to do this. I have like 700 plugins or so, a lot binded to old projects that such, and I need to do a fresh reintstall of the OS casue I'm going to upgrade the ssd m2 capacity. Before you ask I've already tried cloning the OS to the new dirve and all those workarounds without luck cause seemly unrecoverable past boot partition corruptions errors. Also my system is a litlle degraded by now so I think a fresh install is mandatory now.

But pluging reinstallations are a huge time consuming pain in the ass, so anyone had succeded into adding the old registry to a new OS installation and have all(or most) the VSTs working, patched and so?

Thanks!

 

This is impossible unfortunately you'll have to reinstall them all and register them one by one

 

Won't work. Copying the old registry will mess up your new system. Also many plugins need to be re-registered because they use some hardware ID like the MAC address to tie thier registration to.

 

Before reinstalling Windows, first uninstall/deauthorize all of your software and plugins using their respective software managers to make sure you reclaim your licenses associated with your current desktop.

Once you've reinstalled Windows, create a text file and rename it to VSTPath.reg or something similar. Just make sure you change the file type to .reg

Paste this text into it and save it:
VST2Path.reg wrote:_________________________________

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\VST]
"VSTPluginsPath"="C:\\Vstplugins\\64-bit"


[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\VST]
"VSTPluginsPath"="C:\\Vstplugins\\32-bit"
Double-click the reg file to import the entries into the Windows registry.

This will create a VST2 path in the Windows registry to a Vstplugins folder in the root of your C:\ drive, with one folder inside for 64-bit and one for 32-bit. If you want a different file path, edit the entries accordingly. Notice there are double \\ between levels.

Many plugin installers respect this path and will default to it.
(Some don't and will want to install to C:\Program Files\Steinberg anyways. Don't let them.)

Make sure your VST2 plugins are being installed to your new Vstplugins folder, and make sure it is set as your VST2 path in your DAW.

(VST3 plugins are all installed to C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3 automatically, which you shouldn't mess with.)

A fresh install is a good time to cull your excessive plugins and software. Why reinstall something you don't use and don't need? It's actually a good time for some deeper self-reflection on your mixing practices and goals, and to formulate a more disciplined approach to how you work. Limit your tools to the ones you really need, and learn them inside and out.

Figure out if you use plugins to make music, or if you make music to use plugins. Either answer is fine, but be honest with yourself about it. Lots of people just like playing with audio software and collecting plugins, and don't much care what—if anything—they create with them. That's totally fine, and it's a lot better than playing video games. If that's your real purpose, then your approach to plugin collecting and management is going to be different than someone who uses music software solely because they have a burning desire to master the craft and create their musical opus.

Continuing on, open each song you have created and install any plugins that show as missing.
(Or you might want to go through each song and make a list of every plugin you use as the very first step BEFORE deauthorizing your plugins and reinstalling Windows if you don't trust this method.)

If a plugin doesn't show up in one of your songs, then you haven't used it and you probably never will. Try reinstalling only the plugins you actually use. Or go even further and try replacing your dynamics plugins with just a few core comps and EQs, instead of different ones on every track of every song. Most of those tasks can be done just as well with one or two really good plugins if you know how to use them. Do more with less, otherwise you end up doing less with more.

I've pared my plugins down to a few comprehensive effects/instruments bundles that have software managers, plus a handful of others that are part of my everyday workflow. It has made things a lot easier, and most importantly it helps keep me focused on the ends rather than the means.

Get the biggest drive you can, since SSDs are pretty cheap now. At least 2TB, and partition it to create a dedicated drive for files and/or audio. Save the installers of the plugins you install there. That will make this process a lot easier the next time around, if you have to reinstall Windows again in the future.
THIS MUSIC HAS BEEN MIXED TO BE PLAYED LOUD SO TURN IT UP

 

i sense your pain Demloc, sorry you have to go through that..yes as others have said...i'm guessing a new drive is essentially seen as new hardware and the ID's won't match. I'm hoping there'll be something in the future that'll ease this.

 

terrible idea,
if you're not doing full backup/restore of previous system, then don't do any migration at all ! ! !

 

What software did you used for cloning ?
What is your OLD disk and NEW disk exact models ?
OLD windows version ?
What exact boot error ?
Did you moved disk NEW to disk OLD slot after cloning ? MANDATORY

As you probably still get the old disk, try again cloning/migration.
It is TOTALLY anormal not being able to boot.

And it is IMPOSSIBLE to registry copy/paste... sadly.

First, restart your disk OLD system with the NEW disk plugged in.
It will install drivers for it, if needed.

you need to clone disk OLD to disk NEW
Shutdown PC
Move disk NEW to disk OLD slot

If not possible (not the same connector), you need to disable disk OLD slot in the BIOS, and plug the disk NEW to the FIRST logical slot after it.
So it will be seen as disk OLD slot number.

If you really don't understand what i mean, ask a friend/family used to tinker with PC

PS : you can try another disk cloning software too.

 

Yes I tried all of that but is a clusterfuck of past errors cause long ago I installed a PCI-E m2 adapter to use a old M2 and that broke and corrupted all the boot partitions for some unknown reason so I had to reinstall the system on another drive but then the boot partitions remained in the old one cause I was sloopy and I rushed the fixes without properly thinking them. Now I cannot /fixboot or /rebuildbcd so practically I tied to the drive unlesss full reinstall with fresh partitions all in the same drive...

 

Thanks all a lot for the answers. I presume It was an imposible task cause there is no info about it but you never know XD.

 

yes; it is possible
add to backup or copy

_users folder
_program files
_program files (x86)
_program data
_documents folder
_the entire registry

and thats it

PS: some plugins (very few) will require a reinstall after that (because you will have another name of the computer) C&R stuff ...

 

700 plugins is a lot to reinstall, but having 700 plugins is nowhere near necessary either. The "old saying" that when you move you take your problems with you, comes to mind. There is no way I'd reinstall all that stuff. I would install only what I know I will definitely need; like Waves, Fabfilter, iZotope stuff. Whatever those bundles and plugins are to you. Then I would start working using the machine, and I would reinstall only those plugins that are missing in the projects you are currently working on.

That way you are reinstalling stuff based on your own usage. If I have some plugin and it does not exist in any of my projects, then I don't need that plugin to be on my system. My own work proves that I have not even been using it/them.

 

https://github.com/topics/hwid-changer

 

Woow, thanks for reminding me why I only use stock plugins and just a handful of vsts…
hope you find a good solution

 

@Demloc
I got some errors like this ... unable to boot due to the way Windows handle things.

About possible "cloning" apps :
https://github.com/builtbybel/CloneApp/releases

 

You could do it with "total uninstall" app. Most of them would work but I don't know about self-made presets. Also, possible re-activations due to different hardware-id.

https://www.martau.com/document/transfer-programs-to-new-pc.php

This really works, I've used it a lot. Also to make no-install versions of plugins and other apps. Has its limitations but works for all music soft I've tried.

 

Copy the old registry to a fresh windows installation to avoid tedious pluging reinstalls.
​

Don't do this. Licensing information is not tied to the Windows Registry.
Also don't forget to deactivate all the applications -- there are applications that will eat up your activation if you don't deactivate properly.

 

It's not just the licensing infromation stored in the registry. Directories and any other data of a plugin can also be stored there.
But you shouldn't replace the whole registry database, just some entries inside of these two:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software
Look for the company names you need to transfer and right click, export those entries only. Name the saved .reg files and import them on the new install.
Also check the mentioned folders for files to copy:
_users folder
_program files
_program files (x86)
_program data
Of course there are some tricky plugins which will require to re-activate. HWID spoofers not working properly, because there are many methods to get unique hw ids

 

Last edited: Nov 6, 2023

It can make sense to import registry partially. For instance you can paste all NI Kontakt library information into HKLM Software and HKCU Software AFTER you installed Kontakt AND you did not change the directories of the Libs.

Of course it makes no sense to copy the whole registry.
Not only is not one instrallation exactly the same as the other but you would copy every single error that built up over time.
These errors are part of the problem that Windows tends to destroy itself over the course of some years and must be installed newly.

The result would be an extremely instable system with a load of nice bluescreens.

 

I can't even comprehend what are these plugins you mentioned (not even sure if I have 100 installed in my system):

Do you really use these? All of them?

Of course, I'm not telling you what to do but if I was at your place, I would consider this the perfect opportunity for a big clean up.

A bit like when you are moving to a new house that you just bought:
You always discover some useless junk that beg to be thrown away while packing.

Good luck.

 

That's what I would do. In fact, it's exactly what I am going to do when I install a new minimised OS!